Profitshop

Juniper Networks Inc. forecast first-quarter sales higher than analysts’ estimates, a sign the network-equipment maker is weathering management changes and increased competition. The shares rose in extended trading. Sales will be $1.02 billion to $1.06 billion for the quarter, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said Tuesday in a statement. On average, analysts projected revenue of $1.02 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Earnings excluding some costs will be 28 cents to 32 cents a share, compared with an average analyst estimate of 30 cents. Fourth-quarter profit also beat estimates. “It looks good, certainly on the surface,” Erik Suppiger, an analyst at JMP Securities LLC, said in a telephone interview. “They have set some very low expectations.” Juniper has been working to find new growth, while also dealing with pressure to increase shareholder returns from activist investors led by Elliot Management Corp. A month after naming technology executive Shaygan

Bonds of Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. (1638) rallied for a fourth day on speculation the local government is seeking buyers for the homebuilder after it missed a coupon payment. The company’s 8.875 percent notes due 2018 jumped 5.78 cents to 62.46 cents on the dollar as of 11:45 a.m. in Hong Kong, according to Bloomberg-compiled prices. Its 10.25 percent debt due 2020 advanced 5.96 cents to 62.22 cents on the dollar. The securities fell to record lows below 30 cents on Jan. 7. The rebound follows reports the Shenzhen local government is seeking new investors to take over the developer based in the southern Chinese city after founder and ex-chairman Kwok Ying Shing quit on Dec. 31. Kaisa is being probed over alleged links to Jiang Zunyu, the former security chief of Shenzhen taken into custody in a graft probe, two people familiar said. “The Kaisa situation took a major turn to the positive, with the expected government-orchestrated investment finally appearing to be in motion,” Owen G

You didn’t have to be a genius to make money in equities the last two years. Buy an index fund and let the bull market guide you to a 44 percent gain. Most money managers who actually pick stocks couldn’t match the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, let alone beat it. Thanks to three weeks of volatility, that’s beginning to change. This year, U.S. stocks have started to go their own ways, rather than move in lockstep with each other and with little swings, as they did in 2014. That’s good news for active managers, who’ve seen investors pull money for years in favor of low-cost index and exchange-traded funds. “That’s a better environment for the way that we think of the world,” said Doug Burtnick, a Philadelphia-based senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management, which oversees $525 billion. “Managers who focus on discriminating among companies, and to the extent they tend to get the fundamentals right, should be rewarded more richly.” Three weeks into 2015, stocks are get

China’s benchmark money-market rate fell as the central bank added funds to the financial system, ensuring cash supply as demand spikes before the Lunar New Year holidays. The People’s Bank of China conducted 60 billion yuan ($9.6 billion) of reverse-repurchase operations Tuesday for seven and 28 days, keeping rates close to market levels. The monetary authority offered 30 billion yuan of 28-day contracts at 4.8 percent and a similar amount in seven-day reverse repos at 3.85 percent. China’s new year holidays start Feb. 18. “The central bank wants to ensure pre-holiday cash demand is met,” said Song Qiuhong, an analyst at Shunde Rural Commercial Bank Co. in Guangdong province. “The interest rate for 28-day repos was higher than expected, indicating the central bank may have the concern that significantly lowering the interest rate could accelerate capital outflows.” The seven-day repurchase rate, a gauge of interbank funding availability, fell two basis points to 3.87 percent as of

Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) agreed to buy all the publicly traded units in Regency Energy Partners LP (RGP), a pipeline company that it controls, in a deal that values the target at about $18 billion including debt. The cash-and-stock deal offers Regency investors $26.89 a unit, a 13 percent premium based on the Jan. 23 closing price, the companies said in a joint statement today. Regency holders will get 0.4066 units of Energy Transfer plus a cash payment of 32 cents a unit. Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) controls Regency through ownership of its general partner and already owns about 22 percent of the traded units, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The deal is the latest attempt to simplify the often complex structures of pipeline companies. Billionaire Kelcy Warren, 59, is chairman and CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, as well as chairman and the biggest shareholder of Energy Transfer Equity, which controls both Energy Transfer and Regency. Last year, fellow pipeline

British exporters are taking a knock from the sluggishness of the euro area, leaving consumers fueling much of the fire behind the expansion. Households ramped up spending in stores at the fastest pace in more than a decade in the fourth quarter, and data Tuesday will show how much that checked the impact of weak external demand. Economists forecast growth of 0.6 percent in the three months, down from 0.7 percent in the third quarter. While the buildup to the general election in less than four months may weigh on confidence, further stimulus may reverse the cooling trend. The European Central Bank will pump $1.3 trillion into the economy of Britain’s biggest trading partner, while a slump in oil prices and strengthening wage growth are handing Britons the spending power they’ve been missing for years. “Growth is pulling back but the recovery hasn’t stumbled,” said Victoria Clarke, an economist at Investec Securities in London. “We’re expecting an improvement in Europe and oil might

Oil fell from the lowest closing price in almost six years amid signs that Saudi Arabia’s new king will maintain its production policy, bolstering speculation that a global glut will persist. Futures dropped as much as 2.7 percent in New York, extending last week’s 6.4 percent slide. King Salman, who took the Saudi throne on Jan. 23, pledged to maintain the policies of his predecessor. U.S. inventories climbed to the highest level for December since 1930, the American Petroleum Institute reported. Greek voters handed election victory to Syriza, a party that’s pledged to end austerity and renegotiate an international bailout. Oil slumped almost 60 percent since June as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted calls to cut output and the U.S. pumped at the fastest pace in more than three decades. Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter, has chosen not to reduce supply and counts instead on lower prices to stimulate demand, according to Mohammad Al Sabban, an advise