wall street

MCDONALD’S CORP., $98.74, New York symbol MCD, reported lower quarterly results this week. However, the stock rose 4% on news that the company will soon unveil a new plan to spur sales. That’s in addition to several already-announced initiatives, like a simpler menu and a phase-out of chicken raised with certain antibiotics. It’s also closing 700 less profitable outlets, or about 2% of its 36,000 locations. In the three months ended March 31, 2015, the company’s earnings per share fell 30.6%, to $0.84 from $1.21 a year earlier. Excluding restructuring costs, McDonald’s earned $1.01 a share in the latest quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06. As well, 70% of its sales come from overseas, and the high U.S. dollar cut the latest earnings by $0.09 a share....

INTEL CORP., $32.47, Nasdaq symbol INTC, announced first-quarter earnings that matched the consensus estimate this week, though revenue fell short of expectations. Still, the stock rose 2% on signs that Intel is cutting its reliance on personal-computer chips. In the three months ended March 28, 2015, the company’s earnings rose 3.2%, to $2.0 billion from $1.9 billion a year earlier. Intel spent $750.0 million on share buybacks during the quarter, so per-share earnings rose at a faster pace of 7.9%, to $0.41 from $0.38. Overall revenue rose just 0.1%, to $12.78 billion from $12.76 billion, missing the consensus forecast of $12.9 billion. Revenue from personal-computer chips and mobile devices (58% of the total) fell 8.4%. The year-earlier quarter benefited as many businesses bought new machines after Microsoft stopped supporting its older Windows XP operating system....

Helped by a rise in online shopping and a string of takeovers in international markets, FedEx is taking off.

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., $28.51, New York symbol GE, rose 11% on Friday on news that it is selling most of its GE Capital subsidiary, which mainly provides loans to GE’s clients. The company has scaled back GE Capital over the past few years, after the division suffered big losses in the 2008/09 financial crisis. Under the plan, GE will sell most of GE Capital’s office buildings and real estate loans to a group of investors for $26.5 billion. That’s equal to 10% of GE’s $259.0-billion market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares)....

Getting back to industrial basics, General Electric shrinks GE Capital and finalizes its big deal with French nuclear power giant Alstrom.

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotlines will go out on Friday, April 10, 2015. PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V. ADRs, $29.30, New York symbol PHG, is selling most of its light emitting diode (LED) components and automotive lighting division (which is changing its name to Lumileds) to private equity firm GO Scale Capital. Under the deal, Philips will sell 80.1% of Lumileds for $2.9 billion. That’s equal to 11% of its $26.6-billion market cap (or the value of all of its outstanding shares). Philips expects to complete the sale in the third quarter of 2015....

Every Thursday we bring you one of our best U.S. stock picks. You will read about stocks making moves you should know about, most often from our newsletter on U.S. investing, Wall Street Stock Forecaster.

On Tuesday, we profiled a Canadian company in the chemical waste business with a high dividend yield (see the article here). Today we report on a U.S. chemical stock that’s not widely known, but also has an admirable record with dividends.

QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP. (New York symbol KWR; www.quakerchem.com) began operating in 1918 and currently operates 34 plants in 21 countries. These facilities make lubricants and chemicals that keep mechanical parts from rusting.

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PLEASE NOTE: Due to the Good Friday holiday, our next Hotline will go out on Thursday, April 2, 2015. KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC., $89.10, Nasdaq symbol KRFT, jumped 40% this week after agreeing to merge with rival food maker H.J. Heinz. The new firm—The Kraft Heinz Company—will be North America’s third-largest food and beverage company and fifth-biggest in the world. It will have $28 billion of annual revenue, including eight brands with over $1 billion in yearly sales....

Shrugging off a slow first quarter, Goodyear sees a good year ahead, thanks to falling costs of rubber and oil and a good labour deal

FEDEX CORP., $172.04, New York symbol FDX, earned $580 million in the third quarter of its 2015 fiscal year, which ended February 28, 2015. That’s up 53.4% from $378 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings gained 63.4%, to $2.01 from $1.23, beating the consensus forecast of $1.87. The gains mainly resulted from the company’s recent restructuring and a 30.4% drop in fuel costs. Harsh winter weather in the year-earlier quarter also disrupted ground deliveries and depressed FedEx’s earnings. Overall revenue rose 3.7%, to $11.7 billion from $11.3 billion, missing the consensus estimate of $11.8 billion....