Shares of Dole Food Company Inc. (NYSE: DOLE) slumped on Wednesday after the fruit and vegetable producer late last evening reported that it swung into a loss in its fiscal fourth quarter as fresh fruit sales were impacted due to divestiture while costs associated with the deal weighed on the bottom line.
For the fourth quarter, Dole reported a loss of $210 million, compared to a profit of $4 million, in the year earlier quarter. Losses from continuing operations came at $88 million or 99 cents a share, compared to a profit of $6 million or 6 cents a share from continuing operations, in the same period of last year.
Excluding impact of asset-sales gains, currency hedging impacts and other onetime items, the loss from continuing operations came at 59 cents compared to a profit of a nickel, in the same period of last year. Revenue during the quarter plunged 7.7% to $888 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently forecasted a loss of two pennies on revenue of $1.3 billion.
Shares of Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) plunged on Wednesday after apparel and accessories retailer said that it expects weaker sales in the fiscal first quarter due to fall in consumer spending in February. Although the Company handed better-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter results, its outlook on the current quarter fell short of Street’s estimates.
For the recently concluded quarter which ended February 2, the company posted net income of $63.9 million, or 75 cents a share, compared to a profit of $60.4 million, or 68 cents a share, in the year earlier quarter. Revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter jumped 8% to $728.7 million. Revenue from comparable stores and online sales rose 1.5% during the period. Analysts’ consensus estimate was earnings of 74 cents a share on revenue of $722.38 million, according to a data compiled by Thomson Reuters.
For the current quarter, the Company expects earnings to be at 34 cents to 38 cents, falling short of analysts’ consensus estimate for 46 cents a share. The Company expects comparable store sales to fall or remain flat in the fiscal first quarter.
Shares of movie streaming and DVD rental company Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) rallied after the company said that it has introduced a new feature which would allow Netflix subscribers to sync their accounts with Facebook enabling them to share their movie watching history among each other on Facebook. The service will become available from this week, the Company said. The move is seen as part of company’s bigger plan to integrate more closely with the social networking giant, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB).
Shares of Walgreen Company (NYSE: WAG) jumped after analysts at UBS lifted its rating on the stock to “buy” from “neutral”.
Shares of Coach Inc. (NYSE: COH) edged up after Citi upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral”, citing that the stock has passed from the “growth stage” to “value stage”.
Shares of DreamWorks Animation Skg Inc. (NASDAQ: DWA) rallied. The studio whose bottom line felt the pinch in the recently concluded quarter due to poor showing of its release “Rise of the Guardians”, announced today that that it is considering to increase its production to three movie releases in 2013 and 2014 apiece, and , to four movies in 2015.
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