Yahoo Slides 19% on Revenue Outlook

Elena
19 Jul, 2006
New York City

U.S. stocks advanced at opening on signs of cooling economy and strong earnings from IBM. The Labor Department said the CPI rose by just 0.2% in June, the smallest increase in four months, but core inflation, excluding energy and food, rose by 0.3%, higher than the 0.2% expected. Signs of slowing housing market were received from a report which said that construction of new homes fell by 5.3% in June. IBM rose 3% on strong quarterly earnings, while Yahoo dropped 19% on revenue outlook.

[R]9:45AM Stocks opened higher on strong earnings.[/R]
U.S. stocks advanced at opening on signs of cooling economy and stronger-than-expected earnings from International Business Machines Corp. and JPMorgan & Chase. However, a disappointing revenue outlook by Yahoo Inc. limited gains on the Nasdaq.

The Labor Department said the CPI rose by just 0.2% in June, the smallest increase in four months, but core inflation, excluding energy and food, rose by 0.3%, higher than the 0.2% expected. Signs of slowing housing market were received from the Commerce Department report which said that construction of new homes fell by 5.3% in June.

Shares of J.P. Morgan ((JPM)) climbed 3.3% after the No. 3 U.S. bank said its Q2 profit tripled. Dow component International Business Machines Corp. ((IBM)) rose 2.8% after reporting a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit. Shares of Internet media company Yahoo ((YHOO)) dropped 19% to $26.08 after it gave a 2006 revenue outlook below forecasts. In the first hour of trading, the Dow rose 54.59, up 0.51%. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.71, up 0.38%, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 0.87, or 0.04%.

[R]Housing starts and building permits declined.[/R]
The Commerce Department released its report on housing starts in the month of June on Wednesday, showing that housing starts fell more than economists had expected. The report also showed a notable decline in building permits. The report said that housing starts fell 5.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.850 million units from a revised 1.953 million unit rate in May. Economists had expected starts to fall to a 1.890 million unit rate from the 1.957 million unit rate originally reported for May. The decrease in housing starts reflected double-digit percentage declines in housing starts in the Northeast and the West. Housing starts in the South showed a more modest decrease while housing starts in the Midwest increased modestly. Single-family housing starts fell 6.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.486 million units in June from a 1.590 million unit rate in May, while the rate for buildings with five units or more fell 4.1 percent to 306,000 units. The Commerce Department also said that building permits fell 4.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.862 million units in June from a 1.946 million unit rate in May. Building permits are seen as an indicator of demand. Decreases in building permits were seen in the Midwest, South, and West, while building permits in the Northeast rose by 6.1 percent.

[R]Consumer prices index rose 0.2% in June.[/R]
Wednesday morning, the Labor Department released its report on consumer prices in the month of June, showing that price growth came in line with economist estimates. At the same time, core prices rose a little more than expected. The report showed that the consumer price index rose 0.2 percent in June following a 0.4 percent increase in May. The increase came in line with economist estimates of an increase of about 0.2 percent. A decrease in energy prices helped to limit the upside for the index, with energy prices falling 0.9 percent in June after showing significant increases in the three previous months. The decrease came as the index for petroleum based energy fell 0.9 percent while the index for energy services fell 1.1 percent. Meanwhile, food prices rose 0.3 percent in June after edging up 0.1 percent in May. Prices for both medical care and education and communication also increased by 0.3 percent. The Labor Department also said that core prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose 0.3 percent in June, matching the increase seen in the three previous months. Economists had expected a more modest increase of about 0.2 percent.


[R]9:00AM Stock futures pointed to a mixed opening ahead of data.[/R]
U.S. stock futures pointed to a mixed opening Wednesday, with investors awaiting inflation data and congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Market also awaited another batch of earnings news from major companies, including Motorola Inc. ((MOT)). After Tuesday''s close, Yahoo Inc. ((YHOO)) gave a 2006 revenue outlook below forecasts, sending its shares 15% before the opening bell. In contrast, International Business Machines Corp. ((IBM)) reported stronger-than-expected quarterly profit. Shares of IBM, the world''s largest computer services company, rose 3.1% to $76 in after-hours trading. Standard & Poor''s 500 futures were up 0.40 point, slightly above fair value. Dow Jones industrial average futures were flat, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 4.75 points.

Piper Jaffray Companies ((PJC)) posted second-quarter earnings of $4.1 million, or 21 cents a share, up from $1.2 million, or 6 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding one-time restructuring and transaction-related expenses, earnings for the latest quarter would have come in at 75 cents a share. Revenue rose to $114.4 million vs. $102.1 million last year on increasing investment banking and interest revenue, which compensated the drop in the company’s institutional brokerage revenue.

Abbott’s ((ABT)) second-quarter net earnings dropped to $612.2 million or 40 cents a share, from $877.1 million, or 56 cents a share a year earlier. Excluding items the company posted a profit of 62 cents a share vs. 58 cents a share last year. Excluding items and incremental stock compensation costs, Abbott recorded earnings of 65 cents a share. Net sales in the latest quarter slipped to $5.5 billion from $5.52 billion a year ago.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. ((JPM)) posted second-quarter earnings of $3.54 billion, or 99 cents a share vs. $994 million, or 28 cents a share a year ago. The most recent quarterly results include private equity gains of $340 million, material litigation insurance recoveries of $161 million, a gain of $64 million on the sale of MasterCard shares in that firm''s IPO, $53 million in merger-related expenses, and a loss of $305 million tied to the repositioning of the company’s treasury portfolio. The numbers reported last year included litigation reserve costs of $1.2 billion, or 33 cents a share. Revenue in Q2 climbed to $15.72 billion from $13.71 billion a year earlier.

