Stocks to Watch: Hovnanian, Ancestry.com (Update 1)

NEW YORK -- Homebuilder Hovnanian (HOV) is expected by analysts to report a fiscal second-quarter loss Wednesday of 32 cents a share in the April-ended period on revenue of $299 million.

Shares of Hovananian rose 1.18% in premarket trading Wednesday to $1.72.

---

Ancestry.com (ACOM) is weighing a sale and is working with Frank Quattrone's Qatalyst Partners LLC to find buyers, Bloomberg reported, citing a person with knowledge of the situation.

The family-history research Web site Provo probably will attract interest from private-equity firms, said the person. Ancestry.com has a market capitalization of about $964 million, according to Bloomberg.

Shares of Ancestry.com climbed 24.17% in premarket trading Wednesday to $28.10.

7 Stocks Moving Higher on Unusual Volume

---

Brown-Forman (BF.A), the maker of premium alcoholic beverages, is expected by analysts Wednesday to post fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 76 cents a share on revenue of $777.2 million.

---

Diageo (DEO) , the biggest drinks company in the world, said it plans to invest 1 billion pounds ($1.55 billion) to expand production of Scotch whisky.

Diageo will build a major new distillery and expand several of its existing distilleries.

Shares of Diageo rose 2.12% in premarket trading Wednesday to $95.90.

Can Apple Avoid Being 'RIMMed' By Samsung?

---

Home Depot (HD), the home-improvement retailer, increased its fiscal 2012 share buyback program by $500 million to $4 billion.

The company also reaffirmed its fiscal 2012 sales and earnings per share projections -- sales are expected to increase 4.6% this year and earnings are slated at $2.90 a share, an increase of about 17%.

---

Credit card company MasterCard (MA) announced Tuesday that its board approved a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program.

---

Coinstar (CSTR) announced Tuesday that it has an exclusive agreement with Seattle's Best Coffee, which is part of Starbucks (SBUX), to have about 500 kiosks serving Seattle's Best Coffee by the end of the year in grocery stories and other retail spots.

---

Mattress Firm Holding (MFRM) fell short on revenue in its fiscal first quarter and gave a below-consensus top-line outlook Tuesday for its second quarter.

The company posted a profit of $9.7 million, or 29 cents a share, on sales of $209.8 million for the three months ended in April; analysts forecast earnings of 25 cents a share on revenue of $212.1 million.

Mattress Firm also said it expects revenue of $270 million to $275 million for the July-ending quarter, below the $278.3 million that analysts forecast.

Delta Traffic Report Panics Investors, Perhaps Unreasonably

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Joseph Woelfel

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail].