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Tibco shares rise on strong results

Stock Market Predictions

Tibco on Thursday said revenue rose 14 percent to $247.4 million. Revenue from licenses grew 13 percent to $92.6 million.

The company's verticals outside of financial services and telecom grew 20 percent year over year, showing improved vertical diversification, and strong performance came from the healthcare, life sciences and retail segments, analysts at Susquehanna said in note to clients.

Tibco also removed its U.S. head of sales, Robin Gilthorpe, as the company's growth in its biggest market, the Americas, lagged Europe and Asia.

"Americas execution seemed to be a disappointment, and Tibco fired its head of Americas sales and plans to make minor tweaks to its sales focus," the brokerage said.

Tibco shares touched more than a month's high of $29.86 in early trading on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Tibco removes Americas sales head

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"I was not happy with the way we were executing for the last three or four quarters," Chief Executive Vivek Ranadivé said on a conference call with analysts.

"We felt that execution in other geographies like Europe and Asia was very strong. I felt we were leaving too much money on the table."

Sales at Tibco's Americas business grew 13 percent in the second quarter, compared with a 22 percent growth in Europe and 27 percent in Asia. The Americas accounted for more than half of the company's overall sales in 2011.

The company, which makes software that helps manage data flow, said its regional sales vice presidents in the Americas would now report directly to Murat Sonmez, Tibco's Executive VP of Global Sales.

Tibco was not immediately available to confirm Gilthorpe's removal.

MIXED RESULTS

The company's quarterly results beat analysts' estimates, as revenue from new licenses jumped, but it forecast third-quarter earnings mostly below expectations.

Tibco, a former unit of Global Markets that was taken public in 1999, expects adjusted earnings of 25 cents to 27 cents per share, and revenue of $255 million to $265 million for the third quarter.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 27 cents per share on revenue of $260.63 million, according to Thomson Global Markets I/B/E/S.

Second-quarter net income rose to $26.5 million, or 16 cents per share, from $21 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, it earned 26 cents per share.

Tibco, which competes with Progress Software Corp (PRGS.O) and bigger vendor Oracle (ORCL.O), said revenue rose 14 percent to $247.4 million.

Revenue from licenses grew 13 percent to $92.6 million.

In 2011, licenses fess contributed 41 percent to Tibco's net revenue.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 23 cents per share on revenue of $244.9 million.

Oracle set the tone for business software makers last week when it reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit, releasing the results three days ahead of schedule after news of the pending departure of a senior sales executive fueled concerns that business was stagnating.

Tibco shares were down marginally at $26.50 in after-market trading. They closed at $26.83 on Thursday on the Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Chandni Doulatramani in Bangalore; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

(This story corrected in paragraph 8 to remove reference to the company being spun off from Global Markets)

Nike profit hit by costs, shares fall

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The results sent shares of the world's largest sportswear maker down nearly 13 percent in extended trading on Thursday.

Orders of Nike branded shoes and clothes scheduled for delivery from June through November, a closely-watched metric of demand known as "futures orders" rose 7 percent. That is less than half of the rise of futures orders in the fiscal third quarter.

In the fourth quarter that ended May 31, futures orders rose only 5 percent in Greater China, down from a 24 percent increase a year earlier, a sign that even the popular Nike "swoosh" is not immune to slowing global economic growth.

Analysts and investors have been worried about a cooling in demand as footwear trends typically last about two to three years. Nike has been hot in the running shoe market for almost two and a half years now, said Morningstar analyst Paul Swinand.

The company earned $549 million, or $1.17 cents a share, in its fourth quarter, compared with $594 million, or $1.24 a share, a year ago.

Analysts, on average, had been expecting the company to earn $1.37 share, according to Thomson Global Markets I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 12 percent to $6.5 billion.

Gross margins fell 1.5 percentage points in the fourth quarter and have been declining for more than a year.

"While we had expected some gross margins decline and some increase in spending with the Olympics and soccer championships, both are higher than expected," said Swinand.

Swinand also said the drop in the share price could be a chance for investors to buy shares of the company, as he did not think the company has any flaws in execution.

