Earnings - 24th Sept 2008

9:05AM PPG Industries announces that Q3 results will be affected negatively by $0.20-$0.25 due to several non-recurring items (PPG) 62.22 : Co announces that its 3Q08 financial results will be affected negatively by several non-recurring items, including impacts from weather-related events, and by further deterioration in the automotive original equipment manufacture market. The co said these items will likely affect its Q3 aftertax earnings negatively by between $35-$40 mln, or $0.20-$0.25 cents per share. During the qtr, PPG declared force majeure twice for chlor-alkali products due to shutdowns at its Lake Charles, LA, chemicals complex from hurricanes Gustav and Ike. PPG completed a facility shutdown Aug 30, in preparation for Hurricane Gustav and returned to normal operations Sep 8, but it remained under force majeure for several major products, including caustic soda, due in part to low inventory. The path of Hurricane Ike prompted a second shutdown of the facility Sep 11, and while weather damage at the facility was minimal, production startup and operating rates were notably impacted due to customer facility startup and logistics issues stemming from the hurricane plus availability of key raw materials. Production recently reached rates slightly below normal. The co also declared force majeure on architectural, residential and specialty glass manufactured at its Wichita Falls, TX, facility. Heavy rains caused significant flooding at the plant and damaged one of the two flat glass production lines, which requires repairs anticipated to take several months. Weather issues also resulted in the shutdown of the company's La Porte, TX, facility, which resulted in a force majeure declaration for phosgene derivative products. That force majeure declaration was recently rescinded. In addition, The Boeing Company (BA), a PPG aerospace products customer, is currently experiencing an employee work stoppage that began Sep 6. This is resulting in delayed orders for coatings and transparencies.


9:00AM PPG Industries to restructure manufacturing, reduce staffing to save $100 mln annually (PPG) 62.22 : The co announces a restructuring plan that is expected to result in approximately $100 million in pretax annual cost savings for the company. The restructuring initiative is part of PPG's global transformation and the integration of its acquisition of SigmaKalon, completed Jan. 2... A pretax charge of approximately $160 million, or 65 cents per share, will be recorded in the company's third quarter 2008 financial results. In addition, actions related to the integration of the SigmaKalon businesses have a cost of approximately $25 million and will result in an increase in goodwill. The combination of these actions is expected to result in pretax cost savings at an annual run-rate of about $100 million by the end of 2009. The cash outlay for these actions is expected to total approximately $100 million. PPG continues to evaluate opportunities to strengthen its global businesses, which may result in additional restructuring actions and related cost savings in 2009. The company also will incur additional expenses of approximately $15 million directly associated with the restructuring actions but, based on GAAP, these costs will be charged to expense as incurred and therefore are not part of a restructuring reserve. The company expects to incur these additional, related expenses in the second half of 2009.

8:56AM Energy Conversion Devices comments on recent solar integrated technologies' U.S. project outlook; sees increasing demand, revs and growth outlook remain positive (ENER) 56.46 : Co comments on recent statements by Solar Integrated Technologies, regarding the cancellation or delay of certain of S.I.T.'s projects in the United States due to uncertainty regarding the U.S. Investment Tax Credit. "Our business remains strong, and there has been no change to our fundamentals," said Mark Morelli ENER's president and CEO. "Our largest market opportunities are currently in Europe where there is strong demand for our building-integrated solar product. Germany, Italy, France, and now Spain are growth markets for us. The announced changes in S.I.T.'s business do not affect our positive growth outlook... We believe that the continuation of the Investment Tax Credit is an immediate step for the development of a vibrant U.S. solar market... As I have noted before, demand for our B.I.P.V. product exceeds our ability to produce, so we are growing our capacity to 1GW by 2012..."

8:48AM Neogen beats by $0.02, beats on revs (NEOG) 28.67 -0.37 : Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $0.25 per share, $0.02 better than the single analyst estimate of $0.23; revenues rose 25.8% year/year to $28.8 mln vs the $27.7 mln single analyst estimate. Co states, "A more significant highlight from our first quarter was the resurgence of same-store sales growth in our Animal Safety group and especially within our Hacco subsidiary. Organic sales growth for Animal Safety was over 13% for the quarter led by a 14% increase in domestic sales of Hacco's existing rodenticide products."

8:32AM Yingli Green Energy will supply PV modules to "largest university campus solar energy facility in the US" (YGE) 12.51 : Co announces that it has entered into a sales contract with SunDurance Energy, which develops, designs and builds large-scale solar energy facilities for private and public entities in the United States. Pursuant to this agreement, YGE has agreed to supply an aggregate of 1.4 MW of PV modules to SunDurance from December 2008 to January 2009, which will be used for a solar power plant under construction on the Livingston Campus of Rutgers University. The $10 mln solar farm project will be financed by Rutgers University and the Clean Energy Program of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
8:32AM S&P futures vs fair value: +9.50. Nasdaq futures vs fair value: +13.50. : Futures gain some ground as Warren Buffett gets interviewed on CNBC. Buffett said in five to ten years we will look back and see that there were some extraordinary buying opportunities. Buffet added that Congress needs to pass the Treasury's plan, and he would not have invested in Goldman if he thought a government plan would not go through.

