By MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Shares of the following companies are among those making notable moves on the U.S. stock market Monday.
Advancers
Moody's Investors Service on Monday placed AK Steel Corp.'s corporate family rating Ba3 under review for possible upgrade. The ratings agency cited the company's improved operating and financial profile driven by strong steel fundamentals and the company's reduction in debt for the move.
Alberto-Culver Co. /zigman2/quotes/207472845/composite ACV +1.18% shares jumped 9.3%. Third-quarter net income fell to $21.1 million, or 21 cents a share, from $25.1 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 12% to $364.9 million. Excluding a loss from a discontinued operation and other special items, profit rose to 31 cents a share.
Amgen /zigman2/quotes/209157011/composite AMGN +0.10% shares jumped 12% Monday as it said said a three-year international Phase III study of denosumab, a treatment for osteoporosis, significantly reduced the incidence of new vertebral fractures compared with placebo. Among women receiving denosumab, the study showed significantly fewer new non-vertebral and hip fractures. See full story.
Boardwalk Pipeline Partners second-quarter profit rose 83% from a year earlier to $64.7 million. Revenue rose 26% to $190.3 million. The group said the result reflected higher gas- transportation revenue from expansion projects and higher rates on existing capacity. This was partly offset by lower parking and lending revenues and higher depreciation and property taxes.
EADS /zigman2/quotes/200706109/composite EADSY +0.36% Emirates Air signed a letter of intent to buy 30 Airbus A350XWB and 30 A330-300 jets. Last year Emirates signed an agreement for 70 A350XWB planes and took an option for 50 more. The agreement on Monday firms up to 30 of those options.
EnergySouth Inc. shares soared 19%. Sempra Energy /zigman2/quotes/206074517/composite SRE +1.07% agreed to pay $61.50 a share, or $510 million, for the Mobile, Ala., natural gas service and pipeline firm. That's a premium of 23% over ENSI's closing price of $50.16 a share on Friday. Sempra sees the deal adding to its earnings in 2009 and adding 30 cents a share to 2012 earnings.
Ilog: IBM agreed to acquire the software company for 215 million euros ($340 million), or 10 euros a share, representing a 37% premium to the closing price on Friday. IBM /zigman2/quotes/203856914/composite IBM +1.45% said it will combine its business-process-management and business-optimization technologies with Ilog's software.
Kraft Foods Inc. second-quarter earnings were $732 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with $707 million, or 44 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 21% to $11.2 billion. Excluding items, earnings were 58 cents against 50 cents. Analysts polled by FactSet Research estimated 50 cents a share on sales of $10.6 billion. See full story.
Lorillard Inc. second-quarter net income fell to $217 million, or $1.25 a share, from $239 million, or $1.37 a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales rose $1.07 billion from $1.06 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet Research estimated $1.38 on sales of $992.6 million.
Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., the Haifa, Israel, drugmaker, estimated that second-quarter net income rose 73% on 13% higher revenue, and it reiterated its rejection of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s $7.75-a-share tender offer for the company. The estimates are based on the best currently available data, Taro said, since it's still working with its auditors to complete its financial statements for 2006 and 2007.
Transocean /zigman2/quotes/208905612/composite RIG -1.40% will sell two North Sea oil rigs for $750 million to Norway's Northern Offshore Ltd. The semisubmersible drilling rigs are currently operating in the U.K. North Sea.
Unilever Plc /zigman2/quotes/204685760/composite UL -0.10% /zigman2/quotes/205449809/delayed UK:ULVR -0.06% definitively agreed to sell its North American laundry business to private-equity firm Vestar Capital Partners. Unilever said it will receive $1.08 billion cash together with $375 million of preferred shares in a new business -- Sun Products Corp. -- to be formed by the merger of its laundry business with Huish Detergents. It will also receive warrants to acquire 2.5% of Sun Products.
Xantrex Technology Inc. shares gained 6.5%. It agreed to be bought by Schneider Electric /zigman2/quotes/204707234/composite SBGSF +3.01% for C$15 a share, or C$500 million (US$492 million). The price represents a 55% premium to the average closing price for the 30 days to July 21, when the company disclosed it was in talks over a deal. Xantrex, which makes power systems, said a condition of the deal is that it divests its programmable power business. /zigman2/quotes/206910371/composite AME +1.75%
Decliners
W.R. Hambrecht analyst Matthew Kather on Monday raised his price target on Apple Inc.'s /zigman2/quotes/202934861/composite AAPL +1.56% stock to $257 a share from $238. In a research note, Kather said that despite challenges in consumer spending, he expects Apple's stock to outperform the broader tech market due to the the outlook for Macintosh PC and iPhone sales.
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