Roper Industries rises on Sunquest buyout

Roper Industries moved up after the diversified manufacturer of technical instruments revealed a $1.4bn cash buyout of Sunquest Information Systems, a diagnostics and laboratory software services outfit.

The stock increased 1.1 per cent to $99.64 as Roper also met analysts’ second-quarter consensus estimates of $1.15bn and raised its full-year earnings a share guidance by about 2 per cent.

Shares in the company have increased by more than 14.7 per cent in the year to date.

Roper’s deal with Sunquest follows a rash of recent takeovers in the medical diagnostics and devices sector, which has faced intense pricing and regulatory pressures.

Christopher Glynn, analyst at Oppenheimer, said: “This company’s strategy has been to work successfully on the acquisition front. It’s been a long time since they added to this accretive process and this deal was very well received by the market [as] this is a software network play to manage diagnostics at hospitals.”

Danaher , the acquisitive US conglomerate, decreased 0.1 per cent to $52.81, but Dover Corp , the diversified electronics manufacturer, rose 0.3 per cent to $54.33.

The S&P 500 industrial index, which includes Roper, earlier fell 0.3 per cent. The sector has been hit hard by the lacklustre global economic environment.

Shares in other industrials companies were mixed. General Electric , the most heavily weighted stock in the industrial index, fell 0.6 per cent to $20.80. United Technologies rose 1 per cent to $74.97.

In the wider market, US equities closed fractionally lower after rallying for the past two sessions as investors hoped for action from central banks to propel global growth.

The S&P 500 dipped 0.05 per cent to 1,385.30, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped fractionally to 13,073.01 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.4 per cent to 2,945.84.

William Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC wealth management, said: “US and European Central Bank meetings, S&P 500 earnings and the US employment report for July will likely be the main drivers of markets this week.

“So far, reported earnings are mostly beating expectations, but slower global economic growth appears to be taking its toll on earnings growth rates.”

Facebook , which had shed 19.5 per cent over the past week, continued the weak momentum – the stock closed 2.3 per cent lower to $23.15.

But Apple moved up 1.7 per cent to $595.03. Active stock Groupon fell 9.1 per cent to $6.90. Other tech stocks varied. Citrix , the networking and remote access technology company, slid 5.9 per cent to $73.25, but Yelp , the business reviews website, increased 5.7 per cent to 20.62.

The Philadelphia exchange semiconductor index, which had bucked the downward trend of the Nasdaq Composite last week, dropped 1 per cent.

The US electronics components group SanDisk dropped 3 per cent to $41.17. Intel lost 1 per cent to $25.76. Chipmakers Marvell decreased 2.5 per cent to $11.33, and Texas Instruments slid 0.5 per cent to $27.21.

Five of the 10 S&P 500 sectors closed in negative territory. The healthcare and consumer discretionary indices led losses. Both subgroups declined 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent, respectively.

Defensive sectors led gains. The consumer staples index added 0.5 per cent. The telecommunications and utilities indices also increased 0.7 per cent and 0.4 per cent.

AT&T rose 0.8 per cent to $37.43, while Verizon ticked up 0.1 to $44.95.

Aside from expectations of central bank action, quarterly corporate earnings remained in focus.

Since the start of the second-quarter earnings season, 293 stocks have reported their results, accounting for 71 per cent of the total S&P 500 market capitalisation.

Another 117 companies are reporting their second-quarter earnings this week, including Pfizer , Procter & Gamble and Coach .

Procter & Gamble rose fractionally to $64.10 after the world’s largest consumer goods company by sales warned of lower second-quarter earnings.

Drugmaker Pfizer decreased 0.5 per cent to $23.71, while the leather goods retailer Coach fell 2.5 per cent to $50.68.

Elsewhere, Coca-Cola rose 1.4 per cent to $81.12. The world’s largest soft drinks maker by revenues said it would reorganise its business as a way to synergise operation.