Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Wednesday:
Viacom popped after the bell when it slashed pay for its executive chairman by 85 percent. The mass media company said it would cut the pay of famed leader Sumner Redstone to $2 million for the 2015 fiscal year, versus a total of $13 million in 2014, the company said in a release. The company also chopped the bonus for President and CEO Philippe Pierre Dauman to $14 million, a 30 percent decline.
An acquisition, paired with in-line guidance, boosted shares of cybersecurity company FireEye after hours. It announced Wednesday it would buy privately held iSIGHT Partners, a global intelligence monitor of cyberattacks. The move will make FireEye one of the largest intelligence operations in the world, according to a FireEye statement. In addition, FireEye said its Feb. 11 earnings are expected to be within previously issued guidance ranges, with fourth- quarter revenue in the range of $184 million to $185 million.
Chesapeake Energy was dinged after the bell when U.S. oil recorded its worst settlement since May 2003, with West Texas Intermediate (WTI) prices for February delivery settling at $26.55 a barrel. Chesapeake, the second-largest producer of natural gas and the 12th largest producer of oil and natural gas liquids in the U.S., has been the subject of worryamong some investors in investment firm Southeastern Asset Management, who called for patience even as energy prices spiral.
“We don’t know when supply and demand will rebalance and adjust prices, and thus far, our energy assumptions have been wrong. Patience is critical because both energy prices, along with the stocks of Chesapeake and Consol, can turn rapidly,” Southeastern said in a shareholder letter it released Dec. 31, referring to its two primary energy holdings.
Devon Energy also slid in late trading after announcing that layoffs would be needed as the suffering industry cuts costs.
Shares of F5 Networks also jumped in extended-hours trading after the computer networking company topped expectations in a quarterly earnings announcement. The company, which provides cloud and data center service to Fortune 500 companies, reported revenue of $489.5 million and earnings of $1.73 per share, excluding one-time items. Wall Street expected earnings of $1.60 a share on $486 million in revenue.
And shares of First Bancorp-Puerto Rico saw a 9 percent rally after hours even as the country continues to navigate a looming debt crisis. U.S.Treasury Secretary Jack Lew Wednesday called for Congress to urgently pass legislation by the end of March to help the island restructure its massive debt load, Reuters reported.
“Restructuring is an alternative to a bailout,” Lew said in San Juan. “There needs to be a restructuring so Puerto Rico’s financial affairs can be put on a sustainable course.”
[“source-gsmarena”]
