<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" bgColor=white border=0 xmlns:msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" xmlns:js="http://cbs.markewatch.com/xsl"><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%">Alcoa (AA: news, chart, profile) plans to record a second-quarter charge of 25 to 28 cents a share and eliminate 6,500 jobs as part of a previously disclosed plan to streamline the aluminum producer's operations. The year-long restructuring should save $150 million before taxes a year, Alcoa said. Besides the revamping charges equal to $220 million to $250 million, Alcoa expects to record a $100 million to $120 million net tax benefit for the quarter. Alcoa also said it will record in the quarter after-tax profit of $219 million, or 25 cents a share, on the sale of its stake in Elkem, the Norwegian metals company.
Regulators at the Justice Department have cleared the way for America West Holdings' (AWA: news, chart, profile) acquisition of bankrupt US Airways Group (UAIRQ: news, chart, profile) . See full story.
Azz Inc. (AZZ: news, chart, profile) said first-quarter net income rose to $2.1 million, or 38 cents a share from $1.2 million, or 23 cents a share. Revenues increased 13% to $44.7 million from $39.7 million. Azz raised its forecast of fiscal 2006 earnings to be within the range of $1.08 to $1.18 a share and revenues within the range of $170 million to $180 million.
CenturyTel (CTL: news, chart, profile) was downgraded to sell from neutral at Merrill Lynch, citing valuation and execution risk.
Cephalon Inc. (CEPH: news, chart, profile) and Alkermes (ALKS: news, chart, profile) said have entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize Vivitrex in the U.S., an investigational drug in development by Alkermes for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Cephalon will make an initial payment of $160 million in cash to Alkermes and an additional $110 million cash payment if Vivitrex is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Alkermes submitted a New Drug Application for Vivitrex to the FDA on March 31, which has been granted priority review. The companies said Alkermes will be responsible for certain development and registration costs, up to product approval, and for any cumulative losses up to $120 million until the later of December 31, 2007, or 18 months after FDA approval of the product. During this period, losses exceeding $120 million will be borne by Cephalon. After this time period, any pretax profit or loss will be shared equally by Cephalon and Alkermes.
Eon Labs Inc. (ELAB: news, chart, profile) said it has received final approval for its Bupropion HCl, ER 200mg tablets from the Food and Drug Administration, the generic equivalent of GlaxoSmithKline Inc.'s (GSK: news, chart, profile) Wellbutrin. The company said it will begin shipping the tablets immediately.
Finish Line Inc. (FINL: news, chart, profile) said that its earnings for the fiscal first quarter jumped 23% to $12.7 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with last year's results of $10.4 million, or 21 cents a share. Total sales climbed 13% to $291.3 million. The results included sales from 625 Finish Line athletic sportswear stores and 38 Man Alive hip-hop fashions stores.
HSBC Holdings (HBC: news, chart, profile) agreed to buy the private label credit card accounts of The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (BONT: news, chart, profile) . HSBC will pay the value of the customer account balances, estimated to be $300 million for the March 2005-ending quarter, plus a 5% premium. Earlier in June HSBC agreed to buy the private label credit card accounts of The Neiman Marcus Group.
IBM (IBM: news, chart, profile) may be in focus after a report that the company plans to increase its payroll in India this year by 14,000 workers, even as it cuts 13,000 jobs in Europe and the United States, the New York Times reported on its Web site Friday.
ImmunoGen Inc. (IMGN: news, chart, profile) began patient dosing in a Phase I study of its huC242-DM4 compound, which is in development for the treatment of forms of cancers including colorectal and pancreatic.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD: news, chart, profile) is seeking to end a licensing agreement with F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., the U.S. prescription pharmaceuticals arm of Roche Holdings AG (RHHBY: news, chart, profile) , for Tamiflu flu antiviral, alleging a material breach of contract.
Maverick Tube Corp. (MVK: news, chart, profile) said it expects to post second-quarter per-share earnings of 58 cents to 63 cents, excluding any impact from the previously announced sale of its industrial hollow structural sections business. The tubular products maker sees a 25-cent gain from the sale, which is expected to close in the quarter. Maverick expects weaker-than-anticipated earnings contributions from its industrial products and said it hasn't yet seen an expected recovery in the nonresidential construction sector, which is hurting its electrical conduit shipments business.
McData Corp. (MCDTA: news, chart, profile) said it was selling its Lumberton, N.J., manufacturing operations and assets to Solectron Corp. (SLR: news, chart, profile) for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close next week. The company also said it has promoted Scott Berman, its vice president of finance and treasurer since December of 2002, to chief financial officer upon the departure of Ernest Sampias. McData has also reinstated the position of chief operating officer, it said, and will name someone to the position in the near term.
