SoftBank and Alphabet in Robotics Deal, Digital Realty Acquires Dupont Fabros

Mukesh Buch
09 Jun, 2017
New York City

SoftBank agreed to acquire two robots business from Google''s parent Alphabet. Ascena Retail net swung to a loss. Digital Realty Trust agreed to acquire Dupont Fabros Technology for $7.6 billion. KMG Chemicals net fell. VeriFone net swung to a loss.

[R]12:50 PM New York – SoftBank agreed to acquire two robots business from Google''s parent Alphabet. Ascena Retail net swung to a loss. Digital Realty Trust agreed to acquire Dupont Fabros Technology for $7.6 billion. KMG Chemicals net fell. VeriFone net swung to a loss.[/R]

Tollbooth Index edged down 3.12 to 12,271.36.

Earnings Review

Alphabet Inc ((GOOG)) dropped 4.95% to $978.46 after the search engine services provider agreed to sell its robotics firm Boston Dynamics and Schaft to Japan-based communication services provider SoftBank Group Corporation without disclosing of financial terms.

Ascena Retail Group Inc ((ASNA)) jumped 4.7% or 8 cents to $1.90 after the specialty retailer said net sales in the third-quarter ending in April slumped 6% from a year ago to $1.6 billion.

Comparable store sales in the quarter declined 8%.

Net in the quarter swung to a loss of $1.03 billion or $5.29 per diluted share from $15 million or 8 cents in the same quarter last year.

The retailer said third-quarter result included a non-cash pre-tax $1.324 billion impairment charge to write down the carrying value of goodwill and other intangible assets.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc ((DLR)) fell 3.5% or $4.03 to $112.72 after the multi-tenant data centers developer and operator agreed to acquire smaller rival Dupont Fabros Technology Inc for an enterprise value of about $7.6 billion.

DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc stock jumped 9% to $60.36.

Ferrellgas Partners, L.P ((FGP)) declined 3.1% or 17 cents to $5.28 after the propane and related equipment retailer said revenues in the third-quarter ending in April jumped 5.6% from a year ago to $538.1 million.

Net income in the quarter tumbled 65.2% to $6.5 million or 7 cents per diluted share from $18.7 million or 19 cents in the same quarter last year.

The propane retailer said profit declined mainly after decreased contributions from the midstream operations segment and weak sales in propane in gallons.

“Weather for the third fiscal quarter was 2.7% warmer than last year, but more importantly 19.5% warmer than normal,” said interim president and chief executive officer James E. Ferrell.

KMG Chemicals, Inc ((KMG)) plunged 14.7% or $8.86 to $51.31 after the specialty chemicals producer reported revenues in the third-quarter ending in April were flat from a year ago to $81.6 million.

Net income in the quarter dropped 4.7% to $6.1 million or 49 cents per diluted share from $6.4 million or 53 cents in the same quarter last year.

Volt Information Sciences, Inc ((VISI)) slumped 4.3% or 25 cents to $5.55 after the information technology services provider said revenues in the second-quarter ending in April plunged 9.7% from a year ago to $303 million.

Net loss in the quarter narrowed to $0.9 million or 4 cents per diluted share from $1.8 million or 9 cents in the same quarter last year.

VeriFone Systems Inc ((PAY)) declined 4.9% or 89 cents to $17.43 after the payment services provider reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in April plummeted 10% from a year ago to $474 million.

Net in the quarter swung to a loss of $89.3 million or 80 cents per diluted share from profit of $2.9 million or 3 cents in the same quarter last year.

In the third-quarter, the payment services provider estimated revenues in the range of $463 million to $465 million and diluted earnings per share between 14 cents to 15 cents.

Verifone forecasted fiscal 2017 revenues in the range of $1.86 billion to $1.87 billion and net diluted loss per share between 51 cents and 53 cents.