Earning Plays

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Thursday, May 15
Compuware reports $61.2 million profit(4:44 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Compuware Corp. (CPWR: news, chart, profile) on Thursday reported a fourth-quarter profit of $61.2 million, or 23 cents a share, on revenue of $338.9 million. During the same period a year ago, the business software company earned $67.5 million, or 21 cents a share, on $313 million in sales. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had forecast Compuware to earn 21 cents a share on $331.5 million in sales.
BMC earnings jump 55% in fourth fiscal quarter(4:20 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- BMC Software (BMC: news, chart, profile) said Thursday afternoon that earnings jumped nearly 55% for its fourth fiscal quarter. For the quarter ended March 31, the company said net income was $97 million, or 50 cents per share, compared to earnings of $62.8 million, or 30 cents a share, for the same period last year. Excluding certain charges, the company said it would have earned $123 million, or 63 cents a share, for the recent period. Revenue grew 11% to $466.9 million. Analysts were expecting earnings of 51 cents a share on revenue of $460.9 million, according to FactSet Research.
Design software maker Autodesk posts 18% sales gain(4:19 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Autodesk Inc. said Thursday its first-quarter profit rose compared to the same period a year earlier, as sales grew 18%. San Rafael, Calif.-based Autodesk (ADSK: news, chart, profile) said net income for the period ended in April rose to $94.6 million, or 41 cents a share, compared to $83.3 million, or 34 cents a share in the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile revenue rose to $598.8 million from $508.6 million. Excluding special items, the maker of design software said earnings for the period were 50 cents a share. Analysts on average estimated Autodesk would post earnings excluding special items of 48 cents a share, and $589.11 million in revenue, according to FactSet Research.
Nordstrom posts lower profit, warns for 2008(4:19 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Nordstrom, Inc. (JWN: news, chart, profile) on Thursday reported a first-quarter profit of $119 million, or 54 cents a share, down from $157 million, or 60 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for a profit, on average, of 50 cents a share. Sales dipped 3.8% to $1.88 billion. The high-end retail chain also warned that it expects 2008 earnings of $2.65 to $2.80 a share, down from a prior targeted range of $2.75 to $2.90 a share, citing a difficult business climate. Wall Street previously forecast a full-year profit of $2.82 a share. Nordstrom also pegged second-quarter earnings at 65 cents to 70 cents a share. Analysts are looking for a profit of 69 cents a share.
Kohl's profit falls as same-store sales decline (4:20 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Kohl's Corp. (KSS: news, chart, profile) reported late Thursday fiscal first-quarter net income of $153 million, or 49 cents a share, down from $209 million, or 64 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Overall revenue for the three months ended May 3 rose 1.5% to $3.6 billion from a year ago but comparable same-store sales fell 6.7%, the department store owner said. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted the company would earn 45 cents a share on $3.62 billion in sales. The company said it expects to earn 70 cents to 74 cents a share in the second quarter and full-year earnings of $2.95 to $3.15 a share, below analysts' estimates of $3.20. Kohl's shares closed ahead of the report with a 1.8% gain at $50.49.
Blockbuster swings to first-quarter profit (8:21 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Blockbuster Inc. (BBI: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that it swung to a first-quarter profit of $45.4 million, or 20 cents a share, from a loss of $49 million, or 27 cents a share, a year ago. The Dallas video retail chain store said revenue declined 5.4% to $1.39 billion from $1.47 billion as a result of fewer company-operated stores. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share earnings of 15 cents on revenue of $1.44 billion. Domestic same-store revenue rose 2.9%, while worldwide same-store revenue grew 1.4%.
T. Boone Pickens spending $2 bln to start up Texas wind farm(8:12 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Billionaire T. Boone Pickens said Thursday he's placing an order to buy 667 wind turbines from General Electric (GE: news, chart, profile) as part of an estimated $2 billion in start-up costs for his four-phase Pampa Wind Project. Pickens' Mesa Power LLP will buy the GE turbines, which will be capable of generating 1,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for 300,000 average U.S. homes. When complete, the Pampa Wind Project will cover some 400,000 acres in the Texas Panhandle. "You find an oilfield, it peaks and starts declining, and you've got to find another one to replace it," said Pickens, who once operated one of the largest independent oil and gas production companies. "It can drive you crazy. With wind, there's no decline curve."
