Earnings Per Share

Visa, MasterCard settle with Discover, but what about Morgan Stanley? — Filed under: Analyst reports, MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Morgan Stanley (MS) Credit-card concerns Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard, Inc. (NYSE: MA) will be shelling out up to $2.75 billion to settle an antitrust suit with Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS). Specifically, MasterCard will pay Discover $862.5 million in the fourth quarter, while Visa will fork over $1.89 billion over the course of 2009. Following the release of the settlement’s details, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is weighing in favorably on all three firms. Sanjay Sakhrani called the news “a big win for Discover, as it provides an... [Tags: analyst reports, antitrust suit, big win, card group, discover financial services]

Jack Daniels Selling Well Amid Massive Economic Crisis — It's not just a joke: People are really turning to drink in this economy. Brown Forman (BF) the maker of Jack Daniels and Finlandia Vodka reported an awesome quarter Brown-Forman Corporation reported that diluted earnings per share from continuing operations1 increased 13% to $0.94 and operating income increased 4% to $222 million for its fiscal 2009 second quarter. For the first six months of the fiscal year, diluted earnings per share increased 5% to $1.52, while operating income decreased 2% to $362 million. Adjusting for items in Schedule A of this press release, underlying2 operating income grew 5% for the... [Tags: brown forman, brown forman corporation, diluted earnings per share, earnings per share, economic crisis]

Research in Motion Cuts Earnings Forecast — The BlackBerry maker lowered its forecast for third-quarter revenue and earnings per share, citing the impact of the strong dollar and the weak U.S. economy.... [Tags: blackberry, earnings per share, economy, quarter revenue, research in motion]

Verizon: Good dividend stock (at a lower price) — Filed under: Earnings reports, AT and T (T), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Verizon Communications (VZ), Qwest Communications Intl (Q) Telecommunication concern Verizon (NYSE: VZ), whose competitors include AT&T (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), and Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), reported earnings for the third quarter on Monday, and investors could not have been happier. As Wall Street continued its painful bearish slide, shareholders of Verizon were bragging about the 10% rise in the company’s stock price. Question is, should you be a buyer of Verizon’s stock at this point? The numbers were decent enough. According to the press release,... [Tags: capital expenditures, cash flow growth, dividend stock, dividend yield, earnings per share]

Visa, MasterCard settle with Discover, but what about Morgan Stanley? — Filed under: Analyst reports, MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Morgan Stanley (MS) Credit-card concerns Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard, Inc. (NYSE: MA) will be shelling out up to $2.75 billion to settle an antitrust suit with Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS). Specifically, MasterCard will pay Discover $862.5 million in the fourth quarter, while Visa will fork over $1.89 billion over the course of 2009. Following the release of the settlement’s details, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is weighing in favorably on all three firms. Sanjay Sakhrani called the news “a big win for Discover, as it provides an... [Tags: analyst reports, antitrust suit, big win, card group, discover financial services]

Visa, MasterCard settle with Discover, but what about Morgan Stanley? — Filed under: Analyst reports, MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Morgan Stanley (MS) Credit-card concerns Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard, Inc. (NYSE: MA) will be shelling out up to $2.75 billion to settle an antitrust suit with Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS). Specifically, MasterCard will pay Discover $862.5 million in the fourth quarter, while Visa will fork over $1.89 billion over the course of 2009. Following the release of the settlement’s details, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is weighing in favorably on all three firms. Sanjay Sakhrani called the news “a big win for Discover, as it provides an... [Tags: analyst reports, antitrust suit, big win, card group, discover financial services]

Verizon: Good dividend stock (at a lower price) — Filed under: Earnings reports, AT and T (T), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Verizon Communications (VZ), Qwest Communications Intl (Q) Telecommunication concern Verizon (NYSE: VZ), whose competitors include AT&T (NYSE: T), Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), and Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q), reported earnings for the third quarter on Monday, and investors could not have been happier. As Wall Street continued its painful bearish slide, shareholders of Verizon were bragging about the 10% rise in the company’s stock price. Question is, should you be a buyer of Verizon’s stock at this point? The numbers were decent enough. According to the press release,... [Tags: capital expenditures, cash flow growth, dividend stock, dividend yield, earnings per share]

