4:20PM Research In Motion beats by $0.06, beats on revs; guides Q1 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (RIMM) 49.09 +3.47 : Reports Q4 (Feb) earnings of $0.90 per share, $0.06 better than the First Call consensus of $0.84; revs rose 24.5% year/year to $3.46 bln vs $3.40 bln First Call consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q1, sees EPS of $0.88-0.97 vs. $0.82 consensus; sees Q1 revs of $3.3-3.5 bln vs. $3.35 bln consensus. Approximately 3.9 mln net new BlackBerry subscriber accounts were added in the quarter vs updated guidance of 20% higher than previous guidance of 2.9 mln guidance (equates to ~3.48 mln). RIM shipped approximately 7.8 million devices in the fourth quarter vs guidance of 7.5-8 mln. Co reports Q4 gross margins of 40.0% vs First Call est of 40.4%. Co sees Q1 gross margins of 43-44% vs First Call est of 40.9%. Net subscriber account additions in the first quarter are expected to be between 3.7-3.9 mln.
4:10PM Micron reports Q2 (Feb) results, misses on revs (MU) 4.63 +0.45 : Reports Q2 (Feb) loss of $0.97 per share, including items may not be comparable to the First Call consensus of ($0.64); revenues fell 29.2% year/year to $993 mln vs the $1.14 bln consensus. These results reflect a number of cash and non-cash items resulting in a net charge of $120 mln in the 2Q09. The co ended the quarter with cash and investments of $932 mln. The imbalance of supply and demand for semiconductor memory products continued in the second quarter, resulting in significant decreases in the company's per gigabit average selling prices compared to the preceding quarter. Revenue from sales of DRAM products decreased approximately 30% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter principally due to a 30% decrease in selling prices. Sales volumes for DRAM products remained relatively stable comparing the same periods. Revenue from sales of NAND Flash products decreased 20% in the second quarter compared to the first quarter due to a 13% decrease in selling prices and an eight percent decrease in sales volume. Memory production in the second quarter was relatively flat compared to the preceding quarter... The company's gross margin on sales of memory products improved 11 percent in the second quarter compared to the previous quarter, resulting from decreases in per gigabit manufacturing costs and the benefit in the second quarter from sales of products previously written-down, partially offset by decreases in selling prices.
4:04PM Global Payment beats by $0.03, beats on revs; reaffirms FY09 EPS guidance, revs guidance (GPN) 33.82 +0.47 : Reports Q3 (Feb) earnings of $0.45 per share, $0.03 better than the First Call consensus of $0.42. Co reaffirms guidance for FY09, sees EPS of $2.14-2.21 vs. $2.18 consensus; sees FY09 revs of $1.55-1.58 vs. $1.58 bln consensus. "We achieved solid third quarter financial performance, in spite of continuing macroeconomic headwinds and unfavorable foreign currency trends. Our normalized results for the quarter were driven by the impact of our June 30, 2008 U.K. acquisition and strong results in our North America segment. North America continues to benefit from successful pricing initiatives in Canada and solid 15% transaction growth in the U.S."
8:23AM Monsanto beats by $0.09, misses on revs; reaffirms FY09 EPS - Correction (MON) : Reports Q2 (Feb) earnings of $2.16 per share, $0.09 better than the First Call consensus of $2.07; revenues rose 8.3% year/year to $4.04 bln vs the $4.14 bln consensus. For the first half of fiscal year 2009, net cash provided by operating activities was $1.5 billion, compared with $1.9 billion in the same period of fiscal year 2008. Co reaffirms guidance for FY09, sees EPS of 4.40-4.50 vs. $4.69 consensus. The company expects that its free cash flow for fiscal year 2009 will be approximately $1.8 billion. The company expects net cash provided by operating activities to be about $3 billion, and net cash required by investing activities to be approximately $1.2 billion for fiscal year 2009. (Briefing.com note: We are correcting our comment on guidance, we initially called this in-line, which was incorrect. We have deleted the original comment.)
