(By Mayur Pahilajani - iStockAnalyst Writer)
New York, NY - Earnings were mixed with Exxon posting highest profit in the company's history to Motorola reporting lower earnings on declining sales.
1. AmerisourceBergen Corp (NYSE: ABC):
The pharmaceutical services company posted higher earnings 2008 fiscal fourth quarter and year end on Thursday. The profit jumped by 18 percent to $115 million, or 73 cents a share, compared to $88 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier in the same period. The Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania-based company reported that its revenue was $16.66 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to $15.20 billion last year in the same period. The market analysts on Wall Street were expecting the firm to post earnings of 71 cents per share with sales of $17.46 billion in the year end quarter. But Citi Investment Research analyst Charles Boorady cut his profit estimate and price target on the company to $32 from $46 on Wednesday. "In a pharmaceutical market where growth was soft by historical standards, our strong performance was based on: above-market revenue growth, an excellent contribution from our PRxO Generics program, a diverse customer mix, and outstanding expense management," R. David Yost, AmerisourceBergen's President and Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement on Thursday. He added, "We expect diluted earnings per share for fiscal year 2009 to be in a range of $3.08 to $3.25, which represents an increase of 7 percent to 12 percent over the $2.89 from continuing operations in fiscal 2008." The company said it repurchased shares of $680 million, and expect to spend approximately $350 million to repurchase our common shares in fiscal 2009. Shares of the firm were down by $2.22 or 7.04 percent at $29.31.
2. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM):
The world's biggest energy company posts largest U.S. quarterly profit ever on Thursday. The company reported in its third-quarter results that its net income jumped by as much as 58 percent to a record level of $14.8 billion, or $2.86 a share, compared to net income of $9.4 billion, or $1.70 a share, reported in the year ago period. The firm said that excluding special items, earnings at the Irving, Texas oil producing and refining giant surged by 42 percent to $13.38 billion, or $2.59 a share, compared to $9.4 billion, or $1.70 a share. The company's third quarter revenue surged by 35 percent to $137.7 billion despite a drop in its production of crude by 8.2 percent or 3.6 million barrels of oil a day. Exxon reaffirmed its target for 2008 capital and exploration spending of $25 billion. The market analysts on Wall Street were projecting the company's earnings to be at $2.38 a share in the third quarter on revenue of $131.4 billion. The company's Board announced Wednesday a cash dividend of 40 cents per share, payable on December 10, 2008, to shareholders of record at the close of business on November 12, 2008. The company said the fourth quarter dividend is at the same level as the dividend paid in the third quarter of 2008. Exxon Mobil shares increased by 85 cents to $75.50 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time in pre-market trading on Thursday. The stock has mostly "Buy" rating by the Wall Street analysts.
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