Imperial Sugar (Nasdaq: IPSU) to go private in $78 million deal; Shares Soar 56%

Shawshank, VA 5/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- Privately held Louis Dreyfus Commodities LLC said one of its subsidiaries agreed to acquire Imperial Sugar Co (Nasdaq: IPSU) for about $78 million, as the commodity company looks to diversify into refining and distribution.

At $6.35 per share, the offer represents a 57 percent premium to Imperial Sugar's closing stock price on Monday.
Including debt, the all-cash deal is worth $203 million, the companies said in a statement.

"This transaction is an important step forward in our plan to grow and diversify our global sugar activities from sugar cane crushing and international sugar trading into sugar refining and distribution," Louis Dreyfus Commodities Chief Executive Mikael Morn said.

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China Stock Alert; Exceed (NASDAQ:EDS) Gains over 70% on Year-End Results

Orlando, FL 5/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- www.InvestorIdeas.com, a global investor research portal for independent investors, specializing in sector research , reports on China stock, Exceed Company Ltd. (NasdaqGS: EDS).

The Company, the owner and operator of "Xidelong" brand, a domestic sportswear brands in China, issued its audited financial results for the full year ended December 31, 2011.

China stocks have dominated some of the top gainers on NASDAQ for weeks, regaining compliance and restating financials and cleaning up the image of China stocks to US and global investors

Financial Highlights - Full Year ended December 31, 2011 (audited) (1)

Revenue was RMB3, 288.6 million (US$522.5 million), representing a 21.8% year-over-year increase.

Gross profit was RMB992.3 million (US$157.7 million), representing a 17.9% year-over-year increase. Gross margin decreased from 31.2% for 2010 to 30.2% for 2011.

Operating profit was RMB498.2 million (US$79.2 million), representing a 21.6% year-over-year increase.

Net profit was RMB470.1 million (US$74.7 million), representing a 33.1% year-over-year increase..

Exceed Company Ltd. designs, develops and engages in wholesale of footwear, apparel and accessories under its own brand, XIDELONG, in China. Since it began operations in 2002, Exceed has targeted its growth on the consumer markets in the second and third-tier cities in China. Exceed has three principal categories of products: (i) footwear, which comprises running, leisure, basketball, skateboarding and canvas footwear, (ii) apparel, which comprises sports tops, pants, jackets, track suits and coats, and (iii) accessories, which comprise bags, socks, hats and caps

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Arrow Electronics (NYSE: ARW) Shares Tumble As Q1 Results, Q2 View Miss

Orlando, FL 5/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- Arrow Electronics (NYSE: ARW) shares are trading sharply lower this morning after the electronics distribution giant posteddisappointing Q1 financial results.

For the quarter, Arrow posted sales of $4.89 billion, down from $5.22 billion a year ago, and below the Street consensus forecast at $4.91 billion. Non-GAAP diluted profits were $1.05 a share, below the consensus at $1.08.

For Q2, Arrow sees sales of $5.04 billion to $5.44 billion, with non-GAAP diluted profits of $1.08 to $1.20 a share; Street consensus has been $5.21 billion and $1.23.

Arrow noted that its global enterprise computing solutions group had Q1 sales of $1.54 billion, up 15% from a year ago. “We had very impressive results in the first quarter with sales well above normal seasonality, especially in our North American value-added distribution business,” CEO Mike Long said in a statement. “Globally, we saw robust product line performance in storage, software, and services, which each grew in excess of 20% year over year.”

But he notes that global components Q1 sales of $3.35 billion were off 14%. “The Americas region performed well while weaker macroeconomic conditions in Asia and Europe have had a negative impact on our results,” he said. “Our global book-to-bill of 1.04 to 1 is at its highest level in six quarters with sequential increases seen in all regions. Our global teams remain committed to driving increased market share in all regions while providing the highest possible level of service to our customers.”

ARW this morning is down $3.95, or 9.4%, to $38.10.

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Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) Says Buyer Concerned About ‘Serious’ Downsturn

Tallahassee, FL 5/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- Pep Boys (NYSE: PBY) -- Manny, Moe & Jack, the Philadelphia-based automotive retailer that agreed to be acquired by Gores Group, said its would-be buyer is concerned about “serious deterioration” in the business.

On April 26, Gores asked for a delay of a special shareholders’ meeting by 30 days to allow it to determine the causes and extend of the “significant downturn,” Pep Boys said in a filing today. The shares slumped as much as 24 percent.

Pep Boys, founded in 1921, agreed to be bought in January for $15 a share. First-quarter sales were $513.5 million, compared with a prediction of as much as $526 million, the company said today. Pep Boys said its results missed expectations because of what it called factors occurring in “the ordinary course of business.”

If the downturn was due to a “material adverse effect” or a “material breach of covenant” has occurred, Gores may decide not to consummate the deal, according to the filing.

The shares fell 22 percent to $11.64 at 9:25 a.m. before the markets opened.

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Sears (Nasdaq: SHLD) Shares Soar 9% as 1Q Sales Stabilize

Tallahassee, FL 5/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- Embattled retailer Sears Holdings (Nasdaq: SHLD: 58.39, +4.61, +8.57%) said on Tuesday it anticipates posting a first-quarter operating profit later this month as the sale of underperforming stores generated cash and declines in same-store sales moderated.

Wall Street sent shares of Sears, which is the parent of both its namesake stores and Kmart, surging about 9% on the numbers.

