Market Updates
Coca-Cola Profit up 14% on Strong Sales
Elena
17 Apr, 2007
New York City
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The company said it earned $1.26 billion, or 54 cents a share, compared to a profit of $1.11 billion, or 47 cents a share a year ago, beating analyst estimates of 53 cents a share. Excluding one-time items, Coca-Cola said it earned $1.29 billion, or 56 cents in the first quarter. Revenue rose 17% to $6.10 billion, compared to $5.23 billion in the same quarter a year ago. In pre-market trading, Coca-Cola shares rose nearly 1%.
[R]8:15AM Coca-Cola reported 14% profit increase in Q1.[/R]
The Coca-Cola Co. ((KO)), the world''s biggest beverage maker, announced better-than-expected Q1 profit increase of 14%, contributed by a double-digit rise in sales. The company said it earned $1.26 billion, or 54 cents a share, compared to a profit of $1.11 billion, or 47 cents a share a year ago, beating analyst estimates of 53 cents a share. Excluding one-time items, Coca-Cola said it earned $1.29 billion, or 56 cents in the first quarter. Revenue rose 17% to $6.10 billion, compared to $5.23 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Coca-Cola said worldwide unit case volume reached the highest quarterly volume growth rate since 2002, up 6%. International unit case volume was up 9%, offsetting another poor performance for the company in its key North America segment, where unit case volume declined 3%. In pre-market trading, Coca-Cola shares rose nearly 1%.
[R]8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex dips 89 points on a sell-off in IT stocks.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE finished 88.54 points, or 0.65%, lower at 13,607.04. The market-breadth was weak as there were almost three decliners for every two advancers.As 1,085 stocks advanced, 1,463 declined and 83 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 20 declined and the rest advanced. The turnover on BSE was Rs 4,547 crore, compared with Rs 4,144.83 crore. The turnover on NSE was Rs 9,611.56 crore, higher than Rs 8,950.85 crore on Monday.
Economic news
The rupee kept its upward trend and advanced further to 41.85/41.87 against the dollar following sustained portfolio inflows as the Reserve Bank of India abstained from intervention. The biggest dominant force on the rupee is the Reserve Bank and their activity in this market is going to determine how much the rupee appreciates from here on.
Global investment banking major Goldman Sachs on Tuesday said it would invest $1 billion over the next two years in the country for business expansion. The company is very bullish on India and wants to have all its businesses, including asset management, in the country over a period of time.
Earnings news
UTI Bank, private sector lender, has reported a net profit of Rs 211.89 crore for the quarter ended March 31, compared with Rs 151.73 crore in the year-ago period. Total income of the bank rose to Rs 1,667.87 crore for Q4 ended March 31, as compared to Rs 1,060.72 crore in the corresponding quarter in 2006.
Trading highlights
ICRA was the most-active stock with a turnover of Rs 926 crore followed by CESC and Reliance Industries.
Advancers
Bajaj Auto led the gainers, rallying 2.7% to Rs 2,548. The bike-maker soared from a low of Rs 2,460.20. Previously hammered cement large-caps staged a smart recovery on expectations of a strong performance from cement firms in the March 2007 quarter. ACC surged 2.5% to Rs 807, and Gujarat Ambuja gained 1.3% at Rs 114.
Index heavy Reliance Industries advanced over 1% to Rs 1,476. The stock had surged to an all-time high of Rs 1,487.80, in intra-day trade. Larsen & Toubro also advanced 0.6% to Rs 1,669. Larsen & Toubro will set up a boiler manufacturing facility along with Japan-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Decliners
The surge of the rupee against the dollar is a cause of concern for IT companies, as it directly impacts their revenue and profits. IT stocks plunged today. Satyam lost nearly 5% to Rs 456. TCS shed over 2% to Rs 1,250, and Infosys and Wipro slipped also over 2% each to Rs 2,082 and Rs 574, respectively.
Other decliners included Tata Motors dropping 2.6% to Rs 730, Cipla slipping 2.3% to Rs 230, Maruti declining 2% to Rs 762, and ITC losing 1.6% to Rs 156.
[R]6:30AM European stocks slipped Tuesday on concerns over likely rate increases.[/R]
European markets declined on Tuesday. By midday, Frankfurt Xetra Dax shed 0.5% to 7,305.5, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 0.6% to 5,825.2 and London FTSE 100 slid 0.7% to 6,469.6. National benchmarks fell in 15 of 17 western European markets that were open.
Advancers
French carmaker Peugeot advanced 3.4% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company from equal weight to overweight. ABN was itself 1% higher after reports the Dutch Bank would likely extend its period of merger talks beyond the informal deadline on Wednesday.
Tesco rose 0.9%. The U.K. biggest retailer reported a gain in full-year profit to 1.89 billion pounds, or $3.8 billion after the company expanded stores and sold more organic food and clothing.
Remy Cointreau rose 1.1%. The second-largest liquor maker in France said fourth-quarter sales increased 2.2% as the company sold more Remy Martin cognac and Charles Heidsieck champagne.
Decliners
Telecom Italia fell 2.3% after AT&T, the largest US telecoms operator, pulled out of talks with Pirelli about buying part of its stake in TI’s holding company Olimpia. Shares in Pirelli were down 3.1%.
Danone fell 2.3% after the French food producer had its price target reduced by ABN Amro, due to its dispute with Chinese joint venture partner Wahaha.
Merck retreated 2.1% after UBS lowered its recommendation for the German drugmaker to neutral from buy.
Oil and precious metals
Crude oil climbed in New York on speculation demand for fuel is rising ahead of the summer driving season. Crude oil for May delivery rose 54 cents, or 0.9%, to $64.15 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $64.07 in early trade in London. Brent crude oil for June settlement increased as much as 59 cents, or 0.9%, to $67.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the ICE Futures exchange.
Gold prices declined in London as some investors deemed excessive a rally that took the metal close to an 11-month high. Silver, platinum and palladium also dropped. Gold for immediate delivery in London fell $2.55, or 0.4%, to $687.65 an ounce. Silver for immediate delivery fell 5 cents, or 0.4%, to $14.00 an ounce. Platinum for immediate delivery fell $10.50, or 0.8%, to $1,268 an ounce, while palladium dropped $8, or 2.1%, to $371.50 an ounce.
Currencies
The British pound broke past $2 in European trading Tuesday morning for the first time since 1992 but the dollar gained some ground against the euro. The pound surged after official data showed consumer price inflation rose to 3.1% in the year ending in March, increasing the likelihood of another interest rate increase by the Bank of England next month. In early trade the pound had retreated to $1.9982, up from $1.9900 late Monday in New York. The euro traded at $1.3530, down from $1.3549. The dollar fetched 119.29 Japanese yen, down from 119.79.
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