Spectacular Earnings all around from AMD to GT ENE DPH ENM..AMD said it expected total sales growth of more than 50 percent for the year as a whole, outpacing the overall industry.
<<April 12 (Reuters) - Advanced Micro Devices Inc <AMD.N> on Wednesday reported first quarter earnings, driven by its speedy Athlon chip, that blew past Wall Street recently upgraded estimates, saying it was the best quarter in the company's history.
Advanced Micro, Intel Corp.'s chief rival in the microprocessor business, said its first quarter net income rose to $189.3 million, or $1.15 a share, vs. a loss of $128.4 million, or 88 cents a share a year ago.
Sales soared 73 percent versus the same period last year and reached $1.09 billion, driven by demand for its Athlon processors and flash memory chips, vs. $631.6 million in the year ago quarter. On a sequential basis, sales jumped 13 percent from the seasonally-strong fourth quarter.
Wall Street analysts had expected the company to post earnings of 58 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. These estimates were recently upgraded by most analysts, after the company pre-announced last week that it expected to report record sales in excess of $1 billion.
"AMD had the best quarter in its history," said W.J. (Jerry) Sanders III, chairman and chief executive, in a statement. "Each of our product groups reported significant growth in the first quarter. Led by strength in PC processors and Flash memory sales, sales from AMD's three product groups grew by more than 13 percent sequentially and by more than 83 percent over the comparable period of 1999."
"Unit sales of AMD Athlon processors increased by 50 percent to 1.2 million units," Sanders said. He said total PC processor revenues rose 14 percent from the first quarter and by more than 65 percent over the first quarter of 1999.
Total unit sales, including the AMD Athlon and AMD-K6 processors, reached a record at nearly 6.5 million units, and revenues from AMD Athlon processors exceeded revenues from AMD-K6 family processors, Sanders said.
In addition to a strong market for personal computers, AMD is also benefiting from torrid growth in the flash memory business, where it also competes with Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel <INTC.O>. Flash memory chips, which retain data stored in them after the power is cut off, are widely used in hand-held devices and mobile phones.
The chip industry, known for its boom-and-bust cycles, is in full recovery from its worst-ever slump. Factories are churning out chips at close to capacity, supplies are tight, and chip stocks are surging.
AMD projected that overall sales in the second quarter would be modestly higher than the first quarter's record $1.09 billion. The company said it expected unit shipments of PC processors could approach the record level of the first quarter.
It said unit shipments of AMD Athlon processors were expected to rise to 1.8 million units, which would mean a higher blended average selling price and higher revenues for PC processors.
>>
<<<- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. <GT.N>, the world's largest tire company, on Wednesday said its first-quarter profits more than doubled, topping Wall Street estimates partly because of an improved performance by its North American and Latin American tire businesses.
The Akron, Ohio-based company said profits rose to $63.6 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, from $25.5 million, or 16 cents, in the same period a year earlier, when the company took a $116 million after-tax restructuring charge.
Analysts on average were looking for Goodyear to earn 35 cents a share in the latest quarter, according to First Call/Thomson Financial, which tracks such estimates.
Goodyear achieved the profit growth in the latest quarter even though foreign currency exchange reduced earnings by $5.1 million. By comparison, such fluctuations resulted in a gain of $34.6 million in the 1999 period, primarily due to the revaluation of the Brazilian currency last year.
The numbers were released after the market closed, when Goodyear was down 1/16 at 29 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Goodyear, which makes tires, engineered rubber products and chemicals in more than 27 facilities in 30 countries, said first-quarter sales rose to $3.54 billion from $2.99 billion.
Goodyear's stock, which has been penalized for sluggish earnings for the past year or so, had rallied on Monday after the company's chairman and chief executive, Samir Gibara, gave an upbeat forecast for the company.
"We're pleased to see widespread improvement in business fundamentals over 1999's fourth quarter that confirm our turnaround is on track," Gibara said in a statement.
In the 1999 fourth quarter, Goodyear blamed sharply lower profits on lower profit margins on tires, higher production costs and a weak Latin American market.