Matt Arnold, consumer discretionary analyst for Edward Jones, saw improvement ahead for Nike.

"Margins will eventually become better and they have already taken pricing actions, so in general we think it is a matter of time. Nike is a strong brand with a lot going right for it," said Arnold.

Nike's finance chief, Don Blair, said higher input costs were the primary reason for the profit drop in the quarter. Higher prices and lower air freight expenses helped mitigate the rising materials costs.

The company also said it had more inventory than desired in China and Western Europe, raising questions about how much it would have to discount in those regions to clear off merchandise.

"There's inventory that's been piling up for quite a few quarters ...that can take a few quarters," said Canaccord Genuity analyst Camilo Lyon.

Shares of Nike, based in Beaverton, Oregon, were down 12.9 percent at $84.40 in after-hours trading on Thursday after closing at $96.89 on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Additional reporting by Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Carol Bishopric, M.D. Golan and Tim Dobbyn)

ServiceNow soars in NYSE debut, bodes well for IPOs

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Shares of the San Diego, California-based company opened at $23.16, up $5.16, after pricing at $18, above the expected range. ServiceNow sold 11.65 million shares, raising $209.7 million.

ServiceNow had intended to price shares in a range of $15 to $17. The company sold 9 million shares, while company founder Fred Luddy sold the remaining 2.65 million shares.

ServiceNow's public debut is in the spotlight as a successful IPO could pave the way for other offerings in an otherwise sluggish global IPO market.

Excluding Facebook, global IPO proceeds during the first six months of 2012 dropped 45 percent from the same period last year, according to Thomson Global Markets data.

The IPO, which was led by Morgan Stanley, cements the bank's status as the top underwriter of technology offerings so far this year.

Morgan Stanley also handled Facebook's $16 billion IPO, although it drew scrutiny for that deal. Shares of Facebook traded Friday at $31.24, off 0.4 percent and below its $38 IPO price.

ServiceNow Chief Executive Frank Slootman said fallout from Facebook's IPO didn't affect the timing of the ServiceNow debut.

"The Facebook dynamic was not a major driver for us going or not going," he said. "I think the macro had a lot more to do with it. We were ready to go early June and then we started to go week to week and waited out some of those macro catalysts." He referred to market anxiety over the European financial crisis.

In fiscal year 2011, ServiceNow revenue more than doubled to $92.6 million, and it posted a profit of $9.8 million after a loss of $29.7 million in 2010.

Besides Morgan Stanley, ServiceNow's IPO is being underwritten Citigroup Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Barclays, Credit Suisse, UBS AG, Pacific Crest Securities and Wells Fargo & Co.

ServiceNow will use the proceeds for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

(Reporting by Olivia Oran; editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Jeffrey Benkoe)

AZZ shares hit life-high as co raises forecast

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The company raised its full-year profit outlook to $4.10 to $4.30 per share from $3.25 to $3.55 per share.

AZZ, which competes with Eaton Corp (ETN.N), now expects revenue of $550 million to $575 million, up from its previous forecast of $475 million to $510 million.

Analysts on average were expecting the company to earn $3.74 per share, on revenue of $571.38 million, according to Thomson Global Markets I/B/E/S.

The company however said it is experiencing a slowdown in the number of orders in its galvanizing segment in recent weeks, but analysts do not think that will affect the forecast.

"It seems like they sort of built that into the guidance and of course if ... you start to see the orders flow, that guidance could prove conservative as we move through the year," said Brent Thielman, an analyst at D. A. Davidson & Co.

For the first quarter, tonnage from the galvanizing services segment rose 32 percent, boosting revenue at the segment 25 percent to $82.5 million. The galvanizing services segment provides hot dip galvanizing to the steel fabrication industry.

Revenue at the electrical and industrial products segment fell 7 percent to $44.7 million. AZZ's electrical and industrial products segment makes engineered specialty electrical products and industrial lighting and tubular products.