Yahoo Inc. ((YHOO)) reported sharply lower second-quarter profit from a year earlier hurt by surging expenses for employee stock options and other costs. In the year-ago period the company recorded a one-time investment gain. Sales in the latest quarter rose as more businesses advertised on the company’s Internet pages. Net income for the quarter dropped to $164.3 million or 11 cents a share from $754.7 million or 51 cents last year, when option costs were not included in the company’s results. Excluding stock option costs and one-time gains and expenses, adjusted net income advanced to $237 million, or 16 cents a share, from $209 million, or 14 cents a year earlier. Sales for the quarter jumped 26% from last year and excluding the payments to other sites sales grew 28% to $1.12 billion.

International Business Machines Corp. ((IBM)) said that its second-quarter profit from continuing operations rose to $2 billion, or $1.30 a share from $1.85 billion, or $1.12 a share a year earlier. Revenue declined to $21.9 billion from $22.3 billion last year.

CSX Corp. ((CSX)) reported a second-quarter profit of $390 million, or $1.66 a share compared with $165 million or 73 cents a share last year. Excluding one-time items tied to insurance recoveries from Hurricane Katrina and tax benefits, the railroad company would have posted earnings of $1.16 vs. 96 cents a year ago. Surface transportation revenue advanced 12% from a year earlier to $2.4 billion. CSX also announced a two-for-one stock split.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. ((CHKP)) reported 16% lower second-quarter profit due to options related costs, while revenue dropped 3.9% from a year ago. The network-security software company’s profit decreased to $65.7 million, or 27 cents a share, from $78 million, or 32 cents a share last year. Excluding expenses tied to options and acquisitions, the quarterly profit would have been $76 million vs. $79.8 million last year and on a per-share basis the profit excluding these items would have remained unchanged from a year earlier at 32 cents a share. Revenue dropped to $138.9 million from $144.6 million last year.

Valmont Industries Inc. ((VMI)), fabricated metal products maker, reported 66% higher earnings in the most recent quarter at $17.3 million, or 67 cents vs. $10.4 million, or 42 cents a year ago. Revenue climbed 28% from last year to $338.8 million helped by solid performance from international businesses and higher utility product sales. The company sees its fiscal 2006 revenue to increase between 12% and 15%.


[R]8:00AM Oil prices rebounded ahead of U.S. inventory data.[/R]
Following Tuesday’s sell-off, crude oil prices rose Wednesday amid expectations that U.S. inventory data would show a decline in domestic gasoline stocks on strong demand for motor fuel during the summer driving season. According to a Dow Jones survey, U.S. gasoline stocks will fall by an average of 1.1 million barrels in the week ended July 14, extending the previous week''s decline. Crude stocks are expected to be flat, while distillate stocks, including heating oil and diesel fuel, were tipped to rise 1.3 million barrels. The continuing violent conflict between Israel and militants in Lebanon still weighed on the market.

Light, sweet crude for August delivery gained 38 cents to $73.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of mid-afternoon in Singapore. Gasoline futures rose 1.75 cents to $2.2845 a gallon. September Brent crude futures on London''s ICE Futures exchange rose 51 cents to $74.87 a barrel. In other trading, heating oil prices rose 1.56 cents to $1.9990 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 10.5 cents to $5.66 per 1,000 cubic feet.


[R]7:00AM Asian markets closed mixed. The Nikkei recovered.[/R]
Asian-Pacific benchmarks finished mixed Wednesday as stock exchanges reversed from much of earlier gains amid renewed advance by the price of oil, following reports Israeli ground troops were moving into southern Lebanon. Investors also awaited comments by the Fed Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as the June CPI data. The Nikkei ended up 0.4%, recovering from a month-long losing streak. Tech shares had a mixed performance, with Sony rising 1.1%, Advantest Corp, up 3.7%, while Softbank declined 3.7%. Automakers were among gaining stocks moving higher, led by Toyota Motor, up 0.9% and Mitsubishi Motors, up 0.5%. Across the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.33%, lifted by strong gains for oil companies, real estate and China shares. China''s largest publicly listed oil company, Petro China climbed 1.8%. Singapore Straits Times advanced 0.47%, South Korea’s Kospi ended flat, while Australia’s benchmark closed down 0.4%. China’s Shanghai Composite had the sharpest decline today, falling 2.2%.


European stocks moved to the upside at mid-day trading Wednesday, boosted by considerable strength in the technology sector. Tech stocks led advancers on well-received earnings news from ASML Holding. The Dutch semiconductor rose 3.6% after it revealed that its second-quarter net income rose a stronger-than-forecast 49% to 167 million euros on 23% sales growth. Anglo-Dutch IT services group LogicaCMG also contributed to the upward move, posting a gain of 2.7%. The German DAX 30 climbed 0.5%, the French CAC 40 rose 0.4%, and London FTSE 100 advanced 0.4%.