BloggingStocks

LDK Solar posts stronger-than-expected, third-quarter earnings

Mark Fightmaster — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST

Talk about stocks that have fallen far and fast. LDK Solar (LDK) was looking to add a bit of momentum with its earnings report, as the stock is battling overhead resistance from its 20-week moving average. This trendline has pushed the stock lower for a majority of 2009 and 2008, during which LDK has dropped from its late-2008 high of $52.40 to its current perch near the $8 level.

The good news is that a news event like an earnings report could lend momentum to any squandering stock, so let's see what LDK reported. The solar panel producer earned 27 cents per share in the third quarter, far worse than last year's same-quarter earnings of 77 cents per share. Quarterly revenue was nearly halved, as LDK brought in $281.9 million compared to $542 million.

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LDK Solar posts stronger-than-expected, third-quarter earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Time Warner tops expectations in the third quarter

Mark Fightmaster — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Time Warner (TWX), AOL (AOL)

Media giant Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) reported third-quarter earnings this morning and issued a stronger outlook. During the quarter, earnings dropped 38%, thanks to declines at its AOL division (parent of BloggingStocks) and publishing segments.

Excluding items, TWX's earnings checked in at 61 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by 8 cents per share. Quarterly revenue slipped 6% to $7.1 billion, matching the consensus estimate. Looking ahead, TWX forecast adjusted earnings of at least $2.05 per share. This forecast is higher than the $1.98 per share the company issued earlier and the $2.02 per share that the Street expects.

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Time Warner tops expectations in the third quarter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TD Ameritrade earnings drop but tops expectations

Mark Fightmaster — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, TD AmeriTrade Holding (AMTD)

Earnings are rolling in on this fine Tuesday morning, with many companies reporting. One of those is TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD), which stepped into the earnings spotlight and reported fourth-quarter earnings of 26 cents per share, topping the consensus estimate by four cents per share.

Quarterly revenue came in at $657.9 million, which is 1.3% better than a year ago. Looking ahead, the online brokerage forecast full-year 2010 earnings to come in between $1.10 and $1.40 per share. The consensus estimate for fiscal 2010 is $1.05, so the shares could see a bit of a boost on the forecast. AMTD's quarterly earnings fell 8.8% compared to a year earlier, but the company did post new highs in average client trades per day and new net assets.

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TD Ameritrade earnings drop but tops expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pepsi Bottling Group earnings miss expectations

Mark Fightmaster — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:50:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports

On Tuesday morning, Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG) reported third-quarter earnings of $1.14 per share. The earnings include a net, post-tax gain of eight cents per share from favorable settlement of tax audits, restructuring charges, advisory fees, and gains from commodity hedges. A year ago, PBG earned $1.06 during the third quarter, which was matched by this year's results.

Unfortunately for PBG, expectations called for $1.08 per share, leaving the stock lagging a bit in pre-market trade. Looking ahead, PBG expects earnings near the high end of its previously forecast range of $2.30 to $2.40. The Street expects the bottler to rake in $2.39 per share, so it seems that the company may be able to achieve expectations at first glance.

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Pepsi Bottling Group earnings miss expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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John Deere reports quarterly earnings that top expectations

Mark Fightmaster — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:05:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Deere and Co (DE)

Earlier this morning, Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) reported third-quarter earnings that dropped 27% as a result of falling sales during the past quarter. The farming equipment firm reported quarterly earnings of 99 cents per share, easily topping the consensus estimate of 57 cents per share.

While the results crushed the Street's estimate, it fell short of DE's year-ago performance. Quarterly revenue fell 24% compared to a year ago to $5.89 billion -- which again easily bested the consensus estimate for $5.25 billion.

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John Deere reports quarterly earnings that top expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 09:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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JP Morgan easily tops Q2 earnings expectations

Mark Fightmaster — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS)

Investment bank JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) announced that second-quarter earnings checked in at 28 cents per share -- or $2.72 billion. A year ago, the financial giant reported earnings of $2 billion, or 53 cents per share. This year's quarterly earnings included a charge of 27 cents per share after JPM repaid the $25 billion invested by the government in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). There was also a 10-cent-per-share penalty thanks to a special assessment from the FDIC. Expectations called for earnings of four cents per share.

JPM also reported record first-half revenue, stemming from "solid" performances in its commercial banking, asset management, treasury and security services, and its retail banking. That said, JPM expects credit costs to remain elevated in the "foreseeable future." No doubt that these results will lend some bullish momentum to Wall Street today, as JPM's earnings reinforce the quarterly results from Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

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JP Morgan easily tops Q2 earnings expectations originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Darden posts fourth-quarter earnings, can it boost the shares?

