Yahoo Q3 revenue, profit slip
Profit in Yahoo’s third-quarter, the last quarter under Chief Executive Carol Bartz, who was fired in September, totaled $293 million, or 23 cents per share. In the year-ago period, Yahoo posted net income of $396 million, or $29 per share.It was not immediately clear whether Yahoo’s third-quarter EPS was comparable with the 17 cents a share expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.Yahoo’s net revenue — which excludes fees paid to partner websites — was $1.07 billion, compared with $1.12 billion at this time last year, and in line with Wall Street expectations.Looking ahead, Yahoo projected fourth-quarter net revenue of $1.125 billion to $1.235 billion, compared with $1.22 billion expected by analysts.Yahoo, which has appointed Finance Chief Tim Morse as interim CEO, has retained investment banking firm Allen & Co to help it conduct a “strategic review” of its business.
RIM unveils software system for BlackBerry, PlayBook
“We’re giving developers the tools they need to build
richer applications, and we’re providing direction on how to
best develop their smartphone and tablet apps as the BlackBerry
and QNX platforms converge into our next generation BBX
platform,” RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said in a speech opening
the four-day event.
Hilary Swank gives fees from Chechen event to charity
Swank has said she “deeply regrets” taking part in a birthday celebration in the Chechen capital Grozny last week for regional strong Ramzan Kadyrov, who is accused of orchestrating human rights violations.Human Rights Watch urged Swank and other celebrities who attended the event to return any money or gifts.Swank said this week she was unaware of Kadyrov’s policies, which human rights group say promote fear, abductions and executions of those involved in Chechnya’s Islamist insurgency.
TEXT-Fitch revises ZAO Unicredit Bank’s & ATF Bank’s otlks to stbl
The rating actions follow the placement of UniCredit’s Long-term Issuer Default
Rating (IDR) of ‘A’ on Rating Watch Negative (RWN) in ‘Fitch Takes Rating Action
on Major Italian Banks Following Sovereign Downgrade’ dated 11 October 2011 on
www.fitchratings.com.The agency has revised of Russia-based ZAO Unicredit Bank’s (‘BBB+’) and
Kazakhstan-based ATF Bank’s (‘BBB’) Long-term IDR Outlooks to Stable from
Positive. The Outlook revisions reflect the greater uncertainty about the future
ability of UniCredit to support its subsidiairies, as reflected in the RWN on
the parent’s ratings. As a result, the subsidiaries are unlikely to be upgraded,
even if the Russian and Kazakhstan sovereigns (both currently on Positive
Outlook) are upgraded. ATF’s rating would be capped at a level one notch lower
than the Russian subsiadiry in light of Fitch’s view of the former’s lower
long-term strategic importance to the UniCredit group.The RWN on Bank Pekao SA’s Support Rating of ‘1’ reflects the potential
weakening of the parent’s ability to provide support to its Polish subsidiary.
However, Pekao’s other ratings, including its Long-term IDR of ‘A-‘/Stable, are
driven by its intrinsic strength and are hence unaffected by the rating actions
taken on the parent.Other subsidiaries’ support-driven ratings were affirmed, as these are already
capped by Country Ceilings in the jurisdictions where they operate.The rating actions are as follows:Bank Pekao SA:Long-term foreign currency IDR: ‘A-‘; UnaffectedShort-term foreign currency IDR: ‘F2’; UnaffectedViability Rating: ‘a-‘; UnaffectedSupport Rating: affirmed at ‘1’ placed on RWNUniCredit Bulbank AD:Support Rating: affirmed at ‘2’ZAO UniCredit Bank:Long-term foreign currency IDR: affirmed at ‘BBB+’; Outlook changed to Stable
from PositiveShort-term foreign currency IDR: affirmed at ‘F2’Long-term local currency IDR: affirmed at ‘BBB+’; Outlook changed to Stable from
PositiveShort-term local currency IDR: affirmed at ‘F2’National Long-term Rating: affirmed at ‘AAA(rus)’; Outlook StableViability Rating: ‘bb+’; UnaffectedIndividual Rating: ‘C/D’; UnaffectedSupport Rating: affirmed at ‘2’
UPDATE 5-Alcoa profit hurt by slowdown, recession fears
* Profit and sales slip from Q2* Shares fall about 5 pct in after-hours tradingBy Steve JamesOct 11 (Reuters) - Alcoa Inc , the largest U.S.
aluminum producer, said an economic slowdown hurt demand and
knocked prices for the metal lower, denting its third-quarter
profit and sending its shares down in after-hours trading.CEO Klaus Kleinfeld warned of weak economic conditions
through the year, particularly in Europe, “as confidence in the
global recovery faded.”That sapped aluminum demand from the automotive, industrial
products, construction and packaging sectors since the second
quarter, with only the aerospace and transport sectors
growing.The third-quarter profit jumped from a year ago, but was
lower than the second quarter and fell short of Wall Street
expectations, which had already been lowered because of a slump
in global metal prices.Chief Financial Officer Chuck McLane said worries about
Europe’s debt crisis had prompted customers there to reduce
orders.Kleinfeld said that battered confidence was the biggest
problem. “We’ve seen strength in many of our markets, despite
the sharp slowdown in Europe that hurt our sequential results
and I’m more concerned about lack of confidence than about
market fundamentals.”It almost looks like the world is worrying itself into
another recession and that should not be allowed to happen,” he
told Wall Street analysts on a conference call.”I think the problems that we have today … those fears,
not a shrinking market, were the main reason for the weak
quarter.”Kleinfeld said Alcoa stuck with its forecast for global
aluminum demand growth of 12 percent this year, although it
expected a decline in Europe, North America and Brazil.But that decline will be made up by strength in emerging
markets and he increased the growth forecast for China from 15
percent to 17 percent.Still, one analyst said things could get worse. “There’s a
bigger decline in price so far in the fourth quarter and
seasonally it’s worse,” said Charles Bradford of Bradford
Research in New York.”You get the holidays toward the end of the year and that
slows everybody down. It’s going to be much worse.”EARNINGS LAGAlcoa, the first Dow component company to report
third-quarter results, said net earnings were $172 million, or
15 cents per share, compared with $61 million, or 6 cents per
share, a year earlier.The Pittsburgh-based company said income from continuing
operations was also 15 cents per share, but down from 28 cents
per share in the second quarter. Analysts on average were
expecting earnings of 22 cents per share, according to Thomson
Reuters I/B/E/S.Alcoa said revenue rose 21 percent to $6.4 billion from a
year earlier, but was 3 percent lower than the second quarter
of this year as metals prices slumped sharply.Aluminum prices fell almost 20 percent in the third quarter
on global economic concerns and Alcoa’s share price fell 41
percent during the same period.In his call with analysts, Kleinfeld blamed the price drop
on, “very offensive short-selling going on by speculators.”They are betting against aluminum as a proxy for betting
against the global economy,” the CEO said.Still, aluminum prices could easily rebound if the
sentiment around the European economy shows any improvement,
analysts said, which would immediately benefit Alcoa.”Visibility is very low, so it’s hard to know what’s around
the corner, but even with earnings coming in below consensus,
we shouldn’t overreact,” said Bridget Freas, an analyst with
Morningstar in Chicago.”It’s a canary in the coal mine as far as economic
activity. In terms of Q4, if the economy turns around and does
better, I think Alcoa will turn around and do better,” said
Stephen Massocca, fund manager with Wedbush Morgan in San
Francisco.Alcoa stock was down 4.6 percent to $9.83 in after-hours
trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
