The Australian toll road company’s net profit for the six months to Dec. 31 rose to A$93.2 million from A$74.7 million a year earlier.

Proportional earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization–a measure closely watched by analysts–increased 7.5% to A$390.0 million, beating a Goldman Sachs forecast of A$377.5 million.

Transurban declared an interim dividend of 14.5 cents per security and stuck to its guidance for the full year of at least 29 cents.

It said the upgrade of the M2 tollway in Sydney is about half-finished and expected to reach completion in the first half of 2013. The Capital Beltway project in the U.S. is over 80% done and on track for completion by the end of 2012, it said.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/transurban-profit-up-on-traffic-volumes-cost-cuts-2012-02-06

For the new year, the company forecast earnings of $5.04 to $5.20 a share on revenue growth of 4% to 6%, bracketing the $5.11 and 5% estimates from analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The company, which provide information technology to the financial and insurance industries, has seen revenue grow in recent quarters on better results in its processing and services arm. But severance and debt-reduction charges have hurt its bottom line lately.

President and Chief Executive Jeffery Yabuki said revenue growth in the latest period was at its highest level in more than three years.

Fiserv reported a profit of $143 million, or $1.01 a share, up from $116 million, or 78 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items such as amortization of acquisition-related assets and early debt extinguishment, adjusted earnings from continuing operations rose to $1.26 from $1.06. Revenue climbed 7.7% to $1.16 billion.

Analysts had most recently forecast earnings of $1.27 on revenue of $1.13 billion.

Processing-and-services revenue, which makes up most of the company’s business, rose 5.2%. Product revenue increased 18%.

Shares closed at $63.11 Thursday and were unchanged after hours. The stock is up 11% in the past three months.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fiserv-earnings-up-23-on-higher-revenue-2012-02-02

Samsung, the world’s largest technology firm by revenue, said its net profit for the three months ended Dec. 31 rose to KRW4 trillion (US$3.57 billion) from KRW3.42 trillion a year earlier. In the third quarter, Samsung reported a net profit of KRW3.44 trillion.

The result was lower than the average KRW4.12 trillion net profit forecast in a poll of six analysts.

Samsung’s new revenue generators, such as high-end organic light-emitting diode displays and mobile processing semiconductors, cushioned the impact of a continued profit squeeze at the company’s liquid crystal display and computer memory chip businesses. The deal to sell Samsung’s hard disk drive business to U.S.-based Seagate Technology Inc. for $1.4 billion and the reversal of some provisions on royalties to Microsoft Corp. for Samsung’s Android-based smartphones and tablets also boosted income in the fourth quarter.

The firm’s operating profit and sales were in line with the company’s guidance issued earlier this month. Operating profit rose 75.8% to a record KRW5.3 trillion, from KRW3.01 trillion a year earlier, while sales rose 13% KRW47.3 trillion, from KRW41.87 trillion. Samsung had forecast a consolidated operating profit of between KRW5.0 trillion and KRW5.4 trillion on sales of between KRW46 trillion and KRW48 trillion.

Analysts said conditions in the global technology industry will remain challenging this year due to the lingering uncertainties over the global economy and Europe’s debt troubles, but the electronics giant’s earnings momentum will remain robust as its brisk sales of smartphones will continue to drive sales of its components.

“Samsung’s operating profit will decrease to about KRW4.48 trillion in the first quarter due to the traditionally slower selling season, but will rebound from the second quarter as smartphone sales growth will continue, which will help strengthen the synergies between the company’s set products and components,” Solomon Investment & Securities said in a report.

For the full year in 2011, Samsung posted a net profit of KRW13.73 trillion on record sales of KRW165 trillion.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/samsung-profit-up-17-on-record-smartphone-sales-2012-01-26

Shares were up 7.3% at $17.31 after hours on the company’s better-than-expected outlook. Through the close, shares have risen 14% in the last year, better than the broader market.

The company predicted adjusted first-quarter earnings of 22 to 33 cents a share on revenue of $360 million to $400 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected 15 cents and $296 million respectively.

