Alberto-Culver, AirTran, Wal-Mart Rise

Bikram Pandey
27 Sep, 2010
New York City

Alberto-Culver soared 20% after it agreed to be acquired by Unilever. AirTran Holdings soared 59% after Southwest Airlines offered $1.37 billion. Wal-Mart made a preliminary offer to South Africa based retailer Massmart. Jewelry retailer Zale Corp declined 3%.

[R]11:20 AM New York – Alberto-Culver soared 20% after it agreed to be acquired by Unilever. AirTran Holdings soared 59% after Southwest Airlines offered $1.37 billion. Wal-Mart made a preliminary offer to South Africa based retailer Massmart. Jewelry retailer Zale Corp declined 3%.[/R]

Of the stocks in the Dow, 7 increased, 23 decreased and none were unchanged.

Of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Hewlett-Packard Company led gainers with a rise of 1.42% followed by increase in Verizon Communications Inc of 0.58%, in International Business Machines Corporation of 0.48%, in AT&T Inc. of 0.37%, Chevron Corporation of 0.30%.

Alcoa Inc led decliners with a fall of 1.31% followed by decline in Pfizer Inc. of 1.07%, in JPMorgan Chase & Co. of 0.99%, in Bank of America Corporation of 0.80%, in United Technologies Corporation of 0.77%.

Other Movers

Alberto-Culver Company ((ACV)) surged 19.5% or $6.14 to $37.62 after the beauty care products maker signed an agreement to be acquired by Unilever N.V. for $37.50 per share in cash valuing the company at approx $3.7 billion.

AirTran Holdings, Inc. ((AAI)) spurted 59.3% or $2.70 to $7.25 after the airline agreed to be acquired by Southwest Airlines ((LUV)) that valued at more than $1.37 billion. Including existing indebtedness and capitalized aircraft operating leases, the aggregate transaction value is approximately $3.42 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement shareholders of AirTran will receive a combination of Southwest common stock and cash valued between $7.25 and $7.75. Based on Southwest Airlines'' closing share price as of September 24, the value of the merger consideration would be $7.69 per AirTran share.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. ((CBRL)) rose 0.06% or 3 cent to $50.57 after the restaurant chain announced increase of quarterly dividend by 10% to $0.22 per share. The dividend is payable on November 5.

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. ((CALM)) declined 2.6% or 79 cent to $29.51 after the producer of eggs said first quarter net sales increased 1.5% to $190.4 million, compared with $187.67 million in the comparable period. Net income in the quarter was $4.76 million or 20 cents per diluted share compared with a net loss of $3.83 million or 16 cents per share in the year-earlier period.

EnviroStar, Inc. ((EVI)), the distributor of industrial laundry, dry cleaning machines and steam boilers reported fiscal 2010 revenues declined 15.2% to $19.6 million from $23.2 million in the prior year. Net earnings for fiscal 2010 fell 21.4%% to $414,066 or 6 cents per diluted share compared with net earnings of $526,863 or 7 cents per share in the year ago.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. ((WMT)) fell 0.4% or 23 cent to $53.85 after the retail stores said today that it has made a preliminary non-binding proposal which could if successful, lead to Walmart making cash offer to acquire Massmart Holdings Limited for148 rand per share.

Headquarter of Massmart is in Johannesburg, South Africa and one of the largest distributors of consumer goods in Africa. The company operates 290 stores in 13 countries in Africa, with the majority of its stores in South Africa.

Southwest Airlines Co. ((LUV)) soared 6.7% or 89 cent to $13.17.

Zale Corporation ((ZLC)) plunged 3.2% or 7 cent to $2.12 after the specialty retailer of fine jewelry reported fourth quarter revenues declined 3.4% to $345 million from $357.11 million in the prior-year quarter. Same store sales during the quarter decreased 2.1%. Net loss in the quarter narrowed 68.2% to $28.52 million or 89 cents per diluted share, compared to net loss of $89.8 million or $2.81 per share last year.