Earnings Roundup: N.Y. Times gains buck trend

The New York Times Co. reported higher third-quarter earnings Tuesday, bucking an industry trend, on gains in circulation revenue and better-than-expected advertising.

The company, which also publishes the Boston Globe and the International Herald Tribune, earned $13.4 million in the three months ending Sept. 30, up 6.7 percent from $12.6 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings were flat at 9 cents.

Earnings from continuing operations, which exclude a group of TV stations that have since been sold, were 10 cents per share versus 6 cents per share a year ago. Total revenues rose 2 percent to $754.4 million from $739.6 million a year ago and ahead of the $733.6 million that analysts had been expecting.

The company’s shares jumped $1.81, or 9.8 percent, to close at $20.22 Tuesday.

Circulation revenue rose 3.9 percent in the quarter, following an increase in newsstand and home delivery prices in July. Advertising revenues were essentially flat, slipping 0.1 percent in the quarter – still a better performance than most other newspaper publishers, which have been reporting declines.

Web retailer Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday that its third-quarter profit more than quadrupled, and its shares topped $100 in regular trading, but the stock fell back toward $90 as concerns over margins overshadowed an otherwise strong quarter.

Earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 skyrocketed to $80 million, or 19 cents per share, from $19 million, or 5 cents per share, during the same period last year.

Revenue climbed 41 percent to $3.26 billion from $2.31 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Sales on the company’s U.S. and Canada sites rose 42 percent in the quarter compared with a year ago, and international sales improved 40 percent. The company said changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter boosted sales by $75 million, accounting for about 3 percent of the overall sales increase.

Books, music, DVDs and other media items contributed 64 percent to Amazon’s top line, but sales of electronics, toys, jewelry, clothes and other “soft goods” grew faster.

Catapulted by its acquisition of BellSouth Corp., AT&T Inc. on Tuesday reported net income of $3.1 billion in the third quarter, 42 percent higher than in the same period last year.

Revenue nearly doubled to $30.1 billion in July through September, from $15.6 billion a year earlier, including growth separate from the merger in its wireless business and its segment that caters to large business customers.

AT&T’s stock rose 85 cents, or 2.1 percent, to close at $42.02 Tuesday.

AT&T added 2 million wireless subscribers, the third highest increase in the company’s history, for a total of 65.7 million subscribers. The quarter began two days after the June 29 introduction of Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which operates exclusively on AT&T’s wireless network. About 1.4 million iPhones have been sold in the U.S., according to Apple.

Railroad operator Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. said Tuesday that its third-quarter profit rose 8 percent, beating Wall Street expectations, as price increases offset lighter freight shipments and higher fuel costs.

Chairman and chief executive Matthew K. Rose said the company was worried about the short-term prospect of a slowing economy, weak housing markets, sluggish consumer spending and high fuel prices.

But investors bid up shares of Burlington Northern, which rose $3.54, or 4.3 percent, to $86.54 in trading Tuesday.

The company said it earned $530 million, or $1.48 per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $489 million, or $1.33 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 3 percent to $4.07 billion, and slightly topped the $4.04 billion forecast by analysts.

Fort Worth-based Burlington Northern said freight volumes fell by 4.7 percent due to weakness in the housing market, which dinged shipments of furniture, and in consumer goods.