If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Take my hand as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.
1. Fed up
FedEx
FedEx revealed that -- starting next week -- there will be a 5.9% average hike on FedEx Express package and freight rates, FedEx Ground, and Home Delivery services.
I'm not a fan of rate increases, but you have to admire FedEx's swagger. At a time when postal rates are inching higher and the cash-strapped USPS is looking to scale back its offerings, FedEx is pushing through a small increase that should beef up its already healthy margins.
2. E-home improvement
Lowe's
The country's second largest home improvement retailer is snapping up ATG Stores, an operator of hundreds of websites that sell furniture, hardware, and even beauty and apparel merchandise.
Terms of the deal aren't being disclosed, so it's always possible that Lowe's is overpaying here. However, even in a generally safe niche like hardware -- where homeowners and contractors prefer to go to a physical storefront to pick out what they need -- it doesn't hurt to have some more dot-com exposure.
3. Let it snow
Arctic Cat
Arctic Cat is buying back the 33% stake in the company owned by Suzuki Motor at a steep discount. Paying $13 a share in a move that will reduce the number of outstanding shares from 18.4 million to 12.3 million will work wonders for earnings on a per share basis.
It also won't break Arctic Cat's bank.
4. The yolk isn't on this egg-faced company
It was a quiet week in terms of earnings reports, so we may as well give props to Cal-Maine
The country's leading producer of shell eggs saw its quarterly profits soar 53% to $0.97 a share, well ahead of the $0.89 a share that Wall Street was expecting.
Selling 16% more eggs -- at price points averaging 17% higher -- did the trick. Cal-Maine isn't gouging egg lovers. Chicken feed costs have inched higher over the past year. However, Cal-Maine was still able to grow its bottom line at a headier clip than its still impressive top-line growth of 24%.
5. We're living in an Android and iOS world
For some, it was an Apple
Flurry's figure includes both smartphones and tablets, but it's still an impressive showing for the two platforms of choice that have come to define the "good enough" computing revolution.
Between Apple claiming the high end of the market and Google gunning for everybody else, the two operating systems are running away with this race.
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