US HOT STOCKS: Host Hotels, Lindsay, Netflix, Playboy -2-

30th Jun 2010 15:25

FirstCity Financial Corp. (FCFC, $6.15, +$0.25, +4.22%) announced it has refinanced credit lines and reached a deal to team up with fellow distressed-asset investor Varde Investment Partners LP. Fuqi International Inc. (FUQI, $7.20, -$0.33, -4.38%), which exaggerated earnings in the first ninth months of last year because of accounting errors, won't be able to file its restated 2009 results or its first-quarter data with the Securities and Exchange Commission as soon as it had expected, the Chinese jewelry company said. Gerdau SA (GGB, $13.42, +$0.33, +2.52%) has reached a deal to buy the one-third stake of Gerdau Ameristeel Corp. (GNA, $10.95, +$0.08, +0.74%) it doesn't already own for $1.6 billion. Gerdau, a Brazilian long steel producer, made that proposal earlier this month to the board of the mini-mill steel company, and the board then unanimously agreed it would support the $11 a share bid, a 53% premium to the prior day's closing price. Moody's Investors Service raised its ratings outlook on Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. (HST, $13.88, +$0.30, +2.21%) to stable, citing the recovery in the lodging industry and expected continued improvement in the hotel operator's revenue per available room, an important industry metric. Lindsay Corp.'s (LNN, $33.73, +$1.32, +4.07%) fiscal third-quarter earnings rose a bigger-than-expected 19% as its sales jumped and margins improved at the maker of agricultural equipment. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Parod said strong international irrigation sales in Australia, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa, as well as "solid" domestic growth, drove the improved results. Monsanto Co.'s (MON, $46.67, -$0.67, -1.42%) fiscal third-quarter earnings plunged 45% on restructuring charges and sharply reduced herbicide sales as the company relies less on its Roundup weed-killer business. It also forecast per-share results this quarter, excluding restructuring charges, between a 9 cent loss and an 11 cent profit. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 3 cents a share. Hulu's launch of subscription service Hulu Plus could undermine subscriber growth at Netflix Inc. (NFLX, $110.43, -$2.15, -1.91%), Stifel Nicolaus predicted. The firm said Hulu has a streaming library of nearly 25,000 titles, mostly its big media stakeholders' TV shows, compared to Netflix's 18,500, only about two-thirds TV. "We believe many recent Netflix subscribers primarily use only the streaming service," and they could head to Hulu, potentially clipping Netflix subscriber growth, the firm wrote. Philips-Van Heusen Corp. (PVH, $46.63, +$0.88, +1.92%) said it would top its fiscal second-quarter forecast if current trends continue, including a 12% rise in same-stores sales at the apparel maker's U.S. outlet operations. Playboy Enterprises Inc. (PLA, $4.30, +$0.22, +5.39%) (PLA.A, $4.35, +$0.08, +1.87%) said it would cut an unspecified number of jobs as it restructures its organization to become a brand-management company. It expects to record a $3 million second-quarter restructuring charge, and the changes are expected to save Playboy $3 million a year. Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto PLC (RTP, $45.05, -$0.37, -0.81%) said it would exercise warrants to purchase shares of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN, $13.65, +$0.30, +2.25%), boosting its stake to 30% for about $393 million. Rio holds a 22% stake in the miner of Mongolian copper and gold deposits. It could take a stake of up to 44% if it exercises all its warrants and converts a $350 million load into shares. StemCells Inc. (STEM, $0.96, -$0.03, -3.04%) announced it will sell 7 million shares to an investment partnership at an approximately 13% discount to Tuesday's closing price. Seaside 88 LP is paying 86.5 cents a share for the roughly 6% initial stake in the researcher. It also has agreed to purchase another 5 million shares in 12 weeks at the stock's then-trading price, but StemCells has the right to not go through with that deal. SuperGen Inc. (SUPG, $2.08, -$0.24, -10.34%) shares declined after it reported leukemia drug Dacogen failed to reach its primary endpoint during a clinical trial. However, the pharmaceutical company and its partner, Esai Inc., said it will still submit the drug for approval to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. An investor group stacked with former Bank of America Corp. (BAC, $14.71, +$0.14, +0.96%) executives agreed to invest $175 million in TIB Financial Corp. (TIBB, $0.53, -$0.16, -23.37%), a Naples, Fla., bank, in the latest example of industry veterans looking to pour money into ailing U.S. banks. The deal would give the investment group, North American Financial Holdings Inc., up to 99% ownership of TIB, which has $1.7 billion in assets and 28 branches in Florida. UniFirst Corp.'s (UNF, $42.61, +$1.58, +3.85%) fiscal third-quarter profit dropped 11% amid higher costs, but the results at the provider of occupational uniforms and protective clothing beat expectations and its specialty garments unit fueled a sales increase. -By Dow Jones Newswires; write to [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 30, 2010 10:25 ET (14:25 GMT)