HM sees profits soar 30 percent but disappoints market
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Swedish cheap&#39;n chic fashion chain HM announced Wednesday a 31-percent rise in second-quarter net profit to 3.46 billion kronor (368.2 million euros, 500 million dollars) as the group pursues its worldwide expansion.
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Apple sees profits surge 57% in the three months to December, but profit forecast disappoints.
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Qualcomm Inc.&#39;s earnings rose 35 percent on continued sales growth in its fiscal fourth quarter, but the cell-phone technology company projected earnings for the new fiscal year below Wall Street&#39;s views.
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HBOS, the fourth-biggest British bank, posted solid 2006 profits on Wednesday but its fell sharply as investors focused on a disappointing outlook and a wider stock market sell-off.
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3M Co. MMM.N and American Standard  Cos. Inc. ASD.N cast a shadow of disappointment on Monday as  the busiest week yet of the corporate earnings period got under  way, and analysts cautioned not to expect the profit picture to  brighten soon.
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Profits got a boost despite sluggish sales from the challenging environment.
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Eli Lilly and Co. on Thursday reaffirmed it expects its 2006 earnings to rise 8 percent to 12 percent, but projected disappointing profit growth for 2007 even though its revenues will grow at a faster pace next year.
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Profits at music retailer HMV more than halve as it battles against competition from supermarkets and online retailers.
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Hotels and gaming company Hilton today reported a 72% rise in profits, powered by sales from its betting division, Ladbrokes. However, the company maintained a cautious outlook, saying it did not anticipate
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Global mining giant Anglo American on Wednesday said its 2007 net profit jumped 18 percent to 7.30 billion dollars (4.96 billion euros), boosted by high output and soaring metals prices.
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Investors may have overreacted to the retailer's upbeat December same-store sales.
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The company's latest earnings met analysts' estimates but uncertainty still lingers.
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Eli Lilly and Co. on Thursday  reaffirmed it expects its 2006 earnings to rise 8 percent to 12  percent, but projected disappointing profit growth for 2007  even though its revenues will grow at a faster pace next year.
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3M Co.  and American Standard Cos. Inc.  cast a shadow of disappointment on Monday as the busiest week yet of the corporate earnings period got under way, and analysts cautioned not to expect the profit picture to brighten soon.
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Sales rise, but earnings and margins are on the fritz.
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Though the macroeconomic picture remains cloudy, major IT vendors, such as Apple, Microsoft, and EMC, for the most part reported solid third-quarter earnings this week, giving technology investors hope for the rest of the year.Thursday was a busy day on Wall Street with Microsoft, EMC, and Motorola reporting.After the market closed,&#160;Microsoft reported a 23 percent quarterly jump in net income, which hit $4.29 billion as demand for Windows and Office software remained strong. Revenue was $13.76 billion, a 27 increase from one year earlier. The company said it was the fastest revenue growth spurt for their first fiscal quarter since 1999, around the height of the dot-com boom. That should help reassure some investors that despite concerns about the U.S. economy, at least certain areas of the IT sector are still managing to show strong growth.In after-hours trading right after the announcement, Microsoft shares rose by $1.98 to $33.98.EMC&#39;s profit jumped&#160;as the data-storage company made gains on the sale of part of its stake in virtualization software maker VMware. EMC reported that net income was $492.9 million, compared with a profit of $283.7 million last year. Revenue jumped to $3.3 billion from $2.8 billion a year earlier. Though much of the gains were from&#160;a one-time sale of part of VMware to Cisco, other parts of the business did well: Software rose 25 percent, storage business sales rose 9 percent, and service grew 25 percent. EMC shares rose $1.92 on the news, to close at $24.45.Motorola, meanwhile, reported an abrupt drop, of 94 percent, in quarterly profit, as it searched to find a follow-up to its Razr mobile phone. Net income was $60 million, while revenue fell 17 percent to $8.81 billion. Nevertheless investors apparently were heartened that the company saw small boosts in the average selling price for mobile devices -- something that even mighty Nokia did not experience last quarter.Motorola forecast earnings from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of $0.12 to $0.14 a share, while analysts had expected earnings of $0.10. So even though profit was way down, company shares managed to jump $0.75 to $19.30 Thursday.Apple kicked off the week on a high note, on Monday reporting solid earnings that were fueled by record Mac sales and shipments of 1.12 million iPhones. The company handily beat analyst estimates with income of $904 million, 67 percent higher than a year earlier. Earnings per share were $1.01. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had forecast $760.45 million in net income and earnings of $0.84 per share. Apple jumped $11.80 to close at $186.16 the day after its earnings report. Even though Apple shares have been trading at all-time highs, the common wisdom on Wall Street is that things will get even better.Brokerages like Goldman Sachs and UBS reiterated &quot;buy&quot; ratings and Citi Investment Research headlined its report: &quot;The Best Is Yet To Come.&quot; With the new Mac OS, Leopard, going to market on Friday, sales are expected to do well through the holiday season.Still, concerns about the U.S. economy linger. With the price of oil skyrocketing and the housing-market crisis making headlines, investors remain worried that economic concerns will weigh on IT sales. But earnings from the major IT bellwethers over the last few weeks are showing that technology is proving to be resilient, so far.
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UK company profits outside the  financial sector continue their stand at close to record level, figures show.