Earnings roundup: Vista boosts Microsoft
Software maker Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 65 percent, helped by revenue from Windows Vista upgrade coupons issued over the holidays.
Earnings for the quarter ended March 31 rose to $4.93 billion, or 50 cents per share, from $2.98 billion, or 29 cents per share in same period last year.
Results included legal charges amounting to 1 cent per share, but tax benefits boosted profit by 2 cents per share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a profit of 46 cents per share.
Revenue for the quarter rose 32 percent to $14.4 billion, from $10.9 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Microsoft started selling its newest operating system, Windows Vista, to consumers at the end of January. Its “client” division, responsible for Windows, brought in $5.27 billion in sales, 67 percent higher than a year ago.
“In a way, Ford Motor Co. is like a family with too much credit card debt: Without the interest payments, it would be in the black.
Ford on Thursday announced a narrower loss — $282 million in the first quarter versus $1.4 billion in the first three months last year. But it paid out more than $341 million for the interest on its debt.
Were it not for those payments, the company said it would have turned a profit.
The first-quarter loss, announced Thursday, was Ford’s seventh consecutive negative quarter as the company tries to remake itself to compete in a fierce U.S. automotive market.
Ford’s revenue rose 5 percent, its loss excluding special items was smaller than Wall Street expected and its shares rose more than 4 percent Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Safeway Inc.’s first-quarter profit rose 22 percent with the nation’s second largest grocer off to its fastest start in six years, but management said Thursday that it’s still too early to raise earnings projections for the rest of 2007.
The Pleasanton-based company made $174.4 million, or 39 cents per share, during the three months ended March 24, compared with $142.9 million, or 32 cents, per share at the same time last year.
The results were a penny above the average estimate among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Revenue climbed 5 percent to $9.32 billion, about $20 million above average analyst estimates.
“US Airways Group Inc. on Thursday said profit edged up 2 percent in the first quarter on modest revenue growth, and the airline company backed its forecast for a profitable year.
But Chief Executive Doug Parker told analysts on a conference call that revenue growth for the Tempe, Ariz.-based company would be flat and competition was keeping airlines from passing on higher fuel prices to passengers.
“You’re no longer able to see what you’ve seen in the last couple years — increases in revenues. And this comes at a time when fuels costs are increasing,” Parker said. “What you’re seeing is that it is flattening, making it more difficult to raise prices as costs go up.”
US Airways shares fell $3.32, or 7.8 percent, to close at $39.33 on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Dow Chemical Co., the nation’s largest chemical company, reported a 20 percent drop in profit during the first quarter, due largely to a drop in plastics licensing revenues from the extremely high levels of a year ago. It also announced a 12 percent increase in future quarterly dividends.
Earnings per share matched analyst estimates and the stock rose 26 cents to $45.52 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares have traded in a 52-week range of $33 to $47.60. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for profit of $1 per share on revenue of $12.01 billion.
“Oilfield services conglomerate Halliburton Co. said Thursday its first-quarter profit rose 13 percent, a boost driven largely by increased business in the Middle East that helped offset lower commodity prices in North America.
In the first quarter, Halliburton reported net income of $552 million, or 54 cents a share, compared with $488 million, or 46 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.
“Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. kicked off 2007 with a 10 percent rise in profits, its best-ever first quarter, as higher margins on refining and chemical operations offset lower prices for crude oil and natural gas.
Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said Thursday it earned $9.3 billion in the January-March period, beating Wall Street expectations, even as revenue slipped .