8:02AM MEMC Elec sees Q3 revs of $520-540 mln vs $594.01 mln First Call consensus following impact from Hurricane Ike (WFR) 28.97 : Co has updated its financial targets following the delay of raw material deliveries from its suppliers due to the effects of Hurricane Ike. "Some of our regional suppliers had startup difficulties primarily due to power availability, plant issues, and pipeline damage as a result of the Hurricane, preventing them from starting high volume delivery of some raw materials until yesterday. This resulted in the Pasadena facility running at very low utilization levels through the early part of this week. We now believe we are at the tail end of these raw material issues, which should allow us to achieve normal production rates within the next few days. Assuming there are no significant issues during this ramp, we now expect the cumulative impact of these delays to be approximately 15 days worth of production instead of the 5 days originally forecasted. Consequently, we are now targeting third quarter 2008 revenue to be approximately $530 million, plus or minus $10 million ($594.01 mln First Call consensus), with gross margin of approximately 51%, plus or minus 1% (First Call consensus is for gross margin of 54.56%). Operating expenses are still targeted to be approximately $43 million. We do not expect any long-term impacts from these delays, nor do we expect any significant interruption to our on-going capacity expansion activities. We would like to publicly recognize the commitment and hard work of our employees, as well as those of our vendors, in enabling us to recover from the effects of this storm, in spite of the challenges the Hurricane has presented to them in their personal lives."

7:32AM CONSOL Energy lowers Q3 coal production guidance (CNX) 55.95 : The co expects Q3 coal production to be ~ 15 mln tons, compared with a previous guidance range of 16.4-18.4 mln tons for the qtr. At 15 mln tons of production, the co expects unit costs for the qtr to be ~ 8-10% higher than the second qtr ended June 30, 2008, in which reported unit costs were $41.60 per ton produced. Lower than expected production in the third qtr was attributable to several factors including: several roof falls along mainline belts, where roof conditions were affected by changing humidity levels; delays in resumption of longwall production following equipment moves at several mines because preparation of a new area to be mined was not complete; and increased frequency of inspections related to health and safety regulations which cause a reduction in mining equipment availability.


7:02AM Lowe's reiterates guidance for fiscal 2008 and provides outlook for 2009 and longer-term (LOW) 23.62 : Co sees FY08 $1.48-1.56 vs $1.53 First Call consensus, sales are expected to increase approximately 1% (which calc to ~$48.77 bln vs $48.63 bln First Call consensus). Co sees FY09 $1.40-1.56 vs $1.57 First Call consensus, sales are expected to increase 2.5-6.5%. Co expects to open approximately 120 stores in 2008 reflecting total square footage growth of 7-8%. Co expects FY08 comparable store sales to decline 6-7% and FY09 comparable store sales to range from -3% to +1%. "As we look past the current cycle, we believe we have initiatives that will make us more efficient and better positioned to capture profitable market share. Additionally, based on reasonable assumptions, we will more than double our expected 2008 earnings per share over the next five years, generating significant free cash flow and delivering solid returns for shareholders. While many uncertainties in the current environment remain, I am confident the tenure of the Lowe's management team provides the knowledge and experience to make appropriate decisions to manage through this cycle and position Lowe's for continued long-term success. All of these efforts will move us closer to achieving our vision of becoming customers' first choice for home improvement."

6:49AM Banner lowers Q308 dividend to $0.05 from $0.20; lowers Q3 EPS guidance (BANR) 13.98 : Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Sep), sees EPS of $(0.06)-$(0.12) vs. $0.10 First Call consensus. This is primarily a result of the valuation write-down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac common and preferred stock and an anticipated provision for possible loan losses of $8 mln. The loss is composed of approx $2.5 mln of operational profit, which includes the loan loss provision, offset by anticipated net valuation adjustments for financial instruments carried at fair value which will include the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities write-down. Co says as of Sept. 19, fair value of its Fannie and Freddie common and preferred equities had declined to approx $700K from a combined book value of $6.8 mln on June 30, 2008. As a result, co expects to record a $6.1 mln ($4.0 mln after tax) valuation write-down in Q3. Co reduces quarterly dividend to $0.05 from $0.20.

1:01AM Key Energy Services announces weather impact on quarter; lowers Q308 and reiterates FY08 EPS guidance (KEG) 12.41 : Co announces that recent storms have affected operations in parts of Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma; weather impact is anticipated to reduce revenue for the quarter by $10 mln to $14 mln, and reduce EPS for the quarter ending September 30, 2008 by $.03 to $.05 per share. As a result, co has issued downside guidance for Q3 (Sep), sees EPS of $0.36-0.38 vs. $0.40 First Call consensus. Co estimates that FY08 EPS will be in line with previous guidance of $1.35-1.45.

12:00AM Intuit reaffirms Q1 and FY09 EPS guidance (INTU) 30.88 : Co reaffirms in-line guidance for Q1 (Oct), sees EPS of $(0.11)-(0.14) vs. ($0.12) First Call consensus. Co reaffirms in-line guidance for FY09 (Jul), sees EPS of $1.86-1.90 vs. $1.88 consensus. Co sees revenue increasing 8%-11% year/year for Q109 and increasing 9$-12% year/year for FY09. Non-GAAP operating margin is predicted to be 29% during FY09.