DeclinersAcco Brands Corp. (NYSE:
ABD -
News) was downgraded to neutral from outperform at Credit Suisse.
Allstate (NYSE:
ALL -
News) reported a 17% increase in fourth-quarter profit, but the insurer's results missed analyst estimates and the company said it will stop giving profit forecasts.
Calumet Specialty Products (NasdaqGM:
CLMT -
News) was downgraded to neutral from buy at Goldman Sachs.
Celestica (NYSE:
CLS -
News) shares fell after the company said its fourth-quarter net loss widened to $60.8 million, or 27 cents a share, from $28.2 million, or 12 cents a share, as costs of sales rose. The most recent quarter's results include a $30 million net charge related to an increase in inventory at a Mexico facility and a $59 million restructuring charge. Excluding amortization of intangible assets, among other items, the Canada-based provider of electronics manufacturing services posted per-share earnings of 3 cents vs. 13 cents in the prior year. Revenue rose 9% to $2.26 billion from $2.08 billion. The company sees an adjusted first-quarter per-share loss of 4 to 15 cents, on revenue of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion. The company was also downgraded to underperform from peer perform at Bear Stearns.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies fell, tracking steep losses in their home market after a senior legislator said the market may be overheated after a 130% gain in 2006. The comments by Cheng Siwei, vice-chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress, in an interview with the Financial Times, raised concerns the Chinese government may take official action to cool speculation after the market hit a record high last week. Chinese ADRs such as Guangshen Railway (NYSE:
GSH -
News), China Mobile (NYSE:
CHL -
News), Aluminum Corp. China (NYSE:
ACH -
News), China Life Insurance (NYSE:
LFC -
News) and Sinopec (NYSE:
SNP -
News) were all markedly lower.
Electronics For Imaging's (NasdaqGS:
EFII -
News) fourth-quarter earnings fell 38% to $7.08 million, or 12 cents a share, from $11.4 million, or 18 cents a share, a year earlier. On a non-GAAP basis, the Foster City, Calif., provider of digital controllers said earnings fell to $22.6 million, or 35 cents a share, from $23.1 million, or 36 cents a share. Revenue rose 5.8% to $153.9 million from $145.4 million in the year-ago period. The company expects to delay its Form 10-K filing for 2006 due to its ongoing stock-option grant investigation. The company sees first-quarter non-GAAP earnings of 25 to 27 cents a share on revenue of $140 million to $143 million.
Haemonetics' (NYSE:
HAE -
News) shares tumbled after the maker of automated blood processing systems provider forecast earnings of adjusted $2.05 to $2.17 per share for fiscal 2007 with revenue expected to rise between 7% and 9%. The company said this view reflect expectations for continued sales declines in its Japanese business.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NasdaqGS:
JNPR -
News) reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 4% to $595.8 million, from $575.5 during the same period one year ago. The sales figure slightly topped the estimates of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who had forecast $593 million.
Key Tronic (NasdaqGM:
KTCC -
News) shares dropped after the Spokane, Wash., provider of electronic manufacturing services posted a second-quarter profit of $300,000, or 3 cents a share, down from a profit of $1 million, or 10 cents a share, last year. The latest results include a charge of $940,000 related to a customer unexpectedly declaring bankruptcy in December. Key Tronic also said that new customer programs weren't enough to offset reduced demand from certain existing customers in the latest quarter.
Manitowoc Co. (NYSE:
MTW -
News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $43.9 million, or 69 cents a share, compared with $18.2 million, or 30 cents a share, in the same period last year, on strong revenues in the company's crane segment.
NutriSystem (NasdaqGS:
NTRI -
News) shares fell after the Horsham, Pa., provider of weight management and fitness products and services forecast first-quarter earnings of 82 to 86 cents a share on revenue of between $200 million and $210 million. Wall Street's current consensus estimate is for a profit of 94 cents a share in March period on revenue of $214 million.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGM:
REGN -
News) was initiated with an average rating at Caris & Co.
