Stocks to Watch: McDonald's, Molina (Update 1)

NEW YORK -- McDonald's (MCD), the fast-food giant, is expected Friday to report sales figures for May.

Shares of McDonald's are down 12% year to date.

Deutsche Bank sees opportunity in the weakness, reiterating its buy rating Thursday and $100 price target on McDonald's. The stock fell 28% Thursday to $88.38.

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Molina Healthcare (MOH) withdrew its 2012 earnings guidance Wedensday because of potential expansion-related costs in Texas. and the stock declined 31.02% in trading Thursday to $17.77.

Bur the stock is rebounding in premarket trading Friday after the company said it will be able to keep providing managed-care services for Medicaid beneficiaries as of 2013 in Ohio.

The stock is up 29.77% to $23.06 in premarket trading Friday.

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Best Buy (BBY) founder and chairman Richard Schulze resigned from the board on Thursday.

Schulze said he was exploring options for his 20.1% stake in the electronics retailer.

Best Buy fell Thursday by 1% to $19.70.

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Francesca's Holdings (FRAN), the Houston-based specialty apparel retailer, on Thursday reported better-than-expected quarterly results and gave a solid outlook.

The company forecast earnings of 22 cents to 23 cents a share for its fiscal second quarter ending in July on sales of between $69 million and $71 million. Analysts forecast profit of 22 cents a share on sales of $68.6 million.

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Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) said fiscal second-quarter profit rose 6%.

Earnings were $50.2 million, or 70 cents a share, up from year-earlier profit of $47.4 million, or 66 cents.

Revenue fell 21% to $308.4 million.

Analysts expected second-quarter earnings of 71 cents a share on revenue of $393.5 million.

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Apple (AAPL) could be filing a temporary restraining order against Samsung to cease the launch of its news Galaxy S III phone as early as Friday, an Apple attorney said.

Apple asked on Tuesday that a federal court temporarily ban the sales of these Samsung phones. The phones were slated to be released in the U.S. on June 21.

Shares of Apple ticked down $2.18, or 0.38%, to $569.54 in premarket trading Friday.

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Chesapeake Energy (CHK) is scheduled to hold ts annual meeting on Friday.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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