As our earlier blog post indicated, there were relatively few large-cap companies that posted earnings this morning, compared to virtually every day last week. In the same vein, the large-cap stocks didn’t move very much today, as on the charts listing the biggest gainers and decliners on the markets Moneday, only six large-caps ($1 billion or more in market cap) were among the biggest movers. Let us run down, quickly, those large caps that wound up on the green and red leaderboards.
GAINER: The Shaw Group (NYSE:SHAW) can’t really be discussed without DECLINER: Chicago Bridge & Iron (NYSE:CBI), since their combined news today has dramatically divergent effects on the two stocks. CB&I announced earlier today that it would purchase Shaw for about $3 billion in stock and cash (a $46-per-share equivalent), which includes nearly $2 billion in financing. Shaw’s stock closed Friday at $26.69 a share. Shaw’s price rose more than 70 percent before the market opened when the news broke, and for the day is up more than 55 percent to about $41.50 a share. Meanwhile, the purchase is not going over well on the CB&I side, as that stock was among the big decliners today, down nearly 14 percent to just above $35.
GAINER: VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSE:VHC) shares leaped Monday after a two-day crash when the company requested that the International Trade Commission review a judge’s July 18 ruling to end a patent-infringement investigation against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). The company has settled with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) for $200 million and is looking to reach similar deals with both Apple and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO), though those companies seem very reluctant to settle. Late in the day, VirnetX stock has backed off its biggest gains, but is still up more than 9 percent to $24.80.
DECLINER: Lufkin Industries (NASDAQ:LUFK) has taken it on the chin all day Monday after its quarterly earnings report this morning badly missed estimates, and the company doubled down the bad news by lowering its guidance for the rest of the year, mainly due to uncertainty with its operations in Argentine and supply-and-demand imbalance. In the final moments of trading, the stock was down more than 20 percent to $47.25.
DECLINER: Armstrong World Industries (NYSE:AWI) also reported its earnings this morning, and its report came up significantly short of estimates both in EPS and revenue. Analysts on the street were expecting the report to come in at 78 cents EPS and $763 million in revenue. Whoops. Missed it by that much.
DECLINER: Salix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SLXP) was taking a bath in deep red today when the company reported that the FDA sent a request for more information regarding its Relistor drug, meant for patients who are constipated from taking opioid drugs for non-cancer pain. As the response letter did not sound like good news for pending approval, Salix stock was off nearly 12.5 percent to about $46.50.