Goodyear's Dunlop operations contributed almost $577 million in first-quarter sales. Tire unit sales climbed to 54.8 million, up 9.1 million units or 20 percent from 1999's first quarter. The growth reflects the addition of the company's Dunlop operations in North America and Europe, which contributed 8.9 million units, as well as strong performances in Asia and Latin America, the company said.
First-quarter gains also reflected strong results at Goodyear's Engineered Products division. Revenues rose primarily because of stronger sales in the molded rubber and power transmission products business groups, which offset the loss of sales from a interior trim business that had been sold, it said.
Operating income benefited from higher revenues and cost reduction efforts. However, the business continues to experience weak conveyor belt sales because of depressed commodity markets, it said. >>
HOUSTON, April 12 (Reuters) - Enron Corp. <ENE.N>, North America's biggest gas and electricity marketer, said on Wednesday first-quarter earnings per share rose a better-than-expected 17.6 percent as Internet-based trading boosted core wholesale energy operations and profits rose at its energy outsourcing business.
Net income excluding nonrecurring items rose 34 percent to $338 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, from $253 million, or 34 cents per share, in the same 1999 period.
Reported earnings per share exceeded Wall Street analysts' average forecast of 37 cents, according to data compiled by First Call/Thomson Financial. In early afternoon trading, the company's stock was up 3-11/16 at 72 but still well short of a 12-month peak of 78-1/16 set on March 30.
Revenues rose 72 percent to $13.1 billion while the volume of gas and electricity marketed by Enron rose 43 percent to 41.8 trillion British thermal unit equivalents a day.
"It was a blowout quarter, very good strength pretty much across the board. They beat our (earnings per share) estimate. We were at 37 (cents)," said Paine Webber analyst Ronald Barone. Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette analyst Curt Launer raised his price target for Enron's stock to $97 from $82 and maintained his Top Pick rating, saying the strength of the company's business units was not fully captured in his previous target price.
Enron Chairman and Chief Executive Ken Lay said in a statement that strong growth in wholesale volumes was due in part to the company's EnronOnline Internet trading initiative.
Launched in late 1999, EnronOnline has notched up over 70,000 transactions with a gross value of $27 billion since then. During the first quarter EnronOnline accounted for 39 percent of Enron's wholesale transactions and 27 percent of wholesale volumes.
Profits before interest and taxes for the wholesale energy business rose to $419 million from $320 million.
President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Skilling said in a conference call that wholesale energy profits had shown year-on-year increases in each of the last 17 quarters and the increases had exceeded 25 percent in 14 of those quarters.
Enron Energy Services, an outsourcing business that buys gas and electricity on behalf of commercial and light industrial customers, added $3.7 billion in new retail contracts in the quarter and made a profit of $16 million.
During the first three quarters of 1999 the outsourcing business was still posting start-up losses, but in the final quarter of that year it posted a first profit of $7 million.
Enron said its new broadband telecommunications business had expanded its high-speed network and signed contracts worth $31 million during the quarter to deliver premium content and data.
The broadband business broke even during the first quarter but Enron expects it to report a loss of $60-65 million for the year as a whole and eventually turn profitable around 2003.
Enron expects network capacity, or bandwidth, to trade as a commodity as the Internet grows and carries more video content.
Skilling told Reuters in a telephone interview that Enron was comfortable with consensus estimates of Enron's earnings per share of $1.38 for 2000 and $1.61 for 2001.
Enron is already eyeing other emerging commodity markets, where it could capitalize on its core skills of intermediation, risk management and providing liquidity. "That whole package we think is a pretty profound, powerful package and we're looking for additional commodities where we can apply it," Skilling said while declining to identify potential new markets.
Enron -- recently ranked 18th by revenues in Fortune magazine's rankings of U.S. companies -- saw its stock rise 55.4 percent in 1999, and gains for the year to date are even greater.
NEW YORK, April 12 (Reuters) - Fannie Mae <FNM.N>, the No. 1 U.S. financier of home mortgages, said on Wednesday its first-quarter earnings rose 15 percent to a record $1.06 billion, amid growth in its loan portfolio and fees.
The Washington, D.C.-based company earned $1.02 a share, or $1.062 billion, in the first quarter, compared to $924.9 million or 88 cents a share in the year-ago first quarter.
