Feb. 27, 2012, 6:27 a.m. EST

Stocks to watch Monday: Lowe’s, Illumina, El Paso

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Among the stocks that could see active trade in Monday’s session are Lowe’s Cos., Illumina Inc. and El Paso Corp.

Monday’s earnings roster features Visteon Corp. (NYSE:VC) , Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE:CTB) , Armstrong World Industries Inc. (NYSE:AWI) , Haverty Furniture Cos.(NYSE:HVT) , Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ:PCLN) , Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ:CECO) , Erie Indemnity Co. (NASDAQ:ERIE) , CVR Energy Inc. (NYSE:CVI) , URS Corp.(NYSE:URS) , Universal Health Services Inc. (NYSE:UHS)  and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (NYSE:MRX) , among others.

Kicking off the profit parade, Lowe’s (NYSE:LOW)  reported net earnings of $322 million, or 26 cents a share, for the fourth quarter ended Feb. 3, up from $285 million, or 21 cents, earned in the year-earlier quarter. The Mooresville, N.C.-based home-improvement retailer had some 9% fewer weighted average common shares outstanding in the most recent quarter, which also included an extra week compared to the prior year. The extra week contributed about $766 million to sales and 5 cents to earnings per share, Lowe’s said. Overall, quarterly sales reached $11.63 billion from the prior year’s $10.48 billion, as comparable-store sales rose 3.4% excluding the extra week; U.S. comp-store sales increased 3.5%. According to a survey by FactSet Research, analysts had been looking for Lowe’s to earn 24 cents a share on sales of $11.35 billion, on average. The company also projected a profit for the current fiscal year in a range of $1.75 to $1.85 a share, bracketing the FactSet-compiled consensus of $1.81 a share.

Roche has extended its tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares of Illumina (NASDAQ:ILMN)  until 6 p.m. Eastern time on March 23, the Switzerland-based pharmaceuticals giant said. Terms and conditions remain unchanged: The Illumina tender calls for payment of $44.50 a share in cash.

A private-equity consortium made up of Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO) , Riverstone Holdings LLC, Access Industries Inc. and others agreed to purchase from El Paso (NYSE:EP)  assets for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas at a price of about $7.15 billion, parties to the deal said late Friday. The company’s upstream assets encompass properties in the Gulf of Mexico, Texas, Louisiana and a handful of other states, shale plays and international developments in Brazil and Egypt. As of last December, El Paso said it had proved oil and gas reserves of about 4 trillion cubic feet equivalent, up 18% from the end of 2010, and had daily production of 830 million to 840 million cubic feet equivalent during 2011. The transaction with the Apollo-led group is subject to the pending merger of Houston-based El Paso with Kinder Morgan Inc.(NYSE:KMI) , which the companies expect to complete during the second quarter. Kinder Morgan will hang on to El Paso’s pipeline and midstream assets.

CBS Corp. (NYSE:CBS)   (NYSE:CBS.A)  announced a debt refinancing late Friday, calling for full redemption on March 28 of $700 million in outstanding 6.75% senior notes due 2056 (NYSE:CPV)  after the New York-based media company had earlier priced an offering of $700 million in 3.375% senior notes due 2022.

The board of United Stationers Inc. (NASDAQ:USTR)  authorized the repurchase an additional $100 million in common stock, the Deerfield, Ill.-based company said. Buybacks will be made in the open market or via privately negotiated transactions. United Stationers also has $25 million remaining under a prior authorization approved by the board last July.

The board of CBL & Associates Properties Inc. (NYSE:CBL)  approved an increase of nearly 5% in the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based real estate investment trust’s quarterly dividend on common stock, to 22 cents a share. The dividend’s payable April 17 to stockholders of record as of March 30, CBL & 

By MarketWatch

Associates said.