3 Stocks to Watch on Monday: Hasbro, Inc. (HAS), Halliburton Company (HAL) and C R Bard Inc (BCR)

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HAS - 3 Stocks to Watch on Monday: Hasbro, Inc. (HAS), Halliburton Company (HAL) and C R Bard Inc (BCR)

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U.S. stock markets are pushing aggressively higher Monday morning following France’s weekend presidential election, which has centrist Emmanuel Macron moving on to a runoff against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. Most polls predict an easy victory for Macron. As a result, the Dow Jones Industrial Average looks set to run at least 200 points higher.

3 Stocks to Watch on Monday: Hasbro, Inc. (HAS), Halliburton Company (HAL) and C R Bard Inc (BCR)The weekend was defined by tragedies, earnings, a potential sale and a recall as C R Bard Inc (NYSE:BCR), Campbell Soup Company (NYSE:CPB) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) took center stage ahead of Monday’s action.

Here’s what you should know:

Hasbro, Inc. (HAS)

HAS shares are punching higher Monday morning thanks to first-quarter beats on the top and bottom lines.

Revenues of $849.7 million were 2.2% higher year-over-year and beat analyst expectations for $818.3 million. Earnings per share came to 54 cents, easily topping the consensus estimate for 38 cents.

It was a good quarter, considering Hasbro had time working against it. Per a press release: “As anticipated, operating profit in the quarter was negatively impacted by an extra week of expenses without the comparable revenue increase. This decline was more than offset by a favorable foreign exchange impact in non-operating income and the tax benefit from the new accounting standard.”

It also showed that the gap is widening between Hasbro and rival Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT), which saw revenues decline 15% year-over-year to $735.6 million, led by declines in toy sales across every last division. The company also put a 33-cent loss on the board for the quarter.

“We drove strong consumer takeaway at retail, both compared to a robust first quarter last year and with a shift of Easter into this year’s second quarter,” CEO Brian Goldner said.

Hasbro stock chart

Hasbro shares are primed to jump back above its 50-day moving average after crossing below earlier this month. HAS was already sitting on 23% returns so far in 2017.

Halliburton Company (HAL)

HAL shares were also on their way higher Monday thanks to a narrower GAAP loss and Street-beating adjusted earnings.

The company lost $32 million (4 cents per share) in its first quarter, far better than the $2.4 billion it lost in the year-ago period, though that was largely due to impairments and a class action lawsuit settlement. Backing out one-time costs, earnings of 4 cents per share just climbed over Wall Street’s bar of 3 cents. Revenues of $4.279 billion were roughly 2% higher year-over-year, and just squeaked over estimates for $4.267 billion.

“First quarter revenue in North America increased 24% sequentially, significantly outperforming our largest peer,” Halliburton President Jeff Miller said. “This result was primarily driven by increased activity in our pressure pumping and well construction product service lines.”

North America’s performance helped offset a 12% decline in Eastern Hemisphere revenues, which were lower “due to seasonality, reduced activity and pricing pressure.”

The company also shored up its balance sheet, redeeming $1.4 billion of debt.

HAL shares are up 1% this morning, helping to cut into 13% declines for the year-to-date.

C R Bard Inc (BCR)

The weekend featured two big stories from C.R. Bard.

The medical equipment manufacturer and distributed posted Street-beating earnings on Sunday. Net income of $178.1 million was 53% higher year-over-year, and filtered to adjusted earnings of $2.87 per share, beating consensus estimates for $2.65 per share.

But the more important news bite is that the company will sell out to another medical supplies heavy-hitter, Becton Dickinson and Co (NYSE:BDX), which will reportedly shell out $24 billion for the company.

The transaction will build on BD’s leadership position in medication management and infection prevention with an expanded offering of solutions across the care continuum,” BD said in a statement.

The company added that the move will help its earnings results immediately, and add mid-single-digit gains by fiscal 2019.

BCR is set to jump roughly 20% in Monday’s morning trade.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/04/3-stocks-to-watch-on-monday-hasbro-inc-has-halliburton-company-hal-and-c-r-bard-inc-bcr/.

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