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Thursday, May 28

J. Crew profit drops 33% (4:26 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apparel retailer J. Crew Group Inc. (JCG: news, chart, profile) reported late Thursday fiscal first-quarter net income fell to $20.4 million, or 32 cents a share, from $30.5 million, or 48 cents, a year ago. Severance and asset writedowns trimmed about 2 cents a share from the bottom line. Total revenue for the three months ended May 2, including store and direct sales, rose 1.5% to nearly $346 million from $341 million. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected the New York-based company to post earnings of 11 cents a share. The company said it expects to earn 8 cents to 12 cents in the second quarter. J. Crew shares rose 1.4% to close at $20.46 ahead of the report. The stock is down 57% over the past 12 months.

Dell earnings plunge 63% in first quarter(4:07 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Dell Inc. said Thursday afternoon that earnings plunged 63% on a sharp drop in PC sales, as well as restructuring charges. For the quarter ended May 1, the PC maker (DELL: news, chart, profile) said net income was $290 million, or 15 cents a share, compared to earnings of $784 million, or 38 cents a share, for the same period the previous year. The results include a charge of 9 cents a share for restructuring. Revenue slipped 23% to $12.3 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of 22 cents a share on revenue of $12.6 billion, according to consensus forecasts from FactSet Research.

Revlon to cut about 400 jobs(9:13 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Revlon Inc. (REV: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that it will eliminate about 400 jobs worldwide as part of an organizational restructuring. The cosmetics company said the move is expected to lower costs by about $30 million on an annualized basis, and it expects to take about $20 million in restructuring and related charges, mostly in the second quarter. Revlon also said its second-quarter forecast is "significantly below" results from the year-earlier quarter.

Grubb & Ellis reports wider quarterly loss(9:04 am ET)
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Grubb & Ellis Co. (GBE: news, chart, profile) on Thursday reported a first-quarter net loss of $43.3 million, or 65 cents a share, compared with a loss of $6.3 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The real estate company said total revenue fell to $118.3 million from $150.4 million. The latest quarter's results "reflect the challenging operating environment as well as the seasonal nature of the commercial real estate industry," said Gary Hunt, the firm's interim chief executive, in a prepared statement.

Procter & Gamble sees higher 2010 profit, sales (8:55 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The Procter & Gamble Co. (PG: news, chart, profile) on Thursday said it expects 2010 earnings of $3.65 to $3.80 a share, up from the midpoint of its year-ago target of $3.65 a share. Wall Street analysts expect the Cincinnati consumer products giant to earn $3.92 a share, according to a survey by FactSet Research. P&G expects 2010 organic sales growth of 1% to 3%, driven primarily by market share growth.

Mylan names CFO from Dr. Pepper Snapple(8:10 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Mylan Inc. (MYL: news, chart, profile) on Thursday named Jolene Varney as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Most recently, Varney served as senior vice president of corporate finance with Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS: news, chart, profile) .

Sanderson Farms profit surges(6:40 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Chicken producer Sanderson Farms Inc. (SAFM: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its fiscal second-quarter net profit jumped to $26.2 million, or $1.27 a share, from $6.2 million, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended April 30 dipped 1.6% to $426.8 million. The group said its results reflect improved market conditions for the poultry industry. The group said much of the improvement in the market is due to production cuts and the resulting reduced supply of chicken in the market. Analysts polled by FactSet had been expecting earnings of 54 cents a share on sales of $402.1 million.

VimpelCom swings to loss on 31% higher revenue(6:28 am ET)
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Vimpel Communications, (VIP: news, chart, profile) the provider of telecom services to Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, swung to a first-quarter net loss from a year-earlier profit on 31% higher revenue. The loss was 8.51 billion rubles ($272 million), or 8.41 rubles an American depositary share, compared with net income of 14.59 billion rubles, or 14.36 per ADS, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue reached 66.84 billion rubles from 51.14 billion. The net loss reflected losses on foreign exchange totaling 23.6 billion rubles. Operating earnings before depreciation and amortization rose 18% to 32.17 billion rubles; profit margin on this basis narrowed to 48.1% from 53.4%. VimpelCom now has 62.7 million mobile subscribers, up 20% from the year-earlier quarter.

Costco net off 29%; same-store sales down 7%(3:31 am ET)
TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Costco Wholesale Corp., (COST: news, chart, profile) the Issaquah, Wash., warehouse retailer, reported that fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 29% on 4.8% lower net sales and 7% lower comparable-store sales. For the quarter ended May 10, Costco earned $209.6 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with $295.1 million, or 67 cents, in the year-earlier quarter. Net sales fell to $15.48 billion from $16.26 billion. Total revenue, which includes membership fees, fell 4.9% to $15.81 billion from $16.61 billion. A survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced consensus estimates of 54 cents of profit on $16.13 billion of sales. On a comparable basis for the quarter, sales fell 5% in the U.S. and 12% internationally, Costco reported. In a statement on Thursday, Chief Financial Officer Richard Galanti said the latest earnings reflected a pretax, mostly non-cash, charge of $34 million as Costco settled litigation regarding its membership-renewal policy. Also having an impact: higher costs of employee benefits, particularly health care; a stronger U.S. dollar against the currencies of Canada, the U.K., South Korea and Mexico; and weaker sales, particularly for "higher-ticket discretionary items," the executive said.

Tate & Lyle profit down 66%, dividend unchanged(2:39 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. sugar producer Tate & Lyle (UK:TATE: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its net profit for the year ended March 31 fell 66% to 65 million pounds ($104 million), while revenue rose 24% to 3.55 billion pounds. The group said that excluding one-off charges of 119 million pounds and the results from business that had been sold, adjusted pretax profit fell 2% to 247 million pounds, roughly matching expectations. The group said it will leave its final dividend unchanged at 16.1 pence, lifting the total payout for the year by 1.3% to 22.9 pence a share. Tate & Lyle said the new financial year has started in line with its expectations, but that the global recession, and its uncertain impact on customer demand, makes it difficult to predict the outlook for the year.

Man Group profit drops 86%, maintains dividend(2:28 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. hedge fund manager Man Group (UK:EMG: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 fell 86% to $503 million from $3.47 billion. The group said revenue fell 23% to $2.49 billion due to a sharp drop in performance fees. Excluding impairments and amortization charges, pretax profit fell 43% to $1.2 billion. The group said its funds under management at the end of March were $46.8 billion. That figure was $900 million below the level in a pre-close trading update because of a negative performance and the impact of exchange rate moves in the last week of March. Man Group said that since the end of the financial year it has seen strong demand from private investors and that there are signs of stabilization in the hedge fund industry. It added it will keep its final dividend unchanged at 24.8 cents a share.
Wednesday, May 27

TiVo swings to loss(4:20 pm ET)
CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Digital video recorder pioneer TiVo Inc. (TIVO: news, chart, profile) said it swung to a loss in its fiscal first quarter as paid subscriptions declined against the backdrop of the economic downturn. The company said it lost $4.13 million, or 4 cents a share, in the latest three months. In the first fiscal quarter a year earlier, it posted a profit of $3.6 million, or 4 cents a share. Service and technology revenues fell to $48.5 million from $54.9 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a loss of 5 cents a share on service and technology revenues of $48.6 million. In its second fiscal quarter, TiVo expects to take a loss in the range of $6 million to $8 million on service and technology revenues of $47 million to $49 million.