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• Southwest Delays Buying Boeing Jets, Boosts Dividend
  Southwest Airlines Co. will defer deliveries of 30 Boeing Co. 737 jets by about four years, helping the largest discount carrier save more than $1 billion in capital spending in 2013 and 2014. Half the planes will be handed over in 2017, and the rest a year later, Southwest...
• Goodyear Tire Tied to Global Rise and Fall
  Goodyear Tire Rubber (GT), a major maker of truck and industrial tires, is tied closely to the rise and fall of global economic demand. Being a big player counts for something, however, so a weak medium term might signal a good entry point for a long-term position on the...
• Murphy Oil: Mid-Sized in a Capital Intensive Business
  Murphy Oil (MUR) is a mid-sized oil company with a problem: It's active in shale gas exploration in the United States, but natural gas prices have plummeted on oversupply. Meanwhile, its size in terms of reserves, analysts say, make it less flexible in a cost-intensive...
• Verizon in $63 Billion Faceoff With AT&T Over Family Plans
  Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. are both preparing to roll out shared-data pricing plans this year. Whoever makes the first move will transform the way the industry charges for wireless service.
• Google to Upgrade Search Engine to Increase Accuracy, Results
  Google Inc. is upgrading its search engine with a new database to provide results with better accuracy and additional information as it pushes back against growing competition.
• FTC: Skechers Deceived Consumers With Shoe Ads
  Skechers USA Inc. will pay $40 million to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission that the footwear company made unfounded claims that its Shape-ups shoes would help people lose weight and strengthen their butt, leg and stomach muscles.
• Sources: Apple Readies iPhone With Bigger Screen
  Apple Inc. plans to use a larger screen on the next-generation iPhone and has begun to place orders for the new displays from suppliers in South Korea and Japan, people familiar with the situation said.
• Deere Raises Full-Year Profit Forecast as U.S. Sales Gain
  Deere & Co., the largest maker of agricultural equipment, raised its full-year earnings forecast and posted a fiscal second-quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates after higher crop prices supported U.S. farm incomes.
• Target Raises Forecast as Earnings Top Estimates
  Target Corp. posted a higher profit on Wednesday as warm weather and an early Easter helped boost sales at the beginning of the quarter and it raised its expectations for the year.
• Richmont Said Interested in Bid for All or Part of Avon
  Richmont Holdings, a closely held investor in consumer brands, is exploring an offer for all or part of Avon Products Inc. and has approached Avon to express its interest, according to people familiar with the matter.
• Poll: Lack of Trust May Hold Back Facebook Ad Sales
  Facebook's reach is wide but not deep. Few users surveyed in an Associated Press-CNBC poll say they click on the site's ads or buy the virtual goods that make money for it. More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site to share news, personal observations,...
• Home Depot Projects Slowdown in Sales
  Home Depot Inc., the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, forecast that sales this year will slow from the first quarter because warm weather pulled forward purchases of plants and gardening equipment. First-quarter revenue rose 5.9 percent to $17.8 billion,...
• JC Penney Logs Loss, Halts Dividend as Sales Plummet
  J.C. Penney on Tuesday reported a larger-than-expected loss in the first quarter largely because customers were turned off by the retailer's new plan to get rid of heavy discounting periodically throughout the year in favor of everyday low pricing. The idea of the strategy,...
• Jury Begins Deliberations on Oracle Patent Claims
  A California jury began another round of deliberations on Tuesday in a high profile trial over allegations that Google's Android mobile platform violates Oracle's intellectual property rights. The jury has already wrestled with Oracle's copyright claims against Google and...
• General Motors to Halt Advertising on Facebook
  General Motors Co. will stop advertising on Facebook, a move that comes during the same week the social networking website is due to go public. The U.S. automaker confirmed a report by the Wall Street Journal. A source familiar with the automaker's plans said GM's marketing...
• TPG, Carlyle May Bid for United Technologies Arm
  Private equity firms TPG Capital and Carlyle Group are separately considering bids for United Technologies Corp's industrial units that make pumps and compressors valued at $3.5 billion to $4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The sale is one of three...
• SAIC Works to Offset Slowing Defense Spending
  SAIC (SAI) is in what one would expect to be a hot sector, creating and deploying information technology in specialized areas such as security and defense. But a coming slowdown in U.S. defense spending has analysts concerned for the outlook, and the company is working to...
• Cognizant Technology Combines Best of Both Worlds
  Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) marries the best of both worlds, servicing high-end clients in narrow, specialized sectors while sourcing the back end in cheaper technology locales abroad. It works to the degree that information technology services migrate toward...
• Smucker Cuts Folgers, Dunkin' Donuts Coffee Prices for Second Time
  U.S. consumers should be paying less for their Folgers and Dunkin' Donuts coffee shortly, after J.M. Smucker Co. said it was cutting prices on its brands by an average of 6 percent.
• Saks' Profit Rises 13% but Revenue Disappoints
  Saks reported a 13 percent bump in first-quarter profit, but sales came in well below Wall Street expectations.
• Apple Said to Prepare Thinner Mac Laptops Sporting Intel Chips
  Apple Inc. is preparing a new lineup of thinner MacBook laptops running on more powerful chips made by Intel Corp., people with knowledge of the plans said.
• Home Depot Sales Trail Estimates on Restrained Home Spending
  Home Depot Inc. reported weaker-than-expected quarterly sales as a warm winter prompted many homeowners to take up renovation projects earlier than usual this year, sending shares of the world's largest home improvement chain down more than 4 percent.
• Coty Withdraws $10.7 Billion Avon Offer After Talks Spurned
  Coty Inc., the maker of perfumes by Beyonce Knowles, withdrew its sweetened $10.7 billion offer for Avon Products Inc., saying the world s largest door-to-door cosmetics seller refused to negotiate. This continued delay and unwillingness to engage in discussions is...
• Sealed Air Positioned to Grow in Emerging Markets
  Sealed Air (SEE) is positioned to grow as emerging markets begin to demand more of its packaging materials, particularly as it relates to increased consumption of processed and grocery-style foods, according to the company. Analysts, however, see tougher times in the world...
• Molson Coors Looking Beyond Mature Beer Markets
  Molson Coors Brewing (TAP) is looking beyond mature beer markets at home to joint ventures as far afield as India and China, hoping to spark growth in an otherwise dependable but typically slow-growth sector, beer sales. Molson Coors Brewing is the result of the 2005 merger...

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