Interesting Stocks To Watch: Dec 19

(RTTNews) - Here is a list of interesting stocks to watch on December 19.

The good news is you can skip this step. There is a next move that can make your life a lot easier. Our research team has already done the groundwork for you. All these stocks listed below and many more have been researched already, and a few stocks have been short-listed as potential gainers. Click here to find out more...

1. Learning Tree International (LTRE) reported Q4 net income of $6.6 million, or $0.50 per share vs net loss of $2.2 million, or ($0.17) per share in its fourth quarter of last year.

Q4 revenues were $32.5 million vs $27.6 million a year ago.

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2. BGC Partners, Inc. (BGCP) said Thursday that it currently expects its fourth quarter revenues for distributable earnings to be around the high end of the range of its previously stated guidance and for fourth quarter pre-tax distributable earnings to be around the mid-point.

In its original fourth quarter outlook published on October 30, the company had expected distributable earnings revenues to increase by between about 10% and 18% and to be between about $475 million and $510 million. BGC had anticipated pre-tax distributable earnings to increase by between about 50% and 72% and to be in the range of $69 million to $79 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters currently expect the company to post revenue of $498.32 million for the fourth quarter.

BGC said Thursday that it still expects its pre- and post-tax earnings margins to significantly improve year over year, and for the fourth quarter to be the second period in a row of record post-tax distributable earnings for the company.

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3. Nike, Inc. (NKE) reported net income for the second quarter of $655 million or $0.74 per share, compared to $534 million or $0.59 per share for the year-ago quarter.

Revenue for the second quarter rose 15% to $7.38 billion from $6.43 billion in the same quarter last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.70 per share on revenue of $7.15 billion for the second quarter.

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4. Cintas Corp (CTAS), a provider of corporate identity uniforms, Thursday reported an increase in second-quarter profit, helped by gains from discontinued operations, while revenues were essentially unchanged from a year ago.

The company lifted its earnings and sales outlook for 2015, and its shares gained 3 percent in after-hours trade on the Nasdaq.

Cintas, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, reported second-quarter net earnings of $120.4 million or $1.00 per share compared with $84.9 million or $0.70 per share last year.

Results for the recent quarter included a gain of acted by $0.14 per share from discontinued operations, excluding which, earnings would have been $0.86 per share.

Revenues for the quarter were almost unchanged from a year ago at $1.12 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.78 per share on revenues of $1.11 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For the full year 2015, the company now expects adjusted earnings of $3.20 to $3.25 per share on revenues of $4.45 billion to $4.50 billion. It earlier expected earnings of $3.05 to $3.14 per share per share on revenues of $4.40 billion to $4.48 billion.

Analysts expect earnings of $3.15 per share on revenues of $4.46 billion for the year.

CTAS closed Thursday at $74.49, up $1.65 or 2.27%, on a volume of 1.6 million shares. In after hours, the stock gained $2.36 or 3.17%.

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5. Cerus Corporation (CERS) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the INTERCEPT Blood System for platelets for ex vivo preparation of pathogen-reduced apheresis platelet components in order to reduce the risk of transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI), including sepsis, and to potentially reduce the risk of transfusion-associated graft versus host disease (TA-GVHD).

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