Wrigley reports strong international growth
CHICAGO -- Gum and candy maker Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. said Wednesday third-quarter profit rose 11 percent on strong international growth and a weak dollar. But results fell just short of expectations and Wrigley's stock tumbled.
Chief Executive Bill Perez said the Chicago-based company faced tough comparisons against results of a year ago and spent more on product and marketing initiatives.
Wrigley's earnings were only a penny a share off Wall Street estimates, but investors took profits after having pushed the stock nearly 30 percent higher in 2007. Shares fell $5.57, or 8.3 percent, to close at $61.28 Wednesday.
Earnings for the July-through-September quarter were $164.5 million, or 59 cents per share, up from $148 million, or 53 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected a profit of 60 cents per share.
Revenue rose 13 percent to $1.33 billion from $1.18 billion, slightly above the $1.31 billion expected by analysts.
Boeing profit up 61 percent
CHICAGO -- The world's No. 2 commercial airplane maker posted its best profit in nearly four years Wednesday as higher commercial airplane deliveries helped Boeing earn $1.1 billion in the third quarter.
The results beat Wall Street expectations, but the company cautioned a six-month delay in the launch of its new 787 "Dreamliner" plane would cut into its 2008 revenue and cause it to push 35 plane deliveries from 2008 into 2009.
For the quarter ending Sept. 30, profit rose 61 percent and amounted to $1.44 per share, up from $694 million, or 89 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 12 percent to $16.5 billion from $14.7 billion a year ago.
CME Group up on CBOT buy
CHICAGO -- Financial exchange operator CME Group Inc. said Wednesday its third-quarter earnings rose 94 percent due to its $11.9 billion acquisition of the Chicago Board of Trade.
CME, which also owns the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, reaped the benefits from market turmoil that has resulted in heavy speculating and hedging among investors. Clearing and transaction fee revenues from the two exchanges, assuming they had been combined a year ago, jumped 46 percent to $496 million.
Net income rose to $201.6 million, or $3.87 per share, from $103.8 million, or $2.95 per share, during the same quarter a year ago. Revenue reached $565.2 million, up from $274.7 million.
Ad revenue hurts Tribune earnings
CHICAGO -- Media conglomerate Tribune Co. said Wednesday its third-quarter earnings dropped 7 percent as the housing slump and lower consumer spending worsened an ongoing decline in advertising revenue from its newspapers.
Chicago-based Tribune is waiting for Federal Communications Commission waivers from rules banning same-market media outlet ownership nearly seven months after real estate magnate Sam Zell agreed to lead a $8.2 billion buyout.
Net income for the July-through-September quarter fell to $152.8 million from $164.3 million a year earlier. The per-share figure nearly doubled to $1.22 from 65 cents because the number of shares outstanding fell by half. Revenue slipped to $1.28 billion from $1.33 billion last year but topped Wall Street's estimate of $1.25 billion.
Merrill Lynch reels from write-down
NEW YORK -- Merrill Lynch & Co reported Wednesday the biggest quarterly loss in its history after writing down $8.4 billion, mostly from bad investments related to risky subprime mortgages.
"The bottom line is we got it wrong by being overexposed to subprime," Merrill Lynch Chairman and Chief Executive Stan O'Neal said. "And we suffered as a result of an unprecedented liquidity squeeze and deterioration in that market. No one, no one is more disappointed than I am in that result."
New York-based Merrill Lynch shares closed at a two-year low, down 5.8 percent at $63.22 on the New York Stock Exchange.
Merrill Lynch's third-quarter net loss was $2.3 billion, or $2.85 a share, from continuing operations, compared with a profit of $3 billion, or $3.14 a share, a year earlier.