54.7 F
Laguna Hills
Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
-Advertisement-

NEWS OF THE WEEK

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Down: with a 67% rise in bankruptcy filings in August from a year earlier with 1,387 individuals and businesses filing, according to U.S. bankruptcy court statistics.

TOP STORIES

Lake Forest-based I-Flow Corp., maker of a device to treat pain after surgery, is being bought by Kimberly-Clark Corp. as the diaper and Kleenex maker looks to boost its healthcare business. Kimberly-Clark is buying I-Flow for $324 million. The deal is valued at $276 million after factoring in I-Flow’s cash and equivalents that will go to Kimberly-Clark. I-Flow is set to operate as part of Kimberly-Clark Health Care. The acquisition is expected to close in the current quarter.

Disneyland Resort President Ed Grier retired after three years of leading a major theme park expansion, weathering a stormy debate over housing near the company’s Anaheim theme parks and the downturn of the past year or so. A replacement has yet to be named. Grier plans to help his son, Michael, who is in film school at Chapman University, with a post-production company he recently started in Orange. The move ends a 28-year career with Disney, where Grier started as a senior auditor at Walt Disney World and ended up working in nearly every Disney theme park.

TECHNOLOGY

Irvine-based Epicor Software Corp. upped its third-quarter profit outlook. Epicor said it now projects adjusted profits to exceed the $5.5 million to $6.1 million range it forecast in July. The company hasn’t set a date for the release of third-quarter earnings, though they are due in coming weeks. Epicor also said it reworked the terms of a 2007 line of credit arranged by the investment banking arm of Bank of America Corp.

Aliso Viejo’s Quest Software Inc. was upgraded by an analyst on higher sales from the government. Auriga USA LLC analyst Gregg Moskowitz upgraded Quest to “buy” from “hold.” He also upped his price target on the stock to $20 per share, up from $17 per share. Quest’s shares were trading at about $18 last week on a market value of $1.6 billion. For the current quarter, analysts are expecting Quest to post profits of $26 million on sales of $171 million.

An analyst lowered his rating on Broadcom Corp.’s stock on concerns about slumping demand for set-top TV boxes. Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Tristan Gerra cut his rating on the chipmaker to “neutral” from “buy” and held his price target at $30 per share. Gerra said the downgrade reflects concerns that “current order strength is not sustainable relative to true end demand.”

HEALTHCARE

Ensign Group Inc., a Mission Viejo-based nursing home company, bought a nursing home campus and a hospice in Texas and three nursing homes in Utah. Terms weren’t disclosed. Ensign also said it bought three nursing homes in Salt Lake City, Provo and Price, Utah, with a total of 396 beds among them.

Irvine heart valve maker Edwards Lifesciences Corp. plans to develop a plant in Draper, Utah, half way between Salt Lake and Provo, after outgrowing its current site in Midvale, Utah. Edwards has projected that it will add more than 1,000 jobs in manufacturing, business and engineering in Utah in the next 15 years. Edwards received $14.5 million in financial incentives from the state of Utah and the city of Draper.

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. hit a regulatory setback as the Food and Drug Administration declined its request to expand usage of its Fusilev drug to colon cancer. Fusilev, which Spectrum launched last year, is used to guard healthy cells from chemotherapy for osteosarcoma, a rare bone cancer. The company said it plans to meet with regulators about options for continuing to seek approval for expanded Fusilev usage.

Endologix Inc., an Irvine medical device maker, is being sued by Cook Medical of Bloomington, Ind., for patent infringement. Cook claims Endologix infringed on its patents for two endovascular stent grafts used to treat blood vessel disease. One of the patents that Endologix is accused of infringing upon is about to expire.

REAL ESTATE

Santa Ana-based First American Corp. increased its offer to buy the remaining 20% of Poway-based First Advantage Corp. it doesn’t already own for about $220 million. First American, which provides title insurance and business information services, said the latest offer is 48% more than what First Advantage’s shares closed at on June 26, just prior to the company’s first buyout offer. The June offer helped boost First American’s direct and indirect stake in its subsidiary from 74% to 80%.

APPAREL

Foothill Ranch-based mall retailer Wet Seal Inc. reported a smaller than expected decline in September sales at stores opened at least a year and reaffirmed its quarterly outlook. Wet Seal, which runs stores selling clothes for teen girls and young women, said same-store sales fell 4.5% last month versus a year earlier, better than the 7.6% drop analysts were expecting. Piper Jaffray & Co.’s Jeff Klinefelter cut his rating on Wet Seal’s stock to “neutral” from “overweight” before the announcement, suggesting Wet Seal has lost “mindshare” among shoppers.

Want more from the best local business newspaper in the country?

Sign-up for our FREE Daily eNews update to get the latest Orange County news delivered right to your inbox!

-Advertisement-

Featured Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-

Related Articles

-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-