Stocks to Watch: Cavium, Medicis, New York Times (Update 1)

Cavium(CAVM) should see active trading on Wednesday after the semiconductor company lowered its financial outlook to reflect weak demand from both the enterprise and service provider markets as well as the negative impact of a hub transition by one of its major customers. The San Jose, Calif.-based company now sees revenue of $56 million to $57 million for its fiscal fourth quarter ending this month. The current average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for revenue of $59.7 million in the three-month period. Cavium didn't provide a bottom-line forecast but said it "believes that it under shipped to customer end demand in the fourth quarter," and that it sees gross margins coming in a percentage point lower than previous guidance because of the lower sales volume. Shares of Cavium closed Tuesday at $28.48, off nearly 33% so far in 2011. The stock was last quoted at $26.80 in pre-market action, off nearly 6% on volume of close to 60,000, according to Nasdaq.com. Sears Holdings(SHLD) was tracking for further losses on Wednesday after sinking to a new 52-week low on Tuesday amid an avalanche of disappointing news from the struggling retailer. The stock was last quoted at $31.95, down 4.3%, on volume of more than 40,000, according to Nasdaq.com. On Tuesday, the shares sank more than 27% to $33.38, hitting a new low of $33.26 in the process. The company said holiday same-store sales were weak and announced plans to close as many as 120 of its Kmart and namesake store locations. Arctic Cat(ACAT) said early Wednesday that it's agreed to buy back 6.1 million of its Class B common shares from Suzuki Motor Corp. for $79.3 million in cash. The snowmobile maker said the deal will reduce its outstanding share count to 12.3 million from 18.4 million but won't impact its public float. After completing the transaction, Arctic Cat expects to close 2012 with more than $60 million in cash. Suzuki Motor had been a major shareholder since 1988, Arctic Cat said.

The company said Suzuki Motor will continue to supply it with engines and engine parts through 2014. Arctic Cat shares closed Tuesday at $18.99.

"Based on our current cash position and ongoing cash generation, we feel comfortable with this share purchase and believe it provides great value to our remaining shareholders," said Claude Jordan, Arctic Cat's president and CEO, adding later: "Although Suzuki will no longer have an ownership stake in Arctic Cat, we look forward to continuing to purchase snowmobile engines for the next two model years, in addition to having Suzuki supply Arctic Cat with snowmobile engine parts to service existing engines after that time." Arctic Cat shares are up more than 25% in the past year, hitting a 52-week high of $22.12 on Nov. 7. The New York Times Co.(NYT) said after Tuesday's closing bell that it's agreed to sell its regional media group business, which includes 16 regional newspapers and other assets, to Halifax Media Holdings LLC for $143 million. The company expects the deal to close within a few weeks and expects to record an after-tax gain on the transaction in its fiscal first quarter. It anticipates net after-tax proceeds of $150 million from the sale. Shares of New York Times closed Tuesday at $7.76, down nearly 21% year-to-date. Emcore Corp.(EMKR) reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss of $14.3 million, or 15 cents a share, after Tuesday's closing bell, wider than its year-ago loss of $885,000, or 2 cents a share. The Albuquerque, N.M.-based maker of semiconductor components said revenue totaled $52.1 million, down 4% year-over-year but in line with its guidance. Emcore shares closed Tuesday at 86 cents, down 20.3% in 2011. Medicis(MRX) will in focus after the company updated its outlook for the fourth quarter, saying it now expects earnings of 51 to 57 cents a share on revenue of between $170 million and $183 million. The current average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters is for a profit of 61 cents a share in the December-ended period on revenue of $186 million. The outlook reflects an additional sales reserve the company is recording to reflect the impact of its negotiations with managed care providers coming in at the high end of a previously disclosed range and other factors. Medicis shares closed Tuesday at $33.76, up 26% so far in 2011. -- >To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints