wall street
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., $23.46, New York symbol GE, continues to expand its oil and natural gas business, which makes a wide variety of industrial equipment, such as pumps, valves, compressors and turbines. This week, GE agreed to buy Texas-based Lufkin Industries Inc. (Nasdaq symbol LUFK). This company’s products help producers bring more oil and gas to the surface in wells with low internal pressure. Demand for this equipment is strong, as it helps producers increase their output and lower their costs. GE will pay $3.3 billion for Lufkin when the deal closes in the second half of 2013. That’s equal to 21% of GE’s 2012 earnings of $16.1 billion, or $1.52 a share....
AGRIUM INC., $94.59, Toronto symbol AGU, plans to continue expanding its retail operations after shareholders decided not to elect five nominees from activist investment firm Jana Partners to Agrium’s 12-member board of directors. The retail division has 1,220 stores in North America, South America and Australia that sell seed, fertilizer and other products to farmers. These outlets supply about 70% of Agrium’s revenue. The remaining 30% mainly comes from making fertilizers from natural gas. Jana, which owns 7.5% of Agrium’s shares, wants Agrium to spin off its retail division as a separate company. However, steady revenue streams from these stores help offset the cyclical nature of Agrium’s fertilizer operations....
CONAGRA FOODS INC., $34.42, New York symbol CAG, recently completed its $4.75-billion acquisition of Ralcorp Holdings Inc., the largest maker of private label food in the U.S. The purchase helped push up ConAgra’s sales by 13.4% in its 2013 third quarter, which ended February 24, 2013, to $3.85 billion from $3.4 billion a year earlier. Ralcorp contributed $291.8 million to the latest sales. In addition, ConAgra raised its prices on its branded products, such as Peter Pan peanut butter and Hunt’s tomato sauce, to offset higher ingredient costs. Earnings fell 57.2%, to $120.0 million, or $0.29 a share, from $280.1 million, or $0.68. If you disregard costs to integrate Ralcorp and other unusual items, earnings per share would have risen 3.8%, to $0.55 from $0.53. On that basis, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $0.56 a share....
TELUS $69.31 (Toronto symbol T; Shares outstanding: 326.0 million; Market cap: $22.6 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 3.7%; www.telus.com) will split its common shares on a 2-for-1 basis on April 16, 2013. Following the split, the company will have roughly 653.6 million common shares outstanding.
The split will make Telus’s shares more liquid....
The split will make Telus’s shares more liquid....
DUN & BRADSTREET CORP. (New York symbol DNB; www.dnb.com) began operating in 1841 and is now the world’s largest provider of credit reports on individual companies. Its database contains information on 220 million businesses in over 200 countries. Companies use these reports to make lending and purchasing decisions and to cut their credit losses....
MONSANTO CO., $105.63, New York symbol MON, sells technology-based agricultural products, such as genetically modified seeds, to farmers, grain processors and food companies. The company also sells weed- and pest-control products. The stock rose 4% this week after the company agreed to settle several lawsuits with DuPont Co. (New York symbol DD). Monsanto had sued DuPont for violating its patents. In response, DuPont launched an anti-trust lawsuit against Monsanto. Under the terms of the deal, Monsanto will license some of its genetically modified soybean seeds to DuPont. In return, DuPont will make four annual fixed royalty payments from 2014 to 2017 totalling $802 million. From 2018 to 2023, DuPont will pay royalties on a per-unit basis, subject to annual minimum amounts. These per-unit payments will total $950 million....
THE BOEING CO. (New York symbol BA; www.boeing.com grounded all of its new 787 Dreamliner passenger planes in January 2013 after a battery problem forced one to make an emergency landing in Japan....
FEDEX CORP., $98.48, New York symbol FDX, reported lower-than-expected earnings this week. That’s because many of its customers are shipping their goods using slower but cheaper forms of transportation, such as trucks and ships, instead of FedEx’s more expensive overnight international air service. In its 2013 third quarter, which ended February 28, 2013, FedEx’s earnings per share fell 20.6%, to $1.23 from $1.55 a year earlier. These figures exclude several unusual items, such as the cost of replacing older planes with more efficient models and job cuts through voluntary buyouts. On that basis, the latest earnings missed the consensus estimate of $1.38 a share. However, revenue rose 3.7%, to $11.0 billion from $10.6 billion. The company now expects to earn $6.00 to $6.20 a share for all of fiscal 2013, down from its earlier prediction of $6.20 to $6.60. The stock trades at 16.1 times the midpoint of the lower range. That’s a reasonable p/e ratio, particularly because FedEx’s cost-cutting plan will put it in a strong position to increase its profits as the global economy recovers....
TECK RESOURCES LTD., $28.73, Toronto symbol TCK.B, fell 6% this week, along with other mining stocks, partly due to concerns about the outlook for prices of coal, copper and other commodities. China is a major resource consumer, and growth in the country has slowed along with its exports to Europe and the U.S. China’s inflation rate is also rising, which could make it more difficult to spur growth through stimulus spending or lower interest rates. As well, investors are concerned that Teck may buy control of privately held Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC); Rio Tinto (New York symbol RIO) is IOC’s largest shareholder, with a 58.7% stake. This company mines and processes iron ore in Labrador City, Newfoundland. Trains then take the iron ore pellets to the port of Sept-Îles, Quebec, for shipment to steel mills around the world....