Its earnings beat Wall Street's expectations by a penny a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial, which tracks analyst estimates.
Fannie Mae's stock rose 1-13/16 to 61-5/8 on Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Fannie Mae is a government-sponsored enterprise that buys mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities for investors. Some lawmakers recently have called for tougher regulation of such housing agencies to prevent potential exposure problems in difficult market conditions.
Net interest income rose to $1.36 billion in the quarter, up 17 percent from the year-ago quarter, as its portfolio of mortgage loans grew to $537 billion, the company said.
Fannie Mae also said its guaranty fees rose by $15.3 million from last year to $332.1 million, while other fee income fell to $500,000 from $58.2 million. Fee income also fell from $44.9 million in the fourth quarter, mostly due to a rise in operating losses on tax-advantaged housing investments, the company said.
<<NEW YORK, April 12 (Reuters) - Dow Jones & Co. Inc. said on Wednesday its first-quarter operating earnings almost doubled from a year earlier, easily exceeding Wall Street expectations, thanks to strong advertising growth at its flagship newspaper, the Wall Street Journal.
The New York-based publisher said earnings jumped to $79.2 million, or 88 cents a share, from $40.9 million, or 44 cents, in the year-ago period, with both quarters excluding a gain. The analysts' consensus earnings forecast was 80 cents, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.
In early March, Dow Jones said earnings for the period would "substantially" exceed Wall Street forecasts, due to increased advertising revenues from the Journal and its other publications, which includes Barron's, a weekly business newspaper, and the Ottaway group of community papers.
With the gains, Dow Jones' net income for the quarter rose to $88.7 million, or 98 cents a diluted share, from $51.5 million, or 56 cents, in the year-earlier period.
Total revenues rose 25 percent to $579.0 million from $462.1 million. Results in its print publishing segment rose 35 percent to $391 million as advertising linage at the Journal rose 38.2 percent. The growth was paced by heavy technology and dot-com advertising.
Dow Jones earnings were "beyond spectacular," said Edward Atorino, an analyst at Wasserstein Perella Securities. "Electronics started to come on strong with WSJ Interactive (http://interactive.wsj.com) seeing 438,000 subscribers, which was surprising. March was just another blowout month," he said.
Dow Jones Chief Financial Officer Jerry Bailey said in a conference call that the gain in paid subscribers to the online version of the Journal --to 438,000 from 375,000 a year earlier -- reflected in part a special program targeting college students. He said Dow Jones expects a trail-off in new subscribers in the second quarter as summer vacation approaches.
Bailey said the company was targeting earnings per share growth of 27 percent for full-year 2000.
He said earnings growth was expected to slow to the high single digits in the third quarter before reaccelerating in the fourth quarter.
"We see no signs of softening or slowdown in the advertising outlook, but given the strong linage gains seen in the third and fourth quarters in the last year, we have modeled for some softness in the second half," Bailey said. He added that it was impossible to make a reasonable estimate of advertising linage beyond a couple months.
Dow Jones also repeated that it was considering a tracking stock or a spinoff of a minority stake of some or all of its Internet assets.
In addition to WSJ.com, the company has a 50 percent interest in Work.com (http://www.excite.com/work), an Internet portal for small businesses. The venture was created with ExciteAtHome Corp. <ATHM.O> earlier this year.
The company expects to take Work.com public later in the year, noting that it was still analyzing the idea of a tracking stock and expected to make a decision in the coming months.
Work.com is expected to generate about $10 million in revenues in the second half and more than $40 million next year.
"Advertising, initially, will be the key, but e-commerce will be an important component of that growth," Bailey said.
Shares of Dow Jones rose 1-1/16 to 72-15/16 in afternoon trade on the New York Stock Exchange. >>
DETROIT, April 12 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown analyst Ken Blaschke on Wednesday raised his 2000 earnings estimate and raised his 12-month stock price target for auto supplier Delphi Automotive Systems Corp. <DPH.N>.
-- said in a research report that raised 2000 earnings estimate by 5 cents to $2,15 a share because of the net U.S. labor attrition of 800 on top of 8,800 last year. He estimates Delphi saves about 5 cents a share for every 1,000-headcount reduction.
