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From Reuters | Federal
Signal Corp., the manufacturer based in Oak Hill, posted a surprise first-quarter loss. The company was hurt
by lower sales volumes and shipments. Its shares were also hurt by the news, and fell as much as 13 percent in early trading.
Get
the full story: reuters.com.
From Reuters | Israeli airline El Al said on Thursday that it is canceling its order with Boeing Co. to buy four 777-200 jets.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
Associated Press via Bloomberg | Chicago-based auto repair parts maker LKQ Corp. said Thursday that its first-quarter profit rise 67 percent, thanks to growing demand for auto parts and falling commodity prices.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Dow Jones Newswirez | Tenneco Inc. swung to a first-quarter profit, as a rebound in the auto industry helped the parts maker post surging sales and improved margins and top analyst expectations.
Tenneco, which makes shock absorbers, suspensions and manifolds, reported a profit of $7 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $49 million, or $1.05 a share. The latest period had 14 cents in charges. Net sales were up 36percent to $1.32 billion.
Associated Press | Boeing Co. has asked the companies that make
the large sections of its new 787 jetliner to hold back shipping the
assemblies for two of the jets for about a month.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokeswoman Yvonne Leach said Tuesday that
787 final assembly is continuing at its Everett plant and that the
temporary delay won’t affect work under way. Boeing remains on track to
deliver the first 787 to a customer late this year, she said.
Associated Press via Bloomberg | Deerfield-based Fortune Brands, the maker of Jim Beam bourbon, bathroom faucets and other
consumer products, raised the low end of its full-year adjusted
earnings guidance on Tuesday, citing its better-than-expected
first-quarter performance.
Get the full story: businessweek.com.
Caterpillar signaled the economy is improving by boosting its outlook for the year and rebounding from last year’s first-quarter loss. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergal, file)
Associated Press | Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar signaled the economy is improving Monday with healthy outlook for the year and a sharp rebound from last year’s first-quarter loss. The price of Caterpillar shares soared to a new 52-week high, up more than 5 percent in early trading, following its first quarter earnings report.
Caterpillar said Monday it generated $233 million, or 36 cents per share, in net income. That compares with a loss of $112 million, or 19 cents per share, last year when the recession and ensuing layoffs weighed down results.
Tribune staff | Shares of Sauer-Danfoss Inc. were up nearly 14
percent, to $17.74, in late afternoon trading Friday after its board
rejected a sweetened offer of $14 a share from Danfoss Acquistion Inc.
It also rescinded a recommendation that shareholders accept an earlier
offer of $13.25 a share from the subsidiary of the company’s majority
stockholder, Danfoss A/S.
The board of the Ames, Iowa-based hydraulic equipment maker cited
improved projections for the rest of this year, 2011 and 2012 in making
its latest recommendation.
By Kiah Haslett
| The infant and youth product and toymaker RC2 Corp. reported an 88.9 percent increase in first-quarter profits over a year ago, citing popular products, lower input costs and favorable currency exchange rates.
The Oak Brook-based company’s net income was $3.4 million, or 15 cents a share, compared to last year’s $1.8 million or 10 cents a share. Net sales overall increased 2.1 percent to $88.1 million.
Dow Jones Newswires | Pactiv Corp.’s first-quarter profit dropped 38 percent as rising material costs hurt the packaging company’s margins, and sales growth missed Wall Street’s expectations.
Looking ahead, it expected per-share earnings of 52 cents to 56 cents for the second quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted 64 cents. For the year, Pactiv now sees earnings of $2.10 to $2.30, down 10 cents from the company’s February projection.
Shares of Pactiv were down 2.2 percent at $25 in after-hours trading.
By Julie Johnsson | President Obama’s recently enacted health care legislation took its toll on Boeing Co. earnings as the Chicago-based aerospace company reported a $150 million non-cash charge, or $0.20 per share, for a future tax benefit that it will lose as a result of the new law.
The charge contributed to a 15 percent drop in Boeing’s net income of $519 million, or $0.70 per share, compared to prior-year results. Revenues at the Chicago aerospace company fell 8 percent to $15.2 billion as it delivered fewer airplanes to customers than in early 2009: 108 versus 121.
Associated Press | Boeing’s first-quarter profit topped
expectations and the aircraft maker says it still expects to deliver
the first of its new 787s by the end of this year. The 787 flew more than two years late, and Boeing is still putting it
through test flights. Some analysts have worried that delivery would be
pushed back to early next year.
McClatchy/Tribune News | Boeing Co.’s European rival, European Aeronautic Defence & Space
Co., is finding it difficult to recruit a U.S. partner to bid on a $35
billion aerial tanker contract.
Reuters News Service reported Friday that L-3 Communications Holdings
Inc. has backed away from the Pentagon’s tanker deal.
The company was viewed as the most likely ally for EADS.
Dow Jones Newswires | Packaging Corp. of America’s fourth-quarter profit declined 25% due to lower product prices and higher recycled fiber and pulpwood costs, which offset higher revenue.
The paper-products company projected second-quarter earnings of about 30 cents a share, below Wall Street’s target of 33 cents, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters. Lake Forest-based Packaging Corp. attributed the view to higher pricing, although it said most of the increases wouldn’t be realized until the third quarter. Meanwhile, three mills are expected to be down for maintenance outages during the quarter, which will reduce production and increase costs.
Dow Jones Newswires | Crystal Lake-based AptarGroup Inc.’s first-quarter earnings climbed by nearly half on strength in its core beauty-and-home segment, as the product-dispenser maker projected stronger earnings in the current quarter than analysts expected.
It sees earnings of 60 cents to 65 cents a share, above the average estimate of 56 cents a share from a survey of analysts by Thomson Reuters.