Mark Fightmaster — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Darden Restaurants (DRI), Earnings Transcripts

Restaurateur, Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) announced that fourth-quarter net income checked in at 87 cents per share, up from 71 cents per share a year ago. The company also reported that sales increased to $1.97 billion from $1.82 billion. The eatery operator's sales were boosted by an extra week of business in the most recent quarter.

In a statement, the company's CEO Clarence Otis noted that the company is hoping for an improvement in overall restaurant industry conditions and sales trends, but the current challenging environment is likely to continue through all of fiscal 2010. Otis stated that "there are reasons to believe there might be some favorable changes. However, given the current level of uncertainty, we think it's prudent to be cautious in developing our plans for the year."

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Darden posts fourth-quarter earnings, can it boost the shares? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UBS narrows quarterly loss after write-downs

Mark Fightmaster — Tue, 05 May 2009 08:16:00 EST

Filed under: Before the Bell, Earnings Reports

This morning, Swiss bank UBS (NYSE: UBS) reported a first-quarter loss of roughly $1.75 billion, adding a warning that bad-debt charges could increase. UBS's loss of 1.98 billion Swiss francs was far better than the 11.62 billion Swiss francs that the bank lost a year ago.

While UBS saw improved sentiment during the quarter, the bank remains cautious about its immediate outlook, noting, "The strong influence that government policy has on the market environment was clearly demonstrated in the first quarter as investors became less risk averse. However, the real economy has continued to deteriorate, and this is expected to have negative implications for credit-related provisioning in coming quarters."

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UBS narrows quarterly loss after write-downs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 05 May 2009 08:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A peek at Yahoo ahead of earnings

Mark Fightmaster — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO)

Back on tax day, my friend and colleague Elizabeth Harrow wondered if Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) would announce job cuts when it reports earnings tomorrow. Ms. Harrow looked at a report in The New York Times about preparations for a "significant round of layoffs" and then took a look at the option activity on the Internet search portal a week ahead of earnings.

Something that Elizabeth noted was the fact that the 15 strike was going to assume the mantle of peak call open interest when the market opens for trading festivities today. This level could be a major sticking point for the stock, as Yahoo hasn't closed atop the $15 level since late 2008.

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A peek at Yahoo ahead of earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Will the iPhone help or hurt AT&T's quarterly earnings?

Mark Fightmaster — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Apple Inc (AAPL), AT and T (T)

Last week, my colleague Brian White wondered if AT&T will maintain its exclusive contract for Apple's iPhone. Brian's especially relevant question came exactly one week before AT&T (NYSE: T) is set to step into the earnings spotlight -- this Wednesday.

MarketWatch contends that this exclusivity is the reason AT&T will post "solid first-quarter results." It is MarketWatch's belief that the exclusivity may actually hurt AT&T because of how heavily subsidized upfront sales are for consumers.

The heavy subsidies may be worth the potential cut in earnings for AT&T, as the wave of neo-tech hipsters desiring the latest in phone technology has boosted AT&T's subscriber growth and wireless revenue.

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Will the iPhone help or hurt AT&T's quarterly earnings? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apollo Group posts solid quarterly earnings

Mark Fightmaster — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:30:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Good news

After the close Tuesday, education firm Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings. Despite the strong results, the stock dropped in post-market trade, shedding 6% to trade in the $73 region.

APOL's second-quarter earnings came in at 77 cents per share, far better than the loss of 19 cents per share a year ago. Quarterly revenue increased 26% to $876.1 million. The results also easily eclipsed analysts' expectations for earnings of 65 cents per share. APOL CEO Chas Edelstein noted, "we are pleased with the growth in revenue and enrollments in our second quarter and we believe we are continuing to benefit from investments we are making in key academic and operational areas."

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Apollo Group posts solid quarterly earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Talk turns to worsening earnings

Douglas McIntyre — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:35:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Apple Inc (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Economic Data

As each day passes, estimates for how bad Q2 earnings will be grows. According to The Wall Street Journal, "analysts estimate S&P 500 operating earnings -- income excluding one-time items -- fell 11.5% in the second quarter."

While the paper points out that earnings often come in a bit worse than expected, this quarter could be a bit different. Everyone expected the numbers to be bad in sectors including banking, brokerage, insurance, autos, and airlines. But the real question is whether business and consumer spending have been hit harder than predicted.

If spending is down, even companies which are expected to do fairly well such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) could face rough earnings reports as big business and the little consumers defer purchases which they feel they cannot afford. That means that tech earnings, which were expected to be OK, could take a big hit.

