Among the companies reporting earnings on Friday were Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI), the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) the second-largest U.S. oil company.
Gannett reported fourth-quarter earnings down 31% on falling revenue from newspaper and broadcast ad sales. Earnings fell to $245.3 million, or $1.06 per share, for the three months ending December 31, from $353.5 million, or $1.51 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding a one-time charge, profit was $1.28 per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected net income of $1.27 per share. Quarterly revenue fell 12% to $1.9 billion from $2.2 billion in the 2006 fourth quarter. Analysts forecast sales of $1.98 billion.
For all of 2007, Gannett earned $1.06 billion, or $4.52 per share, down from $1.16 billion, or $4.90 a share, in 2006. Analysts had expected $4.42 per share. Revenue fell to $7.4 billion from $7.85 billion in 2006.
Gannett shares rose 1.46% on Friday, closing at $37.47. That's up from 52-week low of $31.97 in early January.
Chevron reported that profit rose 29% in the fourth quarter, beating expectations, on surging prices for crude oil.
The earnings of $4.88 billion, or $2.32 per share, were up from $3.77 billion, or $1.74 per share, in the same period a year earlier. That beat the $2.26 per share consensus estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Financial. Revenue also rose 29% to $61.41 billion from $47.75 billion.
For the full year, Chevron posted a record profit of $18.69 billion, or $8.77 per share, representing a 9% rise from 2006 earnings of $17.14 billion, or $7.80 per share. Analysts had expected a profit of $8.35 per share. Revenue climbed 5% to $220.9 billion from $210.12 billion in 2006. Chevron did not offer an outlook for upcoming results.
Chevron shares fell less than 1% on Friday, to close at $82.49. Shares had been trading near the 52-week high of $95.50 as recently as the beginning of January.
Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) also posted record profits on Friday.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-03-2008 @ 1:56PM
Barb Johnson said...
Would be best if crude oil prices were taken off the stock market so that the terrorists can't have more money to do terror with.
2-11-2008 @ 9:41AM
E. Hagen said...
Barb- I like the way you think. However I'm sure the big oil companies won't wish to have their stock taken off of Wall Street. They love this publicity...it keeps their stock prices on a volitile and highly increased level...who's benefitting from that? You got it...big oil companies. The whole oil thing just tourques me off. When it all comes down to it, there is truly no reason for $3.00 gas.