Hillshire jumps on new offer; Krispy Kreme sinks

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Hillshire Brands Co. surged on Tuesday after a suitor stepped up its bid for the food company while Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. sank after quarterly results.

Gainers Bloomberg Enlarge Image

Hillshire Brands (HSH)  jumped more than 8.9% as potential buyers courted the food-maker. Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (PPC)  said Tuesday it would boost its bid to $55 a share in cash, raising the stakes after Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN)  offered $50 a share last week. Pilgrim's bid values the company at $7.7 billion, which is $1.3 billion more than its previous bid. Hillshire said it will hold talks with both bidders, but that it would not back away from its own plan to buy Pinnacle Foods Inc. (PF) .

Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT)  shares rose 3%. Analysts at Jefferies initiated the stock at a buy with a price target of $28.

Dollar General Corp. (DG)  shares gained 3.1%. The discount retailer on Tuesday said its fiscal first-quarter profit rose to $222.4 million, or 72 cents a share, from $220.1 million, or 67 cents a share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Dollar General would have earned 71 cents. Sales grew 6.8% to $4.52 billion.

Decliners

/quotes/zigman/258030/delayed/quotes/nls/kkd KKD 16.28, -2.72, -14.31% Krispy Kreme year-to-date

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD)  lowered its earnings guidance for the fiscal year when it reported results late Monday. The donut chain said it now expects full-year earnings per share to be between 69 cents and 74 cents, below its March forecast of 73 cents to 79 cents. Severe weather in the Southeast led to a 1.5% decline in same-store sales for the quarter ending at the beginning of May, the firm said. Shares slumped 14%.

Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN)  shares dropped 4.3% on a slower rise in gambling revenue from Macau, according to Benzinga.com. A move by the Chinese government to restrict how much money Chinese citizens can bring into Macau is partly to blame, said Benzinga.

Monster Beverage Corp. (MNST)  shares slid 3.2%. The energy drink company was recently sued by the Beastie Boys for using music by the band for a Internet video without authorization. "Monster in good faith believed it had obtained the rights to use a compilation of certain Beastie Boys music for an Internet video," said the company in a statement last week.

Apparel-maker Quiksilver Inc. (ZQK)  said late Monday that its second-quarter loss was wider than Wall Street had expected, sending shares plummeting 45%. The company reported an adjusted loss of 15 cents a share on revenue of $408.2 million. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected a loss of 2 cents a share on revenue of $448.6 million.

Tickers to Watch

AAPL: Shares of Apple Inc. (AAPL)  rose 1% after analyst Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity raised the stock's target price to $710 from $660 on expectations of increased iOS product sales and potential for the company to grow its higher-margin businesses.

SPEX: Spherix Inc. (SPEX)  shares rose 5% after the intellectual property development company said it had completed a $20 million equity financing that involved selling 10 million shares of convertible preferred stock.

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