Twitter Co-founder Williams to Reduce Stake, WD 40 Net Drops 10%

Mukesh Buch
07 Apr, 2017
New York City

Griffin Industrial Realty said net loss in the first-quarter widened. Haverty Furniture sales advanced 3%. Intec Pharma net loss widened. PriceSmart profit jumped and retailer said sales in March rose 5.3%. Co-founder of Twitter plans to sell his stake of 30%. WD-40 net declined 10%.

[R]12:20 PM New York – Griffin Industrial Realty said net loss in the first-quarter widened. Haverty Furniture sales advanced 3%. Intec Pharma net loss widened. PriceSmart profit jumped and retailer said sales in March rose 5.3%. Co-founder of Twitter plans to sell his stake of 30%. WD-40 net declined 10%.[/R]

Tollbooth Index dropped 30.98 or 0.3% to 11,551.04.

Earnings Review

Griffin Industrial Realty Inc ((GRIF)) fell 1 cent to $31.01 after the real estate developer stated total revenues in the first-quarter ending in February increased 4.5% from a year ago to $7 million.

Net loss in the quarter widened to $0.9 million or 19 cents per diluted share from $0.3 million or 7 cents in the same quarter last year.

Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc ((HVT)) gained 1.5% or 35 cents to $24.40 after the residential furniture and accessories retailer said sales in the first-quarter ending in March advanced 3% from a year ago to $200.4 million.

Comparable store sales in the quarter increased 1.6%.

“Our first quarter sales were driven by successful President''s Day and March promotional sales events. The upholstery category remained strong, bolstered by a 10.3% increase in custom order business,” the chairman, president and chief executive officer Clarence H. Smith said.

The retailer schedule to release first-quarter results on May 1 after the market closes.

Intec Pharma Ltd ((NTEC)) rose 5 cents to $5.40 after the Israel-based biopharmaceutical drugs maker said net loss in the year ending in December widened to $13.4 million from $7.8 million and diluted loss per share increased to $1.17 to 92 cents.

PriceSmart, Inc ((PSMT)) declined 5.4% or $5 to $87.85 after the membership discount stores operator reported net sales in the second-quarter ending in February increased 2% from a year ago to $793.3 million.

Net income in the quarter jumped 5% to $27.2 million or 90 cents per diluted share from $25.9 million or 85 cents in the same quarter last year.

The retailer said net warehouse club sales in March advanced 5.3% to $239.9 million, from a year earlier.

Twitter Inc ((TWTR)), the social media network provider’s co-founder Evan Williams said that he plans to sell up to 30% of his shares over the next few months and reduce his stake in Twitter to below 4% from approx 5%.

At the current price, Williams holds the stake worth about $623 million.

“It actually pains me to be selling at this point, but this sale is all about personal context, not company context,” Evan Williams wrote in the blog.

""I like to invest a lot in things I care about,"" he added in the post, and as such stock of Twitter declined 14% in the last year and 72% in the last two years.

WD-40 Company ((WDFC)) dropped 2.9% or $3.07 to $103.88 after the household products maker said total net sales in the second-quarter ending in February rose 2% from a year ago to $96.5 million.

Net income in the quarter declined 10% to $12.4 million or 87 cents per diluted share from $13.7 million or 94 cents in the same quarter last year.

The household products maker forecasted net sales in fiscal 2017 to grow between 2% and 4% or between $390 million and $395 million and net income in the range of $51.3 million to $52.3 million and diluted earnings per share in the range of $3.64 to $3.71.