Shares of the company, which has a market value of about $648 million, were trading up 18 percent at $60.73 on Friday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Tej Sapru in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)

Alamos shares rise on positive results for Turkey mines

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The company said it expects average annual gold production of 166,000 ounces over the nine year combined life of the Agi Dagi and Kirazli gold mines located in northwestern Turkey.

The mines hold a total of 1.5 million ounces of gold and 4.9 million ounces of silver, Alamos said in a statement on Thursday.

Analysts were, however, cautious, flagging concerns over likely delays to start of production.

Macquarie analysts reduced their price target on Alamos's stock to C$19 from C$20, citing concerns over environmental permits that may delay start of commercial production.

"Final environmental impact studies approval timelines for Kirazli and Agi Dagi have been pushed back six months to first and second quarter of 2013, respectively," the brokerage said in a note to clients.

Macquarie said it expects commercial production to start in early 2015, "but see the potential for further delays to emerge," and maintained its "outperform" rating on the stock.

Alamos sees first gold production from the Kirazli project in 2014 and from Agi Dagi in 2016.

Dundee Capital Markets and Desjardins also cut their price targets on likely delays due to revisions in the environmental impact assessment but maintained a "buy" rating.

Dundee cut its price target on the company's stock to C$24 from C$25 and Desjardins lowered it to C$21.25 from C$24.50.

Frazer Mackenzie raised it price target on the stock to $25.00 from $24.75 as it expects higher gold production and maintained its "strong buy" rating.

Shares of Toronto, Ontario-based Alamos were up 8 percent at C$15.66 on Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. They touched a high of C$15.87 earlier.

(Reporting by Maneesha Tiwari in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

RIM prospects dire after launch delay: analysts

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At least 10 brokerages cut their price targets on the stock, some by as much as 50 percent, a day after the company reported worse-than expected quarterly results and said it would delay the launch of its next-generation device to early 2013 from late this year.

RIM shares were down 16 percent in pre-market trading on the Nasdaq.

"If RIM continues to be run as it is, we believe that the company will eventually fail," Nomura Equity Research said.

"We do not expect RIM to successfully drive a turnaround of its financials, even with the launch of BB10 next year," the brokerage said in a note to clients, adding that its model assumes that RIM disappears by 2020 in a gradual decline.

BlackBerry 10, considered to be RIM's make-or-break product, was originally slated to be launched in the first quarter and the delay has already contributed to a 40 percent drop in the company's stock price so far this year.

"Given RIM's cash burn, BB10 can't come soon enough," Barclays said in a note to clients.

Analysts at Citi Investment Research and Jefferies slashed their price targets on the stock to $5.00 for RIM's U.S.-listed shares, a fall of 45 percent from Thursday's close.

"We believe fundamentals continue to get worse and RIMM could run out of cash and need to raise capital within two years implying that as time rolls forward, if we are correct, the value of RIMM continues to go lower," the Citi analysts said.

"We expect more write-offs and impairments to RIMM assets and we question if RIMM's new BB10 products will even matter as it may be too little too late," the analysts said, adding that they expected the company's smartphone sales growth to be less than half of the industry average in 2012.

MARCHING OFF THE CLIFF

RIM said it would lay off 5,000 workers, about 30 percent of its workforce, as it tries to save cash, although some analysts noted that this would come at a short-term cost.

Citi said it believed the company should be hiring instead of firing to get its products out on time. "With the distraction of this large layoff, it will be difficult to retain and motivate employees to develop new products."

With a weak product portfolio and the BlackBerry 10 delay, RIM faces continued volume pressure as well declining average selling prices, said Credit Suisse, which cut its price target on the company's U.S.-listed shares to $7 from $11.

"While the stock remains cheap, only the potential for an outright sale of the company or a break-up keeps us at a "neutral" (rating)," the brokerage said.

RIM's board is under increasing pressure to consider unpalatable options such as selling its network business or forming an alliance with Microsoft Corp, three sources familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

Cannacord Genuity said it did not believe the launch of BlackBerry 10 would turn around RIM, which has come up short in competing with Apple Inc's iPhone and other devices using Google Inc's Android software. "...We believe RIM will need to sell the company," Cannacord said.

