Morning Links: 5 August 2008

Tractor Supply doubles buyback, Moody's may lower CBRL, Gaylord beats by a penny, and more...

Email | Print By Geert De Lombaerde

The board at Tractor Supply has voted to double the company's share repurchase program to $400 million. Since February of 2007, the company (Ticker: TSCO) has bought back 4 million at an average of $44.50.

Credit rating agency Moody's Investors Service says weakening fundamentals may lead it to downgrade the debt of CBRL Group. (Ticker: CBRL) Separately, CBRL says July same-store sales fell 1.o percent from a year ago.

Gaylord Entertainment's earned 21 cents per share from continuing operations last quarter, just topping expectations. Revenue per available room rose almost 3 percent, but CEO Colin Reed said the company (Ticker: GET) is seeing "higher than historic attrition levels across the brand."

Second-quarter profits from continuing operations rose by more than a quarter at Healthcare Realty, but the company (Ticker: HR) fell short of its bottom-line forecast by a penny. Revenues rose 7 percent.

Rising materials costs has led a division of Clarcor (Ticker: CLC) to scale back and delay an expansion at a Nebraska facility.