Early movers: EFX, RL, DWDP, ADP, CMG, WDC, MON, CLDR & more
Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:
Equifax — The credit reporting agency revealed a massive data breach that exposed personal information of as many as 143 million consumers. The company also said three executives who sold shares days after the breach was discovered were unaware of the event.
Ralph Lauren – Credit Suisse upgraded the luxury goods maker to "outperform" from "neutral", saying the company is on track to return to meaningful growth and profit margin expansion.
DowDupont – RBC Capital initiated coverage on the Dow/DuPont combination – which made its debut as a new company and a Dow component this week – with a "top pick" rating. RBC said the closure of the deal means planned synergy will start to be evident, and volume growth will be meaningful.
ADP – ADP issues a statement thanking activist investor Bill Ackman for presenting his proposals to the ADP board, but said none of the board nominees put forth by Ackman's Pershing Square would bring additional skills to the board, and that the maker of payroll processing and human resources software was confident that it had the right strategy in place.
Chipotle Mexican Grill – Cowen downgraded the restaurant chain's stock to "underperform" from "market perform", saying its survey data indicate that a sales recovery will be slower than investors generally expect.
Western Digital – The hard disk drive maker is seeking $464 million from Apple (AAPL) to help finance a bid for Toshiba's chip making unit, according to the Kyodo news service. Toshiba is still assessing bids from three groups of suitors, although Reuters reports that Apple is involved in all of them.
Monsanto – Monsanto filed a petition with the state of Arkansas, seeking to remove a ban on the herbicide dicamba that is scheduled to take effect next April 15. Dicamba has been linked to crop damage, but Monsanto calls the ban "unwarranted and misinformed".
Cloudera – Cloudera lost 17 cents per share for its latest quarter, eight cents smaller than Wall Street analysts had anticipated. Revenue for the data management software company beat estimates, amid improved sales and customer acquisition.
American Outdoor Brands – The company reported a sharp drop in quarterly earnings and revenue, and lowered its fiscal 2018 guidance as well, amid lower than anticipated shipments in the company's firearms business.
VeriFone – VeriFone matched Street forecasts with adjusted quarterly profit of 36 cents per share, while revenue was slight above estimates. Current quarter guidance, however, is short of analyst projections for the maker of electronic payment devices. The company did say it expects to return to annual growth in fiscal 2018.
Finisar – Finisar matched estimates with adjusted quarterly profit of 40 cents per share, while the fiber optic company saw revenue come in very slightly above Street forecasts. However, Finisar also gave week current quarter earnings and revenue guidance amid a decline in telecom sales.
Redfin – Redfin earned six cents per share for its latest quarter, equaling Street forecasts, while the online real estate services company saw revenue essentially in line as well. The report was Redfin's first since going public in July.
GlaxoSmithKline – The drug maker was downgraded to "underweight" from "equal-weight" at Morgan Stanley, which cited a "challenging" 2020 roadmap.
Zumiez – Zumiez lost two cents per share for its latest quarter, smaller than the six cent loss anticipated by analysts. Revenue also beat estimates for the maker of action sports equipment and apparel, which saw an acceleration in same-store sales for the month of August.