Stocks to watch Accenture Ltd. said late Thursday that first-quarter profit rose 13 percent from a year ago to $196 million, or 32 cents a share. Aehr Test Systems reported a second-quarter loss of $599,000, or 8 cents a share, vs. a loss of $949,000, or 13 cents a share, last year. Revenue was $4.8 million vs. $3.6 million. Analysts, according to Thomson First Call, expected a loss of 8 cents a share on revenue of $5 million. For the third quarter, it said it sees higher sales compared with last year, but lower sales compared with the second quarter of 2005. Air France-KLM said Friday that passenger load factor rose 1 percentage point to 77.7 percent, with passenger traffic up 6.9 percent in December, which it said was a "good performance." Air France passenger traffic rose 3.6 percent on a 2.8 percent growth in capacity, while KLM passenger traffic climbed 13.4 percent on 11 percent higher capacity. The French and Dutch carrier said cargo traffic rose 13.6 percent on a 9.9 percent capacity rise. Apple Computer, Inc. earnings estimate was raised by First Albany for fiscal first December quarter to 50 cents a share from its prior projection for earnings at 47 cents a share. Apple is expected to update on its quarter next Wednesday and has guided for earnings from 39 cents to 42 cents a share. BG Group was upgraded to "buy" at Merrill Lynch, with the broker arguing that BG is an interesting play in all three key drivers for relative stock performance in European oils during 2005 -- improving top-line growth, balance sheet strength and M&A. Boeing Co. said it had 272 orders for commercial jets in 2004, a 14 percent rise over last year. Boeing previously said it delivered 285 aircraft during the year. Brocade Communications Systems Inc. said it plans to restate its financial statements for fiscal years 2002 and 2003 to record additional stock-based compensation expense as a result of an internal review. Cavco Industries Inc. authorized a two-for-one stock split in the form of a dividend payable on Jan. 31 to shareholders as of Jan. 18. ChevronTexaco Corp. said its Mexico unit was awarded a permit for a liquefied natural gas terminal and regasification plant off the coast of Baja Mexico. Constellation Brands Inc. reported third-quarter earnings rose 17 percent to $96.9 million, or 83 cents a share. Craftmade International Inc. said it signed a nonbinding letter of intent to buy Bill Teiber Co., a Texas-based firm doing business as Teiber Lighting Products. It said it will pay for the purchase, which it expects to close in the third quarter, with equity and cash. Terms were not disclosed. Cytyc Corp. said it expects 2004 earnings of 79 cents to 81 cents a share, on revenue of $390 million to $392 million. For 2005, it forecast earnings of 97 cents to $1.03 a share, with revenue of $485 million to $505 million. Darden Restaurants said December same-restaurant sales at its Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains were up 14 percent. DoubleClick said results for its fourth quarter and the year would outpace prior expectations on stronger-than-expected performance. Irish biotechnology firm Elan said Garo Armen has resigned as chairman and has been replaced by Kyran McLaughlin, effective immediately. Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. January quarter earnings per share estimate was cut by Piper Jaffray to $1.55 a share from its prior projection for earnings at $1.72 a share. "Holiday video game sales are expected to fall short of expectations," the broker told clients. Endurance Specialty Holdings said its Endurance Reinsurance Corp. of America unit was subpoenaed by the New York attorney general's office for documents related to possible insurance price or bid manipulations, or false or inflated quotes. Fisher Communications Inc. said President and Chief Executive William Krippaehne Jr. resigned at the request of the board of directors and was replaced by Benjamin Tucker Jr. Tucker, previously president of the company's Fisher Broadcasting Co. subsidiary, will be acting president and CEO. FormFactor Inc. said it now expects to report revenue of $46.1 million, down from its previous forecast of $50 million to $53 million. Game Stop Corp. lowered its fourth-quarter earnings forecast, citing hardware supply shortages. General Motors Corp. said 2004 vehicles sales rose 27.2 percent to 492,014 units. Its market share rose to 9.3 percent for the year, up from 8.5 percent in 2003. GM also said, pending Chinese government approval, it plans to invest more than $3 billion in Chinese production facilities. