Stocks to Watch: Microsoft, PetSmart (Update 1)

NEW YORK -- Microsoft (MSFT) has a media event scheduled for Monday at which the software giant could unveil a tablet computer developed in conjunction with Barnes & Noble (BKS).

According to TechCrunch, Microsoft has a tablet/e-reader on tap and it will be entertainment-driven.

Microsoft and Barnes & Noble announced a strategic partnership in late April with Microsoft investing $300 million in the venture.

Shares of Microsoft ticked down 2 cents, or 0.07%, in premarket trading Monday to $30.

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PetSmart (PETM) announced Monday it is raising its quarterly dividend to 16.5 cents a share from 14 cents, an increase of 18%.

The company also said Monday that it will repurchase $525 million of stock. The program will begin on July 30.

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Chevron (CVX) sold an equity stake in its Wheatstone project in Australia and agreed to supply additional liquefied natural gas to Tokyo Electric Power .

Chevron's $29 billion Wheatstone gas-export project is expected to begin exporting gas in 2016.

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IBM's (IBM) Sequoia is the world's fastest supercomputer, topping the K Computer from Fujitsu, which fell to second place.

IBM's Sequoia carried out 16 quadrillion calculations a second, or petaflops, according to a benchmark used to compile a semiannual list of the world's 500 most powerful computers, The Wall Street Journal noted.

Shares of IBM dropped 52 cents, or 0.26%, in premarket trading Monday to $198.58.

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IHS (IHS), a provider of critical information and insight products, is expected by analysts Monday to post quarterly earnings of 94 cents a share on revenue of $382.7 million.

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Steel Dynamics (STLD) said Friday it anticipates second-quarter earnings of between 15 cents a share and 20 cents a share. It earned 20 cents a share, including a refinancing charge of 3 cents, in the first quarter, and 43 cents a share in the year-earlier second-quarter.

Analysts, on average, forecast second-quarter earnings of 24 cents a share.

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Shoe Carnival (SCVL) said Friday it initiated a quarterly dividend. A dividend of 5 cents a share will be paid on July 16.

-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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