Stocks to Watch: Stocks to watch Thursday: Green Mountain, Merck

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) � Among the stocks that could see active trade in Thursday�s session are Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., RailAmerica Inc. and Merck & Co.

On the earnings front, Merck MRK �will draw investors� attention early Thursday owing to its status as a Dow Jones Industrial Average component. Also on deck are Cardinal Health Inc. CAH , Allergan Inc. AGN , Gilead Sciences Inc. GILD , Novellus Systems Inc. , Dow Chemical Co. DOW , International Paper Co. IP , Ryder System Inc. R , Lear Corp. LEA , Tenneco Inc. TEN , Cummins Inc. CMI , Goodrich Corp. GR , Snap-on Inc. SNA , Sara Lee Corp. , Kellogg Co. K , MasterCard Inc. MA , Blackstone Group LP BX , Viacom Inc. VIAB �VIA �and New York Times Co. NYT , among others.

In addition, a trio of of construction companies � PulteGroup Inc. PHM , Beazer Homes USA Inc. BZH �and M/I Homes Inc. MHO �� will report results, and several more in energy services � Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. DO , Cameron International Corp. CAM , Tidewater Inc. TDW , National Oilwell Varco Inc. NOV �and Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. PTEN � are scheduled to do likewise.

Late Wednesday, RailAmerica RA �announced a pair of acquisitions as well as a tender offer on the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company�s debt. The first deal, valued at $40 million, is for Marquette Rail LLC, which operates 126 miles of track in Michigan serving industrial customers. The second, valued at $18 million, is for a 70% interest in Wellsboro & Corning Railroad, which runs 38 miles of track spanning northern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York state. It also includes Industrial Waste Group, which serves the energy and waste- management industries. In addition, RailAmerica said it commenced a cash tender offer to buy up to $444 million in 9.25% senior secured notes due 2017. The offer is scheduled to expire at midnight Eastern time on Feb. 29, unless extended. There are $518 million of the notes outstanding.

U.S.-listed shares of AVG Technologies NVAVG �begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange. The Amsterdam-based company priced its IPO of 8 million ordinary shares at $16 each. Half the shares are being offered by AVG, and the other half by selling shareholders. In addition, certain of the selling shareholders have granted underwriters a 30-day option to buy up to 1.2 million additional ordinary shares if investor demand warrants.

Dynex Capital Inc. DX �raised net proceeds of about $120 million as a result of closing on a previously announced public offering of more than 13.3 million shares of common stock, the Glen Allen, Va.-based company said. The secondary offering included 832,487 additional shares purchased by underwriters at a public offering price of $9.12 a share.

Underwriters of Verastem Inc.�s initial public offering fully exercised their over-allotment option, buying an additional 825,000 shares of common stock at a price of $10 each, the Cambridge, Mass.-based biopharmaceutical company said. Last week, Verastem VSTM �sold 5.5 million shares, 1 million more than originally planned, at the $10-a-share price.

Along with the company reporting fourth-quarter and 2011 results as well as giving its 2012 financial outlook, the board of AvalonBay Communities Inc. AVB �approved a dividend increase of nearly 9% on common stock. The new dividend of 97 cents a share is payable April 16 to stockholders of record as of March 30, the Arlington, Va.-based company said.

Wednesday earnings recap

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters GMCR �reported a net profit of $104.4 million, or 66 cents a share, for the first quarter ended Dec. 24, up from $2.4 million, or 2 cents, earned in the same period during fiscal 2011. On an adjusted basis, the Waterbury, Vt.-based company said it would have earned 60 cents a share. Quarterly sales reached nearly $1.16 billion from the prior year�s $574.1 million, largely reflecting the company�s recently completed Van Houtte acquisition. The consensus of analyst estimates in a FactSet Research poll had been for Green Mountain to earn 36 cents a share on sales of $1.06 billion. The company cited strong holiday sales of its K-Cups and Keurig single-cup brewers, with gross margin widening to 29.1% in the latest quarter from 25% a year earlier. Green Mountain also maintained its full-year financial forecast and pegged adjusted profit at 60 cents to 65 cents a share to go with sales growth in a range of 45% to 50% for the second quarter.

JDS Uniphase JDSU �posted a loss of $10.2 million, or 4 cents a share, for the second quarter ended Dec. 31, a reversal from the profit of $23.6 million, or 10 cents a share, that the Milpitas, Calif.-based company generated in the same three months during fiscal 2011. Quarterly net revenue fell to $412.8 million from $473.5 million in the year-ago period. On an adjusted basis, the optical-networking technology company said it would have earned 15 cents a share for the latest quarter. Analysts in a FactSet survey had, on average, been looking for JDS Uniphase to show an adjusted profit of 10 cents a share as well as $390.9 million in revenue for the quarter.

Qualcomm Inc. QCOM �posted net income of nearly $1.4 billion, or 81 cents a share, for the first quarter ended Dec. 25, up from $1.17 billion, or 71 cents, earned in the same period during fiscal 2011. On an adjusted basis, the San Diego-based supplier of wireless components said it would have earned 97 cents a share in the most recent quarter, as revenue jumped 40% to $4.68 billion. The FactSet-derived consensus had been for an adjusted profit of of 90 cents a share on revenue of $4.56 billion. And for the second quarter, management projected adjusted earnings of 91 cents to 97 cents a share on revenue in a range of $4.6 billion to $5 billion. Analysts� consensus stands at 89 cents a share and $4.49 billion, respectively.

Allstate Inc. ALL �posted fourth-quarter profit of $724 million, or $1.43 a share, up from $296 million, or 55 cents, earned in the year-earlier period. Quarterly revenue reached $8.24 billion from the prior year�s $8.09 billion. The consensus in a FactSet-compiled poll had been for Allstate to earn 97 cents a share on $6.74 billion in revenue. The Northbrook, Ill.-based insurer cited a steep drop in catastrophe losses, generating sizable growth in both its property-liability and financial businesses.