The company’s results have been faltering in recent quarters, as its chip-maker clientele faces wilting demand. The company swung a loss from continuing operations before income taxes of $9.2 million in the latest period versus a year-earlier profit of $50.8 million. The latest period included a $134 million tax-provision benefit.

But overall, Teradyne posted a profit of $125.1 million, or 56 cents a share, from $60.1 million, or 27 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest results included acquisition costs and pension settlement, while the previous year’s results included employee severance and a facility-related benefit. Excluding items, earnings from continuing operations fell to 16 cents a share from 35 cents.

Revenue decreased 4.2% to $297 million.

In October, Teradyne forecast adjusted per-share earnings of 8 cents to 16 cents on revenue between $270 million and $300 million.

Gross margin fell to 45.9% from 52.7%.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/teradyne-earnings-jump-on-tax-benefit-shares-up-2012-01-25

Shares surged 9.7% to $36.46 after hours as the company also predicted an upbeat second-quarter profit of 51 cents to 58 cents, excluding any restructuring charges, with revenue between $550 million and $580 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting 51 cents and $548 million, respectively.

Plexus’s earnings have slid for the past three quarters as weak end-market demand prevents some customers from expanding their manufacturing operations. The company provides mechanical and electronic products to makers of everything from industrial equipment to electronics, leaving it indirectly vulnerable to broader weakness in consumer demand.

Margins still improved in the latest quarter after the company’s engineering solutions group delivered better-than-expected earnings. Chief Financial Officer Ginger Jones also pointed to positive results from a recent inventory disposition.

The company has cautioned that volatile customer demand will make it difficult to predict revenue growth this year, though orders from new customers have helped bolster its top line. Major brands like Juniper Networks Inc. JNPR +1.96% and Coca-Cola Co. KO -0.13% are among the company’s biggest clients.

Plexus grew its manufacturing base earlier this month when a Malaysian subsidiary of embedded computing company Kontron AG agreed to transfer most of its inventory, equipment and employees. Plexus expects the deal, which includes a payment of about $30 million to $35 million, to modestly add to earnings this fiscal year.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Plexus reported a profit of $17.9 million, or 51 cents a share, down from $25 million, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales fell 6.4% to $529.7 million.

The company’s revised guidance earlier this month called for a profit between 48 cents and 50 cents a share, with $525 million to $530 million in revenue.

Gross margin edged up to 9.8% from 9.7%.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/plexus-earnings-fall-29-on-weaker-sales-2012-01-18

Shares rose 7.1% to $37.82 after hours as the company predicted its fourth-quarter revenue would rebound by 2% to 6% sequentially, delivering between $521.3 million and $541.8 million in sales. Analysts’ average estimate called for $511 million, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Xilinx’s sales have soured over the past two quarters as the semiconductor company’s communications customers, particularly in the wireless sector, hold back on new orders.

At the same time, President and Chief Executive Moshe Gavrielov has touted the company’s efforts to improve its margins during the sales downturn. Xilinx makes chips for devices ranging from cellphone-base stations to DVD players, though communications products still accounted for 43% of its top line in the latest quarter.

For the period ended Dec. 31, earnings fell to $127 million, or 47 cents a share, down from $152.3 million, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest quarter’s result included a six-cent per-share tax benefit. Analysts were expecting a 37-cent profit.

Revenue was $511.1 million, down 9.9% from a year earlier and 7.9% below the second-quarter result. The company’s lowered December projection called for a 9% to 12% sequential decline, which would have delivered between $488.6 million and $505.2 million.

Gross margin edged up to 65.8% from 65.7%, above the company’s December target of about 65%.

Sales to Xilinx’s communications end market fell 13%, while the company’s Asia Pacific region reported the steepest revenue drop with a 17% decline in sales.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/xilinxs-net-falls-17-on-wireless-weakness-2012-01-18

Shares of BankUnited, which failed in 2009 and was taken over by a group of investors including Blackstone BX -0.20% and the Carlyle Group, shot up 11% and triggered a circuit breaker in Friday afternoon trading.