Yingli Green Energy profit surges, tops forecast(7:16 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Yingli Green Energy (YGE: news, chart, profile) said first-quarter net income rose to $31.9 million, or 25 cents a U.S.-listed share, from $1.2 million. Revenue rose 10% to $227.5 million. On an adjusted basis, it earned 27 cents per ADS during the quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 18 cents a share. For the year, the Chinese PV cell maker expects revenue between $969 million and $1.02 billion. Analysts had forecast revenue of $204 million for the quarter and $990 million for the year.
Allied Irish Banks sees profit falling around 6%(6:39 am ET)
LONDON (marketWatch) -- Allied Irish Banks (AIB: news, chart, profile) (UK:ALBK: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that it expects first-half profit in 2008 to fall around 6% from a year earlier due to the weak global markets and the absence of the very high levels of bad-debt recovery it achieved a year earlier. The group said, however, that it's still targeting low-single-digit growth in earnings per share for the year. The group added its funding position remains strong and it continues to expect net interest margin to fall by around 0.1 percentage points in 2008.
Urban Outfitters profit gains 45%, margins improve(6:28 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Retailer Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its first-quarter net profit rose 45% to $42.6 million, or 25 cents a share, from $29.4 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales for the quarter rose 25% to $394.3 million. Same-store sales for the period rose 10%, with the biggest increase of 19% seen at its Free People business. The group said gross profit margins rose 4.44 percentage points due to fewer markdowns and improvements to initial merchandise costs. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of 23 cents a share.
Constar loss widens on weak convenience store demand(6:23 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Constar International (CNST: news, chart, profile) said its loss widened to $7.53 million, or 61 cents a share, from $6.11 million, or 50 cents a share, as sales edged up 0.3% to $213.4 million. The polyethylene terephthalate plastic container maker blamed weak demand in the convenience store and gas station distribution channels.
NEC fiscal 2007 net income more than doubles to $217 million(2:47 am ET)
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- NEC Corp. (JP:6701: news, chart, profile) (NIPNY: news, chart, profile) said Thursday net income for the fiscal year ended March 31 more than doubled, helped by costs cuts, outsourcing and improvements in its chip-making business. NEC, a maker of telecommunications network equipment and computers, said its net income totaled 22.7 billion yen ($217.03 million), up 149% from 9.1 billion yen a year earlier. Wire reports said analysts had expected net income of 18.3 billion yen. The company's group sales fell 0.8% to 4.62 trillion yen from 4.65 trillion yen. In the current fiscal year ending March 31 2009 the company forecast net income will rise 54% to 35 billion while sales would rise 4% to 4.80 trillion yen.
Barclays profit slips, takes net charge of 1 bln pounds(2:29 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. bank Barclays (UK:BARC: news, chart, profile) (BCS: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its first-quarter profit fell from a year earlier due to tough capital market conditions in March. The bank said solid profit growth in global retail and commercial banking was more than offset by declines at its Barclays Capital investment banking arm, though the division remained profitable. Barclays Capital results were impacted by net losses of 1 billion pounds ($1.94 billion) from the credit market turbulence, which included 700 million pounds of gains on the revaluation of its own debt. Barclays Capital was further hit in April as 500 million pounds of the first-quarter gains reversed. The bank made no mention of any need for more capital. It said it expects equity Tier 1 capital at June 30 to be slightly lower than the 5.1% at the end of December and stuck to its target level of 5.25%.
SABMiller tops forecasts with 15% rise in pretax profit(2:30 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- SABMiller (UK:SAB: news, chart, profile) edged past analyst estimates with a 15% in annual adjusted pretax profit to $3.64 billion, on revenue growth of 15% to $21.41 billion. The brewer's lager volumes grew 11% during the year to 239 million hectoliters (50.5 billion pints), or up 7% on a comparable basis. Price increases, mix improvements and productivity gains offset the rise in input costs, in addition to favorable currency rates against the U.S. dollar. The brewer of Miller Lite and Peroni said volume growth in the first half will be affected by high comparison growth rates, and pressure on input costs will continue to increase although pricing and mix benefits are again expected to compensate for these cost increases. Because its footprint is geared toward developing markets, its economic outlook remains positive.
BT Group profit edges up, meets forecast(2:24 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. telecoms firm BT Group (UK:BT.A: news, chart, profile) (BT: news, chart, profile) said fiscal fourth quarter to March 31 adjusted pretax profit rose 3% to 714 million pounds ($1.39 billion), with revenue up 2% to 5.42 billion pounds. Its adjusted EBITDA of 1.57 billion pounds was up 2% from last year and in line with a company-compiled analyst forecast. Its dividend of 15.8 pence a share is up 5% from last year. The company expects fiscal year revenue, EBITDA and earnings per share to grow as it continues the "transformation from a fixed-line business into a software-driven global communications services company."