Oracle Repurchased $10 B of Stock, Navistar Held Out Optimistic Outlook

Mukesh Buch
18 Dec, 2018
New York City

Darden Restaurants gained on 36% jump in profit and better-than-expected same store sales growth estimate. Navistar surged. Oracle revenues fell. Red Hat revenues soared. Steel Dynamics rose on improved forecast. Worthington Industries plunged 10%.

[R]1:05 PM New York City, New York – Darden Restaurants gained on 36% jump in profit and better-than-expected same store sales growth estimate. Navistar surged. Oracle revenues fell. Red Hat revenues soared. Steel Dynamics rose on improved forecast. Worthington Industries plunged 10%.[/R]

Tollbooth Index dropped 104.77 or 0.7% to 14,353.02 but for the year-to-date soared 4.3%.

Earnings Review

Darden Restaurants Inc ((DRI)) jumped 3.2% or $3.19 to $102.08 after the full-service restaurant operator reported total sales in the second-quarter ending on November 25 advanced 4.9% from a year ago to $1.9 billion.

Same restaurant sales in the quarter increased 2.1%.

Net income in the quarter soared 36.5% to $115.6 million or 92 cents per diluted share from $84.7 million or 67 cents in the same quarter last year.

The dining services provider forecasted fiscal 2018 same-restaurant sales growth of about 2.5% and diluted earnings per share between $5.60 and $5.70.

Elanco Animal Health Inc ((ELAN)) slumped 1.9% or 61 cents to $31.15 after the animal health products and services provider forecasted fiscal 2018 revenues between $3.05 billion and $3.08 billion and diluted earnings per share of 15 cents to 17 cents.

For fiscal 2019 the animal healthcare products maker forecasted revenues in the range of $3.10 billion to $3.16 billion and diluted earnings per share of 36 cents to 48 cents.

Navistar International Corporation ((NAV)) surged 18.9% or $4.52 to $28.36 after the commercial trucks, school and commercial buses maker said revenues in the fourth-quarter ending in October surged 28% from a year ago to $3.3 billion.

Net income in the quarter surged 28.1% to $188 million or $1.89 per diluted share from $135 million or $1.36 in the same quarter last year.

Navistar forecasted fiscal 2019 will be the another strong year and industry retail deliveries of Class 6-8 trucks and buses in the United States and Canada between 395,000 and 425,000 units and Class 8 retail deliveries of 265,000 to 295,000 units.

The commercial trucks and buses maker said surge in profit was driven by strong demand in heavy duty trucks.

Navistar forecasted fiscal 2019 revenues between $10.75 billion and $11.25 billion and net income in the range of $850 million to $900 million.

Oracle Corporation ((ORCL) slid 19 cents to $45.55 after the cloud applications and platform services provider reported revenues in the second-quarter ending in November fell 0.3% from a year ago to $9.56 billion.

Net income in the quarter jumped 5.4% to $2.3 billion or 61 cents per diluted share from $2.2 million or 52 cents in the same quarter last year.

Total cloud services and license support and cloud license and on-premise license revenues rose 1% to $7.9 billion. Cloud services and license support revenues grew $6.6 billion from $6.5 billion but cloud license and on-premise license revenues fell $1.2 billion from $1.3 billion in a year ago period.

Oracle repurchased 203 million shares in the quarter for $10 billion with an average share price of $49.26 per share.

Red Hat Inc ((RHT)) gained 49 cents to $176.49 after the open source software provider reported total revenues in the third-quarter ending in November soared 13% from a year ago to $847 million.

Net income in the quarter declined 7.8% to $94 million or 51 cents per diluted share from $102 million or 55 cents in the same quarter last year.

Steel Dynamics, Inc ((STLD)) advanced 2.3% or 71 cents to $32.10 after the steel producer forecasted fourth-quarter 2018 diluted earnings per share between $1.11 and $1.15.

The steelmaker said the planned maintenance outages at the company''s two flat roll steel mills, including higher than normal maintenance and associated costs of about $20 million.

Worthington Industries Inc ((WOR)) tumbled 10.2% or $3.74 to $32.92 after the diversified metals producer said net sales in the second-quarter ending in November surged 10% from a year ago to $958.2 million.

Net income in the quarter plunged 38.1% to $34 million or 57 cents per diluted share from $54.9 million or 91 cents in the same quarter last year.