Walgreens Offers $17.2 B to Rite Aid; Northrop Wins $80 B Contract

Mukesh Buch
28 Oct, 2015
New York City

Apple net and revenues surged. General Dynamics net rose. Hilton profit soared 53%. Intercontinental Exchange net soared 30%. Northrop secured Pentagon sweepstakes contract for $80 billion. Southern net surged 33%. Twitter net loss narrowed. Walgreens offered $17.2 billion to Rite Aid.

[R]12:30 PM New York – Apple net and revenues surged. General Dynamics net rose. Hilton profit soared 53%. Intercontinental Exchange net soared 30%. Northrop secured Pentagon sweepstakes contract for $80 billion. Southern net surged 33%. Twitter net loss narrowed. Walgreens offered $17.2 billion to Rite Aid.[/R]

Tollbooth Index increased 93.27 or 0.9% to 10,949.18.

Earnings Review

Apple Inc ((AAPL)) jumped 2.3% or $2.66 to $117.22 after the mobile and media devices maker reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending on September 26 soared 22.3% from a year ago to $51.5 billion.

Net income in the quarter surged 30.6% to $11.1 billion or $1.96 per diluted share compared to $8.5 billion or $1.42 per share from the same quarter last year.

Revenues in America in the quarter jumped 8% to $21.8 billion and revenues in Greater China doubled to $12.5 billion from $6.29 billion in a year ago period. Revenues in Asia Pacific region soared 27% to $2.70 billion.

Apple said iPhone unit sales in the quarter surged 22.3% to 48 million units but sales of iPad tumbled 20% to 9.8 million units while unit sales in Mac rose 3% to 5.7 million units.

For the first-quarter, Apple forecasted revenue between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion and gross margin between 39% and 40%.

General Dynamics Corporation ((GD)) gained 1.1% or $1.68 to $150.08 after the aerospace and defense group reported revenues in the third-quarter ending in September increased 3.1% from a year ago to $7.99 billion.

Net income in the quarter jumped 5.3% to $733 million or $2.28 per diluted share compared to $696 million or $2.06 from the same quarter last year.

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc ((HLT)) slipped 1.2% or 31 cents to $25 after the hotels and motels operator said total revenues in the third-quarter ending in September jumped 9.8% from a year ago to $2.90 billion.

Net income in the quarter soared 52.5% to $279 million or 28 cents per diluted share compared to $183 million or 19 cents from the same quarter last year.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc ((ICE)) rose 28 cents to $255.99 after the trading exchanges operator stated total revenues in the third-quarter ending in September advanced 9.4% from a year ago to $3.388 billion.

Net income in the quarter soared 30.4% to $904 million or $8.10 per diluted share compared to $693 million or $6.02 from the same quarter last year.

Northrop Grumman Corporation ((NOC)) soared 5.5% or $9.91 to $190.58 after the security products maker said net sales in the third-quarter ending in September was nearly flat from a year ago at $5.98 billion.

Net income in the quarter jumped 9.1% to $516 million or $2.75 per diluted share compared to $473 million or $2.26 from the same quarter last year.

Separately yesterday, the company said the U.S. Air Force has selected to deliver the nation''s new Long-Range Strike Bomber, wining the Pentagon sweepstakes contract valued at as much as $80 billion to deploy Bombers in the mid-2020.

Occidental Petroleum Corporation ((OXY)) jumped 5.3% or $3.71 to $73.91 after the oil and gas explorer reported revenues in the third-quarter ending in September plunged 34.1% from a year ago to $3.25 billion.

Net income in the quarter tumbled to $24 million or 3 cents per diluted share compared to $1.05 billion or $1.34 from the same quarter last year.

Southern Company ((SO)) rose 28 cents to $45.94 after the public utility provider said total revenues in the third-quarter ending in September increased 1.1% from a year ago to $5.40 billion.

Net income in the quarter surged 33.6% to $959 million or $1.05 per diluted share compared to $718 million or 80 cents from the same quarter last year.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc ((HOT)) jumped 4.9% or $3.67 to $78.48 after the hotel and leisure company said total revenues in the third-quarter ending in September dropped 4% from a year ago to $1.43 billion.

Net income in the quarter plunged 19.3% to $88 million or 53 cents per diluted share compared to $109 million or 59 cents from the same quarter last year.

Twitter Inc ((TWTR)) slumped 4.2% or $1.31 to $30.04 after the social media services provider revenues in the third-quarter ending in September surged 57.5% from a year ago to $569 million.

Net loss in the quarter narrowed to $131.7 million or 20 cents per diluted share compared to $175.5 million or 29 cents from the same quarter last year.

Twitter average active monthly users in the quarter increased to 320 million from 316 million in the prior quarter, the slowest increase since the company listed its stock in 2013.

Twitter forecasted revenues for the fourth-quarter between $695 million and $710 million.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc ((WBA)) tumbled 8.3% or $7.92 to $87.24 after the drug store chain said it agreed to acquire the smaller rival Rite Aid for $9 per share, a 48% premium to the closing price of $6.08 or valued at about $9.41 billion in cash.

The companies reported the deal is worth about $17.2 billion, including debt and Walgreens is expected to close the deal in the second-half of next year.

Rite Aid Corporation stock declined 6.8% to $8.09.

Separately, Walgreens today reported total revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in September soared 49.2% from a year ago to $28.5 billion.

Net in the quarter swung to profit $26 million or 2 cents per diluted share compared to a loss of $221 million or 23 cents from the same quarter last year.

For the year, Walgreens forecasted net diluted earnings per share in the range of $4.25 to $4.55.