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. reported a third-quarter net loss of $75.3 million, or $1.96 per share, wider than the loss of $25.3 million, or 66 cents, posted in the year-earlier period. The food retailer's sales totaled $2.52 billion for the three months ended Dec. 4, up from the prior year's $2.48 billion, while comparable-store sales slipped 1.0 percent. A&P's quarterly loss from continuing operations amounted to $73 million, or $1.89 per share, unchanged from the prior year. According to Thomson First Call, analysts' average quarterly estimates for A&P were for a loss of $1.19 per share on revenue of $2.49 billion. Greenbrier Cos. said two trusts established by the company's founders recently distributed stock to charities, expanding its public float by up to 12 percent. The Dec. 28 termination of the two trusts, each of which held 375,000 shares, was as expected, Greenbrier said, adding that some of the charities have since sold the stock they received in public transactions. The founders, Alan James and William Furman, each hold stakes of about 26 percent in Greenbrier after the termination of the trusts. Greenhill & Co rating was lowered by UBS to "reduce" from "neutral", saying the combination of an improving mergers and acquisition environment, outperformance of small cap stocks and strength in initial private offerings has driven the stock price up 40 percent from opening day, "to a valuation that is a bit pricey." Haemonetics Corp. said it has received marketing clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its CardioPAT surgical blood salvage system. Full market release is expected in 2005. Hibbett Sporting Goods Inc. said net sales for the nine-week holiday period ended Jan. 1 increased 17.2 percent to $80.9 million compared with $69 million last year. Same-store sales increased 5 percent for the period. Idexx Laboratories Inc. said the European Commission plans to approve HerdChek, its kit used to detect mad cow disease. It expects the approval to be formalized during the first quarter. ImmunoGen Inc. a Cambridge, Mass., producer of treatments for cancer, said Christopher U. Missling, chief financial officer, vice president of finance, and treasurer, left the company to pursue other interests. Karleen M. Oberton, senior corporate controller, will serve as the company's principal financial and accounting officer while the company searches for a successor, ImmunoGen said. Integrated Electrical Services Inc. said David Miller has been promoted to chief financial officer from chief accounting officer. J.C. Penney was initiated by Lehman Brothers overnight at an equal-weight and set a 12-month, $45 price target on the stock. J.P. Morgan Chase said it would buy trade processes management automator Vastera for $129 million, or $3 a share in cash. The deal values Vastera shares at a 50 percent premium to Thursday's closing price of $2. Kennametal Inc. said Carlos Cardoso has been promoted to chief operating officer from president of its metalworking solutions and services group. Lafarge North America Inc. said Eric Olsen became executive vice president and chief financial officer on Jan. 1, replacing Larry Waisanen. Laidlaw International Inc. reported first quarter earnings of $30.4 million, or 29 cents a share, vs. $22.6 million, or 22 cents a share, last year. Revenue rose to $1.23 billion from $1.21 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 30 cents a share. Lesco Inc. said it expects a loss of 42 to 48 cents a share on revenue ranging from $560 million to $563 million for 2004. On a pro forma basis, it expects earnings of 50 to 53 cents a share, up from the previous estimate of 40 to 50 cents a share. Liz Claiborne Inc. said it bought clothing wholesaler C & C California for an initial payment of $28 million, with additional payments in fiscal years 2007 through 2009 based on C & C's annual earnings. Claiborne said it expects the purchase to add 3 cents a share to its 2005 earnings. Longs Drug Stores said same-store sales fell 3.4 percent in the five-weeks ending December, but it held onto its fourth quarter EPS guidance between 36 cents and 41 cents. Same-store sales in the Jan. 27 ending quarter are expected to be 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent lower, it said. M.D.C. Holdings Inc. said its fourth-quarter earnings will exceed the high end of analysts' estimate, who expect earnings to be in a range of $3.31 to $3.67 a share. It also said it received orders for 2,662 homes in the fourth quarter, slightly down from last year. Neose Technologies Inc. said A. Brian Davis is its new chief financial officer, replacing Robert Kriebel, who announced his retirement in October. Davis was previously vice president of Neose's finance department. Neurogen Corp. named Craig Saxton chairman early Friday. Saxton most recently worked at Pfizer as an executive in charge of global drug development. He joined Neurogen's board in January of 2002. Saxton succeeds Frank Carlucci as chairman. Carlucci served as chairman for 15 years and he was named chairman emeritus and will remain a director. Newcastle Investment Corp. said that it has priced an offering of 3.3 million shares of its common stock to yield net proceeds of about $97 million. The Pep Boys - Manny, Moe & Jack said it plans to eliminate 30 jobs as part of a restructuring of its field management team into separate retail and service organizations. The Philadelphia provider of automotive products and services expects to record a charge of about $9 million, or 10 cents per share related to the restructing in the current quarter. Parker Hannifin Corp. said December orders at its North American industrial businesses rose 4 percent from the previous year, while rest-of-the-world industrial orders rose 15 percent. In the climate and industrial controls business, order rates were 4 percent higher, and orders at Parker Aerospace rose 25 percent from last year. Partner Re Ltd. said it repurchased 2 million of its shares last month for $124.8 million. It also said it issued 3.5 million