There were a lot of earnings reports this week -- if you weren't setting up some trades before the reports were released, you're probably digesting the numbers now. I had a look at 3M (NYSE: MMM) this morning. The famous Dow component, which competes with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and DuPont (NYSE: DD), reported this past Thursday. Net sales increased 9%, but diluted earnings per share unfortunately took a whopping decline of 25%. However, you need to take a look at what caused this drop -- there was a gain in last year's quarter from the disposition of a European pharmaceutical business, as well as some other items. Excluding these elements, you'll find that earnings per share grew by 8%.
According to the company's release, 3M did rather well in the free-cash-flow department. Last year at this time, free cash flow came in at $276 million. This past quarter saw free cash flow grow to just under $700 million. I liked that; I also liked that most of the company's divisions reported double-digit profit growth. This is a healthy, blue-chip dividend player -- plus, 3M is comfortable with its previously stated forward guidance of at least $5.47 in adjusted earnings per share for 2008 (or, as the release put it, management believes net income will see an increase of "a minimum of 10% over 2007 earnings-per-share of $4.98"), and it beat the street this past quarter by three pennies, according to Briefing.com.
Here are some things to think about regarding 3M's stock. If it does earn close to $5.47 a share, then the company sports a forward P/E ratio of a little over 14. The yield on the shares is well over 2%. And, as of Friday's close, the price of the stock -- $77.82 -- is well off the 52-week high of $97 and a little ways off from the 52-week low of $72.05. Taken together, this 3M scenario seems like an interesting set-up for a decent trade. The stock looks like it will probably meander for a bit, but it nevertheless should be looked at.
Disclosure: I don't own shares in any of the companies mentioned here; positions can change at any time.
Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) reported a smaller-than-forecast 3% profit drop Thursday and said it would have a good second quarter. Higher feedstock and energy costs were blamed for the drop. The chemical giant reported earnings of 99 cents per share, beating the 94 cents estimate.
If two weeks ago some hoped we've seen the bottom of the subprime mortgage crisis, since then more problems, especially with European banks seem to pop. Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) reported a wider-than-forecast loss of $2.1 billion on a $5.3 billion writeoff as the global effects of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis continued to spread. Share of CS though are rising in premarket trading about 1.8% as the bank may have seen the worst.
Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) shareholders don't want the bank to proceed with the $4 billion acquision of Courntrywide Financial Corp. (NYSE: CFC), the mortgage lender that has become the poster child for the subprime mortgage problems. The have pleaded on Wednesday with the bank's CEO.
For nervous investors and analysts looking for good news on the earnings front, it's been a week of mixed blessings. However, judging by the expectations for the following ten so-called barometers of the U.S. economy, or important sectors of it, things could be looking up. All these companies are scheduled to report quarterly results next week (April 21 to April 25).
These first six companies are expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial to post growth in profits in the most recent quarter, compared to the same period of last year:
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says balance sheets are strong, so spillover isn't an issue.
I get emails and postings almost every day from fixed-income specialists, saying that the credit markets' myriad problems simply aren't being reflected in the equity markets, and that's just plain wrong. They warn us equity players that we are dreamers and that it is just a matter of time before the terrible problems in collateralized debt, huge leverage, and now auction rate preferred notes spill over into equities and that any rally in stocks is just a fool's paradise.
There's a problem with this inevitability story though, one that eludes these critics and might continue to elude them -- it hasn't happened yet, despite a year's worth of turmoil. That's a long time for a big problem like this to be cordoned, so it is worth looking at whether the naysayers are wrong and something else is at work.
