BadNews posts
FeedPosted Feb 25th 2009 11:20AM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Bad news, Products and services, Newspapers, Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising, Recession
Shares of the
Washington Post Company (NYSE:
WPO) are trading in the red this morning after the company reported that its fourth quarter
profit dropped by a massive 77%. Net income came in at $2.01 per share, verse $8.71 per share in the same period last year.
As I noted in the earnings preview yesterday, the company's flagship newspaper and its magazine division (
Newsweek Magazine) have been hit hard with losses in advertising revenue, and both had a dismal 2008 year. The company's newspaper division
lost $14.4 million in the fourth quarter and had a $192.4 million operating loss for the entire 2008 year. Its newspaper division had a slight profit of $10.9 million in the fourth quarter, but on a full year basis it posted a loss of $16.1 million.
Continue reading Washington Post (WPO) misses the mark
Posted Feb 18th 2009 12:15PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: International markets, Earnings reports, Bad news, Products and services, Employees, Goodyear Tire and Rubber (GT), Recession, Financial Crisis
Shares of Akron, Ohio based
Goodyear Tire and Rubber (NYSE:
GT) are trading in the red this morning after the company reported
dismal fourth quarter and full year 2008 earnings this morning.
Going into today's earnings release, analysts had been expecting to see the company show a $1.03 per share loss for its fourth quarter, but the results came in worse than expected, with a quarterly loss down at -$1.37 per share. This compares to a profit during the same period last year of 23 cents per share.
Continue reading Goodyear Tire (GT) loses air on earnings
Posted Feb 12th 2009 8:18AM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: After the bell, International markets, Earnings reports, Bad news, Products and services, Housing, Earnings transcripts, Recession, Financial Crisis
Masco Corp. (NYSE:
MAS), which manufactures and installs building materials,
announced its fourth quarter numbers Wednesday afternoon, falling short of analyst estimates.
Analysts had expected to see the company show a loss for its fourth quarter of 5 cents, but a tough sales environment pushed the company's loss much wider than expected, with a reported 18-cent loss per share.
Continue reading Masco (MAS) misses estimates and announces dividend cut
Posted Jan 30th 2009 11:50AM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad news, From the boards, Procter and Gamble (PG), Recession
Consumer products maker
Procter & Gamble (NYSE:
PG) is falling today after the company announced earnings this morning, and
lowered its full year 2009 forecast.
Going into this morning's earnings release, analysts had been expecting to see the company show earnings of $1.58 per share for its fiscal 2009 second quarter. While the company was able to post $1.58 for the quarter, earnings from continuing operations missed, with a reported $0.94 per share, short of analyst estimates for $0.99 a share.
Continue reading Procter & Gamble (PG) falls on earnings forecast
Posted Jan 7th 2009 5:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, International markets, Forecasts, Bad news, Products and services, Intel (INTC), Technology, Recession, Financial Crisis
Shares of chip maker
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:
INTC) are selling off today after the company announced that
fourth quarter revenues were going to be below (
wsj subscription required) an already lowered estimate.
The stock is currently down 6.4% on the day to $14.38 and trading near its intraday low of $14.34 following the announcement that the company is expecting to see revenues for its fourth quarter around the $8.2 billion level. At this level, the quarterly revenues would be 20% lower than its previous quarter, and well below its guidance from November that forecast a 12% dip in the quarter.
Today's news is a clear sign of the troubles that the semiconductor industry is dealing with at this time. Typically, the fourth quarter is the strongest quarter, and as recently as October, Intel had forecast that its fourth quarter sales would actually be higher than its third quarter numbers by around 3%. How quickly things can change.
Continue reading Intel sells off following Q4 revenue guidance
Posted Oct 8th 2008 8:45AM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Bad news, Competitive strategy, Alcoa Inc (AA), Commodities
The current earnings season officially got under way last night as
Alcoa (NYSE:
AA), the first DOW stock to report, released its third quarter numbers, and the
results were not too pretty.
Going into last night's earnings release, analysts had been expecting Alcoa to earn
53 cents per share in its third quarter, but the company reported much lower actual numbers -- 33 cents per share for the quarter, or $268 million. Weak demand, coupled with falling aluminum prices were the main culprits during the quarter.
During the same period last year, the company showed earnings of 63 cents per share, or $555 million.
Since hitting an all time high in July, aluminum prices have been pulling back sharply over the past few months, and have
dipped around 32% from the highs set over the summer.
The company also announced that it would be trying to preserve its cash by
suspending its stock buyback plan. Previously, the company had approved a 25% buyback of its outstanding stock, and had already purchased 12%, but will stop the buying for the time being.
Shares of the company are trading down a little over 3% this morning in the premarket.
