Earnings - 1st Oct 2008

5:10PM Mosaic misses by $0.10, beats on revs; co will reduce planned phosphate production by 500,000 tonnes over the next several months (MOS) 67.51 -0.51 : Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $2.83 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 worse than the First Call consensus of $2.93; revenues rose 115.8% year/year to $4.32 bln vs the $4.09 bln consensus. Co report a DAP selling price of $1,013 vs the co's estimate of $1,020-1,080; reported a MOP selling price of $488 vs co's estimate of $460-510. Phosphate sales volume guidance for FY09 has been reduced to a range of 8.0-9.0 mln tonnes, with the majority of the reduction expected in the second fiscal quarter. Mosaic's average DAP selling price, FOB plant, for the Q2 of fiscal 2009 is estimated to be between $1,020 and $1,080 per tonne. Potash sales volume guidance for fiscal 2009 is unchanged at 8.2-8.6 mln tonnes. Mosaic's second quarter fiscal 2009 average MOP selling price, FOB plant, is estimated to be $560 to $620 per tonne. Partially offsetting the benefit of higher projected MOP selling prices will be higher Canadian resource taxes and royalties and increased costs for resources including steel, reagents and labor. Co says, "Momentum remains strong in the potash market with healthy demand, low inventory levels, and various industry supply disruptions. Momentum has slowed in the Phosphates business near-term due to the combined effects of soft seasonal demand, higher customer inventory levels and falling raw material costs. Accordingly, to better balance inventory levels and supply chain demands, we will reduce planned phosphate production by 500,000 to 1 million tonnes over the next several months. We remain optimistic about the second half outlook for phosphates and will be well positioned to capitalize on that outlook... Inventories for North American potash producers declined to record low levels in August 2008 and strong global demand continues for potash. Inventories for phosphate producers increased from the low levels of a year ago; however, phosphate fundamentals remain positive and demand is expected to rebound once inventory levels are normalized.

4:39PM Nabors Ind sees Q3 EPS above consensus, ex-items (NBR) 24.00 -0.92 : Co issues upside guidance; co sees Q3 EPS of $0.82-0.85, excluding $0.18 in charges and $0.01 in gains, vs $0.80 First Call consensus. Co says, "The most significant component is a non-cash charge to investment income of ~$22 mln pre-tax ($0.07 per diluted share), inclusive of a $6 mln cash dividend received on the same investment. The charge represents the decline in the market price, since the end of the second quarter, in the "Trading" portion of the co's total holdings of 450 mln shares in Honghua Group Ltd. (HH), which must be marked-to-market through the income statement at the quarter-ended share price of 1.48 HKD ($0.19 USD).

4:21PM Sun Healthcare lowers FY08 revs guidance below consensus, raises EPS guidance in-line with consensus (SUNH) 14.54 -0.12 : Co lowers FY08 revs guidance to $1.82-1.823 bln vs $1.833 bln First Call consensus, down from $1.84-1.85 bln; raises EPS guidance to $0.91-0.94 vs $0.91 consensus, up from $0.85-0.90. Co says, "Since the original 2008 guidance was issued, SUNH reclassified the operations of five skilled nursing centers as discontinued operations. During Q2, SUNH announced the expiration of a lease for one center and significant flood damage at another. SUNH also expects, early in Q4, to close the previously unannounced sale of three centers in Oklahoma. Budgeted financial results, which were the basis for our original guidance, included, for these five centers, $28.8 mln for revs , $4.5 mln for EBITDAR and $2.9 mln for EBITDA. The updated guidance reflects the elimination of the financial results from these five centers. SUNH has been experiencing favorable interest rates related to the variable portion of its bank term loans throughout 2008. SUNH expects that its total interest costs for 2008 will be ~$3.6 mln less than originally projected, and has increased its pre-tax earnings guidance to reflect the favorable interest expense. Currently, approximately $200 million of the bank term loans are subject to LIBOR resets. Of that amount, ~$150 mln will be reset at the end of November 2008. Notwithstanding the elimination of $28 mln of revenue, $4.5 mln of EBITDAR and $2.9 mln of EBITDA, our results allow us to maintain our original guidance for EBITDA and continue to show expected improvements in our EBITDAR margin over the prior year."

