Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) stock touches 5-year high after quarterly profit beat

Northern, WI 3/29/12 (StreetBeat) -- Shares of Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT) rose to their highest in five years after the business software maker reported a profit that beat analysts' expectations for the fifth straight quarter.

The stock of the world's largest distributor of the Linux operating system was up 14 percent at $58.67 after touching a high of $59.97 earlier in the session.

"Overall we remain bullish on the long-term outlook for Red Hat that includes several new products and realistic long term expectations," analysts at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients.

Brokerage Credit Agricole said the company is benefiting from the broad migration to cloud-related data center build-outs by enterprise customers, who are looking to build their own private or public clouds.

New products such as the RHEV 3.0 position Red Hat as a strong alternative to VMWare's (NYSE: VMW) or Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) virtual stack, Credit Agricole said in a note to clients.

The growing migration to cloud computing has been a key driver of revenue growth for Red Hat's Linux server software, as has expanding IT budgets after the recession years.

For the fourth quarter, the company posted billings growth of 31 percent, that outpaced its revenue growth for the fourth time in the past five quarters. It also announced a $300 million share buyback program.

Several analysts raised their price targets on the stock.

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LargeCap Stocks to Watch Today

Tomahawk, WI 3/28/2012 (StreetBeat) – Tyco International (TYC) said it will merge its flow control business with diversified industrial manufacturing company Pentair (PNR) to create an industry leader with an expected $7.7 billion in pro forma 2012 revenue.

The transaction values Tyco Flow at about $4.9 billion, including assumed net debt and minority interest. Upon completion of the transaction, Tyco shareholders will own about 52.5% of the combined company and Pentair shareholders will own roughly 47.5%. The deal is expected to add about 40 cents to Pentair's 2013 earnings per share.

Pentair shares were surging 10.5% to $44.48 in premarket trading Wednesday, while Tyco shares were popping 4.6% to $56

Red Hat (RHT), the open source software company, is expected by analysts Wednesday to post fiscal fourth-quarter earnings of 27 cents a share on revenue of $291.2 million.

Red Hat shares have gained nearly 29% so far in 2012, and the stock hit a new 52-week high of $54.01 on Tuesday before losing 2.3% to close at $51.90.

Nokia (NOK) introduced its first smartphone design for China on Wednesday, hoping for a turnaround through the world's largest cellphone market.

The struggling mobile phone maker said that the new Lumia 800C can run on China's CDMA networks and will be supported by China Telecom, a leading carrier in the country.

Shares were gaining 3.7% to $5.57.

Bank of America (BAC) is assembling an international advisory board that would provide chief executive Brian Moynihan with guidance on global strategy, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Shares were trading higher by 1% at $9.70.

Apple (AAPL) will offer refunds to all buyers of the new iPad in Australia after the nation's consumer watchdog accused it of misleading advertising, according to reports.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission demanded that Apple make consumers aware its third-generation iPad can't connect to a 4G mobile data network in Australia due to technical incompatibility, Reuters reported.

Apple agreed to post warnings that its new iPad wasn't compatible with current Australian 4G LTE networks over the next week.

Shares were rising 0.6% at $617.99.

Goldman Sachs (GS) senior executives have talked about splitting the roles of CEO and chairman, reports said, but pressure for such a move may have eased after a union pension fund withdrew its proposal to divide the chairman and CEO jobs after Goldman agreed to change its board structure.

The deal between Goldman and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees means the securities firm will appoint a "lead" director, but shareholders won't get a chance to vote at the firm's annual meeting in May on the proposal to replace Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein with an independent chairman, The Wall Street Journalreported.

Shares were up 0.5% at $126.96.

Family Dollar (FDO), the off-price retailer, posted fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.15 a share on sales of $2.46 billion. Analysts were expecting profit of $1.13 a share on sales of $2.46 billion.

Shares were nudging lower by 0.3% to $58.08.

Robbins & Myers (RBN), a supplier of equipment and systems for applications in the global energy, industrial, chemical and pharmaceutical markets, reported second-quarter earnings of 84 cents a share on sales of $256 million, beating the average analyst estimate of 75 cents a share on sales of $238 million.

Progress Software(PRGS) will earn 25 cents a share in its first quarter on revenue of $120.5 million, according to analysts.

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