Earnings - 25th Sept 2008

8:43AM Texas Industries reports Q1 (Aug) results, misses on revs (TXI) 50.39 : Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $0.38 per share, may not be comparable to the First Call consensus of $0.77; revenues fell 2.7% year/year to $256.4 mln vs the $266.6 mln consensus. EPS includes a loss on debt retirement of $0.9 mln, a gain on sale of $1.7 mln for California cement operations and a bonus payment related to execution of an oil and gas lease for $1.6 mln. "TXI is experiencing a tale of two markets," stated Mel Brekhus, Chief Executive Officer. "In Texas, which accounts for approximately 80% of TXI's sales, cement consumption continues to significantly exceed cement production capacity. Construction activity in California, on the other hand, has continued to decline, resulting in a level of cement consumption we believe is below production capacity in the state."

8:16AM CRA Intl misses by $0.49, misses on revs (CRAI) 37.56 : Reports Q3 (Aug) earnings of $0.39 per share, $0.49 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.88; revenues fell 10.7% year/year to $111 mln vs the $124.6 mln consensus. Co states, "Revenues in the Middle East, while steadily recovering from a major slowdown in Saudi Arabian contracts earlier in the year, were still significantly below the year-earlier level. In addition, our U.S. finance litigation revenues were lower, in part because of cases settling and requests from clients to temporarily stop or slow down work on some of our largest cases."


8:09AM Copart beats by $0.01, reports revs in-line (CPRT) 41.00 : Reports Q4 (Jul) earnings of $0.47 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.46; revenues rose 34.0% year/year to $206.3 mln vs the $204.6 mln consensus. For the quarter, revenue and gross margin for North America were $158.6 million and $83.9 million, respectively. Growth in North American revenue over the same quarter last year was 13.9% driven primarily by an 11.8% growth in same store sales. Revenue and gross margin for the United Kingdom were $47.7 million and $3.2 million, respectively.

8:08AM Vail Resorts misses by $0.06, beats on revs (MTN) 40.40 : Reports Q4 (Jul) loss of $0.26 per share, $0.06 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.20); revenues rose 180.3% year/year to $270.5 mln vs the $253.4 mln consensus. Co states, "Based on our current estimates, we expect net income to range from $60-$76 mln and net income excluding stock-based compensation expense to range from $66-$82 mln... It is important to note that at this point in time it is very difficult to fully predict the impact to our business of the current economic state as well as what that state will be as we go into our ski season. However, given the early season indicators and the unprecedented uncertainty of the future economic climate, we think it is prudent at this time to forecast a decline in our fiscal 2009 guidance as compared to the record results we reported for fiscal 2008.

7:52AM Scholastic Corp misses by $0.18, misses on revs; reaffirms FY09 (SCHL) 27.42 : Reports Q1 (Aug) loss of $1.18 per share, $0.18 worse than the First Call consensus of ($1.00); revenues fell 46.4% year/year to $285 mln vs the $292.7 mln consensus. Co reaffirms guidance for FY09, sees EPS of $1.75-2.10 vs. $1.89 consensus; sees FY09 revs of $2.0-2.1 bln vs. $2 bln consensus.

7:39AM Chattem reports Q3 (Aug) results, misses on revs; guides FY08 EPS above consensus; guides FY09 EPS above consensus (CHTT) 77.50 : Reports Q3 (Aug) earnings of $1.17 per share, excludes charges of $0.44, may not be comparable to the First Call consensus of $1.03, and revs of $111.9 mln worse than $113.6 mln consensus and 2.8% over last year's $108.9 mln. Co issues upside guidance for FY08, sees EPS of $4.00-4.05 vs. $3.98 consensus. Co issues upside guidance for FY09, sees EPS of $4.54-4.74 vs. $4.54 consensus.

7:36AM Rite Aid misses by $0.12, reports revs in-line; guides FY09 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus (RAD) 0.96 : Reports Q2 (Aug) loss of $0.27 per share, $0.12 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.15). Overall same store sales increased 0.6 percent year-over-year due to solid performance in core stores. Co issues downside guidance for FY09, sees EPS of ($0.56)-($0.67) vs. ($0.51) consensus; sees FY09 revs of $26.0-$26.5 bln vs. $26.68 bln consensus. Moving forward, we are taking additional steps to reduce costs to further strengthen our financial position and build on the steps we have taken to improve working capital, which is already delivering results," co said.

6:39AM General Electric lowers 3Q08 and FY08 EPS guidance; maintains quarterly dividend through the end of 2009 and suspends stock buyback (GE) 24.59 : Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Sep), sees EPS of $0.43-0.48 vs. $0.52 First Call consensus, reflecting "weakness and volatility in the financial services markets". As a result, co also issues downside guidance for FY08 (Dec), sees EPS of $1.95-2.10 vs. $2.21 consensus. Co reaffirms its AAA credit rating. GE states it will take the following steps to strengthen its capital and liquidity position: 1) it will increase capital in GE Capital to reduce leverage ratios through a reduction in the GE Capital dividend to GE from 40% to 10% of GE Capital's earnings and by suspending the current GE stock buyback. 2) GE Capital does not need to raise any additional long-term debt for the remainder of 2008. 3) co reduces GE Capital's commercial paper to 10-15% of GE Capital's total debt going forward. 4) resizing GE to deliver 60%/40% industrial-financial services earnings split by end of 2009. Finally, GE board approves plan to maintain quarterly dividend of $0.31 through the end of 2009.

4:11AM Ameron Int'l reports Q308 results (AMN) 108.14 : Reports Q3 (Aug) earnings of $1.63 per share, $0.28 worse than the First Call consensus of $1.91; revenues increased 3.1% year/year to $170.1 mln vs the $182.21 mln consensus.