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Updates, advisories and surprises

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/updates-advisories-and-surprises-2010-08-18

By MarketWatch
Eaton Vance quarterly earnings rise 34%

(8:59 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Eaton Vance Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!ev/quotes/nls/ev (EV 29.61, +0.62, +2.14%) said Wednesday its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $41.8 million, or 34 cents a share, from $31.2 million, or 25 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Total revenue rose to $273.1 million from $228.4 million. Excluding one-time items, the Boston financial advisor said it would have earned 35 cents a share, while analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for earnings of 38 cents a share, on average. Shares of Eaton Vance closed Tuesday at $29.61, up 2%.

Chicos doubles its quarterly profit

(7:49 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Chico's FAS Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!chs/quotes/nls/chs (CHS 9.55, +1.14, +13.56%) said Wednesday its second-quarter profit rose to $30.5 million, or 17 cents a share, from $14.9 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The Fort Myers, Fla., retailer said sales grew 10.8% to $465 million from $419.9 million. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected earnings of 16 cents a share, on average, with sales of $465.8 million. Chico's recently announced a stock buyback program of up to $200 million. Shares of Chico's rose about 1% premarket to $8.50.

Target posts higher quarterly profit

(7:44 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Target Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!tgt/quotes/nls/tgt (TGT 49.18, -1.75, -3.44%) said Wednesday its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose to $679 million, or 92 cents a share, from $594 million, or 79 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected the retailer to earn 92 cents a share, on average. Quarterly revenue rose 3.1% to $15.5 billion, thanks to a 3.8% rise in retail segment sales, but weighed down by credit-card revenue. Same-store sales for the period rose 1.7%. "Growth in guest traffic and apparel sales remained robust, and teams across the company continued to exercise thoughtful control of expenses," said Chief Executive Gregg Steinhafel in a statement.

Deere posts higher quarterly profit

(7:14 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Farm-machinery manufacturer Deere Co. /quotes/comstock/13*!de/quotes/nls/de (DE 67.15, -0.08, -0.12%) said Wednesday its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $617 million, or $1.44 a share, from $420 million, or 99 cents a share, in the year ago period. Total net sales rose 16% to $6.84 billion from $5.89 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet Research were looking for earnings of $1.20 a share, on average, with sales of $6.52 billion. For the fourth quarter, Deere forecast net income of about $375 million, versus the Wall Street consensus of $388.9 million. Shares of Deere fell nearly 2% premarket to $66.

BJ's Wholesale profit up, lowers outlook

(7:14 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!bj/quotes/nls/bj (BJ 41.25, -2.06, -4.76%) said Wednesday its fiscal second-quarter net income rose to $35.8 million, or 67 cents a share, from $35.1 million, or 64 cents a share in the year-ago period. Sales for the three months ended July 31 grew 8.6% to $2.7 billion. Analysts, on average, expected the warehouse club retailer to earn 73 cents a share, according to FactSet Research. Same-store sales for the quarter rose 4.4%, including gasoline. The company lowered its earnings outlook to a range of $2.40 to $2.50 a share, compared to earlier projections of $2.58 to $2.68 a share. It also now expects net sales to increase 8% to 10% for the full fiscal year, as opposed to the 9.2% to 11.2% sales growth previously provided.

Citic Pacific first-half profit doubles

(6:32 AM ET) HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Citic Pacific Ltd. /quotes/comstock/22h!e:267 (HK:267 16.92, +0.68, +4.19%) said Wednesday its first-half net profit nearly doubled to HK$4.88 billion ($626 million) from HK$2.47 billion a year earlier, or HK$1.34 per share, up from 68 Hong Kong cents a year earlier, lifted by disposals of stakes in a power plant, telecom and an air cargo operator. The conglomerate reported revenue for the period rose 76% to HK$31.87 billion from HK$18.10 billion. Citic Pacific reported massive losses in 2008 on derivative contracts linked primarily to bets on the Australian dollar.

Vestas Wind Systems swings to loss, cuts outlook

(2:51 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Vestas Wind Systems /quotes/comstock/23k!bvws (DE:VWS 33.78, -7.54, -18.24%) said Wednesday that it swung to a second-quarter net loss of 119 million euros ($153 million) from a profit of 43 million euros as the company also cut its outlook for 2010. The wind turbine producer said revenue fell 17% to 1.01 billion euros due to low capacity utilization. The group said it's now expecting a 2010 Ebit margin of 5% to 6% on revenue of 6 billion euros, compared to its previous forecast of a 10% to 11% margin on revenue of 7 billion euros. It said the downgrade to its outlook is because certain order for delivery to the U.S., Spain and Germany will take place so late in 2010 that they won't be recognized as income for the year. Vestas also, however, said its order intake in the second quarter was 3,031 megawatts, which is the highest quarterly level ever recorded.

Swiss Life reaffirms outlook as profit rises 89%

(2:36 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Swiss Life Holding /quotes/comstock/06p!slhn (CH:SLHN 108.80, +6.80, +6.67%) said Wednesday that its first-half net profit rose 89% to 268 million Swiss francs ($257 million) from 142 million francs a year earlier. The company said gross written premiums grew 18% to 12.24 billion francs, as a fall in operating expenses helped offset higher insurance benefits and claims. "Our first-half performance shows that we are on track with our 2012 targets," said CEO Bruno Pfister. "Although we face great challenges because of the low interest rate environment and tougher competition, we are confident that we will achieve our goals for 2010," he added.

ENRC sees volatile outlook as profit rises 63%

(2:25 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Mining group Eurasian Natural Resources Corp.said Wednesday that its first half net profit rose 63% to $902 million as revenue grew 80% to $3.05 billion due to a mixture of acquisitions, higher commodity prices and improved sales volumes. Underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization more than doubled to $1.44 billion and were slightly ahead of the $1.4 billion consensus of analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires. The company said its performance was driven by a recovery in its traditional markets and the continued strength of the Chinese economy. "There is a risk of commodity market volatility in the near term and the management of costs remains a challenge," it added.

Telekom Austria net off 17%, revenue down 1.9%

(2:03 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- Telekom Austria, /quotes/comstock/11i!tkagy (TKAGY 24.90, +0.50, +2.05%) the Vienna telecom-services provider, reported that second-quarter net income fell 17% on 1.9% lower revenue. Earnings were 68.7 million euros, or €0.16 a share, compared with €82.3 million, or €0.19, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue was €1.17 billion against €1.19 billion. A survey of analysts by Dow Jones Newswires produced consensus estimates of €80 million of profit on €1.14 billion of revenue.