Micron Technology Inc. (MU: news, chart, profile) said it swung to a fiscal third-quarter loss of $127.9 million, or 20 cents a share, compared to a profit of $90.9 million, or 13 cents, a year ago. Sales for the quarter ended June 2 fell slightly to $1.05 billion from $1.12 billion. The results fell well short of Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected Micron, one of the world's leading makers of computer memory chips, to post a profit of 2 cents a share on sales of $1.19 billion. The company said average sale prices for its memory products fell 30% compared to the fiscal second quarter.
Medtronic Inc. (MDT: news, chart, profile) , the Minneapolis medical-technology company, said it increased its dividend almost 15% to 9.625 cents a share, payable July 29 to holders of record July.
Nitromed (NTMD: news, chart, profile) shares may be in focus after BiDil, the company's heart failure drug for black patients received approval from the Food and Drug Administration. It's the first medication to be targeted at a specific racial group.
Omnicom Group (OMC: news, chart, profile) may be in focus after the provider of advertising, marketing and corporate communications services was upgraded to buy from hold at Smith Barney. The firm said it believes a sharpening contrast in the group's growth versus its peers should drive outperformance over the coming quarters. "As a media-neutral creative intermediary we believe OMC is relatively insulated from the secular pressures depressing many of the traditional ad mediums," Citigroup said.
OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI: news, chart, profile) posted fourth-quarter earnings of $17.7 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with $20.8 million, or 34 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Sales rose to $103 million from $99.7 million. The maker of chip image sensors forecast first-quarter revenue of $90 million to $100 million and earnings of 22 cents to 27 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call are currently looking for a per-share profit of 30 cents on sales of $98 million for the period. OmniVision also set a $100 million share buyback program and said the Securities and Exchange Commission has terminated its informal probe of the firm.
Oracle Corp. (ORCL: news, chart, profile) has reportedly hired Gregory Maffei, the former chief financial officer of Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) , as its president and chief financial offcer, The Wall Street Journal said Friday. He succeeds Harry You, who quit in March after eight months. Maffei won't directly head strategy or acquistions, but the appointment is likely to be seen as a signal that Oracle's recent buying spree is far from over, the report said. "As one of the co-presidents, I hope I'll be a contributor in that area, but I don't look at that as why I'm here," Maffei told the newspaper.
Pactiv Corp. (PTV: news, chart, profile) said that it will sell its North American and European protective and flexible packaging businesses to private equity firm AEA Investors LLC for $530 million plus debt. Pactiv said it would keep its European molded fiber business and Asian operations. The sold units make air cushioning, air padded mailers, foam, flexible packaging and hospital supplies and had 2004 sales of $838 million and operating income of $60 million, before charges, Pactiv said.
PMC-Sierra (PMCS: news, chart, profile) increased the number of jobs it expects to eliminate as part of a restructuring by 63 to 89. As a result, the communications semiconductor maker raised the expected cost of the restructuring by $5.9 million to $7.4 million. Separately, the company said second-quarter revenue should be at the high-end of the previously provided forecasted range of $70 million to $72 million. The book-to-bill ratio is expected to exceed 1.1 by the end of the quarter, given that bookings are currently greater than its revenue outlook. The stock closed Thursday up 38 cents at $9.54.
Provident Financial Holdings (PROV: news, chart, profile) said its board has authorized the repurchase of up to 5% of the company's common stock. Repurchases under the one-year program will be made from time to time in the open market, Riverside, Calif.-based Provident said. Under the bank holding company's previous stock-repurchase program that expired on Thursday, Provident bought back 205,370 shares at an average cost of $25.20 a share. The new repurchase authorization equates to a maximum of 347,840 shares. Provident's shares ended trading on Thursday at $27.71, off 19 cents.
Rite Aid (RAD: news, chart, profile) was upgraded by J.P. Morgan to overweight from neutral. The firm said it thinks the company could benefit from a higher-profit generic transition cycle and potential Medicare traffic.
Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (SLXP: news, chart, profile) agreed to buy InKine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INKP: news, chart, profile) in a $190 million deal. InKine stockholders will receive Salix common stock valued at $3.55 a share. Salix said it expects the deal to be neutral to 2006 earnings on a GAAP basis and significantly add to them after that. Both boards have approved the deal.
