Blowout Earnings, Plus, Disney Dumped!

January 29, 2004
Brice Wightman

Stocks
were mixed as investors pondered the Fed minutes,
which showed the Fed debated dropping the “considerable period” language in
December.
The market reversed weakness mid-day close close off its
lows. The dollar was higher vs the
euro, and gold dipped below $400 the ounce for the first time in eight weeks.
Breadth was 2:1, negative.

Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
solid earnings that beat estimates, in part due to a tax refund, and also guided
higher for 2004. Oil
giant ExxonMobil
(
XOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported higher earnings from rising energy
prices. Income rose to $6.65 billion on revenue of $65.95, with $2.23 billion of
the profit due to a favorable tax ruling. The company’s oil and gas production
fell to 4.41 million barrels per day despite heavy demand. Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
posted a fourth-quarter loss of $1.46 billion on revenues of $17.28 billion due
to a one-time charge of $3.1 billion, including 21,000 job cuts.

Dow	+41.92	10510.29
S&P 500	+5.63	1134.11
Nasdaq	-9.14	2068.23

Economic news releases included
Initial Claims falling to 342K, and a lower Helped Wanted index of 38.

10-year Notes were +035
at 113

The dollar
was +0.55 at 87.52

Gold was -9.31 at 399.30

Crude Oil was -0.77 at
32.81

Volume was
1,921,883,000 on
the NYSE, and 2,630,292,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative.

NYSE	Issues
Advancing	1209	Up Vol 801
Declining	2098	Down Vol 1082
Ratio	1.73	1.35
Nasdaq
Advancing	1121	Up Vol 805
Declining	2095	Down Vol 1810
Ratio	1.86	2.24

Stocks in the news:

After the bell, Nortel
(
NT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
$0.09 vs $0.02 for Q4, and $2.83B vs $2.45B revenue, beating by 16%. The stock
traded up a dollar in extended hours trading. Pixar
(
PIXR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), led
Steve Jobs, said they are ending discussions with Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to
extend their lucrative 5-year film deal, and will begin discussions with other
studios. One of the biggest movies of 2003, “Finding Nemo” was a joint
venture between the two companies.
“After 10 months of trying to strike a deal with
Disney, we’re moving on,” Jobs said. “We’ve had a great run together — one of
the most successful in Hollywood history — and it’s a shame that Disney won’t
be participating in Pixar’s future successes.”

Razor-maker Gillette
(
G |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported net
income of $368, up 6% from the previous quarter. Sales rose 4% to $2.62
billion. Both numbers were in line with analysts’ consensus.

Kellogg’s
(
K |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) earnings fell to $188
million due to higher costs, with revenue rising to $2.14 billion. The company
said sales of its cereal products were strong, but sales of Keebler cookie
products were disappointing.

AstraZeneca
(
AZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 2% after
reporting weaker earnings with EPS about 15 cents lower than expected. Net
income came in at $635 million with sales falling 2% to $4.9 billion.

JetBlue Airways
(
JBLU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
earnings of $19.5 million on sales of $262.9 million. Load factor rose 1.3
points to 83.1% on a 5% capacity increase. The airline’s shares are down 45%
from an October high of $46.

LSI Logic
(
LSI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings of
$7.6 million, including various one-time acquisition and restructuring charges.
After charges, earnings were $24.6 on $462.8 million revenue. The company’s
storage products have been strong but its semiconductor division has experienced
weakness.

bricew@tradingmarkets.com

Blowout Earnings, Plus, Disney Dumped!

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

Quick Links

Company Info

Contact

Company Resources