Earning Plays

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Monday, Oct. 6
Sharp sees fiscal 2008 profit off 41% on cell phones: Nikkei(8:23 pm ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Sharp Corp. (SHCA.Y: news, chart, profile) said Monday that it now expects consolidated net profit to decline 41% on year to 60 billion yen ($590 million) for the 12 months ending March 2009, Nikkei reported, citing cell-phone business woes. The projection compares to an earlier forecast of a 3% increase, the report said.
Energy stocks rise off lows for the session(4:03 pm ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks rose from lows earlier in the day, but still rang up big losses on Monday. The Amex Oil Index (XOI: news, chart, profile) closed at 1,018, down 4%, but reclaiming the 1,000 level after falling more than 10%.
SAP warns on third-quarter revenue(11:26 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- German business software giant SAP (SAP: news, chart, profile) (DE:716460: news, chart, profile) warned on its third-quarter revenue, saying it was "below our expectations." It expects software and software-related service revenue up 13% to 14%, or up 16% to 17% on an adjusted basis. "The market developments of the past several weeks have been dramatic and worrying to many businesses. These concerns triggered a very sudden and unexpected drop in business activity at the end of the quarter," said Henning Kagermann, Co-CEO of SAP. Third quarter 2008 U.S. GAAP software revenues are expected to be between 740 million and 750 million euros, up 4% to 5%.
Energy stocks fall harder than broad market(9:36 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Energy stocks fell harder than the broad market in morning action, tracking a $3 drop in crude oil futures to the $90 level. The Amex Oil Index (XOI: news, chart, profile) fell 5% to 1,006. The Amex Natural Gas Index (XNG: news, chart, profile) dropped 5.1% to 433.
Netflix affirms earnings forecasts(8:20 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Netflix Inc. (NFLX: news, chart, profile) said Monday that earnings will be within its previous guidance for the third quarter of $16 million to $21 million with earnings per share of 26 cents to 34 cents. Revenue is expected to be $343 million to $348 million, excluding the one-time $6.5 million credit given to subscribers for a service outage. The company ended the third quarter with about 8.672 million subscribers, just under the low end of its guidance. For the fourth quarter Netflix sees earnings per share of 30 cents to 40 cents on revenue of $353 million to $359 million.
The Hartford gets $2.5 bln Allianz investment, warns(7:00 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The Hartford Financial Services Group (HIG: news, chart, profile) said it's going to get a $2.5 billion investment from Allianz (AZ: news, chart, profile) (DE:840400: news, chart, profile) as it cut its dividend and said it would report a third-quarter loss. The Hartford expects a net loss for the third quarter in the range of $8.50 to $8.80 per share, including net realized capital losses in the range of $7.05 to $7.25 per share, or approximately $2.1 billion to $2.2 billion. The vast majority of the realized capital losses are impairments on The Hartford's investment portfolio. About 75 percent of the impairments are related to investments in the financial services sector, which were negatively affected by recent market turmoil. The Hartford has reduced its quarterly dividend to 32 cents per share from 53 cents. Allianz will purchase, at $31 per share, $750 million of preferred shares convertible to common stock after receipt of applicable approvals, and $1.75 billion of 10% junior subordinated debentures. Allianz SE will also receive warrants which entitle it to purchase $1.75 billion of common stock at an exercise price of $25.32 per share, subject to shareholder approvals, which are due to expire in seven years.
United Community Banks to post 3rd-quarter loss(6:29 am ET)
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- United Community Banks Inc., (UCBI: news, chart, profile) the Blairsville, Ga., bank-holding company, said on Monday that it would report a third-quarter loss of 84 cents a share after increasing its allowance for possible losses on bad loans to 1.91% of total loans from 1.53% at June 30. The move reflected "continued credit deterioration in the residential-construction portfolio," UCBI said. The loss equals a total $39.9 million. A survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced a consensus estimate of profit of 8 cents a share. The third-quarter provision for loan losses was $76 million while United Community charged off $56 million of loans. Assets not earning interest were 2.2% of total assets at Sept. 30, against 1.84% at June 30. "United continues to maintain a very strong capital position, well above the regulatory guidelines to be considered well-capitalized," President and Chief Executive Jimmy Tallent said in a statement. UCBI, serving Georgia, western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, has assets of $8.3 billion.
State Auto Financial sees up to $60 mln of storm losses(6:14 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- State Auto Financial Corp. (STFC: news, chart, profile) said Monday that its third-quarter results will include around $55 million to $60 million in pretax catastrophe losses related to storms. The firm said pretax catastrophe losses in the same quarter a year ago were $5.6 million and have averaged $11.8 million for the prior five years. State Auto said it will release its third-quarter results on Oct. 23.
MasTec lifts 2008 estimates, to buy wind-energy contractor(5:44 am ET)
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- MasTec Inc., (MTZ: news, chart, profile) the Coral Gables, Fla., contractor focused on building and upgrading communications and utility infrastructure, on Monday updated its earnings estimates and said it would pay $200 million for a wind-energy and natural-gas-plant construction firm. The company lifted its estimate for 2008 and now expects earnings from continuing operations of 92 cents to 95 cents, against 9 cents -- or an adjusted 67 cents -- in 2007. Revenue should rise 32% to 34% from 2007, to a range of $1.38 billion to $1.4 billion, MasTech estimated. A survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced a consensus estimate of 92 cents of profit on $1.23 billion of revenue for 2008. For 2009, initial estimates show earnings growing 11% to 25% and revenue growing 40% to 45% from 2008, MasTec said. The year 2009 will reflect a book tax rate of 25% to 26% compared with 2% for 2008, MasTec said. MasTec agreed to acquire Wanzek Construction Inc. of Fargo, N.D. In addition to the purchase price, MasTec said it would assume $15 million of Wanzek debt.
Sharp cuts fiscal year net profit forecast to $580.3 million(5:12 am ET)
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Sharp Corp. (JP:6753: news, chart, profile) Monday downgraded its profit outlook for the current fiscal year ending in March, citing disappointing sales of cellular telephone handsets and weakness in liquid crystal display panel prices. The Osaka-based firm lowered its group net profit outlook to 60 billion yen ($580.3 million) from its earlier estimate of 105 billion yen in late April. Operating profit was revised to 130 billion yen from 195 billion yen and sales were targeted at 3.42 trillion yen from 3.6 trillion yen previously.