By Chris Wack and Maria Armental 
 

Among the companies with shares expected to trade actively in Wednesday's session are Western Digital Corp. (WDC), Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Mellanox Technologies (MLNX).

 

Unisplendour Corporation Limited will buy a 15% stake in Western Digital Corp., allowing it to nominate a director, the companies said Wednesday. Western Digital shares were up 13.5% at $78.17 in premarket trading.

 

Pfizer Inc. on Wednesday boosted its full-year revenue and adjusted-earnings outlooks to reflect its recently completed acquisition of Hospira Inc. Shares rose 0.84% to $31.28 premarket.

 

Cash America International Inc. named Chief Operating Officer T. Brent Stuart as the payday lender's new chief executive, bringing to a close a search for a successor for its retiring chief that began more than a year ago. Cash America shares were untraded premarket.

 

Mellanox Technologies Ltd. agreed to acquire EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. for about $770 million. Shares fell 3.24% to $38.50 premarket.

 

Actuant Corp. (ATU) said sales and profit dropped in its latest quarter as the industrial-services company felt the pinch of currency headwinds and weakness in commodities. Share fell 0.68% to $17.45 premarket.

 

Paychex Inc. (PAYX) said its earnings rose 22% on continued growth in its payroll and human-resource-services businesses and a boost from a tax benefit in the latest quarter. Shares rose 2.15% to $47.00 premarket.

 

C&J Energy Services Ltd. said Wednesday that the continued downturn in commodity prices has led the company to expect current quarter sales below previously-issued guidance.

 

Teen retailer Aeropostale Inc. is considering a reverse stock split to shore up the value of its beleaguered shares. The New York Stock Exchange requires among its listing conditions that a company maintain a price of at least $1 a share. The company's stock, down 75% this year, set a record low on Wednesday at 55 cents a share.

 

AT&T Inc. (T) said it is changing the methodology that DirecTV uses to count commercial subscribers, resulting in 918,600 fewer users at the satellite-television provider. AT&T now will count each commercial account at DirecTV as one subscriber; previously, DirecTV used a method that converted commercial accounts to an equivalent number of residential subscribers based on relative revenue per account.

 

Campbell Soup Co.'s (CPB) longtime director Les Vinney will succeed Paul Charron as board chairman on Nov. 1, the company said Wednesday. The leadership change comes as the iconic soup company is trying to revamp sales by betting on fresh food.

 

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK) is reducing its workforce by 15% to reduce costs amid low prices for crude and natural gas. In a regulatory filing Tuesday, the U.S. shale driller said it expects to post third-quarter charges of roughly $55.5 million related to the move.

 

Costco Wholesale Corp. (COST) on Tuesday reported lower fuel prices and the stronger U.S. dollar again weakened sales in the latest quarter, even as profit improved 10%.

 

Filtration manufacturer Donaldson Co. Inc. said on Tuesday that it needs more time to meet a regulatory requirement over its financial performance for the year ended July 31, after finding several instances in which revenue was recognized in the wrong period. The accounting errors affect the fourth quarter of 2014 and second and third quarters of 2015, the company said, adding the errors identified so far are "immaterial" for financial purposes. The investigation continues.

 

Huntington Bancshares Inc. (HBAN) said Tuesday that a Michigan federal court issued a nearly $72 million judgment against its banking unit in its long-running dispute with the bankruptcy trustee at Teleservices Group Inc. The regional bank, which plans to appeal the decision, will increase its legal reserves by about $45 million in the third quarter to fully accrue for the judgment, it said in a regulatory filing.

 

Mississippi Power Co. (SO) said it may miss an important completion deadline for the coal-gasification power plant it's building in Mississippi, forcing it to forfeit $234 million in federal tax credits already taken.

 

Ralph Lauren Corp. (RL) said it has hired Stefan Larsson, the global president of Gap Inc.'s Old Navy division, as its chief executive, putting in motion a succession plan for one of fashion's biggest companies. In an interview Tuesday at his Madison Avenue office, Mr. Lauren stressed that the change wasn't about him stepping aside, but rather about bringing on a partner to help take the company to the next level. "The company has to change," Mr. Lauren said. "It's a public company and we have a responsibility to have the right leadership."

 

Write to Chris Wack at chris.wack@wsj.com and Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 30, 2015 09:26 ET (13:26 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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