H&R Block reopens Option One talks, posts big loss
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H&R Block Inc  said on Thursday it is renegotiating the planned sale of its Option One Mortgage Corp subprime lending unit to Cerberus Capital Management LP, a move that casts doubt on the largest U.S. tax preparer's ability to complete the sale.
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(InfoWorld) - Market reaction to BEA Systems' stock options backdating inquiry this week provided a clue to investor psychology, while RealNetworks and Microsoft offered a look at the future of aspects of the software and services business. BEA announced Wednesday that an internal review found that most options granted for nine years, up until last June, were improperly recorded. The company expects to restate earnings, which will include putting previously unrecorded expenses of $340 million to $390 million on the books. CEO Alfred Chuang and other executives will repay gains from "mispriced options," BEA said, but added: "Following the review, the audit committee and the board of directors expressed their continued confidence in the leadership and integrity of Mr. Chuang and the current executive leadership team." BEA shares closed Thursday at $13.01, up $0.48 for the day. Brokerages Piper Jaffray and JMP Securities both raised their ratings on the company. Why the joy? It seems that company observers and IT investors like closure more than they dislike the idea of companies having to restate earnings. This has been a pattern in many of the stock options inquiries -- numbering well over 100 -- that have occurred. ThoughÂ government inquiries into Apple options practicesÂ are ongoing, company shares bounced up after an internal inquiry expressed confidence in CEO Steve Jobs. Though the spectacle of well-paid executives getting richer via improperly recorded options grants may strike some as unseemly, it seems the market as a whole wants to forgive and forget. Investors, however, were hard on RealNetworks after the company reported earnings Wednesday. The company, which offers music subscription services through Rhapsody, added 100,000 users in the last quarter and recordedÂ a revenueÂ gainÂ of more than 50 percent to $125.6 million. But guidance for the year fell short of expectations. Company shares plunged by $1.70 to close at $8.97 Thursday. The guidance for the year suggests that Real's growth will be impaired by a general preference over downloading songs via complete systems such as Apple's iTunes and Microsoft's Zune rather than subscribing continuously to a service. Meanwhile, Microsoft's shares closed at $29.46 Thursday, up by $0.06 ahead of its financial analysts meeting in New York, which began as the market closed. Though Microsoft shares have faltered recently, they started climbing steadily last June in the run-up to the Vista launch. Now, sales reports indicate that Vista is being snapped up faster than XP was. However, the financial meeting was scheduled to last only one hour, and Microsoft said ahead of time that it would not alter its earnings guidance for the year. Many analysts are saying that Microsoft won't see the full effect of Vista revenue until late in the year, or even next year. So despite a boost this week, company shares in the medium term may not rise as quickly as they did in the last two quarters of 2006.
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Stocks were set to open with heavy losses Thursday as investors fretted over a heavy loss by bond insurer MBIA Inc. and the prospect of new downgrades in the bond insurance industry.
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D. R. Horton posted a loss of $128.8 million, or 41 cents a share, for the first quarter ended Dec. 31, in contrast to a year-earlier profit of $109.7 million, or 35 cents a share.
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H&R Block Inc , the largest U.S. tax preparer, said on Thursday that its quarterly loss had more than doubled and that it had begun discussions with Cerberus Capital Management to modify the sale of its Option One Mortgage Corp. subprime mortgage unit.
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This is hyperfinance. In the space of five frenetic days, stock markets have plunged and recovered; the US Federal Reserve has cut interest rates to 3.5 per cent; so-called "monoline" insurers, revealed as a small but vital valve in the financial machinery, have wobbled; and one J&eacute;r&ocirc;me Kerviel has lost EU5bn for a venerable French bank.
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A heavy loss by the bond insurer MBIA and the prospect of new downgrades in the bond insurance industry sent Wall Street sharply lower in early trading.
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Stocks recovered from deep losses on Wednesday, amid talk that the Federal Reserve would act to cut the discount rate, the same day that Merrill Lynch rattled markets with its first loss in nearly six years.
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H&R Block Inc , the largest U.S. tax preparer, on Tuesday said it will eliminate 575 jobs at its Option One Mortgage Corp subprime lending unit, on top of 615 job losses announced on May 15.
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H&R Block Inc. , the nation's largest tax preparer, on Wednesday said its decision to write down the value of its Option One Mortgage unit, a subprime lender that is up for sale, increased the company's third-quarter net loss by $15.5 million.
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Stocks extended losses on Thursday, with the S&P 500 falling 1 percent, after data showing a worse-than-expected reduction in regional factory activity added to worries about the economy.
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H&R Block Inc.'s HRB.N financial  advisers unit misrepresented the risks of $16.4 million in  bonds from Enron Corp ENRNQ.PK before the energy trader sank  into bankruptcy, the NASD said in a civil fraud complaint  seeking restitution for more than 800 investors.
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Lower end of loss estimates upped to $4B; losses could reach $10B to make it 2nd most costly. By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer.
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H&R Block Inc. , the largest U.S. tax preparer, posted a fourth-quarter loss on Thursday, as the deterioration of the U.S. subprime market hurt the value of its mortgage business.
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Stocks extended losses after midday on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Dow industrials now down 1 percent with the Nasdaq, pressured by financial stocks after an analyst warned of larger write-offs in the sector and by an assassination in Pakistan.
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Stocks suffered their biggest loss since July after the government said labor costs climbed, reviving concern about rising interest rates.
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Plus, trying to topple eBay, and H&R Block files one away.