Stronger Opening
Stocks appeared set to open higher
Thursday.
United Healthcare
(
UNH |
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PowerRating) has
renewed its stock repurchase program to repurchase up to 30 million shares.
TheStreet.com
(
TSCM |
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PowerRating) posted a Q4
loss of $6.2 million or 26 cents a share, narrowing the loss of $24.6 million or
90 cents a share for the same quarter a year ago.
Qualcomm Inc
(
QCOM |
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PowerRating) named two new
officers. William E. Keitel was named to senior vice president and CFO and Anthony S. Thornley was appointed to
president and COO.
First Consulting Group
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PowerRating)
posted a Q4 loss, wider than the same quarter a year ago. FCGI reported a net
loss of $6.0 million or 25 cents a share vs. $2.1 million or 9 cents a share
last year. Excluding charges, the company posted net income of $1.7 million or 7
cents a share, in line with analysts’ estimates according to Thomson
Financial/First Call.
Nucor Corp
(
NUE |
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PowerRating) said it is
interested in buying the assets of Birmingham Steel
(
BIRS |
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PowerRating) for $500 million
in cash.
J.M Smucker
(
SJM |
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PowerRating) reported an
increase in profits of$7.9 million or 32 cents a share compared to $7.0 million
or 29 cents a share for the same quarter a year ago. Smucker’s also reaffirmed
that is expects to meet earnings expectation for the year of $1.33 to $1.37 a
share.
Green Mountain Coffee
(
GMCR |
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PowerRating) said
Q1 earnings increased 23%, however the specialty coffee roaster lowered
expectations for the rest of the year. The company earned $2.2 million or 31
cents a share compared with $1.8 million or 26 cents a share a year ago.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Keane
(
KEA |
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PowerRating)
from Market Perform to Market Outperform citing the applications management
transition is progressing well and earning should reaccelerate this year.
THQ Inc
(
THQI |
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PowerRating) was upgraded by
J.P. Morgan from Long Term Buy to Buy after the company reported better-than-expected earnings for Q4.
J.P. Morgan downgraded eSpeed
(
ESPD |
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PowerRating)
from Buy to Long Term Buy citing valuation concerns. The firm raised its price
target on ESPD to $11.
Brocade Communications
(
BRCD |
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PowerRating) was
upgraded by CIBC from Hold to Buy and raised the price target fromr $28 to $45.
Goldman Sachs upgraded Newell
Rubbermaid from Market Perform to Recommend List citing a promising growth
outlook.