Walgreen (WAG) is out this morning with its quarterly earnings. The drug store giant reported adjusted earnings of 73-cents a share, beating estimates by a penny. Revenues, however, missed ever so slightly at $17.94-billion versus $17.95-billion. Profits were actually close to double from a year ago. Walgreens says that's because of strength in selling higher-profit generic drugs. Walgreen stock is up more than 41% year-to-date and hit a new 52-week high last Monday.
Diamond Foods (DMND) has been down nearly 8% in early trading. This is after reporting earnings yesterday afternoon. The company beat on the bottom line with adjusted earnings of 9-cents a share when estimates were for a loss of 3-cents. However revenues were down significantly, falling below the $200-million mark. Diamond had an accounting scandal several years back and has been trying to rebound since. Shares initially rose after the report but then moved lower on a weak outlook. Even with the losses the stock is up about 66% year-to-date.
Global Payments (GPN) reports after today's closing bell. The payment processing company has slightly underperformed this year's market, up about 11%. But it hit a new 52-week high yesterday ahead of the report. The company is expected to post earnings of 95-cents a share up from 87-cents a year ago. Estimates are for about a 6% rise in revenue to $623.8-million.
J.C. Penney (JCP) hit a 30-year low yesterday. The stock dipped all the way down to $8.59 in intraday trading. Keep in mind that's more than a-dollar lower than the $9.65 share price at which the company wants to sell 84-million shares. The share sale is intended to improve the company's cash flow ahead of the critical holiday season. It was announced last Thursday, hours after CEO Mike Ullman insisted the chain was in solid shape. The stock fell 31% in September, bringing its losses in 2013 to 58%.
