Active Stocks Investor’s Alert: Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK), Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE), Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX), AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN)

On Thursday, Shares of Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK), gained 1.74% to $70.32.

Duke Energy’s board of directors recently declared the appointment of former Comcast Corp. vice chairman and chief financial officer Michael Angelakis as a new board member, effective Oct. 1, 2015.

Angelakis presently is a senior advisor to Comcasts executive administration committee and deputy chairman of the board for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He also serves as a Babson College trustee.

He soon will be chairman and chief executive officer of a new planned company hes forming, in partnership with Comcast, that will focus on investing in and operating growth-oriented companies, domestically and internationally.

Duke Energy Corporation is an energy company. Duke Energy conducts its operations in three business segments: Regulated Utilities, International Energy and Commercial Power. The Companys Regulated Utilities segment conducts operations primarily through Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress, Duke Energy Florida, Duke Energy Indiana and Duke Energy Ohio.

Shares of Nucor Corporation (NYSE:NUE), inclined 0.47% to $38.63, during its last trading session.

Nucor Corporation declared recently guidance for its third quarter ending October 3, 2015. Nucor anticipates third quarter results to be in the range of $0.45 to $0.50 per diluted share. This range is a decrease from the third quarter of 2014 earnings of $0.76 per diluted share and is an improvement contrast to the second quarter of 2015 earnings of $0.39 per diluted share.

Projected third quarter results comprise a LIFO credit of $83.0 million ($0.16 per diluted share), contrast to a credit of $95.5 million ($0.19 per diluted share) in the second quarter of 2015 and a credit of $14.5 million ($0.03 per diluted share) in the third quarter of 2014. Comprised in the second quarter of 2015 results was a $9.3 million ($0.03 per diluted share) benefit related to state tax credits. Comprised in the third quarter of 2014 results was a $12.5 million ($0.03 per diluted share) charge related to the partial write down of assets within the steel mills segment.

Overall operating performance at the steel mills segment in the third quarter of 2015 is predictable to improvement from the second quarter of 2015. Margins are predictable to improve as our steel mills have benefited from an average lower cost of inventory in the third quarter as contrast to the second quarter. The automotive market remains strong, while nonresidential construction markets are ongoing to gradually improve. Energy, heavy equipment and agricultural markets remain weak. Steel prices and margins remain under pressure from exceptionally high levels of imports that continue to flood the domestic market. Imports accounted for an estimated 30% of the finished steel market in the first eight months of 2015, contrast with an estimated 27% in the first eight months of 2014.

Nucor Corporation (Nucor) manufactures steel and steel products. The Company also produces direct reduced iron (DRI) for use in the Companys steel mills. It also processes ferrous and nonferrous metals and brokers ferrous and nonferrous metals, pig iron, hot briquetted iron (HBI) and DRI. Nucor operates in three segments: steel mills, steel products and raw materials.

At the end of Thursday’s trade, Shares of Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX), gained 1.26% to $44.10.

Seagate Technology was upgraded by Zacks from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Tuesday, ARN reports. The firm presently has a $52.00 price objective on the data storage provider’s stock. Zacks�?s price objective indicates a potential upside of 19.40% from the stock’s current price.

According to Zacks, “Seagate posted disappointing fourth-quarter fiscal 2015 results and witnessed margin contractions. As stated during the preliminary results declared on Jul 13, the company’s performance was negatively influenced by weaker-than-predictable demand for its products. Moreover, PCs remain the primary users of HDDs and the company derives the bulk of its revenues from these devices. It is the second largest manufacturer of HDDs in the U.S. with a 40% share. Therefore, the cannibalization of PCs by mobile devices will affect Seagate’s results. Nonetheless, the company should benefit from the strength in its hybrid drives. Also, Seagate is focusing on the enterprise side, where it could acquire higher-margin business. Synergies from acquisitions and product innovations are the other growth catalysts.”

Seagate Technology plc (Seagate) is a provider of electronic data storage products. The Companys products are hard disk drives (HDD). The Company produces a range of electronic data storage products, counting solid state hybrid drives (SSHD), solid state drives (SSD), peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) cards and Serial AT Attachment (SATA) controllers.

Finally, Shares of AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN), ended its last trade with 0.50% gain, and closed at $32.45.

AstraZeneca will present 33 abstracts from across the respiratory disease portfolio at the 2015 European Respiratory Society (ERS) meeting in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 26-30 September. Data will comprise results from AstraZeneca’s growing inhaled portfolio of LAMA/LABA therapies, as well as findings from the company’s biologics pipeline and early science programs.

Maarten Kraan, Vice President, Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmune Therapy Area, said: “The data presented at ERS further demonstrate the diversity of AstraZeneca’s portfolio of innovative formulations and devices which provide physicians with the opportunity to select the right therapy to meet their patients’ needs recently and in the future.”

Data from growing inhaled respiratory portfolio reinforce importance of delivering combination therapies in a single device

Among key abstracts being presented at ERS are the positive Phase III safety and efficacy data for PT003, the investigational therapy combining glycopyrrolate and formoterol fumarate in a pressurized metered dose inhaler (pMDI).

The two pivotal 24 week studies, PINNACLE-1 and PINNACLE-2, investigated the potential of PT003 to improve lung function in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and showed that the investigational therapy had positive effects on both co-primary and secondary endpoints. There were no unpredictable safety findings, with adverse events being consistent with previous results from the development program [#PA4363, Tuesday 29 September, 12:50-14:40 CET].

AstraZeneca PLC (AstraZeneca) is a global biopharmaceutical company. The Company discovers, develops and commercializes prescription medicines for Cardiovascular and Metabolic diseases; Oncology; Respiratory, Inflammation and Autoimmunity, Infection, Neuroscience and Gastrointestinal.

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About Travis Garlick 1822 Articles
Been writing about and trading stocks since 2013. Manage a group of micro-cap investors on Facebook with over 15,000 members. Turned $8,500 into 185k the first year I started trading stocks and haven't looked back.