Houston, Texas based Oil and gas corporation Apache Corp. (NYSE: APA) announced early on Thursday that its third-quarter net income rose 94% to $1.2 billion or $3.52 a share, from $612 million or $1.83 a share in in the same quarter in 2007. Analysts on an average expected earnings of $3.68 a share. Third-quarter production declined 9% from the year ago period and 7% from the previous quarter due to shutdowns during hurricane and gas explosion. President and chief executive officer G. Steven Farris said in a statement "We faced several challenges on the production side during the third quarter; we also had strong earnings, continued progress on our pipeline of development projects, and drilling success in several areas." He added "Apache continues to show operational progress, in spite of the recent turmoil in the commodity and equity markets and the global economic slowdown," Farris said. Shares of Apache Corp. rose 1.9% in morning trade.

New York based media conglomerate CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) reported a third quarter loss of $12.46 billion or $18.58 per share compared to profit $343.3 million, or 48 cents a share in the same quarter in 2007. Adjusted earnings per share amounted to 43 cents, down from 50 cents in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 3% to $3.4 billion. Analysts on an average were looking for profit of 41 cents on $3.38 billion of revenue. Chief Executive Les Moonves said Thursday that ad sales during the current television season, known as the "scatter" market, are "obviously not booming as in years past." Shares of CBS jumped over 8% in morning session.

Consumer products major Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) announced that its net income in third quarter rose 22% to $499.9 million, or 94 cents a share, from $420.1 million, or 77 cents, a year ago. Adjusted earnings in the period were 99 cents a share. Analyst had forecast earnings per share of 97 cents on sales of $3.99 billion. Revenue climbed to $4 billion from $3.53 billion. Price increases, taken to offset rising commodity costs, accounted for 6.5% of the increase. The company said it gained share in the international markets for toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouth rinse, bar soaps and shampoo.