Patterson to Buy Seventy Seven Energy for $1.8 B, VeriFone Net Swings to Loss

Mukesh Buch
13 Dec, 2016
New York City

GMS net surged on 29% jump in revenues. Investors Real Estate Trust net tumbled 37%. KMG Chemicals profit soared 24%. Patterson-UTI Energy agreed to acquire Seventy Seven Energy for $1.8 billion. VeriFone net swung to a loss.

[R]2:10 PM New York – GMS net surged on 29% jump in revenues. Investors Real Estate Trust net tumbled 37%. KMG Chemicals profit soared 24%. Patterson-UTI Energy agreed to acquire Seventy Seven Energy for $1.8 billion. VeriFone net swung to a loss.[/R]

Tollbooth Index advanced 67.88 or 0.6% to 11,379.59.

Earnings Review

Blue Bird Corporation, formerly Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp, the privately held school buses manufacturer said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending on October 1, declined 6.9% from a year ago to $286.4 million.

Net income in the quarter plunged 32% to $10.8 million or 39 cents per diluted share compared to the $15.9 million or 63 cents per share from the same quarter last year.

The school buses manufacturer said overall unit sales in the year increased 2% to 10,616, with propane-powered bus sales up 33% to 2,240 vehicles.

Unit sales for the fourth-quarter totaled 3,308, with propane unit sales of 693 vehicles and gross margin of about 13.5% but gross profit slipped 2% to $38.7 million.

GMS Inc ((GMS)) declined 3.6% or 98 cents to $26.41 after the wallboard and suspended ceilings systems distributor reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in October soared 29.2% from a year ago to $591.8 million.

Net income in the quarter surged to $17.2 million or 42 cents per diluted share compared to the $2.8 million or 9 cents per share from the same quarter last year.

Investors Real Estate Trust ((IRET)) jumped 6.8% or 42 cents to $6.70 after the real estate developer stated revenues in the second-quarter ending in October advanced 9.2% from a year ago to $50.6 million.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 36.9% to $8.7 million or 7 cents per diluted share compared to the $13.8 million or 13 cents per share from the same quarter last year.

KMG Chemicals, Inc ((KMG)) dropped 2.6% or 94 cents to $35.59 after the specialty chemicals manufacturer said revenues in the first-quarter ending in October slid 0.3% from a year ago to $76.5 million.

Net income in the quarter soared 23.9% to $5.7 million or 47 cents per diluted share compared to the $4.6 million or 39 cents per share from the same quarter last year.

Patterson-UTI Energy, Inc ((PTEN)) slumped 6.5% or $1.87 to $26.80 after the oil and gas drilling services provider agreed to acquire smaller rival Seventy Seven Energy Inc for about $1.76 billion including debt.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of first-quarter of 2017.

VeriFone Systems Inc ((PAY)) surged 7.9% or $1.30 to $17.74 after the electronic payment solutions provider reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in October plummeted 9.7% from a year ago to $464.2 million.

Net in the quarter swung to a loss of $4.5 million or 4 cents per diluted share compared to the profit of $38.2 million or 33 cents per share from the same quarter last year.

VeriFone forecasted revenues in the fiscal first-quarter of about $446 million and net loss per diluted share of about 8 cents.

In fiscal 2017, the company estimated revenues between $1.90 billion and $1.91 billion and diluted earnings per share in the range of 37 cents to 41 cents.