QUOTE OF THE DAY "I think this is all about a group of people who actually just want to punish packers." Jay Truitt, vice president for government affairs for the National Cattlemen's Association Article, 1D
3rd-quarter profit up 102% for Baldor
Baldor Electric Co. reported late Thursday it had triple-digit increases in profit and revenue for a strong third-quarter performance, nine months after the $1.8 billion acquisition of Rockwell Automation's Dodge and Reliance Electric brands doubled the size of the company.
Fort Smith-based Baldor, which makes electric motors and power transmission products, reported a 102 percent jump in profit at $24.65 million, or 53 cents per share, compared to $12.18 million, or 37 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, 2006.
It missed the average earnings estimate of 54 cents from six analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Baldor reported $480.6 million in revenue, a 126 percent increase, compared to $212.91 million a year ago.
In a news release, Baldor officials reported flat sales in August, and said the coming quarter sales were expected to remain low because of the Christmas season.
Baldor shares fell 75 cents, or 1.82 percent, to $40.46 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, prior to release of the earnings.
Net income plunges for truckload carrier
P.A.M. Transportation Services Inc. reported zero earnings per share after the markets closed Thursday as the Tontitown-based carrier blamed its weak, third-quarter performance on seasonal shutdowns in the automobile manufacturing industry and sluggishness in the freight-moving industry.
The carrier with a niche in moving auto-related products reported profit of $36,178, compared to $3.27 million, or 32 cents per share, in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, 2006.
P.A.M. widely missed the average earnings estimate of 16 cents per share from two analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Revenue, including fuel surcharges, inched up 1 percent to $101.17 million compared to $99.87 million a year ago.
P.A.M. shares fell 66 cents to $17.58 Thursday on the Nasdaq. Its shares have traded as high as $26.68 and as low as $16.98 over the last year.
Video games propel Microsoft profits
SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its fiscal firstquarter profit rose 23 percent as brisk sales of the new Halo 3 video game, Windows and Office helped the software maker breeze past Wall Street's expectations. Investors sent shares up from $31.99 to $35.37, more than 10 percent, in after-hours electronic trading.
For the quarter that ended Sept. 30, the software maker's profit climbed to $4.29 billion, or 45 cents per share, from $3.48 billion, or 35 cents per share, during the same period last year. Analysts, on average, had forecast a profit of 39 cents per share, according to a Thomson Financial poll.
Revenue grew 27 percent to $13.76 billion from $10.81 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were looking for $12.57 billion in sales.
The business unit responsible for the Windows Vista operating system contributed $4.14 billion in revenue, 25 percent more than a year ago. Sales from the unit that makes the Office 2007 software suite rose 20 percent to $4.11 billion. Sales of the Halo video game and the Xbox 360 consoles it is played on pushed the company's entertainment and devices division revenue to $1.93 billion, nearly twice last year's quarterly sales.
The division responsible for online advertising posted a loss of $264 million.
Microsoft increased its guidance for the fiscal year, saying it expected to earn $1.78 to $1.81 per share on revenue of $58.8 billion to $59.7 billion. Earlier, the company predicted it would earn $1.69 to $1.73 per share on $56.8 billion to $57.8 billion in sales.
Shares of Microsoft gained 74 cents, or 2.4 percent, in regular trading Thursday to close at $31.99.
Shell profit rises on oil, investment gains
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's biggest oil company, reported a 16 percent increase in profit, beating analysts' estimates for a seventh quarter on rising crude prices and gains on investments.
Net income rose to $6.92 billion, or $1.10 a share, in the third quarter from $5.94 billion, or 93 cents, a year earlier, The Hague-based company said Thursday. Excluding one-time items and changes in inventories, profit was $6.13 billion, higher than the $5.58 billion median estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Revenue rose 8 percent to $90.7 billion from $84.3 billion, Shell said. The company's A shares in London increased 0.5 percent Thursday.
Crude prices in New York were an average 6.4 percent higher in the third quarter than a year earlier and reached a record $90.07 a barrel Oct. 19.
Potlatch sales thrive in third quarter
Potlatch Corp., a U.S. real estate investment trust and forestproducts producer, said third-quarter profit rose 60 percent on increased log and land sales. Net income rose to $41 million, or $1.04 a share, from $25.7 million, or 66 cents, a year earlier, Spokane, Wash.-based Potlatch said Thursday. Four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expected 77 cents on average.
Potlatch shares rose $1.47 to $45.08 in New York Stock Exchange trading. The gain was the biggest since Sept. 21. The shares have risen 2.9 percent this year.
In Arkansas, Potlatch owns mills in Prescott, Warren and Cypress Bend, and owns 470,000 acres of timberland.
Business, Pages 36 on 10/26/2007