Sierra Wireless (SWIR: news, chart, profile) was downgraded to underweight from neutral by J.P. Morgan. The firm said it thinks the company is at risk in North America. The broker told clients that the company would likely lose share at Cingular owing to the introduction of Option's combo EDGE card. In addition, J.P. Morgan said it believes Sierra will have a hard time introducing an HSDPA card in Europe as it will be late in launching a UMTS product in the region and because of carrier's existing relationships with Novatel Wireless, Inc. (NVTL: news, chart, profile) and Option.
Solectron Corp. (SLR: news, chart, profile) reported a third-quarter loss from continuing operations of $67 million as the electronics contract manufacturer saw weakness in its consumer and networking businesses. See full story.
Tektronix Inc. (TEK: news, chart, profile) said fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 19% to $21.2 million, or 24 cents a share, from $26.1 million, or 30 cents, a year ago, even though sales for the quarter ended May 28 rose slightly to $261 million from $258 million. The maker of testing equipment for technology companies forecast that sales for the fiscal first quarter ending in August would be in a range between $230 million and $240 million, less than the $256 million analysts were expecting. Tektronix forecast that first-quarter earnings from continuing operations, excluding certain items, would be between 20 cents a share to 26 cents.
Tibco Software Inc. (TIBX: news, chart, profile) said its quarterly net profit more than doubled thanks to a one-time tax gain, and revenue rose as higher maintenance revenue more than offset a drop license sales to meet it recently reduced financial outlook. See full story.
US Airways Group (UAIRQ: news, chart, profile) that Republic Airways (RJET: news, chart, profile) and Wexford Capital will not invest in the airline, which is being purchased America West Holdings (AWA: news, chart, profile) Before the America West deal, Republic Airways and its majority shareholder, Wexford Capital, had been set for a $125 million equity investment in US Airways. But in a move that will raise $100 million for the bankrupt carrier, Republic Airways did say it will take 28 of US Airways' Embraer 170 jets, buying 10 and leasing 18 of them, as well as 113 slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and 24 at New York LaGuardia. The jets will be operated as US Airways flights.
Xyratex Ltd. (XRTX: news, chart, profile) , a Havant, U.K., provider of modular enterprise-class data-storage subsystems and storage process technology reported second-quarter profit more than doubled on 57% higher revenue. Earnings were $11.1 million, or 38 cents a share, against $5.1 million, or 46 cents, in the year-earlier period. Shares outstanding more than doubled to 29.1 million from 11.1 million. Revenue reached $169.6 million from $108.1 million. The company estimated third-quarter earnings at 18 cents to 25 cents as revenue ranges $155 million to $165 million.
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Michael Baron is a reporter for MarketWatch in New York.
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Regulators at the Justice Department have cleared the way for America West Holdings' (AWA: news, chart, profile) acquisition of bankrupt US Airways Group (UAIRQ: news, chart, profile) . See full story.
Azz Inc. (AZZ: news, chart, profile) said first-quarter net income rose to $2.1 million, or 38 cents a share from $1.2 million, or 23 cents a share. Revenues increased 13% to $44.7 million from $39.7 million. Azz raised its forecast of fiscal 2006 earnings to be within the range of $1.08 to $1.18 a share and revenues within the range of $170 million to $180 million.
CenturyTel (CTL: news, chart, profile) was downgraded to sell from neutral at Merrill Lynch, citing valuation and execution risk.
Cephalon Inc. (CEPH: news, chart, profile) and Alkermes (ALKS: news, chart, profile) said have entered into an agreement to develop and commercialize Vivitrex in the U.S., an investigational drug in development by Alkermes for the treatment of alcohol dependence. Cephalon will make an initial payment of $160 million in cash to Alkermes and an additional $110 million cash payment if Vivitrex is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Alkermes submitted a New Drug Application for Vivitrex to the FDA on March 31, which has been granted priority review. The companies said Alkermes will be responsible for certain development and registration costs, up to product approval, and for any cumulative losses up to $120 million until the later of December 31, 2007, or 18 months after FDA approval of the product. During this period, losses exceeding $120 million will be borne by Cephalon. After this time period, any pretax profit or loss will be shared equally by Cephalon and Alkermes.
Eon Labs Inc. (ELAB: news, chart, profile) said it has received final approval for its Bupropion HCl, ER 200mg tablets from the Food and Drug Administration, the generic equivalent of GlaxoSmithKline Inc.'s (GSK: news, chart, profile) Wellbutrin. The company said it will begin shipping the tablets immediately.
Finish Line Inc. (FINL: news, chart, profile) said that its earnings for the fiscal first quarter jumped 23% to $12.7 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with last year's results of $10.4 million, or 21 cents a share. Total sales climbed 13% to $291.3 million. The results included sales from 625 Finish Line athletic sportswear stores and 38 Man Alive hip-hop fashions stores.
