Outlook brightens for Evergreen Solar

Evergreen Solar Inc., a maker of wafers used in solar-power panels, reported a narrower first-quarter loss as demand for renewable energy surged.

The net loss was $25,000, compared with a loss of $6.2 million, or 9 cents a year earlier, the Marlborough-based company said. Evergreen was expected to have a loss of 7 cents, the average of eight analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales rose to $22.9 million from $14.1 million.

Demand for solar power has jumped 40 percent annually for the past four years as governments and regulators seek ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fossil-fuel use. Evergreen plans to boost capacity next year. (Bloomberg)

Google Inc., owner of the most popular search engine, reported a 30 percent increase in first-quarter profit after international expansion countered a slowdown in US advertising spending. The shares jumped 12 percent.

Net income rose to $1.31 billion, or $4.12 a share, from $1 billion, or $3.18, a year earlier, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company said. Sales, excluding revenue passed on to partner sites, climbed 46 percent to $3.7 billion, beating the average estimate of $3.59 billion in a Bloomberg survey of analysts.

Google dominates the global search market, accounting for almost two-thirds of Internet queries, according to ComScore Inc. International sales jumped 55 percent in the quarter, helping to compensate for a drop in advertising by US financial firms and slowing growth in the number of consumers clicking on text ads. (Bloomberg)

Harley-Davidson Inc., which has been slowing down for the past few years, has hit a serious rough patch as even its upwardly mobile customer base thinks twice about dropping thousands of dollars on a classic motorcycle.

The maker of one of America's most iconic rides said it will cut its workforce by 8 percent and trim bike shipments by the thousands with domestic sales falling nearly 13 percent in the first quarter.

Chief executive Jim Ziemer said Harley-Davidson has had temporary production cuts over the past four years, but the impending layoffs, involving hundreds of employees, are the first of that magnitude in two decades.

Expectations for the rest of the year are not good. The Milwaukee-based company cut its guidance for 2008, saying it expects earnings to decline by 15 to 20 percent.

US sales were down in the high teens in the past six weeks, Citigroup analyst Greg Badishkanian wrote in a research note, and he said the drop in Harley's guidance may not be low enough.

Net income for the quarter ended March 30 was down 2.5 percent to $187.6 million, or 79 cents per share, compared with a profit of $192.3 million, or 74 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue increased 10.8 percent to $1.31 billion from $1.18 billion a year ago. (AP)

The New York Times Co., the third-largest US newspaper publisher, reported a first-quarter loss as a drop in advertising sales intensified and the company recorded costs to cut jobs.

The loss of $335,000, or breakeven per share, compared with net income of $23.9 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier, the New York-based company said. Sales fell 4.9 percent to $747.9 million, missing the $757.4 million average of seven analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Expenses to reduce 100 staff in The New York Times newsroom lowered profit by $11.2 million. The company is trying to beat back an industrywide advertising slump. Chief executive Janet Robinson said on a conference call that results were also hurt by a weakening economy.

New York Times last reported a loss in the fourth quarter of 2006 when it wrote down the value of its Boston Globe unit by $814.4 million. Before that, the company hadn't reported a loss since the third quarter of 1996.

Ad revenue from the company's newspapers dropped 11 percent, a steeper drop than in previous quarters. Classified advertising, which made up about one-fourth of ad sales, fell 23 percent to $105 million in the quarter. (Bloomberg)

Merrill Lynch & Co. posted its third straight quarterly loss and said it will cut about 3,000 more jobs after the credit-market seizure forced the investment bank to write down about $6.5 billion of debt.

The smaller-than-estimated charge helped push Merrill shares up as much as 4.7 percent. Analysts including Roger Freeman of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. had predicted markdowns of as much as $8 billion. The first-quarter net loss of $1.96 billion, or $2.19 a share, compared with earnings of $2.16 billion, or $2.26, a year earlier, Merrill said.

It's "not really a disappointment even though they missed on the earnings line," said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial Group in Boston. "This is well within the range of expectations."

Chief executive officer John Thain said he's "optimistic" about the firm's prospects for the year, following a "more difficult next couple of months." (Bloomberg)