Earning Plays

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Monday, July 6

Chubb may face $2 bln in D&O losses, analyst says(12:34 pm ET)
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Chubb Corp. (CB: news, chart, profile) may face $2 billion in losses from directors and officers insurance policies it has sold as litigation surges in the wake of the financial crisis and recession, Barclays Capital analyst Jay Gelb wrote in a note to investors Monday. "Chubb does not appear appropriately reserved in this line," the analyst said. "If Chubb's 2008 U.S. D&O accident year loss ratio of 78% rose to the peak developed loss ratio over the past 10 years of 120% (which occurred in 2002 due to the tech bubble/IPO laddering), we estimate Chubb could report additional D&O losses of $2 billion, pre-tax over several years." Gelb cut his price target on Chubb shares to $41 from $43, but kept his equal weight rating. That's because Chubb shares trade at a historically low one times book value. Chubb shares rose 1.1% to $39.23 during afternoon trading on Monday.

Regis plans share sale, revenue drops 2.5%(6:38 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Beauty Salon operator Regis Corp. (RGS: news, chart, profile) said Monday that it plans to sell around 11.5 million new shares and offer $125 million of convertible senior notes, as it also said fiscal fourth-quarter revenue dropped 2.5% to $625 million. The group said it will use the proceeds from its share and note sale to repay $267 million of private placement debt of varying maturities, with the remaining proceeds to be used for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of bank debt. The group said that, as expected, same-store sales for the fiscal fourth quarter were down 4%. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting sales of $630.6 million. Regis said that in connection with the stock offering it has amended its revolving credit facility and term loan facility in order to provide relief with respect to certain covenants.

SocGen sees slightly positive net income(2:50 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- French bank Societe Generale (FR:GLE: news, chart, profile) said Monday that it expects its second-quarter net income to be "slightly positive." The group said a solid performance in corporate and investment banking will absorb the significant negative impact of the substantial tightening of credit spreads as markets have improved and risk aversion has reduced since mid-March. The bank said its net banking income is expected to include a 1.3 billion euro negative impact from credit default swaps used to hedge its loan portfolio and from debt instruments issued by the group. The Tier 1 and Core Tier 1 ratios are expected to be close to their levels at the end of March.

EasyJet passenger numbers edge up 0.8%(2:26 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. low-cost airline easyJet (UK:EZJ: news, chart, profile) said Monday that the total number of passengers it carried in June rose 0.8% to 4.15 million from 4.11 million. The airline's load factor, a measure of passengers against available seats, fell by 0.6 percentage points to 86.3%.
Friday, July 3

Bank of Ireland's margin under pressure(2:28 am ET)
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Bank of Ireland (UK:BKIR: news, chart, profile) (IRE: news, chart, profile) said Friday that trading conditions remain challenging in its main markets and its primary objective continues to be maintaining the stability of the bank. The group said demand for new lending remains muted and that the lower interest rate environment and higher wholesale funding costs are having a significant negative impact on net interest margin. The economic trends that led the bank to forecast around 6 billion euros ($8.4 billion) of impairments through March 2011 are broadly as expected. The bank said it's also continuing "to engage positively" with the National Asset Management Agency, which will inject funding into the Irish banking system when new legislation is agreed later this year. Including recent moves to strengthen its capital, the bank's previously announced 9.5% Core Tier 1 ratio would have been around 10.5%, it added.
Thursday, July 2

Acuity Brands' third-quarter profit tumbles(9:04 am ET)
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI: news, chart, profile) said Thursday that its third-quarter net income fell to $22 million, or 53 cents a share, from $41.1 million, or $1.00 a share, in the year-ago period. On a continuing operations basis, it earned 54 cents a share compared with $1.01 a share in the year-earlier quarter. On average, analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for earnings of 57 cents a share. Net sales at the maker of lighting fixtures declined to $397 million from $512 million, hurt by the decline in construction activity.