However, Baird Equity Research, under the heading "Marching off the cliff", said it believed there was no likely buyer.

CIBC cut its rating on RIM to "sector underperformer" from "sector outperformer." National Bank Financial, however, raised its rating to "sector perform" from "underperform", saying it was time to get off short positions.

RIM said on Thursday it lost $192 million, or 37 cents per share, for the first quarter ended June 2. Revenue declined 43 percent to $2.81 billion.

The company's shares, which have dropped about 70 percent over the past year, were trading at $7.55 in pre-market trading. The stock closed at $9.46 in Toronto on Thursday.

(Reporting by Sagarika Jaisinghani in Bangalore; Editing by Tenzin Pema and Ted Kerr)

KB Home results signal housing recovery

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KB Home said net orders increased 3 percent to 2,049 homes in the second quarter, and rose 18 percent in value to $503.1 million.

"Entering the second half of 2012, we have a strong backlog of homes with higher selling prices and better margins to help restore profitability," Chief Executive Jeffrey Mezger said in a statement.

Rival Lennar Corp (LEN.N), the first to release second-quarter results from the homebuilder pack this week, reported a 40 percent jump in orders.

Lennar, the third-largest homebuilder by revenue in the United States, said it was able to charge higher prices as home buyers looked to take advantage of record-low interest rates.

KB's second-quarter net loss narrowed to $24.1 million, or 31 cents per share, from $68.5 million, or 89 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company's shares, which lost 6 percent in the three months to Thursday's close, were up 6 percent at $9.20 in morning trade. They touched a high of $9.28. The broader S&P 1500 Homebuilding Sub-Industry Index .15GSPHOME was up 3 percent.

(Reporting by Bijoy Koyitty in Bangalore; Editing by Viraj Nair and Ted Kerr)

Outsourcing boosts Accenture, allays Europe concerns

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Investors shrugged off the company's comments that some clients in Europe were cutting or deferring investments in consulting projects, pushing Accenture's shares up 4 percent after the bell.

"We have seen renewed challenges around the debt issue in Europe, as well as confirmation of a slowdown in the forecast for the global economic growth," Chief Executive Pierre Nanterme said on a conference call with analysts.

Europe accounts for 40 percent of the company's total revenue.

Accenture, which competes with Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (CTSH.O) and India's Infosys Ltd (INFY.NS), remains upbeat about its outsourcing business, especially in China and other emerging markets.

JP Morgan technology analysts recently lowered their forecast for global IT spending growth to 2.2 percent from 3.8 percent for the year.

Rival Cognizant cut its full-year forecast for the first time in nearly four years last month, citing weak demand from financial services clients in North America, echoing sentiments expressed by Infosys and Wipro Ltd (WIPR.NS).

Infosys, which is expected to report first-quarter results on July 12, may lower its fiscal 2013 revenue outlook on weak spending and adverse cross currency movements, according to a Jefferies report.

Accenture now expects a full-year profit of $3.80 to $3.84 per share. It had previously forecast a profit of $3.82 to $3.90 per share.

March-May net income attributable to shareholders rose to $752.4 million, or $1.03 per share, from $692 million, or 93 cents per share, a year earlier.

Shares of the company rose to $58.75 after the bell. They closed at $56.63 on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The stock has fallen 13 percent since March 26, when it touched a life-high of $65, days after the company reported second-quarter results.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)

(This story was corrected in the first paragraph to clarify that the company cut its full-year profit outlook on dollar strength, not weakness in Europe)

Ampio shares rise on bullish online report

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With 3 blockbuster drugs, Ampio is all primed up for loads of news about clinical trials, the FDA and potential partners, Seeking Alpha said in a report published on Friday.

Ampio's drug to treat premature ejaculation is in a late-stage study, while its diabetes related eye disease and anti-inflammation drugs have completed mid-stage trials.

The website said Ampio's stock could follow hot stocks such as Arena Pharmaceuticals, Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.

The company's shares were up 32 percent at $5.20, making them one of the top percentage gainers on Friday on the Nasdaq. They touched a high of $5.49 earlier in the day.

(Reporting by Prateek Kumar in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)