Earning Plays

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Wednesday, April 1
Energy stocks fall ahead of weekly supply data(9:38 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks fell ahead of weekly petroleum storage data due out during the session. The Amex Oil Index (XOI: news, chart, profile) dropped 1.9% to 837. The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG: news, chart, profile) fell 1.3% to 341. BP (BP: news, chart, profile) dropped 2.1% to $39.24 after Goldman Sachs downgraded the oil major to sell. Crude futures retreated $2.20 to $47.46 a barrel.
Venture-backed company M&A falls to six-year low(7:43 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Venture capitalists generated $3.2 billion in liquidity through mergers or acquisitions of 68 portfolio companies in the first quarter, according to a survey released Wednesday by Dow Jones VentureSource. The figure represents a 65% drop from the $9.1 billion in liquidity generated in the first quarter of 2008 and the lowest quarterly total since 2003. The largest transaction in the first quarter was Medtronic's (MDT: news, chart, profile) $700 million acquisition of Irvine, Calif.-based medical device-maker CoreValve. Medtronic also bought Ablation Frontiers, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based medical device company, for $225 million. MarketWatch, the publisher of this report, and Dow Jones VentureSource are both units of News Corp. (NWS: news, chart, profile) .
Tuesday, March 31
Apollo Group reports quarterly profit of 77 cents a share (4:14 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apollo Group Inc. (APOL: news, chart, profile) late Tuesday reported it recovered to a net income of $125.3 million, or 77 cents a share, in the second quarter from a net loss of $32 million, or 19 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $876.1 million from $693.6 million a year ago due to a 20.4% rise in degree enrollments, the Phoenix-based education company said. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had forecast earnings of 64 cents a share on revenue of $840.1 million.