If tech falters, what is left? Energy and commodities companies? Perhaps, but that is thin ground on which to build an earnings season.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Talk turns to worsening earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Clorox profit drops, will purchase Burt's Bees

Brian White — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:44:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Clorox Co (CLX)

Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) reported a Q1 profit drop this morning on the back of raw material cost increases. It also announced that it will pay just under a billion ($925 million) for Burt's Bees, a leading provider of natural health care products. Burt's Bees has moved from health food stores and organic markets to the mainstream mass market in the last few years, probably marketing itself to be sold. Apparently, it worked.

Clorox's net income dropped to $111 million ($0.76 per share) from $112 million from the year-ago period, which could be seen as a slight decline based on commodity price swings in 2007 alone. Sales for the Q1 period did rise to $1.24 billion, a 6.7% increase.

Clorox indeed said in its earnings release that corn and soybean prices were main factors in the profit decline. Those two food commodities are used in its Hidden Valley food products (namely salad dressings). Resin prices rose in the quarter as well to their highest levels ever, affecting plastic products such as Glad trash bag products and bottles used to hold its namesake bleach.

All in all, Clorox's quarter was not bad considering the commodity turmoil it has exposure to, but I have to question the valuation of Burt's Bees. How did the company come up with a valuation of nearly a billion dollars? Clorox, are you listening?

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage

Clorox profit drops, will purchase Burt's Bees originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia profit reaches 85% growth in Q3

Brian White — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:50:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Good news, Nokia Corp. (NOK), Smartphones

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), the world's largest manufacturer of wireless handsets, saw a very admirable rise in Q3 profit levels -- to the tune of 85% growth -- on the backs of increasing awareness and sales in emerging markets. Nokia, which has about 39% share of the global cellphone market at this time, also explained that it expected this level to remain throughout the Q4 period.

Years ago, the word was that Nokia had lost some edge and that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) and South Korean stalwart Samsung Electronics would eat handily into Nokia's market share. That has not happened, as Samsung has still been growing, and Motorola's product lineup has completely stagnated until just recently. Nokia went on the offensive at the end of 2005 with higher-end smartphones, decent mid-level phones and an attack into the entry-level, emerging market and has not looked back since.

Nokia's Q3 net income beat analyst estimates as well, coming in at €1.56 billion ($2.21 billion), or 40 eurocents per share. Nokia executives explained the growth as coming from new, lucrative multimedia handsets in addition to growing sales in emerging markets. One gray cloud over the company for Q3 was from its mobile networks joint venture with Germany's Siemens AG. As what seems always to happen, handset sales are the growth engine, while infrastructure and related equipment take a back seat. In Q3, that seat was at the very rear of the bus for Nokia.

Nokia profit reaches 85% growth in Q3 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pfizer profit plunges 77% on generics competition, Exubera disaster

Brian White — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:42:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Bad News, Pfizer (PFE)

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) saw a sharp drop in its third-quarter profit, as the world's largest drugmaker's net income declined 77% for its most recently completed quarter. Two big takeaways here: Pfizer exited the Exubera inhaled-insulin product market (taking a $2.8 billion charge in the process) and the company faced more severe generic product competition as well.

Generic drugs always hamper big pharma firms, and it's not going to get any easier in the next few years. Pfizer even lowered its 2007 net income forecast when it released Q3 results, partly on expanded generic competition. Try this on for size: Pfizer's Q3 profit came in at $761 million, down from $3.36 billion in the year-ago quarter. Sales fell 2% in the quarter to come in at $12 billion.

In what could be considered a lack of due diligence (oddly) or some terrible mis-forecasting, Pfizer's purchase of the worldwide rights to the Exubera product from Europe's Sanofi-Aventis in 2006 was a complete disaster. The $1.4 billion purchase produced Q2 revenue for Pfizer of $4 million. Let's see: even nominal growth rates would have given Pfizer perhaps $20 million in global annual revenue. Yikes -- that's more than a 20-year period for return there. Pfizer called Exubera numbers "disappointing," but I would call them "totally disastrous." Adding to the pain are the exclusivity losses for blockbuster products like Zithromax, Zoloft and Norvasc, but at least Pfizer sees the writing on the wall, what with 10,000 layoffs and everything.

Pfizer profit plunges 77% on generics competition, Exubera disaster originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Freddie Mac's Q2 report Aug. 30: 'Data point of significance'

Joseph Lazzaro — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:35:00 EST

Filed under: International Markets, Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Indices, Economic Data, DJIA, Housing

In the Concrete Canyon that is the financial capital of the world, there are data points, and then there are data points.

