(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)US stocks retreated on Tuesday after downbeat consumer confidence data.
Below we highlight few stocks that witnessed heightened activity in Tuesday's trading session.
Gannett Co. (NYSE:
GCI): Shares of the largest U.S. newspaper publisher jumped over 17% after projected third-quarter profit that exceeded analysts' estimates. Gannett expects to report third quarter earnings in the range of 25 cents to 31 cents. The McLean, Virginia based-company expects to take third-quarter restructuring and other charges of $26 million to $32 million. Excluding the charges, it anticipates earnings of 39 cents to 42 cents a share. Analysts, on average, are currently expecting earnings of 30 cents a share. The publisher of USA Today forecast revenue of $1.31 billion to $1.32 billion, which fell short of the Wall Street estimate of $1.37 billion Wall Street expected. "Although overall advertising-revenue comparisons remain difficult, our third-quarter year-over-year publishing comparisons improved again versus first- and second-quarter comparisons," said Gracia Martore, chief financial officer, in a statement. The company has been aggressively slashing costs to boost profitability. "Our continued efforts to achieve efficiencies and further consolidations company-wide along with significantly lower newsprint expense resulted in another substantial decline in our operating expenses," Martore said.
Citigroup: (NYSE:
C): British banking giant Barclays said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire the Portuguese credit card business of Citigroup for an undisclosed amount. Under the deal, Barclays will acquire around 400,000 credit card accounts from Citigroup. The deal includes gross assets of around 644 million euros ($942 million). Meanwhile, Citigroup, which suffered a major blow amid global financial crisis and is now 34%-owned by the U.S. government, is shrinking its presence in the U.S. and abroad. In a recent presentation, CEO Vikram Pandit classified the bank's Western Europe retail banking and cards portfolios as non-core assets. "The transaction is in line with Citi's goal to reduce assets, tightly manage risks and optimize the value of assets in Citi Holdings, while working to generate long-term profitability and growth from Citicorp, which comprises its core franchise," Citigroup said in a separate statement. The sale won't have a material impact on Citigroup's net income, the presentation added. Shares of Citigroup were up almost 3% in midday trade on Tuesday.
Walgreen Co.