An initial public offering for BankUnited, which priced in January 2011, valued the bank at $2.6 billion, according to previous reports.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bankunited-working-with-goldman-on-possible-sale-2012-01-13

Moran has served as the pet product retailer’s CEO and president since 2009 and previously served as chief operating officer. Moran will retain his CEO title while Phil Francis, the board’s former executive chairman, will remain a member of the board.

Lenhardt joined the company in 2000 and was named executive vice president last year. The board also said Chief Financial Officer Lawrence “Chip” Molloy will take on the additional position of executive vice president.

The changes are effective Jan. 30.

PetSmart has been reporting steady profit growth for a year and a half now, lately driven by demand for margin-boosting prescription and “super-premium” pet foods and premium hard goods.

In November, the company reported its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 23% as same-store sales jumped 6.1%.

Shares were up 24 cents to $52.32 in recent trading. The stock is up 26% in the past three months.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/petsmart-ceo-moran-to-take-on-chairman-title-2012-01-06

The results also seemed to give some credence to Greenlight Capital Inc.’s David Einhorn argument that Green Mountain shares are overvalued due in part to what he sees as demand being overestimated.

Wednesday, Green Mountain reported another quarter of strong growth, with fourth-quarter earnings tripling and sales up 91% from the prior year on brisk sales of its Keurig single-cup brewing system and its associated K-Cups. Chief Executive Lawrence Blanford sought to reassure investors end-demand from consumer remained steady and robust.

But the sales growth was not as frothy as Green Mountain predicted, a shortfall the company blamed on some grocery and club retailers changing their wholesale ordering patterns. Blanford said Wednesday that some retailers scaled back their orders in the latest period after having placed big orders in the third-quarter, throwing off their sales projections.

The sales miss was the first since early 2009, rattling investors and raising concerns that demand for Keurig brewers and K-Cups might be waning.

In recent trading, Green Mountain shares were down 37.8%, to $41.70, and down more than 60% from a 52-week high of $115.98 hit Sept. 20.

While Green Mountain didn’t provide full clarity on the changed order patterns, some analysts suggested that customers accelerated their orders in the third-quarter to build up their inventories before Green Mountain increased prices. “If so, this implies absolutely nothing regarding future sales trends,” Roth Capital Partners analyst Anton Brenner said in a research note.

But Stifel analyst Mark Astrachan said that Green Mountain may be seeing weaker demand for its brewers and K-Cups, a problem that was “exacerbated by the company shipping ahead of demand in recent quarters.”

The results were some vindication for Einhorn, who has railed against Green Mountain–and the high price of its shares–in recent weeks. Einhorn has built a “short” position against Green Mountain, and questioned the company’s accounting, transparency and business practices.

In his case against the company, Einhorn said that Green Mountain was overestimating demand for its products, and routinely producing too many brewers and K-Cups. He also suggested the company was engaging in unsavory accounting and shipping methods that inflated sales growth.

A spokesman for Einhorn said that the hedge fund manager was not available for comment.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/green-mountain-shares-plummet-on-growth-doubts-2011-11-10

The company’s revenue jumped in recent quarters thanks to higher output, as well as better prices. In October of last year, it bought substantially all of the oil and gas assets of privately held Marbob Energy Corp., which expanded production.

Concho posted a profit of $356.2 million, or $3.44 a share, from $20.8 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding mark-to-market derivative effects, among other items, earnings rose to $1.14 a share from 77 cents.

Revenue doubled to $454.5 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted earnings of $1.07 a share on revenue of $416 million.

In the latest period, the company swung to $387 million in derivative gains from $70.2 million in losses.

Overall production was up 73%. The oil business, which accounts for the bulk of Concho’s revenue, saw average daily output increase 57%. Average oil prices, with derivatives, increased 16%.

Shares were down 2.5% at $93.67 after hours.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/concho-resources-profit-soars-on-derivative-gains-2011-11-02