U.S. Movers: AT&T, Caterpillar, Carbo Ceramics, Netflix, SanDisk

Devan Biswas
26 Jan, 2012
New York City

Netflix soared after it stemmed subscriber loss and will delay more expansion. SanDisk Corp dropped 10% after it estimated lower than expected sales in the current year. Arctic Cat gained on stronger sales. AT&T swung to a loss on one-time charge linked to its failed T-Mobile USA takeover bid.

[R]1:25 PM New York – Netflix soared after it reported it stemmed subscriber loss and will delay more expansion. SanDisk Corp dropped 10% after it estimated lower than expected sales in the current year. Arctic Cat surged on higher than expected sales. AT&T swung to a quarterly loss on one-time charge linked to its failed T-Mobile USA takeover bid.[/R]

1-800-Flowers.com Inc ((FLWS)) soared 8.5% to $2.97 after the online flower sales vendor reported fiscal second quarter revenues and earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations.

Sales in the quarter increased 4.8% to $239.8 million and earnings rose to $16.6 million from $13.5 million and earnings per share rose to 26 cents from 20 cents.

Arctic Cat Inc ((ACAT)) soared $4.68 or 19.7% to $28.49 after the snowmobile maker reported third quarter operating profit increased 114% to $26.2 million from $12.2 million a year ago quarter. Net earnings increased to $17 million or 92 cents a share on sales increase of 36% to $207 million.

Earnings in the quarter year ago were $9.3 million or 50 cents a share and sales were $152 million.

The company revised higher its fiscal year 2012 sales outlook to a growth between 22% and 24% and earnings per share increase between $1.60 and $1.70.

AT&T Inc. ((T)) 67 cents to $29.54 after the telecom services provider reported fourth quarter total operating revenues rose 3.6% to $32.50 billion from $31.36 billion last year. Net loss in the quarter was $6.68 billion or $1.12 a share compared to net income of $1.09 billion or 18 cents a share in the year-ago period.

The company added a net 2.5 million wireless subscribers in the quarter, taking the total to 103.2 million subscribers in service, and also sold 9.4 million smartphones in the quarter.

For 2011 as a whole, revenues rose 2% to $126.72 billion from $124.28 billion in the previous year. Net income for the year slumped 80% to $3.94 billion or 66 cents per share from $19.86 billion or $3.35 per share in the prior year.

CARBO Ceramics Inc ((CRR)) plunged 18% to $107.72 after the maker of ceramic granules used in oil drilling reported fourth quarter revenues increased 32% to $158.1 million and net income gained 59% to $12.3 million. Earnings per share increased to $1.43.

For the year, diluted earnings per share increased to $5.62 compared to $3.40 in 2010. Proppant volumes increased 19% from a year ago to 1.6 billion pounds. The company also increased quarterly dividend to 20 cents a share.

Caterpillar Inc ((CAT)) increased $2.87 to $111.92 after the earth moving and mining equipment maker reported fourth quarter sales increased 35% to $17.24 billion and net income per share increased 58% to $2.32 from $1.47. For the year, sales increased 41% to record $60.2 billion and net income surged 83% to $4.9 billion from $2.7 billion and earnings per share soared 78% to $7.40 from $4.15.

For the year 2012, the company estimated sales between $68 billion and $72 billion and earnings per share near $9.25 that includes full impact of two acquisitions of Bucyrus and MWM.

Colgate-Palmolive Company ((CL)) increased $1.30 to $90.74 after the consumer products maker said fourth quarter net sales rose 5% to $4.17 billion from $3.98 billion in the fourth quarter 2010. Net income in the quarter declined 5.4% to $590 million or $1.21 per diluted share compared to net income of $624 million or $1.24 per share last year.

For the year as a whole, net income rose to $2.43 billion or $4.94 a share from $2.20 billion or $4.31 a share. Sales climbed to $16.73 billion from $15.56 billion.

Monster Worldwide, Inc ((MWW)) declined 19.9% to $7.19 after the online jobs registration site operator reported weaker than expected results and announced staff cut of 7%. The company also estimated first quarter net to net exceed 4 cents a share.

3M Company ((MMM)) added $1.07 to $87.55 after the diversified technology company reported fourth quarter net sales rose 5.7% to $7.09 billion from $6.71 billion generated in the prior-year quarter. Net income in the quarter increased 2.8% to $954 million or $1.35 a share compared to net income of $928 million or $1.28 a share in the same quarter last year.

For the full year 2011, the company sales rose 11.1% to $29.6 billion up from $26.7 billion. Net income for the period gained 4.8% to $4.23 billion or $5.96 per diluted share from $4.1 billion or $5.63 per share in the prior year.

Netflix, Inc ((NFLX)) soared 21.8% or $20.69 after the online streaming and video rental company said fourth quarter earnings declined 14% and said cost of expansion hurt the earnings. However, subscriber rates were solid across the company and company said it will delay additional expansion.

SanDisk Corp ((SNDK)) dropped 9.9% to $47.15 after the computer memory modules maker reported a slight increase in core earnings but declined 42% from a year ago after one-time tax benefit boosted earnings in the quarter a year ago. The company’s sales forecast also fell short of analysts’ expectations.

Revenues increased to $1.57 billion from $1.33 billion a year ago quarter and net income declined to $281 million from $485 million a year ago. Earnings per share fell to $1.16 from $2.06.

For the year, the sales rose to $.53 billion from $4.46 billion and earnings declined to $0.98 billion or $4.12 a share from $1.3 billion or $5.59 a share.