Eddie Lampert’s Sears said it expects to disclose first-quarter profit from continuing operations of $155 million, or $1.46 a share, to $195 million, or $1.84 a share. That would mark a dramatic improvement from a year earlier when it lost $165 million, or $1.53 a share, from continuing operations.

Analysts had been projecting a loss of $1.69 a share for the first quarter, but it’s not clear if those figures are comparable.

Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears said the new guidance includes about $235 million of gains related to the sale of certain stores in the U.S. and Canada that generated $440 million in cash proceeds.

The company also projected adjusted Ebitda, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, of $135 million to $195 million, compared with $58 million the year before.

Overall same-store sales are seen slipping 1.3% in the first quarter, compared with 3.6% the year earlier and 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Boosted by double-digit jumps in apparel and footwear sales, Sears domestic sales are expected to fall just 1%.

Kmart same-store sales are forecasted to have slid 1.6% as increases in apparel and footwear were offset by sinking consumer electronics sales.

The cautiously optimistic news from Sears sent its shares leaping 9.58% to $59.20 Tuesday morning, putting them on track to build on their stellar 2012 surge of 70%. Despite the gains so far this year, Sears is off 36% over the past 12 months.

Last year Sears suffered a $3.1 billion loss, leading management to reveal plans to raise $750 million by selling and spinning off a slew of stores.

Lampert, the chairman of Sears, acquired the retailer in 2005 but has struggled to turn around its recent string of losses.

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P.F. Chang's (Nasdaq: PFCB) reaches $1.09B deal to go private

Tallahassee, FL 5/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- P.F. Chang's (Nasdaq: PFCB) is being acquired and taken private by a private equity firm in a deal valued at about $1.09 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement released Tuesday, New York's Centerbridge Partners LP will buy shares of P.F. Chang's China Bistro Inc. for $51.50 each. The cash offer represents a 40 percent premium over the company's Monday closing stock price.

The news sent shares of P.F. Chang's soaring $12.06, or 30 percent, to $51.75 in premarket trading.

The Scottsdale, Ariz. company which along with its namesake restaurants runs the Pei Wei and True Food Kitchen chains, has run into some headwinds lately.

The company on Tuesday said first-quarter profit dropped 41 percent and same store sales slipped again.

Earlier this month, the company rolled out a new menu to lure more budget-minded restaurant goers.

Centerbridge will begin a tender offer for P.F. Chang's shares no later than May 15. In order for the deal to close, about 83 percent of the shares need to be tendered. P.F. Chang's said it can also seek out competing bids until May 31.

The deal, which has been approved by the company's board, but remains subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the third quarter.

For the quarter ended April 1, P.F. Chang's earned $6.3 million, or 30 cents per share, down from $10.6 million, or 46 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

Excluding one-time gains and losses, the company said it posted an adjusted profit of 35 cents per share for the recent quarter.

Revenue edged up slightly to $318.9 million from $317.4 million.

The profit fell a penny short of Wall Street predictions. Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 36 cents per share on $321.8 million in revenue, according to a FactSet poll.

Revenue at stores open at least a year fell 0.6 percent at the company's namesake restaurants and 1.7 percent at Pei Wei restaurants. The metric is a key measure of retail health because it excludes sales at stores that opened or closed during the year.

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3 Things to Know Before Trading

Tallahassee, FL 5/1/12 (StreetBeat) -- Most of Europe and much of Asia is closed for the May Day holiday. The Nikkei was open, though maybe some wish they had taken the day off; the index was down one and three quarters percent. Australia, however, was up three quarters of a percent. The Footsie is open, it is quietly up about 0.4%. US stock futures are flat as I write.

*The Reserve Bank of Australia took the market by surprise by cutting their key cash rate target by 0.50% at their policy meeting, bringing the rate down to 3.75%; a quarter point rate cut was expected. They say that the larger than forecast rate cut was necessary to deliver appropriate borrowing rates and that inflation will be lower than earlier expected in the next year or two.

*The April reading of China’s manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers Index was up two tenths on the month to 53.3, a few tenths less than forecast, but it is the highest result since March 2011.

*The April reading of the UK’s manufacturing sector PMI fell about a point and a half to 50.5, just a fractional decline was expected.

*The weekly report on chain store sales from ICSC showed a decline of 0.3% on a week on week basis for the week ended April 12. The Johnson Redbook report on the same thing is due out at 7:55am CDT.

*The April reading of the ISM Manufacturing Index is due out at 9:00am CDT. The headline ISM is expected to be down a fraction from the month before to 53.0 and the Price Paid component is forecast to be 59.0, down two points from March. Also set to be released at 9:00am is the March reading of Construction Spending, which is expected to be +0.5% on the month.

*The Fed is scheduled to buy Treasuries today that are due to mature between 5/15/20 and 2/15/22; the results of the operation will be announced just after 10:00am CDT.

*The automakers are set to announce their April vehicle sale results today; it is expected that the total vehicle sales will be fractionally better than the month before at an annualized sales rate of 14.40 million units.

*The is a smattering of Fed speak on the calendar today, including: Minneapolis Fed boss Kocherlakota is scheduled to speak at 8:30am CDT; San Francisco Fed’s Williams will talk at 10:00am CDT; Chicago’s Evans and Atlanta’s Lockhart will share the stage to talk about monetary policy in Beverly Hills at the Milken conference at 11:30am CDT; and Philly Fed boss Plosser will discuss the economy at 2:00pm CDT in San Diego.

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