(Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch)
NEW YORK - Wells Fargo & Co. reported a $2.6 billion third-
quarter profit yesterday as the company's retail banking operations,
including the businesses it acquired with the purchase of Wachovia
Corp., offset rising loan losses. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo
joined other big banks in reporting continuing heavy losses from
failed loans as a growing number of consumers were unable to pay
their bills. The bank said credit losses climbed to $5.1 billion, or
2.5 percent of its loan portfolio. That is up from $2 billion a year
ago and $4.4 billion in the second quarter.
The nation's fourth-largest bank reported a third-quarter profit
of $2.64 billion, or 56 cents per share, after paying preferred
dividends. That compares with earnings of $1.64 billion, or 49 cents
per share, a year ago.
Dow industrials firm: Boeing
Boeing's ambitions seem to have outflown its abilities, as the
company's plans to reinvent the way jetliners are built keep
faltering, forcing it to post a big loss in the third quarter
yesterday.
The airplane-maker has struggled to get its 787 passenger plane
and a revamped version of the 747 jumbo jet off the ground.
During the quarter, Boeing's sales edged up 9 percent, but
charges of more than $3.6 billion for the 787 and 747-8 programs
resulted in a loss of $2.23 per share. It was a disappointing shift
from a year earlier when the company earned $695 million, or 96
cents per share.
The charges also led Boeing to cut its 2009 profit forecast to
$1.35 to $1.55 per share from $4.70 to $5 per share.
Major Va. employer: Northrop Grumman
WASHINGTON - Northrop Grumman Corp. said yesterday that earnings
for the third quarter were hurt by higher pension costs, but solid
revenue and a tax break pushed results well past analyst estimates.
Northrop Grumman now predicts 2009 earnings per share of $5 to
$5.15 - surpassing Wall Street's current forecast of $4.85 per
share.
Northrop Grumman has been repositioning itself in recent years to
expand its electronics, information and intelligence businesses,
keeping in line with the Pentagon's buying strategy. It owns the
sprawling shipyard in Newport News that is the only U.S. maker of
nuclear aircraft carriers and provides information-technology
services to Virginia under a controversial 10-year, $2.3 billion
contract with the state.
In the third quarter, Northrop Grumman's income fell about 4
percent to $490 million, or $1.53 per share, from $512 million, or
$1.51 per share, in the same period last year.
MEMO: EARNINGS
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