Market briefing --- Matt (slow)
Cisco --- Bob (fast)
NYSE --- Deb (fast)
welcome to “world financial report.” i’m matt nesto. cisco systems shares are lower in extended-hours trading after the company reported its fiscal third-quarter relates. bob bowden has details.
>> good afternoon. it’s still a breaking story as the conference call is taking place now. i had a break to come and do this report. there will be more later on about an hour from now on cisco. the headline numbers, 27% earnings growth beating consensus earnings estimates by a penny a share and so far that’s not enough for investors as shares are down in extended-hours trading. we begin with the operating earnings figure of 19 cents a share, 27% better than the 15 cents a share from the same period a year ago. we throw on the consensus analysts’ estimates of 18 cents a share and you see that 19 cents was a penny better than expected. sales for cisco last quarter coming in at $5.26 billion, up 22% from a a year ago and like earnings, sales also beat expectations. there you see the estimate and 5.62 is 1% better than expected. on the company conference call, john chambers said that global i.t. recovery is gaining momentum and cisco broke down revenue saying that routers brought in 23% of the revenue from the last quarter and switchers, 43% and advanced technology, considered the future, including voice-over i.p. products, that was 16% revenue for the quarter and other at 4% and services at 16% of the company’s revenue. on the company’s conference call, c.e.o. chambers said that cisco’s future growth in earnings would be driven primarily by top-line revenue growth, in other words, not from improved profitability, but more sales. on the press release and conference call, the c.e.o. saying “we are pleased to have a chief record earnings per share this quarter marking our eighth consecutive quarter with pro forma income at these levels. we shouldn’t overemphasize the downward move in shares, down 15 cents a share currently. as i indicated at the top, the conference call is still ongoing so more things could be said and we’ll watch those shares.
>> if there are developments, we will bring them to you. for the first time in 13 years, crude oil futures in new york trading closed the day above $40 a barrel officially, $40.06. nearly 3% higher on the day. yesterday, the saudi oil minister called for opec to boost production quoteas to bring the price down. traders were skeptical that the move would lead to higher inventories. the united arab emirates minister said opec already pumps more than its quota. it was a sprint to the finish line with the final 30 minutes of trading pushing the s&p and nasdaq to their best levels of the day. clearly the best performers of the day. the nasdaq almost 2% higher. looking at the bond market , we saw strength, particularly in the 10-year note, little changed on the shorter with the yield inching to 4.75 on the 10-year note. and the latest trade in currency and as things get underway in asia, little change there but in new york trade, the yen and euro both up versus the dollar and the pound down, to its lowest level this year. a rebound in stocks was the story du jour at the new york stock exchange and deb kostroun, always there, pen in hand, with details. deb?
>> matt, stocks snapping that three-day losing streak. the dow above 10,000, closing also above that 200-day moving average because throughout the session we were teetering and as matt alluded to, the last hour we saw the market moving upward. however, we just saw average volume on this rebound. that was disappointing as in the past three days with the major selloff, it has been on above-average volume and we like to see the reverse of that with above-average volume on the up days. it really shows you maybe not that much conviction in the market . also, semiconductors leading on the way on increased inventories. intel also texas instruments, the two biggest semiconductor makers saying they increased their inventories to the highest level since 2001. that in a bet that spending on electronics will rise. we heard last week that worldwide chip sales surged 32% from the year early earlier according to the semiconductor industry association and they expect 2004 growth to increase 20%. energy a big story in today’s session. texas instruments and intel, they both have analysts’ meetings this week. energy, another big story not only in the fact that $40 a barrel in crude oil but also the energy department saying that motorists in the u.s. will pay record high prices for gasoline this summer because of high crude oil costs, also strong demand and tight inventories. what we’re looking at this summer, regular-grade gasoline to average $1.94 a gallon, up 18 cents from last month. many of the oil tankers, shippers performing quite well as the talk about opec increasing production helping many of the shipping stocks today. back to you in the studio.
>> thank you very much. here’s an active after-hours trader for you. sycamore networks up almost 9%. the company reporting a 39% increase in its sales because a contract to overhaul communications for the pentagon. sycamore makes fiber optic networking equipment and is based in massachusetts. it lost four cents a share as it did a year ago but the company took in $14.7 million in revenue. the big story there. walt disney reporting earnings tomorrow after the close of regular trading. the company is expected to say that its second-quarter profit surged 87% to about $428 million or 21 cents a share. revenue up 8% also to just under $7 billion and wall street is expecting that revenue figure to rise about 8% as we said, the driver of growth, higher advertising rates at disney’s espn cable tv sports networks. one analyst says it could contribute 65% of disney’s quarterly profit as the film studios and its broadcast network struggle. film studio profit could fall 30% from a year ago due to weak ticket sales for the movies “the alamo,” and “home on the range” according to the merrill lynch analyst jessica cohen. michael eisner says business is improving at the company’s parks in california and florida. profit at the park in florida fell to its low in almost a decade in the year-ago period on concerns of terrorism. eisner has been the longest-serving c.e.o. among any dow jones component stock and his contract is expected to expire in 2006. he is under fire from dissident shareholders, roy disney and stanley gold, for mismanaging the company in their terms and fault eisner for not turning around the abc network. for a closer look at disney shares, we’ll dive into the terminal here if we can and that is not disney, folks. that is me not ready to do disney. can we move on? all right. presidential candidate john kerry narrows a list of potential running mates. when we return, we’ll look at who the short list is to be the vice presidential nominee on the democratic ticket. that and more coming up.
