Earnings roundup

Tysabri's return boosts Biogen Idec

Shares of Domino's Pizza Inc. rose the most in four years after the second-largest US pizza chain reported its second-quarter profit rose to $18.7 million, up from $2.32 million in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 1.7 percent to $334.3 million, less than analysts forecast. (Douglas C. Pizac/ Associated Press/File 2007)

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July 23, 2008

The shares biggest jump before yesterday happened on Jan. 24, 2006, when a better-than-expected earnings report drove the stock up as much as 16 percent.

The Milford company reported net income rose 39 percent to $83.1 million, or 82 cents a share, from $59.9 million, or 59 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales increased 13 percent to $398.8 million.

The company said it found and corrected overstatements for income tax expenses, adding $7.6 million to net income. Net income per share exceeded by 11 cents the average forecast in a Bloomberg survey of four analysts.

Earnings after adjustments for the tax overpayment and an understatement of amortization expenses were 76 cents a share, compared with the 71-cent average estimate in a Bloomberg survey of nine analysts. (Bloomberg)

Business software maker VMware Inc. said second-quarter profit and revenue grew, helped by growing international sales, but the company's revenue forecast for the current quarter fell shy of expectations.

The company, which earlier this month replaced cofounder Diane Greene as chief executive and lowered its sales outlook, earned $52.3 million, or 13 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30, up 53 percent from $34.2 million, or 10 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. Adjusted earnings for the latest quarter were 23 cents per share.

Revenue rose 54 percent to $456.2 million from $296.8 million.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 23 cents per share, excluding items, on slightly higher revenue of $458.6 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

VMware makes "virtualization" software, which helps corporate data centers lower their expenses on power and equipment by enabling a single computer to function like multiple machines. Data storage company EMC Corp. of Hopkinton owns an 85 percent stake in VMware.

VMware forecast third-quarter sales of $462 million to $468 million, well below the $497.3 million that Wall Street analysts are expecting. (AP)

Yahoo Inc., the Internet company that added activist investor Carl Icahn to its board Monday, posted an 18 percent drop in second-quarter profit after spending more on developing new projects.

Net income fell to $131.2 million, or 9 cents a share. Excluding fees passed on to partner sites, sales rose 8.2 percent to $1.35 billion, compared with the $1.38 billion average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Development costs advanced 12 percent as Yahoo spent more on improving search-engine technology.

While an economic slowdown hurt some customers' advertising budgets, partnerships with clients such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. helped Yahoo meet its own targets, chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen said.

Yahoo changed its full-year revenue forecast to between $7.35 billion and $7.8 billion from $7.2 billion to $8 billion. The company began forecasting sales under generally accepted accounting principles after the first quarter.

Last year, second-quarter profit amounted to $160.6 million, or 11 cents, the company said. Excluding costs such as stock-based compensation, last quarter's earnings amounted to 10 cents, trailing the 16-cent average estimate.

Gross revenue climbed 5.9 percent to $1.8 billion. For the third quarter, Yahoo projected gross revenue of $1.78 billion to $1.98 billion, compared with the $1.94 billion estimate of Canaccord Adams Inc. analyst Colin Gillis in New York.

The results may make it harder for chief executive Jerry Yang to deliver on his vow to boost sales 72 percent by 2010. Yang has disputed Icahn's assertion that Yahoo needs Microsoft to compete with Google Inc. in Internet searches and online advertising. (Bloomberg)

Customers are using UPS shipping services within the United States less amid a slumping economy and soaring fuel prices.

The company's international business was affected as imports into the country declined in the second quarter.

As it reported a nearly 21 percent profit decline in the April-June period and lowered its outlook for the year, United Parcel Service Inc. said it was working to cut costs.

"Brace yourselves for more tough times," Edward Jones analyst Dan Ortwerth said.

Even so, Ortwerth said the Atlanta-based company has the financial wherewithal to steer through the rough patch.

"There is far too much long-term competitive pressure as the economy globalizes to meet customer needs and to meet them rapidly, and businesses cannot afford to walk away from the best services available to them," he said.

UPS, hit by an average daily volume decline in the United States and soaring fuel costs, said its profit was $873 million, or 85 cents a share, in the second quarter, compared with profit of $1.10 billion, or $1.04 a share, for the same period a year ago.

Revenue grew to $13 billion from $12.2 billion.

Executives said they were taking several initiatives to control costs, including a freeze on hiring nonsales jobs. (AP)