Stocks to watch: Facebook, HP

The social network will start trading at $38 a share. Hewlett-Packard will cut 25,000 jobs.

By TheStreet Staff May 18, 2012 7:26AM

By Alexandra Zendrian

 

Updated at 8:18 a.m. ET

 

Facebook's (FB) eagerly anticipated IPO was priced on Thursday at $38 a share. The pricing gives Facebook a valuation of $104 billion, significantly above the market caps of Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). At $38 a share, the offering will raise more than $16 billion. It's the biggest Internet IPO ever.

 

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard is reportedly set to cut 8% of its workforce, or roughly 25,000 jobs. Bloomberg said HP is being forced to rightsize its staff to cope with slow demand for its products and services. Bloomberg cited unnamed sources who have been briefed on the issue. HP's enterprise services group is expected to see a workforce reduction of 10,000 to 15,000 people.

 

Ann (ANN), the women's apparel retailer, is expected to post fiscal-first-quarter earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $560 million.

 

Salesforce.com (CRM), the cloud and software technology company, reported non-GAAP earnings of $54.5 million, or 37 cents a share, on revenue of $695.5 million in its fiscal first quarter. Analysts were expecting profit of 34 cents a share on revenue of $678.2 million in the April-ended period. Salesforce.com also forecast non-GAAP earnings of 38 cents to 39 cents a share for the second quarter ending in July. Analysts estimate profit of 38 cents a share.

 

Aeropostale (ARO), the New York casual-apparel retailer, reported first-quarter earnings of $10.6 million, or 13 cents a share, on sales of $497.2 million, up 6%. Same-store sales rose 2%. Analysts called for a profit of 13 cents a share on revenue of $467.8 million in the April-ended period. For the second quarter, the company forecast earnings of 3 cents to 5 cents a share. Analysts expect profit of 5 cents a share.

 

Marvel Technology (MRVL) announced it will make its first quarterly dividend of 6 cents a share in July. The company also said it is boosting its share repurchasing program by $500 million, bringing total authorized repurchases to $2.5 billion. Marvel reported first-quarter net income of $95 million, or 16 cents a share, up from year-earlier earnings of $81 million, or 13 cents a share.

 

Autodesk (ADSK) reported first-quarter net income of $78.9 million, or 34 cents a share, up from year-earlier earnings of $69.3 million, or 29 cents a share.

 

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