Performance Food to Buy Rival Reinhart for $2B

Performance Food Group said Monday it will acquire rival Reinhart Foodservice for $2 billion in a move that reflects consolidation pressures on food distributors amid rising transportation costs.The acquisition of Reinhart, the second-largest privately held food distributor in the U.S., will crea...

By Matthew Heller • July 1, 2019

Big Health Care Companies Are Undervalued

My investment management firm’s portfolio has a large position in the health care sector, and with AbbVie’s $63 billion takeover bid for Allergan last week, it’s timely to review why we bought into this sector.Without commenting on Allergan, whose shares we own, or AbbVie, whose we don’t, health ...

By David McCann • July 1, 2019

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

IPO Market Has Busiest Quarter in Four Years

IPO filings in the second quarter hit the highest level in four years as the market remained on track for a banner year.Investment adviser Renaissance Capital said 62 companies went public in the latest quarter, raising a total of $25 billion of which nearly one third came from Uber’s IPO. The am...

By Matthew Heller • June 28, 2019

Consumer Confidence Drops Sharply in June

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence measure dropped in June to its lowest level in nearly two years, reflecting concerns over escalating trade tensions.The Consumer Confidence Index declined to 121.5 in June from 131.3 in May, snapping a three-month streak of improvements and missing conse...

By Matthew Heller • June 25, 2019

UnitedHealth to Acquire Equian Payments Firm

Health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group has reportedly agreed to acquire Equian for about $3.2 billion in a move to expand ts healthcare services business.Equian processes more than $500 billion in healthcare claims a year, serving nine of the 10 largest healthcare payers. The parent of the lar...

By Matthew Heller • June 24, 2019

S&P Cuts Kraft Heinz Rating to Near Junk Grade

S&P Global has cut Kraft Heinz’s credit rating to one notch above junk status, citing concerns over the packaged food giant’s profitability amid “significant” competition from other manufacturers.S&P’s move to downgrade Kraft to the lowest investment grade — BBB-/A-3 — from BBB/A-2 brings...

By Matthew Heller • June 21, 2019

Ten States Sue to Block T-Mobile, Sprint Merger

Ten states have thrown a potential roadblock in the way of the mega-merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, arguing in an antitrust lawsuit that the $26 billion deal would cause “irreparable harm.”The merger, which would combine two of the four largest national mobile network operators, is awaiting approv...

By Matthew Heller • June 12, 2019

Canon, Toshiba Fined Over Antitrust Violations

Canon and Toshiba have agreed to pay $2.5 million each to settle charges that they structured a deal so it would not be delayed by U.S. pre-merger notification laws.Toshiba sold its medical systems subsidiary to Canon for $6.1 billion in March 2016 amid a financial crisis caused by an accounting ...

By Matthew Heller • June 11, 2019

Salesforce to Buy Tableau in $15B Analytics Move

Salesforce said Monday it had agreed to acquire Tableau for $15.7 billion, making a major bet on data analytics as it continues to diversify away from its core CRM software business.Salesforce’s existing data tools include its Einstein platform, which delivers AI-powered analytics for sales and m...

By Matthew Heller • June 10, 2019

ECB Leaves Rates Unchanged, Hints at Easing

The European Central Bank on Thursday pushed back the timing of its first post-crisis interest rate hike and its president hinted at more radical monetary stimulus if economic growth in the eurozone remains weak.After meeting in Lithuania, the bank left its benchmark main refinancing rate unchang...

By Matthew Heller • June 6, 2019

U.S. Factory Orders Decline 0.8% in April

U.S. factory orders fell sharply in April for the second time in three months and economists expect “further bumps” ahead for the manufacturing sector amid rising trade tensions.The Commerce Department said factory goods orders declined 0.8% month to month, reflecting softening demand for transpo...

By Matthew Heller • June 4, 2019

U.S. Home-Price Growth Slows to 3.7% in March

U.S. home-price growth slowed in March to the lowest annual rate since August 2012, another indication that the housing market is cooling off despite the overall strength of the economy.According to the latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index from S&P Dow Jones Indices and CoreLogic, home prices...

By Matthew Heller • May 28, 2019

Finance Fails to Get Full Value from Shared Services

If finance departments aren’t getting what they want from their company’s shared services organization, they might want to be careful about pointing the finger of blame.So suggests new research from Gartner, in which less than half (49%) of the 1,500 surveyed finance officials reported being acti...

