Briefs: Baxter lands contract extension

DEERFIELD -- Baxter International on Tuesday announced Novation, the University HealthSystem Consortium's contracting services company, has signed a new two-year contract extension on behalf of the consortium valued at more than $200 million. The extension will commence at the conclusion of consortium's previous multi-year agreement in mid-2008. The consortium, an alliance of 97 academic medical centers and 153 of their affiliated hospitals, will continue to have access to Baxter's intravenous solutions, drug delivery products, nutritional products, IV administration sets and components, and infusion pumps.

Calamos Asset sees stock jump

NAPERVILLE -- Stock of Calamos Asset Management rose 4.66 percent Tuesday after the company announced a 6.4 percent growth in total assets under management for September. The diversified investment firm headquartered in Naperville announced it had $46.7 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30, a jump from $43.9 billion in August. Calamos will announce third quarter earnings Oct. 23. Shares closed Tuesday at $29.81 per share, up $1.33 compared with the previous day's closing price of $28.48. Peter Nash, director of investor relations for Calamos, said market performance is a contributing factor as September was a great month for asset managers while August was a poor one.

Alcoa grows profit, expands share plan

NEW YORK -- Aluminum producer Alcoa on Tuesday posted a 3 percent rise in third-quarter earnings, as a gain on the sale of its stake in a Chinese aluminum company offset weaker aluminum prices. Alcoa also raised its share buyback program -- from 10 percent to 25 percent of outstanding shares, or about 217 million shares. At the current share price, that is worth more than $6.7 billion. Alcoa, traditionally the first major company to report earnings in a quarter, said net profit rose to $555 million, or 63 cents per share, compared with $537 million, or 61 cents per share, in the year-ago period.