Wednesday's Late Winners & Losers
Stocks saw mixed trading after the close Wednesday, and
McDonald's
(MCD) - Get Report
was among the big after-hours winners.
Shares climbed 3% after the fast-food giant
ratcheted up its annual dividend by 50% to $1.50 a share. The Oak Brook, Ill.-based company's stock traded up $1.55 to $52.75 in recent after-hours action.
Miner
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
(FCX) - Get Report
gained ground after agreeing to sell its wire-and-cable business, Phelps Dodge International, to
General Cable
(BGC)
in a $735 million deal that includes minority interests recently acquired by Freeport. The sale should close in the fourth quarter.
Net proceeds, which Phoenix-based Freeport estimates at some $620 million, are planned for debt repayment. Freeport shares traded up 41 cents significantly after the bell to $91.91. General Cable lately added a penny to $57.03.
Among the losers, however, was
Syntax-Brillian
( BRLC). The hi-def television maker's shares plunged 24.1% after
disappointing earnings and personnel news.
The Tempe, Ariz.-based company posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 11 cents a share, a penny short of Thomson Financial's estimates. It also said it expects first-quarter revenue of between $170 million and $180 million -- at least $76.6 million below consensus -- due to a "severe tightening of credit in Asia." The company blames the credit problems for reducing the combined credit availability of its supply-chain partners by over $200 million.
Syntax-Brillian separately announced that CFO Wayne Pratt will resign effective Sept. 30. Shares surrendered $1.48 to $4.65.
Select Comfort
(SCSS)
dropped, as well, after CFO Jim Raabe said in a conference call that third-quarter per-share earnings are "likely to fall short" of Wall Street's consensus expectation of 27 cents a share. Raabe also said the Minneapolis-based bed maker is "on track to achieve the low-end of
its full-year sales and earnings targets." Shares sank 9.5% to $15.75.