By Tess Stynes
Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in
Monday's session are Hhgregg Inc. (HGG), Select Comfort Corp.
(SCSS) and Walgreen Co. (WAG).
The first retailer out with holiday results, Hhgregg, expects
that its fiscal third-quarter results will be well below estimates.
Same-store sales slumped 11% amid a 20% tumble for consumer
electronics and 25% for computing/wireless. The weakness will
result in a profit miss for the quarter, but Chief Executive Dennis
May adds the retailer didn't partake in the race to the
bottom--selling product regardless of profitability--in an effort
to hold up its bottom line. Shares were down 13% at $11.78
premarket.
Select Comfort said its fourth-quarter results won't meet its
forecast thanks to December not being up to snuff. That "reflected
a tepid retail holiday-shopping season," Chief Executive Shelly
Ibach stated. "We expect this challenging environment to continue
in 2014 and are planning accordingly." Shares were down 13% at
$18.60 premarket.
Walgreen reported that after two months of increased same-store
traffic away from the pharmacy, that measure fell again in December
at Walgreen. But last month's 1.3% drop from a year earlier was
more than offset by the average purchase size rising 3.8%, pushing
front-end same-store sales up 2.5% alongside a 5.3% jump in
prescriptions filled. Overall same-store sales jumped 6.1%, the
biggest gain since September despite the front-end
underperformance. Shares were up 1.6% at $57.75 premarket.
Watchlist:
Private-equity firm Carlyle Group LP (CG) named former Federal
Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski as managing
director and partner in its U.S. buyout team, with Mr. Genachowski
returning to the private sector where he previously worked as a
venture capitalist.
CommonWealth REIT (CWH) said Monday that it had invited activist
investor Keith Meister of Corvex Management LP to join its board as
the company also appointed two independent directors to the
board.
General Electric Co.'s (GE) healthcare unit agreed to acquire
several of Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.'s (TMO) life-sciences
businesses for roughly $1.06 billion.
Men's Wearhouse Inc. (MW) commenced a cash tender offer to buy
Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. (JOSB) for about $1.6 billion, the
latest bid in a months-long acquisition battle between the rival
men's clothing retailers.
T-Mobile US Inc. (TMUS) agreed to buy a block of airwave rights
from rival VerizonWireless to bolster its network in major cities.
T-Mobile--the fourth-largest U.S. carrier behind Verizon, AT&T
Inc. (T) and Sprint Corp. (S)--intends to pay $2.365 billion in
cash and transfer spectrum licenses valued at about $950 million to
Verizon. The larger carrier originally bought the spectrum for
about $2.4 billion.
Verint Systems Inc. (VRNT) agreed to buy customer-service
software firm Kana Software Inc. from private equity firm Accel-KKR
for about $514 million in cash, as the data-analysis company seeks
to expand its offerings.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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