March 11, 2010 at 3:42 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Retail
Dow Jones Newswires | Ulta Salon Cosmetics & Fragrance
Inc.’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings surged 65 percent on revenue and
margin gains to surpass its boosted guidance. The beauty-products
retailer gave a sunny outlook as well.
It expects first-quarter earnings of 14 cents to 16 cents a share on
revenue of $301 million to $307 million, compared with 12 cents and
$299 million, respectively, expected by a survey of analysts by Thomson
Reuters. Ulta also expects same-store sales to rise 4 percent to 6
percent.
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March 10, 2010 at 12:44 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Manufacturing
Dow Jones Newswires | A.M. Castle & Co.’s fourth-quarter loss narrowed following a $58.9
million year-earlier write-down as the company’s sales dropped sharply.
“While we are disappointed with our financial results for the fourth
quarter and the full year 2009, we believe an increase in daily shipping
rates throughout the second half of 2009 and early 2010 indicate that
we are on a path to recovery,” said President and Chief Executive
Michael Goldberg.
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March 10, 2010 at 5:50 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Economy,
Manufacturing
Dow Jones Newswires-WSJ | Sales at Caterpillar Inc. are expected
to rise 10 percent-25 percent this year on inventory restocking and a
stronger global rebound than was initially expected, James W. Owens,
the company’s chairman and chief executive, said Tuesday.
Yet Owens, who will be retiring as CEO in June, cautioned the outlook
remains uncertain and assigned a 25 percent chance to a “Great
Recession”-type of event in which Caterpillar’s sales, which were $32.4
billion in 2009, increase to just $35 billion by 2011.
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March 9, 2010 at 5:45 p.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Earnings,
Manufacturing
Dow Jones Newswires | Navistar International Corp.’s fiscal
first-quarter profit slumped 93 percent on a big year-earlier
litigation gain, as revenue and margins also declined.
Shares fell 4.8 percent to $42.14 in after-hours trading as the
commercial truck and engine maker’s results fell below Wall Street’s
expectations.
“First-quarter results reflect the progress we are making in the
toughest of economic conditions and in a normally difficult seasonal
quarter for our company due to fewer operating days,” said Chairman and
Chief Executive Daniel Ustian.
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March 8, 2010 at 7:59 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Government
The Associated Press | German Chancellor Angela Merkel is welcoming moves to consider creating a so-called European Monetary Fund — an idea that she says is “good and interesting.”
Merkel told reporters Monday that many questions remain open about the possible fund — for instance, who would pay in and how, and how independent it would be from the European Commission.
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March 4, 2010 at 6:47 p.m.
Filed under:
Autos,
Earnings
Associated Press | Midas Inc. reported a fourth-quarter loss
Thursday, the result of restructuring costs and falling sales of parts
and tires at its auto repair shops, but says it has already begun to
see improvement this year.
Itasca-based Midas lost $200,000, or 2 cents per share, compared with
profit of $2.7 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier. Midas
reported quarterly revenue of $45.7 million, down from $46.7 million a
year ago.
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March 4, 2010 at 4:41 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings
| GAINERS |
% |
LOSERS |
% |
MOST ACTIVE |
Vol (000) |
| Middleby |
+11.38 |
Wintrust Financial |
-3.04 |
Sara Lee |
20,556 |
| Ulta Salon |
+6.21 |
WMS Industries |
-2.57 |
Motorola |
18,297 |
| Strategic Hotels |
+5.82 |
Zebra Technologies |
-2.10 |
Kraft |
11,130 |
| USG Corp |
+2.61 |
Old Republic |
-1.72 |
Walgreen |
8,401 |
| Morningstar |
+2.52 |
Rubicon |
-1.66 |
Boeing |
7,718 |
See results from Chicago’s
Top 100 companies.
March 4, 2010 at 4:52 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Restaurants
Associated Press | Shares of Morton’s Restaurant Group Inc.
climbed Thursday after the restaurant operator forecast better profit
for its fiscal first quarter and full year than analysts expected.
