Top 10 News Items 10/24-10/28: EU Leaders Agree to Greek Debt Haircut, Expansion of EFSF; Amazon.com Gets Clobbered on Earnings; MF Global Tumbles 70%
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:
1. World stocks rallied sharply on Thursday, continuing gains from earlier in the week as EU officials finally agreed on a deal to reduce Greece's debt and expand the firepower of the EFSF bailout fund. The value of Greek bonds will be reduced by 50 percent while the EFSF will be expanded by 4 to 5 times.
2. Shares of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) tumbled nearly 13 percent on Wednesday following worse-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday night. The company posted third-quarter earnings of 14 cents per share, vs. the analyst consensus of 24 cents. Sales came in at $10.9 billion. The company expects to report Q4 sales of $16.45-$18.65 billion.
3. MF Global (NYSE: MF) shares were absolutely crushed this week, down more than 70 percent. The decline was kicked off on Tuesday when the company reported a surprise Q3 loss of 9 cents per share. A credit rating downgrade to junk at Fitch and rumors the company drew down its credit lines over the course of this week added to problems. FOX Business Networks' Charlie Gasparino believes the company may not make it through the weekend.
4. Shares of First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) were slammed 25 percent on Tuesday as the company sneakily announced its CEO Rob Gillette will be departing. As the company said it could not comment as to the reason for the departure until earnings (originally reported to be out next week), management pushed the Q3 results to Wednesday. While the quarterly figures were concerning, guidance was what really scared investors: sees FY2011 EPS of $6.50-$7.50, versus the consensus of $8.84. Sees FY2011 revenue of $3.0-$3.3 billion, vs. the consensus of $3.59 billion.
5. HP (NYSE: HPQ) shares rallied to finish this week's session following news late Thursday it has now decided it will keep its iconic PC business. The stock closed up more than 3 percent on Friday.
6. Certainly a concerning sign for the broader economy, Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) issued a Q3 miss on Friday. The company also announced it will be cutting its global workforce. On the call, a Whirlpool exec said the company is now seeing US demand "at recessionary levels." Shares closed down more than 14 percent on Friday.
7. Shares of Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) fell 35 percent on Tuesday after reporting Q3 EPS of $1.16 on sales of $822 million. The company said it expects Q4 EPS of 36-70 cents, well below the Street estimate of $1.09. Netflix sees domestic streaming subscribers of 20-21.5 million and domestic DVD subscribers of 10.3-11.3 million.
8. HealthSpring (NYSE: HS) shares surged nearly 34 percent on Monday following news CIGNA (NYSE: CI) has offered to acquire the company for $55/share in cash. The deal is being valued at about $3.8 billion.
9. Elsewhere in M&A Land, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) offered to acquire RightNow Tech (Nasdaq: RNOW) for $43 per share. RightNow shares jumped 19 percent on Monday.
10. Also on the earnings front: 3M (NYSE: MMM), Ford (NYSE: F), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Cat (NYSE: CAT), UPS (NYSE: UPS), Visa (NYSE: V) and AMD (NYSE: AMD).
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1. World stocks rallied sharply on Thursday, continuing gains from earlier in the week as EU officials finally agreed on a deal to reduce Greece's debt and expand the firepower of the EFSF bailout fund. The value of Greek bonds will be reduced by 50 percent while the EFSF will be expanded by 4 to 5 times.
2. Shares of Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) tumbled nearly 13 percent on Wednesday following worse-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday night. The company posted third-quarter earnings of 14 cents per share, vs. the analyst consensus of 24 cents. Sales came in at $10.9 billion. The company expects to report Q4 sales of $16.45-$18.65 billion.
3. MF Global (NYSE: MF) shares were absolutely crushed this week, down more than 70 percent. The decline was kicked off on Tuesday when the company reported a surprise Q3 loss of 9 cents per share. A credit rating downgrade to junk at Fitch and rumors the company drew down its credit lines over the course of this week added to problems. FOX Business Networks' Charlie Gasparino believes the company may not make it through the weekend.
4. Shares of First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR) were slammed 25 percent on Tuesday as the company sneakily announced its CEO Rob Gillette will be departing. As the company said it could not comment as to the reason for the departure until earnings (originally reported to be out next week), management pushed the Q3 results to Wednesday. While the quarterly figures were concerning, guidance was what really scared investors: sees FY2011 EPS of $6.50-$7.50, versus the consensus of $8.84. Sees FY2011 revenue of $3.0-$3.3 billion, vs. the consensus of $3.59 billion.
5. HP (NYSE: HPQ) shares rallied to finish this week's session following news late Thursday it has now decided it will keep its iconic PC business. The stock closed up more than 3 percent on Friday.
6. Certainly a concerning sign for the broader economy, Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) issued a Q3 miss on Friday. The company also announced it will be cutting its global workforce. On the call, a Whirlpool exec said the company is now seeing US demand "at recessionary levels." Shares closed down more than 14 percent on Friday.
7. Shares of Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) fell 35 percent on Tuesday after reporting Q3 EPS of $1.16 on sales of $822 million. The company said it expects Q4 EPS of 36-70 cents, well below the Street estimate of $1.09. Netflix sees domestic streaming subscribers of 20-21.5 million and domestic DVD subscribers of 10.3-11.3 million.
8. HealthSpring (NYSE: HS) shares surged nearly 34 percent on Monday following news CIGNA (NYSE: CI) has offered to acquire the company for $55/share in cash. The deal is being valued at about $3.8 billion.
9. Elsewhere in M&A Land, Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) offered to acquire RightNow Tech (Nasdaq: RNOW) for $43 per share. RightNow shares jumped 19 percent on Monday.
10. Also on the earnings front: 3M (NYSE: MMM), Ford (NYSE: F), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Cat (NYSE: CAT), UPS (NYSE: UPS), Visa (NYSE: V) and AMD (NYSE: AMD).
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Charles Gasparino, StreetInsider.com Top 10 News Items for the Week, Earnings, RightNow/OracleSign up for StreetInsider Free!
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