8:03AM Lindsay Corp misses by $0.20, misses on revs (LNN) 27.44 : Reports Q2 (Feb) earnings of $0.01 per share, $0.20 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.21; revenues fell 39.9% year/year to $65.1 mln vs the $73.5 mln consensus. Gross margin was 20.4% compared to 27.7% a year ago on lower irrigation margins from reduced factory volume and lower infrastructure margins primarily resulting from unfavorable product mix due to a delay in the previously announced Mexico City moveable barrier project. Lindsay's backlog of unshipped orders at February 28, 2009 was $45.5 mln compared with $98.5 mln at February 29, 2008. Co says, "General economic conditions and agricultural commodity prices remained unfavorable during the quarter adversely affecting the willingness of farmers to make investments in capital goods. During the past several months, we have also seen federal, state and local governments limit spending on infrastructure projects, pending availability of funds. Agricultural market conditions are expected to continue to adversely affect irrigation demand for the remainder of our fiscal year, while we do anticipate improved demand for road infrastructure products due to increased funding from the stimulus package."
7:49AM CarMax beats by $0.15, misses on revs (KMX) 12.46 : Reports Q4 (Feb) earnings of $0.17 per share, $0.15 better than the First Call consensus of $0.02; revenues fell 27.9% year/year to $1.47 bln vs the $1.62 bln consensus. Co states, "Once again, the most significant factor affecting our sales was a sharp decline in customer traffic compared with the prior year. We estimate that traffic declined nearly as much as our 26% decrease in comparable store used unit sales, while our conversion rate slipped slightly. Our used vehicle average selling price decreased 7% versus the prior year's quarter primarily reflecting our lower vehicle acquisition costs. While the weak economy was the largest factor in the comparable store sales decline, we believe that our lean inventory levels and a decrease in the percentage of sales financed by CAF were also modest contributors to the lower sales. Our data indicates that while we experienced a small decline in our share of the late-model used vehicle market for the quarter, we gained market share for the full year."
7:38AM Schnitzer Steel misses by $0.30, beats on revs (SCHN) 32.95 : Reports Q2 (Feb) loss of $0.25 per share, $0.30 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.05; revenues fell 42.3% year/year to $433.6 mln vs the $426.6 mln consensus. Co notes pricing for ferrous scrap metal began to decline slightly toward the end of Q209. Based on current market conditions, Q3 average net prices are expected to be slightly lower than prices achieved during the second quarter. The overseas markets for ferrous scrap are expected to remain stronger than domestic markets. Sales volumes: Demand for ferrous and nonferrous materials appears to have stabilized and both ferrous and nonferrous sales volumes will be highly dependent upon the timing of shipments, according to co. Q3 ferrous processing sales volumes are expected to decline slightly from volumes shipped during the recently completed second quarter. Nonferrous sales volumes are expected to increase slightly on a sequential basis. Margins: Lower inventory costs, which are more reflective of the current market for raw materials, are expected to result in an operating margin per ton which is improved from the recently completed second quarter. However, lower sales prices for the nonferrous metals extracted from the shredding process are expected to result in an operating margin per ton slightly below the bottom end of the quarterly range of $22/ton to $62/ton experienced during fiscal years 2006 and 2007. Auto Parts Business: Revenue. Normal seasonal improvements in parts sales and the availability of scrapped vehicles are expected to result in revenues which are improved from the recently completed second quarter. Margins. Operating margins are expected to be positive and improved from the second quarter due to improved margins from scrap and cores and seasonal improvements in parts sales. Steel Manufacturing Business: Pricing: Demand for finished steel products in West Coast markets is expected to remain weak, and average sales prices are expected to decline from the levels in the recently completed second quarter. Volumes. Sales volumes are expected to approximate the volumes in the recently completed second quarter. Margins. The impact of low production volumes and falling sales prices, both due to continued weak demand for finished steel products, are expected to result in margins in the Steel Manufacturing Business which will remain negative, although improved from the recently co
