Upbeat Earnings Lift Markets To Higher Open
Upbeat earnings lifted the markets to a higher open with the Dow gaining 66 points to 12,293. Nasdaq climbed 17 points to 2821.
On the upside
Activist investor and Family Dollar Stores' (NYSE: FDO) largest shareholder Nelson Peltz's Trian Fund offered to take the discount retailer private for between $55 to $60 per share.
Fourth quarter earnings for Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) more than doubled to beat analyst expectations by a wide margin and the company forecast full year results that topped estimates.
Dean Foods (NYSE: DF) swung to a loss for the fourth quarter but the results topped analyst estimates.
On the downside
Denny's (Nasdaq: DENN) disappointed with sharply lower fourth quarter earnings as revenue fell.
OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX) reversed year ago losses to post a better than expected profit for the fourth quarter but revenue fell to miss analyst estimates.Hecla Mining (NYSE: HL) delayed the release of its fourth quarter earnings due to litigation negotiations.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 3 to 1 on the NYSE and by more than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq. The Russell 2000 which tracks small cap stocks gained 5 points to 825.
