BlackRock Reports Q1 Earnings

BlackRock, Inc. reported first quarter earnings per share of $3.16 beating the estimates of coverage analysts by $0.12. Assets under management grew by 5% from the previous quarter, to $3.684 Trillion. Revenue was in line with estimates, down 1% from a year earlier. BlackRock saw strong inflows in the areas of iShares – Exchange Traded Products, multi-asset class and alternatives. As asset classes gain momentum BlackRock remains well positioned to take advantage of asset inflows.

During the quarterly conference call, BlackRock noted that investors recognize the large amount of uncertainty in the investment environment that lies ahead.  Upcoming elections in the U.S. and France as well as sovereign debt issues in Europe are just a few examples.  As these tensions ease investors will move back into long-term investments with renewed confidence. During the first quarter BlackRock began a large marketing campaign with the goal of building the brand and the sediment that investors should look at investing on a longer time line.

Our expectations are that BlackRock will continue to build innovative financial products and create asset inflows. With a strong brand image in place we are confident BlackRock has all of the necessary mechanisms in place to have a strong second quarter.

-George Hoffmann

HON doing Well in 1Q12

Honeywell (+1.39,2.40%) reported strong first quarter earnings 4/20/11. The key highlights include an increase of 7% in sales to $9.3 billion, and an increase in Earnings of 18% to $1.04 per share. The company had recently forecasted earnings of 96-88 cents per share last month. HON attributes this growth to its Commercial Aerospace segment and its Specialty Materials segment (UOP sales). The specific catalysts for growth include absorbents used in refining oil, strong demand in both the refining and petrochemicals segments.

Honeywell Chairman and CEO Dave Cote reports, “We've seen good momentum in the U.S. and our key high growth regions, which is more than offsetting softness in Europe impacting our short-cycle businesses. Our long-cycle businesses, namely commercial aerospace and UOP, had particularly strong growth, overdriving expectations in the quarter.”  Although, the company is not confident on growth prospects in Europe, they feel that they have properly planned for it. In fact HON reports a 1% decline in overall Turbocharger engines, which is mostly driven by Europe sales. However, there has been a 10% decline in overall European Sales.

These results have enabled Honeywell to raise 2012FY earnings from continuing operations to $4.35-4.55 per share, from $4.25 to 4.50.

-Jim

Verizon Quarter 1

Verizon beats expectations, shares rise.

Verizon released earnings Thursday morning before the bell with EPS of 59 cents per share, beating consensus expectations by a penny. They had 4.6% year over year quarterly revenue growth, driven primarily from their wireless segment. The wireless segment had 7.7% year over year growth in service revenues; 8.9% year over year increase in retail service revenues, the highest growth rate in three years; and also saw data revenues up 21.1%. Operating margins were up to 28.6% due to a decrease in iPhone sales. They also saw increases of 501,000 net postpaid customer additions, which are the more lucrative customers for Verizon. Of postpaid subscribers, nearly 47% own smartphones, up from 43.5% last quarter. Verizon’s 4G LTE network continued expansion now reaching more than 200 million people in 230 markets, and also introduced five new 4G LTE devices.

Verizon’s Residential segment also saw growth as demand for their FIOS services led revenue growth. Consumer revenues grew 1.7%, and Global enterprise revenues grew .9%. Their strategic services which consist of cloud services, security and IT solutions, and strategic networking, grew 11.6% and represented 51% of global enterprise revenues.

Verizon continues to show growth potential with its 4G LTE network and its FIOS services, which should drive earnings and share price in the future. As iPhone sales drop they will see increased margins due to lower subsidized costs. Verizon is still the number one cell phone provider in the United States and that likely will not change in the near future. Verizon is up 52 cents (1.38%) heading into the close of trading.

-Ryan Ranado

Qualcomm Q2

Qualcomm beats earnings, but shares fall as Q3 guidance falls short.
Qualcomm projected third quarter estimates that fell below analyst expectations which subsequently led to a drop of 7% in share price after hours, despite beating expectations for the second quarter.

Second quarter revenues were $4.94 billion, up 28% year over year, and EPS came in at $1.01 per share, beating consensus EPS of $0.95 per share. Net Income of $2.23 billion was up 123% year over year. Qualcomm saw continued growth in their 3G and 4G smartphone chips, which saw Europe launch its first 4G smartphones this quarter and Verizon in the United States committed to vastly expand its 4G lineup.

Third quarter guidance for EPS is 61 cents per share which is low in comparison with analyst consensus of 77 cents per share. This is in large part due to a drop in revenue to $3.62 billion compared with consensus of $4.81 billion. This drop in revenue is attributed to the seasonality of demand for Qualcomm as well as an increase of supply has pushed manufacturing revenue for some orders into the fourth quarter.

Qualcomm has also increased FY EPS to a range of $3.41 to $3.56 per share from a prior range of $3.36 to $3.56. This change in guidance is due largely to higher estimated selling costs of their 3G and 4G chips.

Shares fell to as low as $62 but have since retraced to $65 in after market trading. Despite poor reactions due to third quarter guidance Qualcomm continues to be a top tier stock and should continue to outperform the market due to remaining a key player in the Smartphone industry.

-Ryan Ranado

MCD Feb Sales Update

On Thursday March 8^th, 2012, McDonalds released their 8-K which rereleased February’s sales. Global same-store-sales missed analyst expectations by about 20-80 basis points and would have been even lower without the extra day added by the leap year. Cold temperatures hurt sales in Europe and Russia, which weighed down global sales. Same-store-sales in the company’s Asia Pacific/Middle East/Africa operations missed expectations by the largest margin (5.6% gap). Performance in the U.S. diluted most of these shortcomings, which were driven by sales of Chicken McBites, breakfast menu items, and Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. These sales do not fit in with the double-digit growth that McDonalds has consistently achieved as of late. McDonalds shares were down 3.3% in afternoon trading to about $97.

Joe Esposito

CBI 2011 Earnings Report

Chicago Bridge & Iron (Ticker:CBI) posted its 4Q11 and YE earnings on February 23, at 5:00 P.M. beating the general outlook of the street.  The company reported $70.5 million in Earnings, an 11.55% increase from the year prior, while EPS rose from 63 cents per share to 70 cents per share. This figure beat analyst’s projections by 2.94%. For the year of 2011, the company was able to report $255 million in Net Income, totally $2.55 per share.  In respects to revenue, the company posted 1.26 billion dollars for 4Q11, relatively on par with the $1.25 billion that 17 analysts across Wall Street expected. This figure represents a 61.9% Y/Y increase.

                Chicago Bridge & Iron was able to generate New Awards of $6.8 billion throughout the year. This number includes a major deal for the Gorgan project in Australia, which totaled $2.3 billion of the total awards earned. The company also announced an interim dividend of $.05/share, resulting in a dividend yield for the year of .43%. The company will continue to strategically buy back shares to create value for shareholders through capital gains. The market has reacted positively to the earnings report with shares up 1.62% on the day, closing at a new 52-week high of $47/share.

-Matt Buechele

Marvel Q4 2012 Earnings

Marvel reported 4th quarter revenue of $742.7 million which was below estimates of $752 million. For 2012 revenue was down 6%. On the conference call management blamed 4% of the decrease in revenues on the floods in Thailand. Marvel bought back 13.5 million shares for the quarter costing approximately $186 million. Although it was a tough year for Marvel, the company has positioned itself to deliver steady improvements in the future. China is expected to continue to grow and the integration with new products such as Google TV are expected to contribute significantly to future revenue streams.