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.Posted Oct 1st 2008 3:46PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news, Products and services, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Economic data, Recession, Financial Crisis
September proved to be yet another tough month for American auto maker
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:
F) as the company saw its
U.S. sales drop by a massive 34% during the month.
The company noted that we are in the middle of an "atmosphere of caution" as the troubled economic environment, and tightening credit conditions are still taking their tolls on the automotive industry.
We will hear more troubling news later today as more auto makers release their September numbers, and analysts are expecting to hear more of the same from the other major names in the industry. Fellow Detroit auto maker
General Motors Corporation (NYSE:
GM) is expected to announce sales dropping around 27%, while Japanese maker
Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:
TM) is expected to show a sales decline of around 17%.
Today's news from the major names should really come as no surprise, since we have been hearing much of the same through most of the year. Through August, nationwide sales of vehicles was down 11.2%.
As consumers continue to express their concerns over the overall economy it is going to continue to be tough for car dealers to get shoppers into their showrooms. Bigger incentives should help a little, but until consumers start to turn more positive on the overall economy, it is going to be tougher and tougher to sell them new cars.
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last four years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.Posted Jul 8th 2008 9:43AM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad news, Office Depot (ODP), Recession
Look for shares of
Office Depot (NYSE:
ODP) to take a beating today after the office supplies retailer shocked Wall Street by predicting a
huge drop in its second quarter same-stores sales.
Office Depot is going to announce its second quarter numbers later this month, and investors got a better picture of just what to expect this morning after the company stated that it is now forecasting a 10% drop in its same-store sales for the quarter, citing the slowing American economy as the main reason.
The company also warned it expects the remainder of the year to remain difficult. While the retailer believes that sales trends should improve slightly, it is remaining pessimistic. Margins for the quarter, it says, have declined by about 200 basis points than what it had previously anticipated. Even before today's revision, the company had estimated about 200 to 250 basis point decline in its margins. Looking at the rest of the year, the company thinks that its margins should increase sequentially in both Q3 and Q4.
Continue reading Slowing economy hits Office Depot (ODP) hard
Posted Jun 26th 2008 3:50PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news, Products and services, Competitive strategy, Kroger Co (KR)
If you are a
Kroger (NYSE:
KR) shopper and you think that you may have picked up some beef from the grocer recently, you may want to take a closer look at it, as
reports of E. coli have prompted a recall from the grocery chain.
The recall involves beef products that were purchased between May 21 and June 8 in Michigan, and parts of the Ohio market. Kroger was forced to take this action following reports that there had been E. coli illnesses linked to beef sold in Kroger stores in the two locations.
So far, it looks as though there have been
19 reported cases in Michigan, and another 15 cases reported in the state of Ohio that can be linked back to the Kroger beef. The meat in question has been traced back to a Kroger store in Gahanna, a town in central Ohio. It does not look as though any stores in Michigan have definitely been linked to the tainted meat, but since there are reported cases of the disease in the area, you should definitely return any beef that you purchased from Kroger during the time frame in question.
Continue reading Kroger (KR) issues a beef recall following reports of E. coli
Posted Jun 19th 2008 3:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad news, Management, Competitive strategy, Best Buy (BBY),
It is safe to say that the past couple of years have been tough on shareholders of
Circuit City (NYSE:
CC), and today is no different as the company posted a large loss for its fiscal first quarter. Shares of the electronics retailer are down 7.5% after the company
posted a loss of $1 a share for its most recent quarter.
The company stated that the main reason for its poor performance last quarter was weak sales performance in the company's established stores. This really should not come as a big surprise to us since we have been well aware of the company's faltering sales over the past couple of years. On the whole, same-store sales dropped by 11.3%, and continues to affirm the belief that Circuit City definitely has its work cut out for it if it ever wants to start regaining its lost market share.
The total loss on the quarter totaled $164.8 million, about triple the $54.6 million loss it recorded for the same period last year. I wish I could say that things are looking brighter down the road but that is just not the case, as the retailer is expected to post another large loss for its second quarter. Analysts had been expecting to see a loss of $143.4 million for the current quarter, but the company issued weaker guidance, stating that it expects to see a loss of somewhere between $170 and $185 million.
Continue reading More troubles for Circuit City (CC) during the first quarter
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Agricultural manufacturer Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) is trading slightly lower in after hours trading this afternoon after the company posted lower than expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter.
Shares of Accenture (NYSE: ACN) are trading in the red in after hours trading today following the company's fiscal fourth quarter earnings release and a weaker than expected first quarter forecast.
Shares of e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) are selling off sharply this afternoon after disappointing Wall Street with its second quarter numbers.
According to a report today from the Labor Department, 15 states now have unemployment rates above 10%.
Semiconductor Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) had its turn in the earnings parade this afternoon, and the company put up dismal results that failed to meet analyst expectations.
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