Foot Locker, J C Penney Fall on Outlook Worries; VMware Revenue Jumps

Mukesh Buch
02 Mar, 2018
New York City

Equifax profit surged 40% but the credit data company continues to struggle to protect customer data. Foot Locker tumbled on lowered outlook. J C Penney plunged on weak forecast. VMware net swung to a loss despite strong revenues.

[R]11:25 AM New York City, New York – Equifax profit surged 40% but the credit data company continues to struggle to protect customer data. Foot Locker tumbled on lowered outlook. J C Penney plunged on weak forecast. VMware net swung to a loss despite strong revenues.[/R]

Tollbooth Index slumped 41.79 or 0.3% to 14,219.52.

Earnings Review

Equifax Inc ((EFX)) advanced 2.2% or $2.34 to $113.84 after the outsourcing services provider reported revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in December jumped 5% from a year ago to $838.5 million.

Net income in the quarter surged 40% to $172.3 million or $1.42 per diluted share from $123 million or $1.01 in the same quarter last year.

Equifax said that it has identify approximately 2.4 million U.S. consumers whose names and partial driver's license information were stolen by the cyberattack bringing the total number of compromised data now to more than 147 million.

Foot Locker Inc ((FL)) tumbled 15.2% or $6.99 to $38.87 after the shoes and apparel retailer said total sales in the fourth-quarter ending on February 3 advanced 4.6% from a year ago to $2.2 billion.

Comparable store sales in the quarter dropped 3.7%.

Net in the quarter swung to a loss of $49 million or 40 cent per diluted share from profit of $189 million or $1.42 in the same quarter last year.

The retailer forecasted fiscal 2018 comparable-store sales of about flat to low single-digit and gross margins to drop to 2.3%.

J C Penney Company Inc ((JCP)) plunged 11% or 43 cents to $3.48 after the department stores operator reported total net sales in the fourth-quarter ending on February 3 rose 1.8% from a year ago to $4 billion.

Comparable store sales in the quarter increased 2.6%.

Net income in the quarter surged 32.3% to $254 million or 81 cent per diluted share from $192 million or 61 cents in the same quarter last year.

J C Penney estimated fiscal 2018 comparable store sales between zero and 2 % and earnings per share in the range of 5 cents to 25 cents and the retailer said its outstanding debt position to decline by more than $600 million.

Perrigo Company Plc ((PRGO)) gained 46 cents to $80 after the Ireland-based pharmaceutical products maker said net sales in the fourth-quarter ending in December dropped 3.6% from a year ago to $1.3 billion.

Net in the quarter swung to profit $73 million or 52 cent per diluted share from net loss of $1.4 billion or $9.48 in the same quarter last year.

The healthcare products maker said net sales in the quarter in the consumer health markets in Americas rose 2.5% and adjusted operating margin of 23.1% and net sales in the international markets jumped 3.3%.

VMware, Inc ((VMW)) declined 6.9% or $8.47 to $115.27 after the information technology provider said revenues in the fourth-quarter ending on February 2 soared 14% from a year ago to $2.3 billion.

Net in the quarter swung to a loss of $440 million or $1.09 per diluted share from profit of $441 million or $1.04 in the same quarter last year.

The information technology provider said license revenue for the fourth quarter surged 20% to $1.07 billion from the same period a year ago.