Greensboro, N.C. – Shares of RF Micro Devices Inc. rose as much as 6.3 percent after a Citigroup Inc. analyst upgraded the maker of chips for mobile phones following its announcement of purchasing Broomfield-based Sirenza Microdevices Inc.
By the close of regular trading the stock, which reached $6.45 during the day, fell 1 cent to close $6.06 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading.
The $868 million purchase of Sirenza Microdevices will boost RF Micro’s profitability and diversify sales, Citigroup analyst Craig Ellis in San Francisco wrote in a report Tuesday.
Additional business news briefs:
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
Shell pulls some gulf staff ahead of storm
Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe’s biggest oil company, evacuated some staff from the Gulf of Mexico as a safety precaution because of a tropical depression.
About 100 people were expected to be evacuated Tuesday after 88 were removed Monday, Shell said on its website. Shell, which has about 1,400 workers offshore, has shuttered daily natural-gas output of 5 million cubic feet from the North Padre Island 975 field, 75 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Natural gas in New York rose on concern the tropical storm may damage platforms and pipelines in the gulf. Gas for September delivery advanced 14.6 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $6.94 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
SAN FRANCISCO
VMware shares soar 76 percent in IPO
VMware Inc.’s shares soared by 76 percent in its stock-market debut Tuesday, reflecting a belief that the rapidly growing software maker is on the leading edge of a computing trend that will yield huge profits for years to come.
The run-up marked the biggest one-day gain following an initial public offering of stock so far this year, according to Renaissance Capital’s . The offering by the Palo Alto- based company raised $957 million before expenses.
ATLANTA
Home Depot profit down; shares fall
The Home Depot Inc. reported Tuesday a 14.8 percent drop in second-quarter profit. The results beat Wall Street expectations, but its shares fell after executives made comments that suggested to investors that the sale of the company’s wholesale distribution business may not be a lock.
Chief financial officer Carol Tome said during an investor conference call that the world’s largest home-improvement store chain would have to cut by nearly half the size of its plan to repurchase up to $22.5 billion in company stock if the sale of its HD Supply unit falls through.
For the three months ended July 29, Home Depot earned $1.59 billion, or 81 cents a share, compared with a profit of $1.86 billion, or 90 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier.
BETHPAGE, N.Y.
Buyer may revamp Cablevision financing
The Dolan family may revamp the debt financing for its $10.6 billion acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corp., another sign that credit-market turbulence is driving up the cost of buyouts.
“If current unsettled conditions in the credit markets persist, interest costs and transaction fees of the debt may be significantly higher” than at the time of the May 2 agreement, the Bethpage, N.Y.-based cable operator said in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NORTHFIELD, Ill.
3.92 million shares of Kraft go to Icahn
Billionaire Carl Icahn acquired 3.92 million shares of Kraft Foods Inc., putting pressure on the world’s second-largest food company to improve investor returns.
The holding was valued at about $138.2 million, Icahn Management LP said Tuesday in a regulatory filing. Kraft, based in Northfield, Ill., had about 1.61 billion shares outstanding as of June 30.
Kraft also has attracted an investment by activist Nelson Peltz since it was spun off by Altria Group Inc. in March.
ORLANDO, Fla.
AirTran boosts offer for Midwest Air
AirTran Holdings Inc. revived its hostile takeover effort for Midwest Air Group Inc. on Tuesday, offering $16.25 per share in a cash and stock deal worth $445 million.
Orlando-based AirTran had been courting Midwest for two years and abandoned its hostile takeover effort Sunday night after offering $15.75 per share in cash and stock.
LOS ANGELES
Apple sells downloads of John Lennon tracks
Apple Inc. has begun selling downloads of tracks from 16 of John Lennon’s albums, including “Working Class Hero” and “John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band,” on iTunes, the company said Tuesday.
While many of the late singer-songwriter’s solo recordings have been available for download commercially elsewhere, this marks the first time they have been available on Apple’s online music service.
MIAMI
$351 million in punitive damages for Seidman
A jury Tuesday ordered BDO Seidman, the nation’s No. 5 accounting firm, to pay more than $351 million in punitive damages in a negligence case, bringing BDO’s potential liability in the case to roughly $521 million, an amount the CEO said threatens its operations.
The jury had found BDO negligent for failing to find massive fraud in its audits of a financial services company backed by a Portuguese bank.
