Month: August 2012

Shares of Apple hit as high $645 and change on this peaceful Friday on the growing expectation of iPad Mini. The rumor of iPad Mini has been around for a few months, you have heard them, so did I. It’s a smaller version of the iPad aiming to compete with devices like Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire. Not surprised its lineup will add a boost to Apple, but what moved the price today was a report with details on channel checking with Apple’s supplier in Asia, confirming the tablet’s release by year end. What’s also on Apple 2nd half 2012 menu is the iPhone 5, which could be the largest handset launch in history. And possibly the 13in MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The 13in models are the best selling models for Apple, and if the Retina Display launches before the end of Nov to catch the year end shopping wave, Apple will get another boost that has not been priced in. Share with us what you think, you can send in your comments to our show or tweet us @FNNOnline. I’m Julia Sun, follow us online for more news on the go.

Apple and Google are teaming up to acquire Kodak’s patents. The exact mix of selection is not known yet, but the two tech companies are looking to spend between $150-$250m. Kodak filed for bankruptcy on Jan 19 of this year. Many of us recall Kodak was once the global leader in film and photography and a former member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It didn’t quite catch the transition from film to digital quickly enough and ultimately lost grounds to its Japanese challengers. What it has left is a wide array of patents, including over 1000 digital patents worth up to $3B in auction. E-commerce and online photo service Shutterfly purchased Kodak’s online photo gallery business for $23.8M in the spring, which kicked off Kodak’s reorganization effort to build a smaller but hopefully more profitable company. For more news and updates, keep it right here at the Financial News Network. I’m Julia Sun, follow us online for more news on the go.

This thirty third trading week of 2012 comes to a close with investors assessing better than expected data on consumer confidence and leading indicatorsHi. I’m Sayoko Murase.

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned cash to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

Trulia, operator of the real estate website Trulia. om, on Friday filed for an initial public offering that could raise up to $75 million.

Fedex Corporation (FDX) maintained its quarterly dividend of 14 cents per share. Shares of FedEx have a .62% dividend yield, based on yesterday’s closing stock price of $89.74.

Ross Stores saw earnings rise 23% in the second quarter thanks to a double digit rise in revenue. Ross, the discount retailer, raised its outlook for the year, now saying that it expects to earn $3.36 to $3.44 per share instead of the previously announced $3.26 to $3.27. Ross reported a profit of $182 million, or 81 cents a share for the second quarter. This is up from $148.3 million, or 64 cents a share, the year before. This rise in earnings was enough to combat an 11% increase in costs and expenses, which rose to $2.04 billion. On the news, Ross is trading up .47%. For more on the latest business news, follow us on Twitter @FNNOnline, or check out our website at fnno.com

In trading on Friday, music & electronics stores shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.4%. Leading the group were shares of Hhgregg (HGG), up about 3.2% and shares of Gamestop Holding (GME) up about 2.7% on the day.

Discount retailer Dollar Tree announced its second quarter earnings, and forecast a tepid third quarter. The chain, which has actually benefitted from the shaky economy over the past few years because of its low prices, reported a profit of $119.2 million, or 51 cents a share, for the quarter ending July 28th. That’s up from $94.9 million, or 39 cents a share, a year ago. Those quarterly earnings met analyst expectations.But Dollar Tree forecast a third quarter below analyst predictions, saying that it expected profits of 47 cents to 51 cents a share on revenue of $1.71 to $1.75 billion. Analysts had been forecasting earnings of 52 cents a share on revenue of $1.77 billion. On the news, Dollar Tree stock is currently trading down over 8%, and only continuing to drop. According to Reuters, Dollar Tree’s cautious predictions may be a sign that the low income families who frequent the store are feeling increasing economic pressure. For more on the latest business news, follow us on Twitter @FNNOnline, or check out our website at fnno.com

Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD) feeling economic pressure after announcing a profit loss for the second quarter. The retailer posted a loss of 86 cents per share which was in line with analyst expectations. Revenue, however, fell 6.6% to $9.47 billion, below the street’s estimate of $9.63 billion. So even though it was expected Sears would lose money in the quarter, its sales were still weaker than what analysts predicted. Despite this news, Sears is trying its best to mitigate its losses by closing stores, selling real estate, and spinning off various parts of its business. Just recently, the company said it will split its Hometown and Outlet stores as well as some hardware stores into a separate publicly traded company. Sears hopes to raise $246.5 million through a rights offering