Comcast Agrees to Acquire Time Warner Cable; Cisco, Whole Foods Fall

Mukesh Buch
13 Feb, 2014
New York City

Comcast agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion. Apache net tumbled 73% as revenue dropped 19%. Cisco net plunged 54% and sales declined 8%. Fossil profit fell 2% but sales climbed. PepsiCo net jumped 5%. Whole Foods net grew 4%.

[R]11:40 AM New York – Comcast agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion. Apache net tumbled 73% as revenue dropped 19%. Cisco net plunged 54% and sales declined 8%. Fossil profit fell 2% but sales climbed. PepsiCo net jumped 5%. Whole Foods net grew 4%.[/R]

Apache Corporation ((APA)) slipped 2.4% or $1.95 to $79.33 after the independent energy company said total revenue in the fourth-quarter ending in December dropped 18.5% to $3.58 billion.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 73.2% to $174 million or 43 cents a diluted share compared to $649 million or $1.64.

Cisco Systems, Inc ((CSCO)) dropped 4.7% or $1.08 to $21.76 after the networking products maker reported revenue in the second-quarter ending on January 25 declined 7.8% to $11.2 billion.

Net income in the quarter plunged 54.5% to $1.4 billion or 27 cents a diluted share compared to $3.1 billion or 59 cents.

Comcast Corporation ((CMCSA)) slumped 3.6% or $1.99 to $53.26 after the cable operators agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc. for about $45.2 billion or $158.82 per share.

The combined company holds about 30 million subscribers that represent 30% of the U.S. pay television video market.

Shares of Charter Communications, Inc tumbled 9% to $125.19.

Fossil Group Inc ((FOSL)) rose 69 cents to $121.75 after the fashion accessories designer said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in December climbed 11.8% to $1.06 billion.

Net income in the quarter fell 1.7% to $148.5 million or $2.68 a diluted share compared to $151.1 million or $2.51.

For the first-quarter, Fossil estimated net sales to jump between 12.5% and 14% and diluted earnings per share in a range of $1.10 to $1.18 compared to $1.21 in fiscal 2013.

For the year, the company expects net sales to increase between 8% and 10% and diluted earnings per share in a range of $6.90 to $7.30 compared to $6.56 in fiscal 2013.

PepsiCo, Inc ((PEP)) slumped 2.9% or $2.38 to $79.11 after the food and beverage company reported net revenue in the fourth-quarter ending on December 28 rose 1% to $20.12 billion.

Net income in the quarter jumped 5% to $1.74 billion or $1.12 a diluted share compared to $1.66 billion or $1.06.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. ((WFM)) plunged 7.6% or $4.24 to $51.22 after the organic foods supermarket operator said total sales in the first-quarter ending on January 19 climbed 10% $4.2 billion. Comparable store sales in the quarter jumped 5.4%.

Net income in the quarter grew 3.7% to $158 million or 42 cents a diluted share compared to $146 million or 39 cents.

The company forecasted sales growth of 11% to 12%, comparable store sales growth of 5.5% to 6.2%, and diluted earnings per share of $1.58 to $1.65.