Cree Cuts Q4 Guidance; Shares Down – Quick Facts

Cree, Inc. (CREE) reduced its guidance for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 due to the impact from Huawei matter, and also due to the softer than projected demand for the company’s LED products. In May, the Bureau of Industry and Security of the U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei Technologies Co. to a Entity List.

For the fourth-quarter, Cree now expects: revenue from continuing operations in the range of $245 million to $252 million, updated from prior guidance range of $263 million to $271 million. Non-GAAP net income from continuing operations is now expected to be in a range of $0.08 to $0.12 per share. The company’s prior non-GAAP earnings guidance range was $0.12 and $0.16.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report profit per share of $0.15 on revenue of $271.24 million. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

Shares of Cree, Inc. were down more than 6% in pre-market trade on Tuesday.

Alabama Governor Signs Bill Requiring Chemical Castration For Child Sex Offenders

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed into law legislation that would require certain sex offenders to be chemically castrated before their parole.

Gov. Kay Ivey’s press office said Monday that she had signed the bill, which is to take effect later this year. The measure applies to sex offenders convicted of certain crimes involving children younger than 13.

Chemical castration involves injection of medication that blocks testosterone production. Under the measure, certain offenders must receive the medication before they are paroled from prison. A judge would decide when the medication could be stopped.

Seven other states and U.S. territories ― California, Florida, Guam, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Wisconsin ― have authorized chemical castration, but it’s unclear how often it’s used. Some legal groups have raised concerns about use of forced medication.

Alabama Rep. Steve Hurst (R) had proposed the measure for more than a decade.

Facebook stock rises after MoffettNathanson upgrade

Facebook Inc. shares FB, +0.85% are rising in premarket trading Tuesday after MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson upgraded the stock to buy from neutral, writing that the company has "not just one new act on the horizon, but possibly two." He sees big opportunity for Facebook in messaging and commerce, two initiatives that don’t appear to be reflected in the current share price, in his view. The company is also doing a better job of monetizing ephemeral Stories content than he initially anticipated. Nathanson argued that regulatory risk is captured in the current price, while "antitrust action still seems unlikely given the focus of U.S. courts on proof of consumer harm." He has a price target of $210 on the shares, which are up 1.7% premarket and 33% so far this year. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.47% has climbed 15% so far in 2019.

Chico’s FAS Q1 adjusted earnings Beat Estimates

Chico’s FAS (CHS) reported a profit for first quarter that decreased from the same period last year.

The company’s bottom line totaled $2.03 million, or $0.02 per share. This compares with $29.00 million, or $0.23 per share, in last year’s first quarter.

Excluding items, Chico’s FAS reported adjusted earnings of $5.61 million or $0.05 per share for the period.

Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.03 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items.

The company’s revenue for the quarter fell 7.8% to $517.73 million from $561.82 million last year.

Chico’s FAS earnings at a glance:

-Analysts Estimate: $0.03
-Revenue (Q1): $517.73 Mln vs. $561.82 Mln last year.

Merck Announces FDA Approval Of Two New Indications For KEYTRUDA – Quick Facts

Merck (MRK) said the FDA has approved KEYTRUDA as monotherapy in patients whose tumors express PD-L1 or in combination with platinum and fluorouracil for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic or with unresectable, recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The approval of the new indications are based on data from the pre-specified interim analysis of the Phase 3 KEYNOTE-048 trial.

Based on the clinical benefit observed in the KEYNOTE-048 trial, the FDA converted the accelerated approval granted in 2016 for KEYTRUDA for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC with disease progression on or after platinum-containing chemotherapy, to a full approval.

China’s Trade Surplus in May Could Bolster Emerging Markets

This article was originally published on ETFTrends.com.

The trade impasse with the United States didn’t seem to affect China in May as the country’s overall trade surplus was about $42 billion–double the $20.5 billion expected by economists polled by Reuters. The data comes just as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lowered the growth expectations for China through the rest of the year. […]

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Russia suspends police officers over detention of journalist

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said on Tuesday that an internal inquiry into the detention last week of investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was underway and that he had suspended the police officers involved.

Kolokoltsev also said in a statement he would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to sack two high-ranking Moscow police generals over the case.

S&P 500 jumps at the open intraday, stands about 1.1% shy of its April 30 record

The S&P 500 index opened solidly higher on Tuesday morning, with the benchmark poised to extend its rally to a fifth straight day and putting it in position to reclaim its perch at a late-April record if its rally holds. The S&P 500 SPX, +0.23% most recently was up 0.7% at 2,907, but had hit an intraday high in early action at 2,913.05, placing the index about 1.1% short of its April 30 all-time closing high at 2,945.63, according to FactSet data. Gains for the S&P 500 have been supported over the month by a rally in informational technology shares and those for materials, which have climbed by at least 7% so far this month. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.20% and the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.37% also were advancing firmly on Tuesday, adding to their own multiday gains. Reports of coming economic stimulus for China, the second-largest economy, and expectations of easier monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, amid strife over international tariff tensions, has helped to support appetite for stocks recently.