By David McCann • May 22, 2019

Avon in ‘Advanced’ Sale Talks With Brazilian Firm

Avon Products shares jumped on Wednesday on strong indications that the ailing cosmetics company will agree to be acquired by the Brazilian owner of the Body Shop.While a deal had not been confirmed, both Avon and Natura Cosméticos said they were in “advanced discussions” about an acquisition tha...

By Matthew Heller • May 22, 2019

Ascena Retail to Close All Dressbarn Stores

Ascena Retail Group, which has been conducting a “comprehensive portfolio review,” announced it will shutter all of its Dressbarn casual wear stores due to their lack of profitability.The closure of the roughly 650 Dressbarn stores follows Ascena’s announcement in March that it would sell its maj...

By Matthew Heller • May 21, 2019

Disney Takes Over Hulu in Deal With Comcast

Disney will immediately assume full operational control of Hulu as part of a deal with minority partner Comcast/NBCU aimed at cementing its streaming strategy.Under the terms of an agreement announced on Tuesday, Comcast will retain its 33% interest in Hulu for at least five years and continue li...

By Matthew Heller • May 14, 2019

Sanders, AOC Call for Cap on Credit Card Rates

Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have teamed against the credit card industry, proposing a 15% cap on interest rates to protect consumers from the “economic brutality” of big banks.The high-profile Democratic lawmakers unveiled the rate cap proposal on Thursday as part of the...

By Matthew Heller • May 10, 2019

Siemens to Spin off Power and Gas Business

Germany’s Siemens AG has decided to spin off its power and gas unit as part of a restructuring aimed at building up its automation, industrial digitalization, and smart infrastructure businesses.Under the plan announced on Tuesday, Siemens Gas and Power, which includes oil and gas, gas turbines, ...

By Matthew Heller • May 8, 2019

Unemployment Dips to Lowest Level in 50 Years

U.S. employers kept hiring at a robust pace in April while unemployment dipped to the lowest level in half a century.The Labor Department reported Friday that employers added 263,000 jobs last month with gains across nearly all sectors. Economists had expected nonfarm payrolls rising by 185,000 j...

By Matthew Heller • May 3, 2019

It’s Unanimous: Firms that ‘Know’ Bots Will Expand Their Usage

Every company that’s currently using robotic process automation and aware of the key issues around it will be using more RPA before long.Does that sound like an extreme statement? Not according to a new survey by consulting firm Protiviti. Each of the 450 participating companies — all of which us...

By David McCann • May 2, 2019

U.S. Productivity Surges to 3.6% Gain in Q1

U.S. worker productivity rose at the fastest pace in more than four years in the first quarter, a possible sign that the economy can continue to grow without sparking inflation.The Labor Department reported Thursday that nonfarm productivity, which measures hourly output per worker, increased at ...

By Matthew Heller • May 2, 2019

Fed Resists Pressure for Interest Rate Cut

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday shrugged off growing pressure for an interest rate cut, saying current economic conditions still require a “patient” approach to monetary policy despite weak inflation.After four interest rate hikes in 2018, Fed policymakers have held steady on rates so far t...

By Matthew Heller • May 1, 2019

U.S. Consumer Spending Surges 0.9% in March

U.S. consumer spending jumped to its biggest gain in 9-1/2 years in March though inflation pressures remained muted, keeping the economy in what one expert called a “sweet spot.”The Commerce Department said Monday that spending rose 0.9% last month as consumers stepped up motor vehicle purchases....

By Matthew Heller • April 29, 2019

GE’s Subprime Loan Business Files Chapter 11

General Electric has put its defunct subprime mortgage business into bankruptcy to help resolve remaining legal liabilities over defective loans.WMC Mortgage has already settled 13 lawsuits in which investors alleged it misrepresented the quality of the mortgages it sold, agreeing to pay a total ...

By Matthew Heller • April 24, 2019

Activist Elliott Bets $1.3B on SAP Profit Growth

Activist investor Elliott Management is adding its clout to the push for change at SAP, disclosing it has built up a 1.2 billion euro ($1.35 billion) stake in the German software giant.The disclosure came as SAP unveiled plans Wednesday to improve its performance with a focus on positioning the c...

By Matthew Heller • April 24, 2019