shares of its stock under a purchase contract with its PEPS unit. Pfizer shares rose slightly in pre-market after a report in the Wall Street Journal said the drugmaker is making progress in developing a voice test to diagnose Parkinson's disease. Pfizer has no plans to market the speech test but may explore licensing the technology to other companies, the report said. Pitney Bowes Inc. said it and subsidiary Pitney Bowes Credit Corp. settled a lawsuit over its equipment leasing program. The company said plaintiffs will receive a certificate to purchase products from Pitney Bowes supply operations, Pitney Bowes will pay plaintiffs' attorney fee and costs of administering the settlement. The company said it expects a fourth-quarter pre-tax charge of about $20 million. Regis Corp. said revenue increased 19 percent on a consolidated basis last month to $203 million, putting revenue at $537 million for the company's second quarter ended Dec. 31, up 14 percent from the prior year. The hair-care salon operator's same-store sales slipped by 0.6 percent in December but rose by 0.4 percent for the second quarter. Regis said it will report second-quarter financial results before the market opens for trading on Jan. 26. RF Industries Ltd. said its fourth-quarter net income rose 45 percent to $437,000, or 12 cents a diluted share, from $301,000, or nine cents a share, a year earlier. Sales for the quarter, which ended Oct. 31, increased 10 percent to $3.3 million from $3.04 million. Schering AG said it's received an approvable letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for Bonefos, a treatment for breast cancer patients. "We look forward to the opportunity to meet with the FDA so we can advance the approval process," the company said. Schering-Plough Corp. consolidated its estimated $400 million global creative advertising business with Omnicom Group Inc. and Publicis Groupe , according to AdAge.com. Shire Pharmaceuticals was upgraded to "overweight" by J.P. Morgan. The broker said it was warming to the story on Fosrenol approval and evidence that Adderall XR is outperforming Strattera, but the latest deal with New River "pushes us over the edge and we think the stock will continue to outperform from here." Siemens was upgraded to "outperform" from "in-line" by Goldman Sachs, based on its high exposure to long-cycle industries and emerging markets as well as potential upside from corporate catalysts such as asset sales and increased returns to shareholders. Standard Pacific Corp. said new home orders rose 15 percent in the fourth quarter to 2,486 from 2,163 a year ago. Talx Corp. said it expects third-quarter earnings "comfortably" above its previous forecast of 26 cents to 28 cents a share. It also said it expects revenue slightly above its forecast of $37 million to $39 million. Tiffany & Co. said it expects net earnings to grow 10 to 12 percent in 2005, while sales grow 8 to 10 percent. The jewelry retailer also reaffirmed its full-year 2004 earnings forecasts after posting December same-store sales growth of 6 percent from the year-earlier period. The company said it's on track to achieve its previous forecast for 2004 earnings of $1.43 to $1.48 a share. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call is for 2004 earnings of $1.44 a share. UTStarcom Inc. said problems with its China operations hurt its fourth-quarter results. WD-40 Co. reported its fiscal first-quarter income rose 28.4 percent to $5.6 million, or 34 cents a share, from $4.4 million, or 26 cents a share, a year ago. Sales were $60.7 million vs. $52.5 million. Analysts expected earnings of 30 cents a share. It also reaffirmed its forecast that 2005 earnings will increase 5.5 percent to $27 million, or $1.62 a share. Analysts expect $1.62 a share. Wellpoint, Inc. warned net income for the fourth quarter will miss expectations and is now expected at 90 cents a share, down from a prior outlook for earnings from 95 cents to $1 a share in the quarter. The lower outlook includes a 47 cents a share loss stemming from its repurchase of surplus notes in December. "The tender offer attracted more investors than projected, resulting in the repurchase of 86.6 percent of the notes available, as compared to the 75 percent previously forecasted," it said Westaff Inc. reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.5 million, or 15 cents a share. Last year, it lost $600,000, or 4 cents a share. Revenue was $205.6 million, up from $178.9 million. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. said Philip Livingston resigned as chief financial officer and member of the board, and was replaced by Frank Serpe as acting CFO. Yukos may be in focus Friday. India's biggest oil exploration firm, Oil & Natural Gas Corp., says it's in talks to buy the former assets of troubled Russian crude producer Yukos, the BBC reported. "We are in touch with the concerned Russian entities about the Yukos assets and other opportunities in Russia," said ONGC Chairman Subir Raha. Press reports said ONGC was looking to buy 15 percent of Yukos' former key oil production unit for $2 billion. Yukos is being broken up by Russian authorities to pay a massive tax bill. This story was supplied by CBSMarketWatch. For further information see www.cbsmarketwatch.com.
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