Wall Street’s attempt at an up day fizzled on Monday, as the S&P 500 closed lower by 0.83% on light turnover. Still, U.S. stocks were able to cobble together small gains for the month of February.
Stocks fell Monday despite a nearly 3% climb in oil futures, though investors did keep bidding up safe-haven assets, including gold.
What market gains were there were mostly modest, though Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:FDML), Consol Energy Inc (NYSE:CNX) and BroadSoft Inc (NASDAQ:BSFT) managed to stand above the weakness.
Here’s why:
Federal-Mogul Holdings Corp (FDML)
Shares of Federal-Mogul Holdings surged 45.7% on volume that was more than 20 times the daily average after Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises LP (NASDAQ:IEP) said it wants to acquire the 18% of the auto parts manufacturer it does not already own.
According to Reuters, Icahn Enterprises is offering to pay $7 per share in cash for the part of FDML it does not currently own. Icahn apparently was hunting for bargains, and a 60% discount over the past year was enough to whet his appetite.
The offer values Federal-Mogul at $1.2 billion; FDML closed at $7.26 with a market cap of close to $1.4 billion.
Consol Energy Inc (CNX)
Shares of Consol Energy, the coal miner and natural gas producer, climbed 10% after the company said it will sell some assets and suspend its dividend. Consol will sell a coal mine in West Virginia for a total value of $420 million, the proceeds of which will be used to reduce debt. That deal is expected to close in the current quarter.
Consol shareholders, while likely not pleased about the dividend news, aren’t missing much. CNX shares paid just a penny per share before the suspension, for a yield of less than 0.5%.
BroadSoft Inc (BSFT)
BroadSoft, the Maryland-based software maker, saw its shares soar 17% on volume that was more than six times the daily average after the company posted a fourth-quarter profit of $11.6 million, or 39 cents per share. Adjusted for options-based expenses, the company earned $1.04 per share. Analysts expected EPS of 67 cents.
For its first fiscal quarter, BroadSoft forecast earnings of 20 to 32 cents a share on revenue of $70 million to $74 million. Analysts were expecting revenue of $68 million. For the full year, the company expects EPS of $1.90 to $2.10 on revenue of $332 million to $340 million.
As of this writing, Todd Shriber did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
