Dentsply in $5.6 B Deal with Sirona, FedEx Profit Declines

Mukesh Buch
16 Sep, 2015
New York City

Dentsply agreed to a merger with the rival Sirona Dental in $5.6 billion deal. GE divests its $3.7 billion portfolio of loans from its U.K.-based home lending portfolio. Ascena net swung to a loss. Cracker Barrel net soared 21%. FedEx profit declined 6%. United Natural Foods net jumped 8%.

[R]12:00 PM New York – Dentsply agreed to a merger with the rival Sirona Dental in $5.6 billion deal. GE divests its $3.7 billion portfolio of loans from its U.K.-based home lending portfolio. Ascena net swung to a loss. Cracker Barrel net soared 21%. FedEx profit declined 6%. United Natural Foods net jumped 8%.[/R]

Tollbooth Index gained 44.84 or 0.4% to 10,466.82.

Earnings Review

Ascena Retail Group Inc ((ASNA)) surged 8.7% or $1.03 to $13 after the specialty retailer said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending on July 25 fell 1.1% from a year ago to $1.17 billion.

Comparable store sales in the quarter decreased 2%.

Net in the quarter swung to a loss of $323.4 million or $1.98 per diluted share compared to profit of $15.7 million or 10 cents from the same quarter last year.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc ((CBRL)) declined 4% or $6.04 to $145.03 after the restaurants and bars operator stated total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in July increased 3.8% from a year ago to $719.2 million.

Comparable sales in the quarter increased 0.8% and comparable restaurant sales jumped 3.8% and comparable retail sales rose 0.6%.

Net income in the quarter soared 21% to $47.4 million or $1.97 per diluted share compared to $39.2 million or $1.63 from the same quarter last year.

The company estimated earnings per diluted share for the first-quarter of 2016 between $1.50 and $1.60.

For fiscal 2016, the company forecasted total revenue between $2.90 billion and $2.95 billion and earnings per diluted share in the range of $7.15 to $7.30.

Comparable restaurant sales estimated to increase in the range of 2.5% to 3.5% and comparable retail sales to increase between 2% and 3%.

Dentsply International Inc ((XRAY)) dropped 2.9% or $1.59 to $52.76 after the consumable dental products maker plans to merge with the rival Sirona Dental Systems Inc in a $5.56 billion all-stock deal to create the world''s largest dental equipment maker.

The merged entity will be named Dentsply Sirona.

Sirona shareholders will receive 1.8142 per share of Dentsply, representing a 0.7% discount to yesterday’s closing price.

The transaction is expected to closes in the first-quarter in 2016.

FedEx Corporation ((FDX)) slumped 3.6% or $5.56 to $148.45 after the air freight and logistics services provider reported net revenues in the first-quarter ending in August jumped 5.1% from a year ago to $12.3 billion.

Net income in the quarter declined 5.9% to $692 million or $2.42 per diluted share compared to $653 million or $2.26 from the same quarter last year.

FedEx forecasted diluted earnings per share for the fiscal 2016 between $10.40 and $10.90.

General Electric Company ((GE)) jumped 2.7% or 68 cents to $25.98 after the industrial conglomerate said it had divest a $3.7 billion portfolio of loans from its U.K.-based home lending business to a private equity firm Kensington Mortgage Co Ltd.

United Natural Foods, Inc ((UNFI)) fell 3 cents to $50.64 after the specialty foods retailer said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending on August 1 soared 16.8% from a year ago to $2.06 billion.

Net income in the quarter jumped 8.2% to $36.1 million or 72 cents per diluted share compared to $33.4 million or 67 cents from the same quarter last year.

The foods retailer estimated net sales for fiscal 2016 between $8.51 billion and $8.67 billion, an increase of 4% to 6% and diluted earnings per share in the range of $2.80 to $2.93 compared to $2.76 in the fiscal 2015.