Posts Tagged ‘earnings’

BNVI perks, SIRI, FSGI falter

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Bionovo Inc. (NasdaqCM: BNVI) climbed 31.68 percent in price to $1.33 near lunch time Wednesday, on volume of 1,604,200 shares, nearly nine times its daily average. The Emeryville, California-based company said Wednesday said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the clinical development plan for its lead drug candidate, Menerba, for treating hot flashes related to menopause.

Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NasdaqGS: SIRI) enjoyed healthy volume of 32,853,681 shares mid-Wednesday, ahead of the pace of its usual daily average volume of 74,982,700 shares. The satellite radio concern saw its stock price falter 2.01 percent to $1.46. Last week, SIRI reported third-quarter revenue of $722.5 million, up 15% from the prior-year quarter, and net income of $67.6 million, compared to a loss of $151.5 million.

First Security Group Inc. (NasdaqGS: FSGI) listed lower by noon ET Wednesday by 22.08 percent in price to $1.20. Volume in FSGI hit 71,627, more than four times its daily average. As of September 30, FSGI reported a third-quarter net loss of $30.2 million resulting in basic and diluted net loss of $1.92 per share for the quarter.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Shares of natural and organic grocer Whole Foods Market, Inc. (Nasdaq: WFMI) touched a new 52-week high of $47.37 on Thursday after the company reported strong fourth quarter numbers, driven by strong sales momentum.

Net income for the fourth quarter ended September 26 more than doubled to $57.5 million, or 33 cents per share, compared to net income of $28.7 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier. Fourth quarter revenue increased 15 percent to $2.1 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of 28 cents per share on revenue of $2.07 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
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Whole Foods’ sales have been increasing for several quarters, and although the company had expected sales to moderate in Q4 due to a seasonal slow-down and tough comparison to the prior year when sales were starting to improve, revenue at stores open at least a year rose 8.7 percent in the quarter, above the 6.5 to 7.5 percent growth Whole Foods expected. The Austin-based company attributed its sales growth to more competitive pricing and efforts during the quarter to appeal to its core customers’ concerns about healthy eating, animal welfare and sustainable seafood.

Whole Foods also strengthened its balance sheet in Q4, ending the quarter with free cash flow of $67 million. The company was forced to retool as the recession took hold, and halted its dividend, cut costs, closed some stores and offered more lower-priced options. Whole Foods also slowed its new store openings during that time but said it plans to open a number of new stores in the coming year, including an announcement Wednesday that it has plans to open several in the United Kingdom.

“From a financial perspective, we are well-positioned to reaccelerate our new store growth,” said Whole Foods’ Co-CEO John Mackey in an earnings call. “Our strong top- and bottom-line performance, along with our renewed capital expense discipline, have resulted in consistent cash flow, lower debt and a very healthy balance sheet.”

Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (MGIC) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

Shares of Magic Software Enterprises Ltd. (Nasdaq: MGIC) were up as much as 28 percent from Tuesday’s closing price in mid-day trading on Wednesday after the company announced that it tripled its third quarter operating profit.

Shares of MGIC touched a new 52-week high of $3.72 on Tuesday, up from $2.90 at Monday’s close.

For the third quarter the Israel-based software maker reported net income of $2.5 million, or 8 cents per share on revenue of $22.4 million. This compares to profit of $900,000 or 3 cents per share on revenue of $13.5 million a year earlier. Operating income was $2.5 million, or 8 cents per fully diluted share, for the third quarter of 2010, compared to operating income of $800,000 or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.
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“I am very pleased to report robust growth and continued improvement in all our operations for the third quarter,” said Magic Software’s acting CEO,  Guy Bernstein in a statement. “This has been driven by greater demand for our professional services and improved license sales of our uniPaaS RIA application platform among enterprises and independent software vendors worldwide.”

Magic Software Enterprises sells applications designed for electronic business, customer relationship management, and other enterprise uses. The company also also provides maintenance, technical support and professional services. The company’s customers include Merrill Lynch Bank, ING Commercial Finance, and UPS Supply Chain Solutions.

Shares of Magic Software Enterprises are up 42 percent in the past month.

Deckers Outdoor Corp. (DECK) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Friday, October 29th, 2010

Shares of shoemaker Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Nasdaq: DECK) soared as much as 9 percent from Thursday’s closing price, in morning trading on Friday after the company reported strong third quarter earnings that beat analysts’ expectations.

“The strong performance of our new fall lines helped fuel sales gains across each of our distribution channels and geographic regions compared to the third quarter of last year,” said Deckers’ Chairman and CEO, Angel Martinez in a statement. “We continue to successfully expand the UGG brand’s market share by developing more compelling products including boots, casuals and sneakers that target a wider consumer audience. The global response to our fall collection has been very encouraging, with sell-through rates accelerating as we’ve moved into the fourth quarter. At the same time, the strong momentum the Teva brand experienced during the first half of the year is carrying over into the second half. This was driven by increased shipments of our fall collection, led by an expanded offering of closed toe products coupled with strong in-season demand for our sandal assortment. We are encouraged by the current trends in our business and believe we are well positioned for a very good holiday selling season.”
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Deckers earned $42.1 million, or $1.07 per share in the third quarter ended September 30, 2010, largely driven by improved sales of its UGG boots and Teva sandals. Analysts were expecting earnings of 93 cents per share. Quarterly revenue increased to $277.9 million, from $228.4 million, a year earlier.

Sales of the company’s UGG boots increased 20.2 percent to $255.8 million, and sales of its Teva sandals increased to $13.7 million, up 51.7 percent from $9 million a year ago.

Deckers also raised its full-year revenue outlook to a 16 percent improvement over 2009 levels, up from previous guidance of 14 percent. The company also expects its full year EPS to increase 22 percent over 2009, compared to previous earnings guidance of 16 percent, over last year.

Shares of Deckers Outdoor Corp. are up approximately 13 percent over the past three months.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) – Buzz Stock of the Day

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

Software giant Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) reported strong profit and sales growth in its first fiscal quarter, driven largely by sales of its flagship Windows and Office software and the launch of the latest blockbuster Halo video game.

For its first fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2010, Microsoft reported EPS of 62 cents. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 55 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. Operating income, and  net income a the quarter were $7.12 billion, $5.41 billion, which represented increases of 59 percent and 51 percent  respectively, when compared with the prior year period. Sales increased 25 percent to $16.2 billion, ahead of analysts’ $15.8 billion average estimates.
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“This was an exceptional quarter, combining solid enterprise growth and continued strong consumer demand for Office 2010, Windows 7, and Xbox 360 consoles and games,” said Peter Klein, chief financial officer at Microsoft in a statement. “Our ability to grow revenue while continuing to control costs allowed us to deliver another quarter of year-over-year margin expansion.”

Among the highlights were a 15 percent sales growth in Microsoft’s Office 2010 software, and a 38 percent increase in sales of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console.

“We ended up in this great sweet spot in business spending that was re-emerging after the downturn,” Microsoft’s general manager of investor relations, Bill Koefoed, said in an interview. Increased business spending “aligned just perfectly” with Microsoft’s product launches, according to Koefoed.

Revenue from Microsoft’s Windows division increased 66 percent to $4.8 billion. Office and other business software brought in $5.1 billion, a 14 percent jump, over last year. The group that makes server software reported a 12 percent increase in revenue to $4 billion. Microsoft’s online revenue, which comes primarily from search advertising,  was up  8 percent to $527 million.

The company reaffirmed its operating expense guidance of $26.9 billion to $27.3 billion for the full year ending June 30, 2011.