Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) reported fourth-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street's expectations late Thursday. The online retailer's fourth-quarter profit rose 9% to $225 million, or 52 cents per share, trouncing expectations of 39 cents per share. Revenue rose 18% to $6.7 billion, again exceeding analyst estimates for $6.4 billion. Even for the current quarter Amazon gave guidance that was better than expectations. AMZN shares are soaring about 15% in premarket trading.Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), a Dow component, reported earnings this morning, meeting analyst expectations of a $1.58 per share profit for the quarter. P&G's quarterly profit jumped 53% due to a gain from the sale of its Folgers coffee business. One problem, though, sales unexpectedly declined 3% to $20.37 billion. PG shares traded 2.8% lower in premarket action.
Honeywell (NYSE: HON) also met analyst expectations of a 97 cent per share profit. Its fourth-quarter earnings rose slightly as it cut costs. Revenue dropped 6% to $8.7 billion, missing estimates of of $8.97 billion. Honeywell maintained its 2009 guidance ahead of expectations. HON shares were 3.6% lower in premarket trading.
Roche lowered its takeover offer for Genentech (NYSE: DNA) to $42.5 billion -- offering $86.50 per share, which is $2.50 less than its previous offer, an offer that was rejected as too low -- and took the offer direct to shareholders. Roche already owns 55.8% of Genentech
Exxon Mobi (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX) are set to report earnings before the bell this morning as well. Many expect lower oil prices to hurt results. Exxon posted results that actually topped the Street's view. While profit fell 33% to $7.8 billion, or $1.55 per share, that was better than the $1.45 per share estimated and shares gained 1.5% in premarket trading.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is preparing a move into cellphones as early as next month, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Dell is focusing on smartphones, and one model already has similar features to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s iPhone. But Dell hasn't finalized its plans and may still abandon the effort.
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) agreed to pay $4.5 billion breakup fee if banks decide against lending it enough funds to complete its $68 billion purchase of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE).
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