Multiple cuts at Stratasys
Stratasys Ltd., whose U.S. operations are based in Eden Prairie, announced on Monday that it would take a $100 million goodwill impairment charge for the MakerBot consumer printer business it acquired in 2013, announced lower than expected preliminary fiscal 2014 results and gave full-year guidance for 2015 that was also lower than analysts expected. It also announced it would increase operating expenses and capital expenditures to support product development and future revenue growth. Shares of the maker of 3-D printer equipment plunged 28 percent on Tuesday.
Analysts were swift to react. On Tuesday, Steven Milunovic of UBS, Troy Jensen of Piper Jaffray and Paul Coster of JP Morgan each cut Stratasys to "neutral." Patrick Newton of Stifel downgraded Stratasys from "buy" to "hold," and Robert Stone of Cowen and Co. moved down from "outperform" to "market perform."
According to Bloomberg, as of Wednesday, Stratasys had 12 "buy" ratings, 15 "hold" ratings and two "sell" recommendations. That's down from 83 percent "buy" ratings in April 2014.
New IT EXECUTIVE HIRED at Target
Target Corp. hired a new information technology executive last week who will report directly to new CEO Brian Cornell. Mike McNamara most recently worked at Tesco PLC, a British supermarket chain. McNamara helped to modernize Tesco's information technology systems and global supply chain. He will succeed Bob DeRodes who is retiring. DeRodes reorganized Target's IT department after the data breach.
Amy Koo, an analyst with Kantar Retail, told the Star Tribune last week: "It's clear that Cornell and the new leadership is really moving forward with trying to stabilize and secure who is running the company and who is in charge."
Patrick Kennedy
