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Top 10 News Items 3/26-3/30: RIM Has Another Bad Quarter But Investors Optimistic Amid Heins; Amylin Chatter; Foxconn Under Fire

March 30, 2012 4:41 PM EDT
Here is a recap of the top news items from this week on Wall Street:

1. RIM (Nasdaq: RIMM) shares closed higher this week following some very concerning quarterly results but an overall air of some kind of improvement at the embattled company. On the bad side: both earnings and sales for the fourth quarter missed, and the company said it would not be giving any quantified guidance moving forward. On the positive side: director and former co-CEO Jim Balsillie announced his resignation from the Board, shipments came in relatively inline and the company said it will begin considering strategic opportunities. In addition, new CEO Thorsten Heins indicated some a need for drastic change -- certainly a change from the attitude of Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis.

2. Shares of Amylin (Nasdaq: AMLN) surged a jaw-dropping 54.5 percent on Wednesday following reports the company rejected a $22 per share bid from Bristol-Myers. The stock closed just under $25 this week. Most analysts seem to believe the company could receive higher bids.

3. A report of an external audit from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) into Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) supplier Foxconn was issued on Wednesday. "The findings of FLA’s nearly month-long investigation revealed serious and pressing noncompliances with FLA’s Workplace Code of Conduct,1 as well as Chinese labor law." Apple shares closed under $600.

4. The IPO market was en fuego this week. After lifting its IPO range from $14-$16 to $16-$18 on Monday, shares of Annie's (Nasdaq: BNNY) priced at $19 and opened just over $31. The stock closed this week at $34.90 after moving to a high just shy of $40. Millennial Media (NYSE: MM) priced its IPO at $13 and immediately jumped to $25. The stock closed at $23.51. CafePress (Nasdaq: PRSS) shares priced at $19 and finished flat this week. Visit our IPO category to see all the IPO news this week.

5. Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) shares tumbled 10 percent on Thursday and another 4.4 percent on Friday following a Q4 earnings beat but a miss on sales. EPS were $2.47, $0.31 better than the analyst estimate of $2.16. Revenue for the quarter came in at $16.6 billion versus the consensus estimate of $17.22 billion. The company said it is expecting FY13 adj-EPS of $3.50-$3.80, vs. the consensus estimate of $3.70. Sees sales of $50-$51 billion, which compares to the Street estimate of $51.88 billion.

6. Shares of Pentair (NYSE: PNR) jumped 15 percent on Wednesday amid a massive $10 billion all-stock deal with Tyco (NYSE: TYC). Tyco shares were up about 4 percent that day.

7. Shares of Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) sunk 9 percent during Friday's session and were halted amid rumors of a security breach. The company later confirmed the reports. Visa (NYSE: V), MasterCard (NYSE: MA) and Heartland Payment Systems (NYSE: HPY) all announced their systems were not affected.

8. Facebook (FB) asked secondary-market providers to halt trading of the company's units this week. Traders sold shares of GSV Capital (Nasdaq: GSVC) on Thursday after the company registered to offer $250 million in stock.

9. Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) surprised investors with an after-hours warning Friday. The company revised its Q4 EPS number lower by 4 cents but reaffirmed its Q1 outlook. The company indicated material weakness in its 2011 financials. The stock is down about 10 percent.

10. Lennar (NYSE: LEN) earnings pushed the homebuilding sector higher on Tuesday following results. The company reported Q1 EPS of $0.08, $0.04 better than the analyst estimate of $0.04. Revenue for the quarter came in at $724.9 million versus the consensus estimate of $699.65 million. New orders up 33%, backlog up 39%. Operating margin on home sales of 6.0% – improved 240 basis points.


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