MHS, ADM, CVC, BBY, SNIC, EMR, UTR, SBIB Popular Stocks
U.S. stocks traded lower Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.31% to 9759, the S&P 500 declined 0.10% to 1042 and the Nasdaq Composite decreased 0.19% to 2045.
Medco Health Solutions Inc.’s (NYSE:MHS, $59.11, +$1.53, 2.66%) third-quarter earnings rose 13%, helped by continuing strong demand for cheaper but more profitable generic drugs. The nation’s biggest pharmacy-benefits manager beat analysts’ expectations and again raised its 2009 earnings forecast.
Archer Daniels Midland Co.’s (NYSE:ADM, $31.65, +$1.12, 3.69%) fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 53% from last year’s record levels on lower selling prices and demand, but the results were better than earlier in 2009.
Cablevision Systems Corp.’s (NYSE:CVC, $23.89, +$0.61, 2.64%) third-quarter profit more than tripled, beating analysts’ estimates, fueled by sales growth across several of the company’s key businesses. Cablevision also said it was “moving forward” with its plan to spin off its Madison Square Garden entertainment business and it is “on track” to complete the transaction by year-end.
Best Buy Co. (NYSE:BBY, $39.08, +$0.19, 0.50%) has acquired warrants that would allow it to buy shares of Sonic Solutions’ (NASDAQ:SNIC, $6.11, +$0.87, 16.61%) common stock, as part of a pact for the electronic retail giant to start selling products carrying the increasingly popular video-on-demand services from the much smaller Sonic.
Emerson Electric Co.’s (NYSE:EMR, $38.70, +$0.55, 1.44%) fiscal fourth-quarter profit dropped 26% as the diversified manufacturer posted lower sales across all its businesses. That trend is expected to continue, as the company sees sales this quarter, excluding the impacts of foreign currency rates and acquisitions to be down 17% to 20%.
Unitrin Inc. (NYSE:UTR, $21.34, +$1.78, 9.10%) swung to a third-quarter profit and said operating results improved in each of its segments from the prior-year period. The financial services company, which offers insurances and services through various subsidiaries, saw increased earned premiums and improved shareholder equity.
Sterling Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:SBIB, $4.84, -$0.49, -9.19%) announced it was taking an additional $28.6 million on its loan-loss provision for the third-quarter, more than doubling the $27.5 million loan-loss provision the bank announced just two weeks ago. The prior provision was already large enough to put the Houston bank-holding company’s results below expectations, and it now says it had a 30-cent loss in the quarter, much worse than the 7-cent loss it said earlier and the 7-cent gain analysts had been looking for.
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