McDonald’s profits double

The spinoff of a burrito chain coupled with record-setting overseas sales helped McDonald’s Corp. more than double its fourth-quarter profit, executives said Tuesday.

McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast-food company, said it will continue its push into countries such as China, Japan and Russia when it opens 800 new restaurants this year.

The expansion will net the chain a total of 400 new sites, after being offset by closures — an 11 percent increase from the number of new restaurants opened last year.

“Our better, not just bigger, focus has transformed our business and built momentum,” said Matthew Paull, McDonald’s chief financial officer.

Executives at the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company said they also hope to continue the success of their popular chicken menu, launching chicken strips and snack wraps in the U.K. during the first quarter. The company also will continue its popular premium-roast coffee and is eyeing other specialty coffee drinks, premium hamburgers and breakfast burritos.

During the quarter ended Dec. 31, McDonald’s earned $1.2 billion, or $1 a share. That was up from $608.5 million, or 48 cents a share, in the same period last year.

McDonald’s revenue climbed 11 percent to $5.6 billion, from $5.01 billion during the year-ago period.

The earnings were in line with preliminary results released last week but the stock dipped from the seven-year high it posted this month after some analysts said operating profit fell short of their expectations.

Even without the gain from the spinoff of its Chipotle chain, McDonald’s said income from continuing operations climbed to $761.2 million, or 61 cents a share, a 26 percent increase from $604.8 million last year.

“EBay Inc. reported Wednesday that fourth-quarter profit increased 24 percent from the same period last year, trouncing Wall Street estimates and prompting executives to raise estimates for the current quarter.

Thanks to scorching holiday sales — particularly in eBay’s traditional strongholds of the United States, United Kingdom and Germany — the San Jose-based online auction company earned $349 million, or 25 cents per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31. It earned $279 million, or 20 cents per share in the year-ago period.

EBay shares increased $1.38, or nearly 5 percent, to close Wednesday at $30 on the Nasdaq Stock Market before the earnings report was released. It jumped $33.05, up an additional 10.2 percent, in after-market trading.

“Cingular Wireless LLC, the nation’s largest cell phone provider, said Wednesday its fourth-quarter profit nearly quadrupled, boosted by customer growth during the holidays.

Cingular said it earned $782 million during the fourth quarter, compared with $204 million in the same quarter of 2005. The company reported revenue of $9.8 billion, up 10 percent from $8.8 billion in the year-ago period.

The company, which was rebranded under the AT&T Inc. name last week, was a joint venture of Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. and AT&T before AT&T completed its $86 billion purchase of BellSouth last month. The wireless company will report earnings as part of the parent company in future quarters.

“Lower natural gas prices and reduced margins from refining contributed to a 13 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit for ConocoPhillips, but the results still helped the nation’s third-largest oil company post its most profitable year on record.

The company — the first of the major oil players to report fourth-quarter and full-year earnings — also said Wednesday it expects oil and gas production to be down slightly in the first quarter from the October-December 2006 period.

“We achieved another year of strong financial results that allowed us to provide value to our shareholders by selectively investing in projects to deliver energy to consumers worldwide, reducing debt, increasing dividends and repurchasing our shares,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Jim Mulva.

“Netflix Inc.’s fourth-quarter profit surpassed analyst expectations as 654,000 more subscribers signed up for its online DVD rental service, but the customer growth lagged Blockbuster Inc.’s — a development that underscores the stiffening competition between the rivals.

Despite the intensifying battle, Netflix provided a bullish 2007 outlook that helped boost its recently drooping stock price by more than 7 percent late Tuesday.

The Los Gatos-based company predicted it will add as many as 2.1 million subscribers this year to keep pace with Blockbuster, which hopes to attract another 2 million customers to its online DVD rental service.