Thursday's docket offers a "data point of significance" when Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) reports Q2 results. As one of two public, government-sponsored agencies formed to promote home ownership by increasing the availability of mortgage funds, any Freddie Mac report would be noticed by economists, analysts and traders alike, but this quarter's report takes on added import in light of recent subprime mortgage and mortgage-backed asset defaults that have roiled the stock and credit markets in the world's major developed economies and produced a credit crunch.

Moreover, the defaults were a major factor in the Dow Jones Industrial Average's more than 10% retreat from its +14,000-level high earlier this summer and the concomitant housing sector's slowdown that may cause the U.S. economy to slip from projected, below-trend GDP growth into a recession.

Among other FRE metrics, on Thursday Wall Street analysts will pay very close attention to portfolio and credit guarantee income, and the overall quality of its retained portfolio. FRE is expected to post a decline in Q2 2007 earnings per share, to 81 cents from $1.13 in Q2 2006, according to the Reuters consensus estimate. Freddie Mac's shares were down 57 cents to $60.63 in Wednesday afternoon trading.

Still, just as significant, and perhaps more so, will be Freddie Mac's statement and conference call comments: Wall Street will scrutinize any comments FRE may have on the scope of subprime charge-offs and defaults, overall mortgage credit quality (including delinquency rates), housing market conditions, and any comments FRE may have on its retained portfolio.

The aforementioned operational statistics would be noteworthy in a typical market. But in a market that's now diligently (if belatedly) collecting and analyzing subprime and credit information in order to get a comprehensive picture of the scope of subprime defaults and overall mortgage market conditions, Freddie Mac's Q2 report Thursday is, without question, a data point of the most pertinent sort.

Freddie Mac's Q2 report Aug. 30: 'Data point of significance' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 29 Aug 2007 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Circuit City sees first sales loss in three years

Brian White — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:50:00 EST

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Bad News, Products and Services, Circuit City Stores (CC)

After Best Buy Co. Inc.'s (NYSE: BBY) disappointing quarterly results yesterday, competitor consumer electronics retailer Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC) was expected to do even worse this morning when reporting results from its most recent quarter. Well, Circuit City did not disappoint and reported a $55 million loss this morning after sales at its U.S. stores fell for the first time in three years.

Circuit City's loss of $0.33 per share was a steep change from the year-ago profit of $0.04 per share as sales slipped about 4.3% to $2.49 billion for the quarter that ended on May 31. With Circuit City disappointing these past several quarters and with the current slashing of headcount and store count, can this ailing electronics behemoth get back on track? All those cost savings from these personnel and store changes should help, but Circuit City has more work to do beyond that throughout 2007.

Wal-Mart's commitment to enter the consumer electronics arena in a heavier fashion is not good news to Circuit City, which has its hands full just trying to compete with larger rival Best Buy these days. With CC shares sitting at $16.07 at the close of the market yesterday, that figure represents a decline of about 15% in 2007. And it seems poised to head even lower today as shares are down 2.6% in pre-market trading (9:16 a.m.).

Circuit City shareholders are probably a tad angry, although seasonal shifts and larger-than-expected pricing fluctuations (for the worst) in the red-hot flat-panel television market have jilted Circuit City around a bit this year (and during the last part of 2006). It may come as some relief that Best Buy cut its profit outlook for the year yesterday as well, so Circuit City can at least have a fleeting smile before the turnaround work carries on.

Circuit City sees first sales loss in three years originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 20 Jun 2007 09:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft first quarter earnings: Xbox sales in strong

Sarah Gilbert — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 16:44:00 EST

Filed under: After the Bell, Earnings Reports, Good news, Microsoft (MSFT)

$10.81 billion in revenue. Net income of $3.48 billion, 35 cents a share. Microsoft's quarterly earnings results (it's the company's first fiscal quarter) came in with a bang, a good 11% increase over the year-earlier quarter.

For Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), this news is sweet indeed. The company has shown strong growth in its Entertainment and Devices division, largely on the back of the Xbox 360 -- 6 million consoles sold!, trumpets the earnings release -- but, as Melly Alazraki mentioned in her preview earlier today, the company's real hopes are set on the upcoming release of Vista. Will it crash our computers? Will it suck? Will it justify the costly investments in R&D?

I'm sure many of these questions will be answered in the analyst conference call, which I'll be liveblogging -- 5:30 Eastern, 2:30 in local Pacific time. The stock was up just a touch to $28.35, and was down again a bit in after-hours to $28.20.

Microsoft first quarter earnings: Xbox sales in strong originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Oct 2006 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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