Visa, MasterCard settle with Discover, but what about Morgan Stanley? — Filed under: Analyst reports, MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Morgan Stanley (MS) Credit-card concerns Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard, Inc. (NYSE: MA) will be shelling out up to $2.75 billion to settle an antitrust suit with Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS). Specifically, MasterCard will pay Discover $862.5 million in the fourth quarter, while Visa will fork over $1.89 billion over the course of 2009. Following the release of the settlement’s details, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is weighing in favorably on all three firms. Sanjay Sakhrani called the news “a big win for Discover, as it provides an... [Tags: analyst reports, antitrust suit, big win, card group, discover financial services]

Dell Post-Mortem: Sales Going Down, But Hope for Profit Springs Eternal [Voices] — By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily Dell (DELL) hit a new 52-week low today, $8.72, before closing down 51 cents, or 5 percent, at $9.30, after last night reporting sales that missed estimates by a billion dollars and called the global IT demand outlook “challenging.” The stock was downgraded from “Outperform” to “Market Perform” today by Friedman Billings. But at least a couple of analysts are willing to hold onto a “Buy” on the stock, impressed by the company’s ability to cut costs and boost margins last quarter: Citigroup’s Richard Gardner maintains his “Buy” rating while... [Tags: barron, billion dollars, blogger, citigroup, columnist]

Dell Post-Mortem: Sales Goin Down, But Hope for Profit — Dell (DELL) hit a new 52-week low today, $8.72, before closing down 51 cents, or 5%, at$9.30, after last night reporting sales that missed estimates by a billion dollars and called the global IT demand outlook “challenging.” The stock was downgraded from “Outperform” to Market Perform” today by Friedman Billings. But at least a couple of analysts are willing to hold onto a “Buy” on the stock, impressed by the company’s ability to cut costs and boost margins last quarter: Citigroup’s Richard Gardner maintains his “Buy” rating while lowering his price target on the stock from $14 to $15, but... [Tags: 2b, billion dollars, citigroup, collapse, decline]

Dell profits dip 5pc on slowing demand — Profits were down but earnings per share were up, and Dell's CFO says given the state of the global economy, the company is 'pleased' with the performance... [Tags: cfo, dell profits, earnings per share, global economy]

Dell’s Health Improving After Employeectomy — Dell delivered its fiscal third-quarter results after market close Thursday, and they were about as exciting as the company’s industrial design. It reported a five percent drop in earnings thanks to what company officials euphemistically describe as “a challenging demand environment.” That said, Dell’s (DELL) net income was $727 million, or 37 cents a share. And that was better than the 31 cents a share the Street had been expecting. Odd, though, to see earnings-per-share like that, given such lousy revenues. Clearly, Dell’s aggressive cost-cutting measures are having a restorative effect on the company’s bottom line. Whether that will... [Tags: bottom line, company officials, dell, earnings per share, health]

Dell profit slides 5 percent — But earnings per share are up from the same quarter a year ago.... [Tags: dell profit, earnings per share, slides]

Mixed News Send Dell, Salesforce Up — Not-so-bad news is good news in a downturn. Mixed news is good news this week Exhibit A is Dell. The computer maker’s revenue and net income were down compared to the year ago quarter and revenue was about $1 billion short of analysts’ expectations. But earnings-per-share beat expectations and so that counts as good news. Dell’s CFO Brian Gladden said on a call with analysts that the company is seeing “slowing in almost all of the businesses we are in.” Still, the company was able to cut its costs enough to satisfy investors. Dell’s stock was up about 5% after... [Tags: autodesk, balance sheets, car salesmen, cfo, computer maker]