When I look around at the vast choices of assets out there for the thousands of fund managers and institutions that have to put their money somewhere -- provided it is not dedicated to a particular asset from the get-go -- I see one world in chaos and another world in order. The bond market, the credit market, is in total disarray, with every aspect of its existence save Treasuries under fire. We know now that a simple reset market for municipals is failing because, of course, the charade of the bond insurers and their chimerical protection. The CDO market stinks. This is a multibillion dollar market where no one can figure out the prices of anything and the spreads between the bid and the ask are so wide that no one can afford to own or trade them. You don't know where they are marked. You don't know what's in them. You don't know what they are really rated. They are basically worth nothing right now to anyone. Commercial paper? Hardly worth the pick-up in interest. "Cash reserves"? We have seen the "buck" supported over and over again. There has to be a moment where the buck is broken.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) posted a fourth-quarter loss of $722 million, or $1.28 a share , after a year-earlier profit on rising costs in North America. Sales fell to $47 billion. For 2007, it posted a record net loss of $38.73 billion, or a loss of $68.45 per share. GM, eager to lower wages is offering a new round of buyouts to all 74,000 of its U.S. hourly workers who are represented by the United Auto Workers. GM shares are down 3.3% in premarket trading.
Teva Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA), reported fourth-quarter earnings rose 24% to $570 million, or 69 cents a share, beating estimates of 66 cents per share. Sales grew 13% to $2.58 billion from $2.28 billion. Still, TEVA shares are down nearly 1.7% in premarket trading.
Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) was upgraded at UBS from Neutral to Buy. Shares are up over 1.1% in premarket trading.
3M's adjusted fourth-quarter profit exceeded Wall Street expectations even though earnings fell from year-ago results, which included a one-time gain. Net income was $851 million, or $1.17 per share, compared to $1.18 billion, or $1.57 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding a charge of $12 million, or 2 cents per share, profit rose to $1.19 per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of $1.17 per share.
Sales rose 7% to $6.21 billion from $5.78 billion last year, and beat analyst estimates of $6.14 billion. For the year, profit rose 11% to $4.1 billion, or $5.60 per share, from $3.95 billion, or $5.06 a share, in 2006. Annual revenue rose 7% as well, to $24.5 billion from $22.9 billion in 2006.
Shares rose .75% on Tuesday to close at $78.02. Shares had fallen to a 52-week low of $72.05 last week.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you've got to look at individual stories here rather than just go with the prevailing sentiment.
The presumption behind everything I read is that everyone is going to stop using and buying everything. Yet none of it is in the numbers.
That's right. Demand for everything from semiconductors and disk drives to cockpits and train brakes is collapsing. And none of it is in the numbers.
But when I look at the individual companies I don't see it.
Nevertheless the orthodoxy will be in full force today because of industrial production numbers from China that show some slowing. I am sure that will cause a new wave of trembling about copper and paper and coal and iron ore to join the reservations about everything else that is not being bought. So what's my problem with this?
One of the top priorities of any manufacturer is efficient management of the variable demands made on its supply chain. There is an outfit in Dallas that has been helping some of the biggest firms in the world streamline the process for nearly twenty years.
i2 Technologies (NASDAQ: ITWO) provides supply chain management software that helps manufacturers boost operating efficiency, work with customers and suppliers, and administer electronic marketplaces. The firm also offers consulting, maintenance and training services. Clients include such manufacturing leaders as 3M (NYSE: MMM), General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Honeywell International (NYSE: HON).
The company pleased investors earlier in the month, when it reported Q3 EPS of 24 cents and revenues of $66.5 million. Analysts had been expecting 12 cents and $63.7 million. In discussing the results, the CEO cited continued momentum in the services business and significant customer wins for the firm's retail and logistics solutions. Management also guided FY07 EPS to 82-92 cents (80 cent consensus) and FY07 revenues to $263.5-266.5 million ($261.87M consensus). JMP Securities subsequently reiterated its "market outperform" rating on the shares and boosted its price target to $22.
"The third-quarter earnings that are coming out are the worst but we don't see a sharp bounce-back,'' Christina Bank & Trust's Scott Arminger told Bloomberg News. "Financial earnings will be pretty mediocre for a couple of quarters going forward.''
