As Capitol Hill keeps its eyes closely trained on November elections, Wall Street’s attention is elsewhere as earnings season continues this week.
Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA), Loews (L) and Sysco Corporation (SYY) highlight the companies reporting earnings before the bell on Monday.
Arena Pharmaceuticals (ARNA)
ARNA stock surged as much as 6.6% in pre-market trading today. It was a welcome reprieve for Arena shareholders, who had seen the stock lose 25% of its value this year before today’s gains. ARNA stock has spiked up and down in today’s trading, but the long-term outlook is getting brighter.
The San Diego-based biotech, which is known for its weight-management drug Belviq, totaled sales of $8.1 million in the quarter, far below consensus estimates, which called for $10.9 million in revenue.
ARNA stock’s earnings per share came in above estimates though, as the company lost 5 cents per share instead of the expected 12-cent loss. ARNA also tooted its own horn, saying:
“More recently, we met our goal of completing and reporting on top-line results from our trials evaluating coadministration of lorcaserin and phentermine and lorcaserin for smoking cessation, both of which delivered promising data.”
If Arena Pharmaceuticals can have two drugs on the market that help people slim down and stop smoking, it could be a bright future indeed.
Loews (L)
The $16.6 billion insurance, energy, and hotel company Loews also reported third-quarter results this morning, and results weren’t pretty. EPS for L stock came in at 55 cents in the period, a far cry from the 68 cents analysts had been expecting.
L stock also saw revenue fall slightly, dipping 2% in the quarter as the effects of low oil prices started making their way to the balance sheet. Loews’ subsidiary Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO) is one of the biggest oil rig operations in the world, and rig contractors tend to do poorly when the price of oil is on the decline as it is now.
Sysco Corporation (SYY)
Food distributor Sysco Corporation beat Wall Street estimates on both sales and earnings in the fiscal first-quarter. Owners of SYY stock may remember last December, when Sysco announced plans to acquire US Foods for $3.5 billion. The acquisition still hasn’t been completed and is expected to close in the first quarter of next year, SYY said today.
That’s right, Sysco stock managed to beat consensus estimates all on its own in the most recent quarter. While it would be great for shareholders to see the US Foods deal come to fruition, the buyout is still under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, which may require the two companies to sell off assets before joining together.
As of this writing John Divine held no positions in any of the stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter at @divinebizkid.
