The stock market briefly touched fresh all-time highs on Monday as investors absorbed Republicans' proposal to reduce corporate tax rates, as well as a flurry of news related to potential mergers and acquisitions. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.65%) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC -1.20%) edged slightly into positive territory when all was said and done.
Today's stock market
| Index | Percentage Change | Point Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dow | 0.04% | 9.23 |
| S&P 500 | 0.13% | 3.29 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Consumer goods stocks endured a difficult session, with the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP -0.41%) falling 1.1%. Gold stocks soared, and the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX -0.68%) gained 2.1%.
As for individual stocks, Michael Kors (CPRI 0.05%) skyrocketed after the luxury fashion specialist announced impressive quarterly results, while shares of Sprint (S) tumbled as the telecom leader called off its planned merger with T-Mobile U.S. (TMUS -0.14%).
Image source: Getty Images.
Michael Kors' beat and raise
Shares of Michael Kors popped 14.6% after the company announced revenue for its fiscal second quarter climbed 5.4% to $1.15 billion, including an 8% increase in retail net sales driven by both new locations and e-commerce growth in Europe and Asia. That translated to 25% growth in adjusted net income to $204.5 million, or $1.33 per share. By comparison, Wall Street's consensus estimates predicted earnings of $0.83 per share on revenue of $1.04 billion.
Chairman and CEO John Idol called it a "transformative time" for his company, noting it also formed its "global fashion luxury group" with the closing of the $1.2 billion acquisition of luxury shoemaker Jimmy Choo.
"We believe that bringing together these two iconic brands further strengthens our growth opportunities, increases our product and geographic diversification, and importantly, creates a platform for future acquisitions," Idol stated. "We look forward to capitalizing on the great opportunities that lay ahead for our brands and believe that we are well positioned to drive long term growth as we expand our global fashion luxury group."
The company now expects full fiscal-year revenue of roughly $4.59 billion -- an increase of $315 million from previous guidance -- including between $215 million and $225 million of revenue from Jimmy Choo. That should result in full-year earnings per share of $3.85 to $3.95 -- up $0.23 per share from its prior earnings outlook -- despite a dilutive $0.08-per-share impact from the acquisition.
Sprint to stay solo
Meanwhile, shares of Sprint plummeted 11.6% after the wireless company and T-Mobile ended merger talks (T-Mobile stock also declined nearly 6% on the news).
The development doesn't come as a complete surprise. On Friday, rumors began to spread that T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG and Sprint majority shareholder SoftBank couldn't come to terms on how much control each would receive per the terms of the deal. And recall Sprint and T-Mobile failed to merge once before in 2014 due to heavy regulatory scrutiny.
This morning, SoftBank Chairman and CEO Masoyoshi Son insisted a "rushed" decision to merge the country's third- and fourth-largest networks could have hurt Sprint over the long term. He further argued Sprint's business is poised to thrive -- a position bolstered by Softbank's plans this morning to increase its ownership stake in Sprint to roughly 85% from 82%.
"[W]e are entering an era where billions of new connected devices and sensors will come online throughout the United States," Masayoshi Son added in a prepared statement. "Continuing to own a world class mobile network is central to our vision of ubiquitous connectivity."
