Wal-Mart said fourth-quarter income from continuing operations rose about 4.3% to $5.02 billion, or $1.41 a share, from $4.82 billion, or $1.26 a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted-basis, earnings per share were $1.34. Net sales for the quarter increased 2.5% to $115.6 billion from $112.8 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $1.31 a share on revenue of $117.68 billion. Shares of Wal-Mart edged 1.5% lower to $54.55 in premarket trading Tuesday.Chesapeake Energy agreed to sell all of its Fayetteville Shale natural gas assets to BHP Billiton for $4.75 billion in cash. Chesapeake shares spiked 7.6% to $32.75, while BHP rose 0.7% to $93.02 in premarket trading.
Holly Corp. and Frontier Oil agreed to merge in an all-stock deal forming an oil refining company with an enterprise value of $7 billion. Shares of Holly Corp. were falling 2% to $54.98 in premarket trading Tuesday, while Frontier Oil was lower by 0.1% to $28.09.
Home Depot, the No. 1 home-improvement retailer, said it was raising its dividend after fiscal fourth-earnings rose and sales increased 3.8%. Home Depot shares rose 2.7% to $39.50 in premarket trading Tuesday.
Dynegy said late Monday its CEO and chief financial officer plan to resign following a failure by shareholders to approve a takeover offer from Carl Icahn. Premarket quotes weren't reported for Dynegy. Shares fell down 0.7% to $6.01 at the closing bell Friday.