-- said raised 12-month stock price target by $1 to $24 a share because of the estimate upgrade.
-- pointed to Delphi's presence and opportunity in the market for multimedia products. With a current market share of 30-40 percent and $2.9 billion in bookings over the next five years, the business could grow to $2 billion in annual revenues.
-- said Japanese media indicate Honda Motor Co. Ltd. <7267.T> plans to equip its 2001-model Acura vehicles with General Motors Corp.'s <GM.N> OnStar satellite communications system, which includes content from Delphi.
-- said Delphi extending strong non-GM business, which, excluding acquisitions, rose 16 percent in the first quarter, compared to 12.9-percent increase in the fourth quarter last year.
-- said Delphi's operating margin of 6.6 percent was 0.7 percentage point above Blaschke's estimate.
-- Delphi said on Wednesday that first-quarter profits rose 13 percent to $322 million before a one-time charge, topping analysts' estimates. Delphi shares were up 1-1/16 to $18-7/8 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.
HOUSTON, April 12 (Reuters) - Enron Corp. <ENE.N>, North America's biggest gas and electricity marketer, said on Wednesday first-quarter earnings per share rose a better-than-expected 17.6 percent as Internet-based trading boosted core wholesale energy operations and profits rose at its energy outsourcing business.
Net income excluding nonrecurring items rose 34 percent to $338 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, from $253 million, or 34 cents per share, in the same 1999 period.
Reported earnings per share exceeded Wall Street analysts' average forecast of 37 cents, according to data compiled by First Call/Thomson Financial. In early afternoon trading, the company's stock was up 3-11/16 at 72 but still well short of a 12-month peak of 78-1/16 set on March 30.
Revenues rose 72 percent to $13.1 billion while the volume of gas and electricity marketed by Enron rose 43 percent to 41.8 trillion British thermal unit equivalents a day.
"It was a blowout quarter, very good strength pretty much across the board. They beat our (earnings per share) estimate. We were at 37 (cents)," said Paine Webber analyst Ronald Barone. Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette analyst Curt Launer raised his price target for Enron's stock to $97 from $82 and maintained his Top Pick rating, saying the strength of the company's business units was not fully captured in his previous target price.
Enron Chairman and Chief Executive Ken Lay said in a statement that strong growth in wholesale volumes was due in part to the company's EnronOnline Internet trading initiative.
Launched in late 1999, EnronOnline has notched up over 70,000 transactions with a gross value of $27 billion since then. During the first quarter EnronOnline accounted for 39 percent of Enron's wholesale transactions and 27 percent of wholesale volumes.
Profits before interest and taxes for the wholesale energy business rose to $419 million from $320 million.
President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Skilling said in a conference call that wholesale energy profits had shown year-on-year increases in each of the last 17 quarters and the increases had exceeded 25 percent in 14 of those quarters.
Enron Energy Services, an outsourcing business that buys gas and electricity on behalf of commercial and light industrial customers, added $3.7 billion in new retail contracts in the quarter and made a profit of $16 million.
During the first three quarters of 1999 the outsourcing business was still posting start-up losses, but in the final quarter of that year it posted a first profit of $7 million.
Enron said its new broadband telecommunications business had expanded its high-speed network and signed contracts worth $31 million during the quarter to deliver premium content and data.
The broadband business broke even during the first quarter but Enron expects it to report a loss of $60-65 million for the year as a whole and eventually turn profitable around 2003.
Enron expects network capacity, or bandwidth, to trade as a commodity as the Internet grows and carries more video content.
Skilling told Reuters in a telephone interview that Enron was comfortable with consensus estimates of Enron's earnings per share of $1.38 for 2000 and $1.61 for 2001.
Enron is already eyeing other emerging commodity markets, where it could capitalize on its core skills of intermediation, risk management and providing liquidity. "That whole package we think is a pretty profound, powerful package and we're looking for additional commodities where we can apply it," Skilling said while declining to identify potential new markets.
Enron -- recently ranked 18th by revenues in Fortune magazine's rankings of U.S. companies -- saw its stock rise 55.4 percent in 1999, and gains for the year to date are even greater.
|
