US Earnings Roundup: MO, BMY, UNP, XRX, BG, NYT, CCE

Wall Street's earnings season continued to reveal a mixed picture Thursday, with a handful of big-name companies either issuing gloomy outlooks or missing projections altogether. But there were some bright spots on the corporate earnings front.

Altria's Profit Slightly Beats Forecasts

Altria's profit beat market forecasts by 2 cents in the third quarter, when adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations came in at 46 cents.

Unadjusted diluted earnings per share were 42 cents in the third quarter, compared with 43 cents a share in the year-ago period.

The company reaffirmed its end-year adjusted earnings per share view $1.63 to $1.67.

Altria said in a statement its revenue rose 5 percent to $5.2 billion in the third quarter.

Bristol Profit Triples

Bristol-Myers Squibb said third-quarter earnings tripled from the sale of its ConvaTec wound-healing unit and higher drug sales, but the company took another big charge for soured investments.

The New York-based drugmaker said it earned $2.58 billion, or $1.29 per share, compared with $858 million, or 43 cents per share in the year-ago quarter.

The results reflect a $2 billion after-tax gain from the sale of the ConvaTec unit in August.

Bristol-Myers said its net earnings from continuing operations fell 21 percent to $588 million, or 30 cents per share, primarily due to a charge of $224 million in the quarter related to losses on auction rate securities.

Union Pacific Profit Jumps

No. 1 U.S. railroad Union Pacific reported better-than-expected quarterly profit Thursday, as strong pricing and improved fuel cost recovery offset declining freight volumes, hurricanes and a weakening U.S. economy.

"Solid pricing, increasing fuel cost recoveries and strong operating productivity all made positive impacts on our third quarter earnings," Chief Executive Jim Young said in a statement.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company reported income of $703 million, or $1.38 a share, compared with $532 million or $1.00 a share a year earlier.

Analysts on average expected earnings per share for the quarter of $1.30, according to Reuters Estimates.

Union Pacific said that Hurricanes Gustav and Ike had reduced earnings by 8 cents a share in the quarter.

Union Pacific reported revenue of $4.85 billion for the quarter, up from $4.19 billion a year earlier.

Analysts had expected revenue for the quarter of $4.72 billion.

Freight volumes were down 5 percent in the quarter from the same period in 2007.

Like the other major U.S. railroads, Union Pacific has posted robust profits in recent quarters as strong pricing has offset faltering U.S. retail and auto sales, the meltdown of the housing sector and the weakening of the overall economy.

Apart from strong pricing, the railroads have also showed continued strength in their coal and agriculture businesses in particular, which operate more independently of the U.S. economic cycle.

But some analysts have questioned how long the railroads can keep prices up in the face of a possible recession.

Prior to Thursday, two other major U.S. railroads, No. 3 CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern had both reported higher profits, thanks once again largely to higher freight prices.

Union Pacific said it expected continued earnings growth in the fourth quarter.

"UP expects to produce strong year-over-year earnings growth in the fourth quarter despite the continuing effect of the economic slowdown on our business," CEO Young said.

Xerox Profit Misses Expectations

Xerox, a supplier of office printing equipment and related services, posted weaker-than-expected quarterly profit, as cautious spending plans by its largest customers hurt profit margins.

The world's top supplier of digital printer and document management services also said it will accelerate cost cutting plans, and will take a $400 million charge in the fourth quarter.

Douglas Healey / AP Xerox

Net income was $258 million, or 29 cents a share, versus $254 million, or 27 cents a share one year ago.

Excluding special items, such as the settlement of certain tax benefits and a restructuring charge, the profit was 26 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Bunge Profit Falls 33%

Oilseed processor and fertilizer producer Bunge reported that quarterly profit fell 33 percent amid lower demand for livestock feed and reduced fertilizer sales in Brazil.

Bunge, the world's largest oilseed processor, said it expects the slowdown to be short-lived and expects demand for soymeal, soyoil and its other products to rebound.

Third-quarter earnings fell to $234 million, or $1.70 per share, compared with $351 million, or $2.70 per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 52 percent to $14.80 billion, compared with $9.73 billion a year ago. Volume, a measure that excludes currency and price fluctuations, fell 7 percent to 35.2 million tons.

New York Times Posts Loss

The New York Times posted a quarterly loss from continuing operations on Thursday, hurt by severance charges, and said it might take a writedown of as much as $150 million at its New England operations.

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The Times also reported a 16 percent drop in advertising revenue in its news media group because of weaker print advertising results at its major properties, including The Boston Globe and its namesake newspaper.

The company said it has "little visibility" on how ad revenue will be into the fourth quarter, but said October's declines so far are similar to those in September.

The company posted a preliminary third-quarter loss from continuing operations of a penny a share, compared with a profit of 10 cents a share in the same quarter a year ago.

Net income, including discontinued operations, was $6.5 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with $13.4 million, or 9 cents a share, last year.

Revenue fell 8.9 percent to $687 million.

The writedown, expected to be between $100 million and $150 million, would be the second time in recent years that the Times cut the value of its New England properties.

In 2006, an $814 million writedown pushed the company into a $648 million fourth-quarter loss.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Cuts '08 View; Shares Fall

Bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises said it faced lower funding and higher concentrate prices from Coca-Cola that would cut into its full-year profit, sending shares down 17.2 percent.

Coke Enterprises said fourth-quarter results would be hurt by a $35 million cut in funding from Coke, and a high single-digit increase in North American beverage concentrate costs.

Morgan Stanley analyst William Pecoriello said it was rare for Coke to raise concentrate prices before year-end and questioned Coke's motives, since trouble at the bottler hurts the world's largest soft drink maker as well.

"The ultimate end game will be the transformation of Coke Enterprises and significant structural changes to the business," Pecoriello said in a research note. "In the meantime, this confusion will only act to pressure Coke Enterprises and Coke shares as the battle is fought out publicly."

A Coke spokesman said the $35 million will be reallocated to marketing projects but declined to comment on the pricing action.

The news comes a day after Coke Chief Financial Officer Gary Fayard resigned from the bottler's board of directors.

—Reuters contributed to this story

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