HSBC Holdings (HBC: news, chart, profile) agreed to buy the private label credit card accounts of The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (BONT: news, chart, profile) . HSBC will pay the value of the customer account balances, estimated to be $300 million for the March 2005-ending quarter, plus a 5% premium. Earlier in June HSBC agreed to buy the private label credit card accounts of The Neiman Marcus Group.
IBM (IBM: news, chart, profile) may be in focus after a report that the company plans to increase its payroll in India this year by 14,000 workers, even as it cuts 13,000 jobs in Europe and the United States, the New York Times reported on its Web site Friday.
ImmunoGen Inc. (IMGN: news, chart, profile) began patient dosing in a Phase I study of its huC242-DM4 compound, which is in development for the treatment of forms of cancers including colorectal and pancreatic.
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD: news, chart, profile) is seeking to end a licensing agreement with F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., the U.S. prescription pharmaceuticals arm of Roche Holdings AG (RHHBY: news, chart, profile) , for Tamiflu flu antiviral, alleging a material breach of contract.
Maverick Tube Corp. (MVK: news, chart, profile) said it expects to post second-quarter per-share earnings of 58 cents to 63 cents, excluding any impact from the previously announced sale of its industrial hollow structural sections business. The tubular products maker sees a 25-cent gain from the sale, which is expected to close in the quarter. Maverick expects weaker-than-anticipated earnings contributions from its industrial products and said it hasn't yet seen an expected recovery in the nonresidential construction sector, which is hurting its electrical conduit shipments business.
McData Corp. (MCDTA: news, chart, profile) said it was selling its Lumberton, N.J., manufacturing operations and assets to Solectron Corp. (SLR: news, chart, profile) for an undisclosed sum. The deal is expected to close next week. The company also said it has promoted Scott Berman, its vice president of finance and treasurer since December of 2002, to chief financial officer upon the departure of Ernest Sampias. McData has also reinstated the position of chief operating officer, it said, and will name someone to the position in the near term.
Micron Technology Inc. (MU: news, chart, profile) said it swung to a fiscal third-quarter loss of $127.9 million, or 20 cents a share, compared to a profit of $90.9 million, or 13 cents, a year ago. Sales for the quarter ended June 2 fell slightly to $1.05 billion from $1.12 billion. The results fell well short of Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected Micron, one of the world's leading makers of computer memory chips, to post a profit of 2 cents a share on sales of $1.19 billion. The company said average sale prices for its memory products fell 30% compared to the fiscal second quarter.
Medtronic Inc. (MDT: news, chart, profile) , the Minneapolis medical-technology company, said it increased its dividend almost 15% to 9.625 cents a share, payable July 29 to holders of record July.
Nitromed (NTMD: news, chart, profile) shares may be in focus after BiDil, the company's heart failure drug for black patients received approval from the Food and Drug Administration. It's the first medication to be targeted at a specific racial group.
Omnicom Group (OMC: news, chart, profile) may be in focus after the provider of advertising, marketing and corporate communications services was upgraded to buy from hold at Smith Barney. The firm said it believes a sharpening contrast in the group's growth versus its peers should drive outperformance over the coming quarters. "As a media-neutral creative intermediary we believe OMC is relatively insulated from the secular pressures depressing many of the traditional ad mediums," Citigroup said.
OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI: news, chart, profile) posted fourth-quarter earnings of $17.7 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with $20.8 million, or 34 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Sales rose to $103 million from $99.7 million. The maker of chip image sensors forecast first-quarter revenue of $90 million to $100 million and earnings of 22 cents to 27 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call are currently looking for a per-share profit of 30 cents on sales of $98 million for the period. OmniVision also set a $100 million share buyback program and said the Securities and Exchange Commission has terminated its informal probe of the firm.
Oracle Corp. (ORCL: news, chart, profile) has reportedly hired Gregory Maffei, the former chief financial officer of Microsoft (MSFT: news, chart, profile) , as its president and chief financial offcer, The Wall Street Journal said Friday. He succeeds Harry You, who quit in March after eight months. Maffei won't directly head strategy or acquistions, but the appointment is likely to be seen as a signal that Oracle's recent buying spree is far from over, the report said. "As one of the co-presidents, I hope I'll be a contributor in that area, but I don't look at that as why I'm here," Maffei told the newspaper.