What Recession? HP Makes Bank in Q4 — The DRAM industry knows well that the global economy is struggling, and so too would the processor market if not for the popularity of netbooks and Atom chip sales. But one company who apparently didn't get the memo that the economy is in shambles is Hewlett-Packard.According to the company's fourth quarter results that were leaked on Monday, the OEM took in $33.6 billion in revenue in Q4 2008, representing a 19 percent jump from the same quarter one year ago, or 16 percent when adjusted for currency affects, Cnet says."HP delivered another solid quarter, as it continues to benefit from... [Tags: amortization, ceo mark, chip sales, customer base, dram industry]

H-P’s Focus on the Bottom Line — H-P provided a glimpse at how large tech companies will ride out the downturn: cut costs to cover for slumping sales. H-P is controlling its costs The computer giant announced preliminary results for its fiscal fourth quarter Tuesday, including revenue of $33.6 billion, and earnings-per-share of $1.03, excluding special charges. Both numbers surpassed analysts’ expectations. But the real tell was the company’s forecast for the current quarter and its 2009 fiscal year. The story there: revenue will be lower than analysts expected; income will be higher. H-P deferred all comments until Monday, when it was originally scheduled to report earnings;... [Tags: acquisition, acquisitions, bottom line, christmas, computer giant]

Visa, MasterCard settle with Discover, but what about Morgan Stanley? — Filed under: Analyst reports, MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Morgan Stanley (MS) Credit-card concerns Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) and MasterCard, Inc. (NYSE: MA) will be shelling out up to $2.75 billion to settle an antitrust suit with Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS). Specifically, MasterCard will pay Discover $862.5 million in the fourth quarter, while Visa will fork over $1.89 billion over the course of 2009. Following the release of the settlement’s details, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods is weighing in favorably on all three firms. Sanjay Sakhrani called the news “a big win for Discover, as it provides an... [Tags: analyst reports, antitrust suit, big win, card group, discover financial services]

Wal-Mart's Low Prices Mean Big Profits In Crisis — NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 10 percent increase in third-quarter profit as the world's largest retailer's renewed focus on low prices is attracting financially squeezed shoppers around the world. The company, however, trimmed its profit outlook amid a weak economy and unfavorable exchange rates. The Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer said Thursday that profits rose to $3.14 billion, or 80 cents per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 31. That compares with $2.86 billion, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations were 77 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 76 cents... [Tags: bentonville ark, chief executive officer, earnings per share, exchange rates, fourth quarter]

What downturn? Concur expects 25% growth in '09 — Talk about counterintuitive. Redmond-based Concur Technologies blew past its sales, profit and cash flow guidance in its fourth quarter, signing a record number of new companies to use its online expense management system. Sales were $57.5 million, up 61 percent, including a 72 percent increase in subscription revenue. Cash flows for the year were up 222 percent. Earnings per share missed analyst expectations, at 11 cents vs. the estimated 14 cents. Still the stock's up about 2 percent in after-hours trading ($20.75 at last check) after a rough day when it fell about 7 percent during the day to close... [Tags: 5 million, analyst expectations, cash flow, concur technologies, counterintuitive]

Analyst: Google (GOOG) Could Write Down Half Of AOL (TWX) Investment This Quarter — Every three months, Google (GOOG) reports the state of its $1 billion investment in AOL (TWX) in its quarterly report to the SEC. Over the summer, Google admitted the investment "may be" impaired. Now it says it "is" impaired. But at the end of September, the company didn't believe the impairment was "other-than-temporary." That could change this quarter, Barclays analyst Doug Anmuth predicts in a note this morning. Specifically, Anmuth thinks Google will write down approximately $500 million of its $1 billion investment, resulting in a charge of about $1.17 in GAAP earnings per share. Even that would value the... [Tags: 1 billion, advertising revenues, aol, barclays, consensus]