4:13PM Con-way: Lowers FY08 EPS guidance below consensus (CNW) 42.94 -1.17 : Co cuts their FY08 EPS guidance to $2.60-$2.80 vs First Call consensus of $3.22 and vs previous guidance of $3.00-$3.40. Co states, "The economy has been battered by an unprecedented confluence of macroeconomic crises, curtailing demand for freight transportation services. Over the past several weeks we have seen volumes decline further, exacerbated by September's weather events, all of which continue to pressure yields. To date, the traditional peak seasonal uptick in demand has been muted so we expect the challenging business environment to continue through the 2008 fourth quarter."

4:06PM Micron misses by $0.05, misses on revs (MU) 4.29 +0.24 : Reports Q4 (Aug) loss of $0.27 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.05 worse than the First Call consensus of ($0.22); revenues rose 0.9% year/year to $1.45 bln vs the $1.55 bln consensus. Co says, "Absent the effect of the inventory write-down in Q4 and the NAND Flash price adjustments, the co's gross margin on sales of memory products was slightly positive, with cost of goods sold per gigabit in Q4 decreasing ~5% and 15% for DRAM and NAND Flash products, respectively, compared to Q3. Inventories for memory products decreased in Q3 of FY08 compared to Q3 partially as a result of the write-down at the end of Q4. Sales of CMOS image sensors in Q4 of FY08 increased slightly compared to Q3 and represented 12% of the co's total sales in Q4. The co's gross margin on sales of imaging products during Q4 decreased to 29% compared to 35% in Q3, primarily due to lower average selling prices... Consistent with market conditions, we are implementing a 20 % reduction in salary compensation for MU senior executives."

4:05PM Immucor beats by $0.05, beats on revs; guides FY09 EPS in-line, revs in-line (BLUD) 32.07 +0.11 : Reports Q1 (Aug) earnings of $0.28 per share, $0.05 better than the First Call consensus of $0.23; revenues rose 15.0% year/year to $73.2 mln vs the $71.1 mln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY09, sees EPS of $0.94-0.98 vs. $0.95 consensus; sees FY09 revs of &292-300 mln vs. $297.35 mln consensus. FY09 gross margin is expected to be in the range of 70% to 71%.

7:34AM Actuant reports EPS in-line, misses on revs; guides Q1 EPS below consensus, revs below consensus; guides FY09 EPS in-line, revs below consensus (ATU) 25.24 : Reports Q4 (Aug) earnings of $0.54 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.54; revenues rose 3.8% year/year to $405 mln vs the $425.8 mln consensus. Co issues downside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.48-$0.52 vs. $0.56 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $405-$415 mln vs. $437.04 mln consensus. Co issues mixed guidance for FY09, sees EPS of $2.25-$2.35 vs. $2.31 consensus; sees FY09 revs of $1.725-$1.750 vs. $1.77 bln consensus.

6:13AM Pediatrix Medical lowers Q308 EPS guidance (PDX) 53.92 : Co issues downside guidance for Q3 (Sep), sees EPS of $0.81-0.83 vs. $0.85 First Call consensus. During Q308, co announces a a shift in reimbursement for patient care from commercial payors to government payors. In addition, same-unit neonatal intensive care unit patient volume is expected to be at the lower end of the co's guided range, which was an anticipated decline of 1 to 4%. PDX now expects its EPS for Q308, will range from $0.81-0.83. In addition, in August 2008 Pediatrix issued EPS guidance of $0.84-0.87 for Q408, which excluded any anesthesia acquisitions completed following the issuance of that guidance. Based on the recent same-unit NICU volume and payor mix trends, Pediatrix is not able to confirm this guidance.