Main market news: Before the bell 7-26-07: Futures indicate a lower start, despite AppleApple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are up over 5% in premarket trading this morning after reporting stellar results yesterday, silencing all doubters. Debate has of course ensued on the results, specifically the 270,000 iPhones Apple said to have sold, with not all analysts happy with the number.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) shares are up 2.9% in premarket trading (7:54 a.m.) after the embattled automaker surprised Wall Street with second-quarter proft of $750 million, its first profitable quarter in two years. The profit of 31 cents per share compares with a net loss of $317 million, or 17 cents per share, in the same quarter of last year and with analyst estimates, according to Thomson Financial, of a 35 cents loss per share. Brian White will be liveblogging the earnings call at 9:00 a.m.
XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR) has just announced quarterly earnings with revenue increasing 22% year over year to $277 million. XM's 2007 second quarter net loss narrowed to $176 million, a 23% improvement compared to the 2006 second quarter net loss of $229 million. XM also ended the quarter with more than 8.25 million subscribers compared to 6.90 million subscribers in the prior year period. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the company to lose 44 cents a share on revenues of $275 million. I'll be liveblogging the earnings call at 10:00 a.m. this morning, in hopes to hear more about the merger with competitor Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI).
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) reported second quarter earnings this morning that fell short of forecasts despite better-than-expected revenue in the period. The company earned $10.3 billion, or $1.83 a share, compared with $10.4 billion, or $1.72 a share, a year earlier, and compared to analysts surveyed of $1.96 per share according to First Call. Revenue came in at $98.4 billion in the quarter, beating analysts' forecast of $97.6 billion in the period. XOM shares are down 1.3% in premarket trading.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Warren Buffett joined Carl Icahn and Nelson Peltz as his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK) has acquired a small stake in Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT). The Berkshire stake, which is less than 5%, predated news of Mr. Peltz's activist position last month.
Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) will be banishing cigarette smoking from all future Disney-branded movies.
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) said it would trim the price of an HD DVD player add-on for its Xbox 360 video game console from $199 to $179 and give away movies for buyers between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30.. This is the company's attempt to support the format after the Blu-ray format was promoted by Target and Blockbbuster.
Biotech ETFs: Best bets on health care reform
Cramer on BloggingStocks: The world's been waiting for the new GM 
Dell fights Taiwanese authorities over pricing mishaps
