Stocks Appear To Open Mixed
Stocks appear set to open mixed Friday
in the midst of more earnings warnings and in anticipation to the upcoming
Federal Reserve Board meeting next week.
After the close, Penton Media
(
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announced the company will be offering $185 million in senior notes at a rate of
10.375%. Penton intends to use the proceeds from the offering to repay amounts
outstanding under the company’s current credit structure.
Littlefuse Inc.
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PowerRating) warned
that Q2 sales and earnings will be lower than expected. Littlefuse, a maker of
circuit protection products, has cut its workforce by 13%, or 500 people,
since the beginning of the year. One hundred and fifty of the cuts occurred in the second quarter.
Overnight, Frontier Airlines
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pilots voted to ratify the amendment to the pilots’ contract.
Tenet Healthcare
(
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PowerRating) announced
that Ted Schreck was promoted to senior vice president of Operations.
Micron Technology
(
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PowerRating) reported a
wider-than-expected loss for Q3. The company reported a loss of 50 cents a share,
while analysts expected a loss of 15 cents according to a survey taken by Thomson
Financial/First Call.
Retailer Gap Inc.
(
GPS |
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PowerRating) announced
late Thursday that the company will be cutting its workforce between 5-7%Â and take a charge against Q2 earnings to accomplish the streamlining.
Extreme Networks Inc.
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PowerRating)
announced that Chief Financial Officer Vito Palermo will be leaving the company.
Palermo joined the Internet infrastructure company in 1999 and will stay on to
assist with the quarterly earning process and the recruitment of his
replacement the company said.
B2B software maker Manugistics Group
Inc.
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PowerRating) reported a Q1 profit of 3 cents which met analysts’ expectations
according to the research firm Thomson Financial/First Call. However, the
company said it would miss Q2 earnings by a penny.
This column was
written by Greg Che while Loren Fleckenstein is on vacation.
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