Month: January 2017

Navigation and communications equipment provider Garmin Ltd. GRMN yesterday announced that it will provide its intelligent driving video recorder (IDVR) technology to Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile Limited’s (DPCA) recently unveiled Dongfeng Citroën C4L car model. […]

On Jan 3, 2017, we upgraded Strayer Education Inc. STRA to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) from #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here […]

In an effort to enhance its position as a major business development company, Ares Capital Corporation ARCC successfully completed the acquisition of American Capital, Ltd. The cash and stock deal was announced in May 2016. Kipp deVeer, CEO of Ares Capital said, “We are excited to close the acquisition of American Capital, which we expect will be accretive to core earnings and provide many financial and strategic benefits to our shareholders as we further enhance our scale and market position.” He added, “While significant progress was made with the American Capital portfolio after the merger agreement was signed, we expect a continued repositioning of its legacy investments to enhance earnings at the combined company and further improve our company’s outlook.” Notably, Ares Capital’s shares have gained 13% in the last one year, outperforming the 10.9% gain for the Zacks categorized Small Business Investment Companies & Commercial industry. […]

Leading home appliances manufacturer, Whirlpool Corporation WHR has inked a deal with Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN to launch voice-activated home appliances in early 2017. […]

At times it is rational to hold certain stocks that have enough potential but are weighed down by tough market conditions. These stocks rally as soon as the market enters into a correction mode. Here, we have discussed one such stock, Coach, Inc […]

Pleasanton, CA-based Natus Medical Incorporated BABY , a worldwide designer and manufacturer of newborn healthcare products, announced the purchase of GN Otometrics from Denmark-based GN Store Nord. The deal, announced in 2016, is worth $145 million. […]

Several domestic and international happenings in 2016 led to a roller coaster ride for the stock market and 2017 may not be a lot different. Particularly, the changing political environment might keep investors on tenterhooks. Some key areas such as the policy changes under Donald Trump’s administration, the Fed’s actions on raising rates further, movement in oil price and of course the gradual effect of Brexit on the U.K., EU (European Union) and the overall global markets are expected to lead to volatility this year as well. […]

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. ’s CNP wholly owned subsidiary, CenterPoint Energy Services, Inc., has completed a previously announced agreement to acquire Atmos Energy Holdings, Inc.’s retail energy services business, Atmos Energy Marketing, LLC (AEM). Note that Atmos Energy Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atmos Energy Corporation ATO . […]

ALLETE, Inc. ALE announced its unit, ALLETE Clean Energy, has entered into an agreement with Montana-Dakota Utilities, a division of MDU Resources Group MDU to expand the generation capacity of the Thunder Spirit wind farm, located in North Dakota to 150 megawatts (MW) from its current capacity of 107.5 MW. The expansion initiative was undertaken by MDU Resources to generate higher volumes of energy to meet rising customer demand. […]

Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ALXN has had a bumpy ride throughout 2016 with shares of the company plunging 33.8%. Alexion has largely underperformed the Zacks classified Medical-Biomedical and Genetics industry, which registered a decline of 24% during the year. […]

Global manufacturing company, ITT Inc.’s ITT brand, BIW Connector Systems, recently unveiled “packer penetrator” solution, Tri-Lok Ultra. This will aid oilfield service companies in boosting their production, minimize costs and extend operational lifetime. ITT Inc […]

Oil and natural gas exploration and production (E&P) company, Marathon Petroleum Corporation MPC on Jan 4, 2017, reported updates on company`s previously announced initiatives in order to enhance shareholder value. Marathon said it would speed up drop-down of assets with about $1.4 billion of annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to MPLX LP MPLX . The latter is a master limited partnership formed by Marathon Petroleum to purchase, develop and operate midstream assets. […]

Twitter Inc .’s TWTR China managing director, Kathy Chen has called it quits, eight months after joining Twitter. Per media reports, Chen’s appointment was “controversial” given her ties with People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Chen announced her resignation in several tweets […]

Diagnostic instruments major Hologic, Inc. HOLX recently announced the receipt of the FDA’s Premarket Approval (PMA) for its Aptima HIV-1 Quant assay. […]