Pactiv Corp. (PTV: news, chart, profile) said that it will sell its North American and European protective and flexible packaging businesses to private equity firm AEA Investors LLC for $530 million plus debt. Pactiv said it would keep its European molded fiber business and Asian operations. The sold units make air cushioning, air padded mailers, foam, flexible packaging and hospital supplies and had 2004 sales of $838 million and operating income of $60 million, before charges, Pactiv said.
PMC-Sierra (PMCS: news, chart, profile) increased the number of jobs it expects to eliminate as part of a restructuring by 63 to 89. As a result, the communications semiconductor maker raised the expected cost of the restructuring by $5.9 million to $7.4 million. Separately, the company said second-quarter revenue should be at the high-end of the previously provided forecasted range of $70 million to $72 million. The book-to-bill ratio is expected to exceed 1.1 by the end of the quarter, given that bookings are currently greater than its revenue outlook. The stock closed Thursday up 38 cents at $9.54.
Provident Financial Holdings (PROV: news, chart, profile) said its board has authorized the repurchase of up to 5% of the company's common stock. Repurchases under the one-year program will be made from time to time in the open market, Riverside, Calif.-based Provident said. Under the bank holding company's previous stock-repurchase program that expired on Thursday, Provident bought back 205,370 shares at an average cost of $25.20 a share. The new repurchase authorization equates to a maximum of 347,840 shares. Provident's shares ended trading on Thursday at $27.71, off 19 cents.
Rite Aid (RAD: news, chart, profile) was upgraded by J.P. Morgan to overweight from neutral. The firm said it thinks the company could benefit from a higher-profit generic transition cycle and potential Medicare traffic.
Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (SLXP: news, chart, profile) agreed to buy InKine Pharmaceuticals Inc. (INKP: news, chart, profile) in a $190 million deal. InKine stockholders will receive Salix common stock valued at $3.55 a share. Salix said it expects the deal to be neutral to 2006 earnings on a GAAP basis and significantly add to them after that. Both boards have approved the deal.
Sierra Wireless (SWIR: news, chart, profile) was downgraded to underweight from neutral by J.P. Morgan. The firm said it thinks the company is at risk in North America. The broker told clients that the company would likely lose share at Cingular owing to the introduction of Option's combo EDGE card. In addition, J.P. Morgan said it believes Sierra will have a hard time introducing an HSDPA card in Europe as it will be late in launching a UMTS product in the region and because of carrier's existing relationships with Novatel Wireless, Inc. (NVTL: news, chart, profile) and Option.
Solectron Corp. (SLR: news, chart, profile) reported a third-quarter loss from continuing operations of $67 million as the electronics contract manufacturer saw weakness in its consumer and networking businesses. See full story.
Tektronix Inc. (TEK: news, chart, profile) said fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 19% to $21.2 million, or 24 cents a share, from $26.1 million, or 30 cents, a year ago, even though sales for the quarter ended May 28 rose slightly to $261 million from $258 million. The maker of testing equipment for technology companies forecast that sales for the fiscal first quarter ending in August would be in a range between $230 million and $240 million, less than the $256 million analysts were expecting. Tektronix forecast that first-quarter earnings from continuing operations, excluding certain items, would be between 20 cents a share to 26 cents.
Tibco Software Inc. (TIBX: news, chart, profile) said its quarterly net profit more than doubled thanks to a one-time tax gain, and revenue rose as higher maintenance revenue more than offset a drop license sales to meet it recently reduced financial outlook. See full story.
US Airways Group (UAIRQ: news, chart, profile) that Republic Airways (RJET: news, chart, profile) and Wexford Capital will not invest in the airline, which is being purchased America West Holdings (AWA: news, chart, profile) Before the America West deal, Republic Airways and its majority shareholder, Wexford Capital, had been set for a $125 million equity investment in US Airways. But in a move that will raise $100 million for the bankrupt carrier, Republic Airways did say it will take 28 of US Airways' Embraer 170 jets, buying 10 and leasing 18 of them, as well as 113 slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and 24 at New York LaGuardia. The jets will be operated as US Airways flights.
Xyratex Ltd. (XRTX: news, chart, profile) , a Havant, U.K., provider of modular enterprise-class data-storage subsystems and storage process technology reported second-quarter profit more than doubled on 57% higher revenue. Earnings were $11.1 million, or 38 cents a share, against $5.1 million, or 46 cents, in the year-earlier period. Shares outstanding more than doubled to 29.1 million from 11.1 million. Revenue reached $169.6 million from $108.1 million. The company estimated third-quarter earnings at 18 cents to 25 cents as revenue ranges $155 million to $165 million.
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Michael Baron is a reporter for MarketWatch in New York.
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