Stocks’ Beatable Move: Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE:FDO), Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:ANR), Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT)

Discount retailer, Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE:FDO), which is being purchased by competitor Dollar Tree Inc. (DLTR), released third-quarter net earnings of $79.9M or $0.70 per share compared with $81.1M or $0.71 a share previous year. Excluding items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $0.74 as share as compared with $0.85 per share a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated earnings of $0.82 per share on revenues of $2.73 billion for the quarter. Analysts’ estimates typically exclude special items. Comparable store sales for the quarter increased 0.7% as a result of an increase in the number of customer transactions, partly offset by a drop in the average customer transaction value. On the other consideration, Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE:FDO) begun last trade with a price of $79.27 and throughout the trading session climbed at $79.40. The day-trade ended with an advance of 0.21% to close at $79.35.

Coal supplier, Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:ANR) released that its subsidiary, Pennsylvania Services Corp, has takeover 50% interest in its natural gas exploration and production JV, Pennsylvania Land Resources Holding Co LLC, owned by EDF Trading Resources LLC. The $126M transaction, which makes Pennsylvania Services (“PSC”) the sole owner and operator of the venture, allows Alpha to expand and control a highly economic natural gas development program composed of over 25,000 net acres and associated infrastructure in the Marcellus Shale. Alpha Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:ANR) stock hit highest price at $0.300, beginning with a price of $0.280 to close at 0.28 by a gain of 2.52% with a day range of $0.270-$0.3.

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT) released that it takeover privately held Black Lotus, a provider of Distributed Denial of Service mitigation services. The firm reported that it takeover the outstanding equity of Black Lotus in an all-cash transaction. Terms of the transaction were not revealed. Level 3 reported that deal is part of efforts to provide leading security product capabilities. Level 3 noted the increase in frequency, volume and complexity of DDoS attacks in a recent research report, Safeguarding the Internet: Level 3 Botnet Research Report, substantiating the need to invest in the DDoS market. Shares of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT) opened at $53.16 with 354.47 million outstanding shares and hit to its highest price of $53.21 during the day and finally closed at $52.43 by scoring -1.32%.