ConAgra, Clarcor, Rite Aid Profit Surge; Red Hat Acquires FeedHenry

Mukesh Buch
18 Sep, 2014
New York City

ConAgra profit surged 229% on flat revenues. Clarcor net climbed 45%. IHS net doubled on 16% increase of revenue and raised fiscal outlook. Rite Aid net soared 290%. Red Hat agreed to acquire the mobile application provider FeedHenry. United Natural Foods net rose 4%.

[R]12:10 PM New York – ConAgra profit surged 229% on flat revenues. Clarcor net climbed 45%. IHS net doubled on 16% increase of revenue and raised fiscal outlook. Rite Aid net soared 290%. Red Hat agreed to acquire the mobile application provider FeedHenry. United Natural Foods net rose 4%.[/R]

Tollbooth Index gained 0.5% or 44.88 to 9,525.52.

Earnings Review

ConAgra Foods Inc ((CAG)) jumped 2.5% or 80 cents to $32.81 after the packaged food maker reported total sales in the first-quarter ending on August 24 slid 0.4% to $3.70 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 229.1% to $484.5 million or $1.12 a diluted share compared to $147.2 million or 34 cents from a same quarter last year.

Clarcor Inc ((CLC)) gained 51 cents to $63.81 after the filtration products provider said net sales in the third-quarter ending in August jumped 38% to $400.2 million from a year ago period.

Net earnings in the quarter climbed 45% to $41.7 million or 82 cents a diluted share compared to $28.7 million or 57 cents from a same quarter last year.

IHS Inc ((IHS)) declined 4.1% or $5.61 to $133.01 after the professional information services provider reported revenue in the third-quarter ending in August soared 16% to $556 million from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter doubled to $46.5 million or 68 cents a diluted share compared to $23.4 million or 35 cents from a same quarter last year.

The company raised its revenue forecast for the year between $2.23 billion and $2.24 billion from earlier range of $2.17 billion to $2.23 billion and adjusted EBITDA between $685 million and $695 million but lowered its estimate of diluted earnings per share in the range of $5.70 to $5.80.

Rite Aid Corporation ((RAD)) plunged 15.5% or $1.03 to $5.61 after the retail drugstore chain revenue in the second-quarter ending in August rose 3.9% to $6.5 billion from a year ago period.

Same store sales in the quarter jumped 4.1% and pharmacy sales rose 5.6%. The number of prescriptions filled in same stores increased 3.7% from the prior year period.

Net income in the quarter soared 289.6% to $127.8 million or 13 cents a diluted share compared to $32.8 million or 3 cents from a same quarter last year.

Red Hat Inc. ((RHT)) fell 20 cents to $60.88 after the open-source software solution provider agreed to acquire privately-held FeedHenry, a mobile application platform provider for $81.8 million in cash.

The transaction is expected to close in third-quarter of fiscal 2015.

United Natural Foods, Inc ((UNFI)) slipped 40 cents to $63.21 after the specialty foods retailer stated net sales in the fourth-quarter ending on August 2 soared 15.8% to $1.76 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter jumped 4% to $33.4 million or 67 cents a diluted share compared to $32.1 million or 65 cents from a same quarter last year.