Comcast, Home Depot, Toll Brothers Jump; Domino's, Daktronics, Macy's Drop

Mukesh Buch
24 Feb, 2015
New York City

3M agreed to acquire assets of Polypore Intl for $1 billion. American Tower net surged 69%. Comcast net edged up. Domino''s Pizza profit jumped 8%. Daktronics net tumbled 79%. Express Scripts net soared 16%. Home Depot net surged 36%. Macy''s net fell 2%. Toll Brothers net jumped 78%.

[R]12:45 PM New York – 3M agreed to acquire assets of Polypore Intl for $1 billion. American Tower net surged 69%. Comcast net edged up. Domino''s Pizza profit jumped 8%. Daktronics net tumbled 79%. Express Scripts net soared 16%. Home Depot net surged 36%. Macy''s net fell 2%. Toll Brothers net jumped 78%.[/R]

Tollbooth Index nearly rose 0.1% or 10.72 to 10,674.36.

Earnings Review

3M Co ((MMM)) fell 28 cents to $168.52 after the diversified technology company agreed to acquire the assets of Polypore International Inc’s industrial filtration business for all-cash deal valued at $1 billion and remaining portion of Polypore business is acquired by Japan-based Asahi Kasei for about $2.2 billion.

American Tower Corp ((AMT)) slipped 1.7% or $167 to $95.66 after the communication infrastructure developer reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December soared 11.5% to $1.05 billion form a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter surged 68.6% to $168.6 million or 42 cents per diluted share compared to $99.98 million or 25 cents from the same quarter last year.

The company forecasted total revenue for fiscal 2015 between $4.25 billion and $4.33 billion and net income in the range of $945 million to $995 million.

Today, the company announced a separate public offering plan of 23,500,000 shares of its common stock and 12,500,000 depositary shares and use net proceeds to finance the Verizon transaction and to pay related fees and expenses.

Comcast Corporation ((CMCSA)) jumped 1.9% or 99 cents to $59.20 after the media and technology company reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December jumped 4.7% to $17.73 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter rose 1% to $1.93 billion or 74 cents per diluted share compared to $1.91 billion or 72 cents from the same quarter last year.

The company said revenues in the quarter from cable communications business jumped 6.1% to $ 11.3 billion and revenues from NBC Universal segment increased 2.3% to $6.6 billion.

Revenues from the Cable Networks business were stable at $2.3 billion while revenue from the Broadcast Television segment increased 4.8% to $ 2.3 billion.

Domino''s Pizza, Inc ((DPZ)) slipped 1.2% or $1.36 to $103.14 after the pizza retail chain stated revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December soared 13.5% to $642.95 million from a year ago period.

Domestic company-owned same stores sales in the quarter soared 11.9% and domestic franchise stores sales jumped 11%. International division same-store sales climbed 6.1% and total global retail sales surged 10.6%.

Net income in the quarter jumped 7.5% to $48 million or 85 cents per diluted share compared to $44.7 million or 78 cents from the same quarter last year.

Daktronics, Inc ((DAKT)) plunged 15.3% or $1.98 to $10.97 after the electronic scoreboard supplier said net sales in the third-quarter ending in December rose 2.3% to $118.1 million from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 79.1% to $0.6 million or 1 cents per diluted share compared to $2.87 million or 7 cents from the same quarter last year.

Express Scripts Holding Company ((ESRX)) gained 1.6% or $1.40 to $88.12 after the healthcare company said revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December rose 1.9% to $26.3 billion from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter soared 15.9% to $581.8 million or 79 cents per diluted share compared to $501.9 million or 63 cents from the same quarter last year.

The company said total claims volume dropped 7% to 337 million from a year ago period

Express Scripts forecasted adjusted earnings per share for the first-quarter in a range of $1.07 to $1.11 and adjusted earnings per share for the year between $5.35 and $5.49 per share.

Home Depot Inc ((HD)) jumped 3.1% or $3.46 to $115.74 after the home improvement retailer said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending on February 1 climbed 8.3% to $19.16 billion from a year ago period. Comparable store sales in the quarter jumped 2%.

Net income in the quarter surged 36.1% to $1.38 billion or $1.05 per diluted share compared to $1.01 billion or 73 cents from the same quarter last year.

Macy''s, Inc ((M)) declined 3.7% or $2.38 to $61.75 after the department store operator reported net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in January rose 1.7% to $9.36 billion from a year ago period. Comparable store sales in the quarter jumped 2%.

Net income in the quarter fell 2.2% to $793 million or $2.26 per diluted share compared to $811 million or $2.16 from the same quarter last year.

Toll Brothers Inc ((TOL)) climbed 4.9% or $1.81 to $38.91 after the homebuilder and property developer said revenues in the first-quarter ending in December surged 33% to $853.5 million from a year ago period.

Net income in the quarter jumped 78.3% to $81.3 million or 44 cents per diluted share compared to $45.6 million or 25 cents from the same quarter last year.

During the quarter, the home deliveries increased 18% to 1,091 units and forecasted to deliver between 5,200 and 6,000 homes in fiscal 2015 an average price of $725,000 to $760,000 compared to previous guidance of 5,000 to 6,000 homes at an average price of $710,000 to $760,000.