Morton’s said late Wednesday that it anticipates earning 25 cents to 30
cents per share, excluding one-time items, on revenue of $291 million
to $296 million. For the first quarter, it expects adjusted earnings of
6 cents to 9 cents per share on sales of $72 million to $74 million.
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March 3, 2010 at 3:14 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Health care
From Crain’s Chicago Business | The University of Chicago Medical Center’s controversial program to redirect routine cases in favor of more-complex ones has produced a sharp drop in emergency room visits — and a big boost to its bottom line. U of C Medical Center posted an operating profit of $24.3 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, more than double the amount in the same period a year earlier, according to a financial statement recently posted on its Web site. The profit growth comes even as the Hyde Park hospital treated fewer patients.
Get the full story: chicagobusiness.com.
March 3, 2010 at 9:23 a.m.
Filed under:
Consumer news,
Earnings,
Retail
(JB Reed/Bloomberg)
By Sandra M. Jones
| Walgreen Co. reported lackluster sales for February as consumers continued to cut back on discretionary items and had fewer cases of the flu.
Sales at stores open at least a year, a key retail metric, rose 0.4 percent from the year-ago period.
The pharmacy, which accounts for two-thirds of Walgreen’s sales, held up better than the front end of the store, with a same store sales gain of 0.9 percent. Front end sales, which include general merchandise and over-the-counter drugs, fell 0.6 percent.
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March 1, 2010 at 5:40 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings
Dow Jones Newswires | General Growth Properties posted a sharply wider fourth-quarter loss on write-downs of $749 million as the company continued a public-relations fight against the $10 billion proposed takeover bid from larger rival Simon Property Group Inc.
“The operating results we reported today demonstrate we are successfully executing our business strategy to create long-term value for our stakeholders,” contended Chief Executive Adam Metz.
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Feb. 27, 2010 at 7:43 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings
Associated Press | Billionaire Warren Buffett devoted much of his annual letter to
educating new Berkshire Hathaway shareholders about the company and why
he believes the firm will have a profitable future.
Buffett’s letter released Saturday details Berkshire’s performance in
2009 and what was behind the company’s net income of $8.055 billion, or
$5,193 per Class A share. That’s up 61 percent from last year’s $4.994
billion net income, or $3,224 per share.
|
|
See also
• Berkshire Hathaway profit jumps 25-fold
• View Warren Buffett’s letter
|
Get the full story »
Feb. 26, 2010 at 1:49 p.m.
Filed under:
Earnings
From BusinessWeek | Bloomington-based State Farm Insurance Co., the largest home and auto insurer in the country, returned to profit in 2009 on investment gains and improved underwriting
The company reported a profit of $777 million, compared with a loss of $542 million in 2008, the company said in a statement. The insurer is owned by its policyholders and reports results once a year.
Get the full story: businessweek.com
Feb. 25, 2010 at 10:11 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings,
Tourism,
Travel
Doorman Antonio Williams outside the Park Hyatt hotel
in downtown Chicago. (E. Jason
Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune)
By Julie Wernau | Hyatt Hotels Corp. will be concentrating on long-term growth and
expansion in light of near-term declines in occupancy, room rates and
lucrative group bookings that have hurt the hotel sector, the company
said in its first earnings call this morning since the company’s public
offering in November.
Mark Hoplamazian, president and chief executive officer for Hyatt, said
while the company stresses the importance of owning a portion of its
portfolio – 102 hotels versus 424 managed or franchised — they have
been concentrating efforts on increasing franchising and management
agreements that require little to no capital, particularly in Southeast
Asia, India and China, where revenue per available room has fared
better than in the U.S.
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Feb. 25, 2010 at 6:20 a.m.
Filed under:
Earnings
Associated Press | Dominicks’s grocery parent Safeway Inc. says charges to write down the value of two of its supermarket chains drove it to post a loss for its fourth quarter.
The grocery chain reported a loss of $1.61 billion, or $4.06 per share, on Thursday. Safeway earned $338 million, or 79 cents per share, in the prior year.
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