The maker of Post-It notes and countless other products reported net income of $960 million, or $1.32 per share, compared with $894 million, or $1.18 per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.5% to $6.2 billion. Excluding one-time earnings, profit was $1.29 compared with $1.17 a year earlier. Analysts expected profit of $1.28 and revenue of $6.29 billion, according to Thomson Financial. 3M raised its earnings forecast to $5.54 to $5.62 for this year, compared with previous guidance of $5.40 to $5.60. It expects full year sales growth excluding the divestiture of the branded pharmaceutical business of 7% to 8%.
Honeywell's profit rose 14% to $618 million, or 81 cents per share and revenue rose 10 percent to $8.74 billion, helped by strength in its commercial aviation, defense and space markets. The results beat Wall Street consensus expectations of 82 cents on revenue of $8.59 billion.
Boosted in part by tensions between Iraqi Kurds and Turkey, oil prices topped an unprecedented $90 a barrel -- reaching $90.02 -- in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange before settling in the mid $89s in Asia.
Abroad, European bourses edged lower, but Japan's Nikkei tumbled 1.71% to 16,814.37.
No economic reports are due out Friday, though investors will tune in this morning to sift through Fed Chief Ben Bernanke's comments at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank's videoconference on "Monetary Policy Uncertainty," which begins at 9 a.m. EDT.
Many buy-and-hold mutual-fund investors are being hit with extra fees and trading restrictions because of a new rule meant to deter rapid trading of fund shares. Here's what to watch out for.
Their names may not be household words yet, but these young bosses are guiding some of the country's leading publicly traded businesses. They include the CEO's of Gymboree, Vonage, Under Armour, Blackboard, Resource Capital, Omniture and more.
Ride out turbulence with these high-quality, low-risk investments. They include Schlumberger, 3M, Medco Health Solutions, Procter & Gamble, Ametek, Expeditors International, T.Rowe Price, United Technologies and more.
From Luxury to Bare-Bones: Discount Airlines Specialize
One new start-up airline offers in-flight music videos, purple and pink mood lighting and flight attendants clad in chic all-black outfits. Another rolls up staircases to planes instead of covered jet-bridges, charges for water and puts its flight attendants in T-shirts advertising destinations. Like the retail industry, discount airlines are getting more specialized, trying to find niches that appeal to a certain type of customer, not to all customers.
Once known mainly for its kitchenware, there is an outfit in upstate New York that has become a dominant provider of high technology glass products. The firm pioneered the development of fiber-optic cable.
Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) is a leading producer of specialty glass and ceramics for high-technology systems. Products include glass substrates for LCD televisions, computer monitors and laptops; ceramics for catalytic converters; optical fiber, cable & equipment for telecommunications networks; optical biosensors for drug discovery; and other advanced optics and specialty glass solutions for the semiconductor, aerospace, defense, astronomy and metrology industries. 3M Corporation (NYSE: MMM) is a major competitor.
The company pleased investors last week, when management affirmed Q3 EPS guidance 34-37 cents and revenue guidance of $1.525-1.575 billion. Analysts had been expecting 36 cents and $1.55 billion. The CEO stated that LCD product shipments are on track with forecasts and noted that improved exchange rates between the yen and the dollar could add a penny to adjusted earnings per share.
There were a lot of earnings reports this week -- if you weren't setting up some trades before the reports were released, you're probably digesting the numbers now. I had a look at 3M (NYSE: MMM) this morning. The famous Dow component, which competes with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and DuPont (NYSE: DD), reported this past Thursday. Net sales increased 9%, but diluted earnings per share unfortunately took a whopping decline of 25%. However, you need to take a look at what caused this drop -- there was a gain in last year's quarter from the disposition of a European pharmaceutical business, as well as some other items. Excluding these elements, you'll find that earnings per share grew by 8%.
For nervous investors and analysts looking for good news on the earnings front, it's been a week of mixed blessings. However, judging by the expectations for the following ten so-called barometers of the U.S. economy, or important sectors of it, things could be looking up. All these companies are scheduled to report quarterly results next week (April 21 to April 25).
3M Company
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: 
3M
Comfort Zone Investing: Keep your recovery expectations real
Will Americans have to slim down to fit into their cars?
Starbucks: The next McDonald's