Repros Therapeutics Inc. (NasdaqGM:
RPRX -
News) announced the pricing of its public offering of 2.61 million shares at $13.75 each. The underwriters have a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 390,000 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any, the company said.
Saifun Semiconductor (NasdaqGS:
SFUN -
News) shares slumped after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $6.3 million, or 20 cents per share, down from a year-ago profit of $8.6 million, or 15 cents a share. Revenue at the Israeli chip company declined to $14 million in the quarter from $16.7 million a year ago.
SanDisk (NasdaqGS:
SNDK -
News) said it swung to a fourth-quarter loss from a year ago, hurt by acquisition-related charges, as sales surged amid increased demand for its NAND flash-memory storage chips used in consumer electronics.
Sepracor Inc. (NasdaqGS:
SEPR -
News) said fourth-quarter earnings rose to $99.1 million, or 85 cents a share, from $36.9 million, or 31 cents a share, a year earlier. The results include a 12 cents a share charge for stock-based compensation. Revenue increased to $357.2 million from last year's $311.1 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had been expecting earnings of 62 cents a share and revenue of $341.4 million, on average.
Selective Insurance Group (NasdaqGS:
SIGI -
News) was initiated with a market perform rating at Wachovia Securities, citing concerns about increasing competition.
Silicon Laboratories (NasdaqGS:
SLAB -
News) forecast revenue of $106 million to $111 million for the fiscal first quarter, below Wall Street's current consensus estimate for revenue of $113.5 million in the March period.
Tekelec (NasdaqGM:
TKLC -
News) was downgraded to hold at Jefferies & Co.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:
TWX -
News) reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.75 billion, or 44 cents a share, up from $1.3 billion, or 28 cents, earned in the same period during 2005. Earnings from continuing operations improved to 43 cents a share from 28 cents, the New York-based media giant's results showed. Backing out one-time items, Time Warner said it would have earned 22 cents a share for the latest quarter. Quarterly revenue reached $12.47 billion from the prior year's $11.52 billion. Analysts were looking for earnings of 22 cents a share on revenue of $12.46 billion, according to estimates compiled by Thomson First Call. The company also said it expects to wrap up a $20 billion stock-buyback program during the first half of 2007.
Tupperware Brands Corp. (NYSE:
TUP -
News) reported fourth-quarter net earnings of $39.9 million, or 65 cents a share, up 28% from $31.2 million, or 51 cents a share, during the year-ago period. Earnings after adjustments were 74 cents a share.
Websense (NasdaqGS:
WBSN -
News) shares tumbled after the company said its fourth-quarter earnings fell 30%, due in part to the cost of starting distribution of its software through Ingram Micro Inc. in North America. The San Diego provider of employee Internet management software had fourth-quarter earnings of $7.78 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with $11.1 million, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation expense, the company earned $11.4 million, or 25 cents a share, up 3% from a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 18% to $47.3 million from $40.1 million a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings of 25 cents a share on revenue of $48 million. Analyst earnings forecasts typically exclude unusual items. In addition, Websense said it expects first-quarter earnings of 9 to 11 cents a share and first-quarter non-GAAP earnings of 19 to 21 cents a share.
W Holding Co. (NYSE:
WHI -
News) shares fell after the company posted a profit of $17.9 million, or 5 cents a share, for the fourth quarter, down nearly 41% from last year's earnings of $30.2 million, or 12 cents a share. The holding company for Westernbank Puerto Rico attributed the latest results to increases in its current income tax provision, non-interest expenses, and its provision for loan losses.
YMI Biosciences (AMEX:
YMI -
News) shares plunged after the company said it's terminating a phase III trial of testmilifene, a proposed advanced breast cancer treatment. The company said the move follows a recommendation from the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board that the trial be stopped because interim analysis indicates "it is very unlikely significant differences in overall survival will be shown" between treatment arms as the data mature. A.G. Edwards downgraded the company to hold from buy following the news.
Published by Michael Baron at MarketWatch
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