Market briefing---Lane (medium)
Focus on Amazon--Matt (slow)
NYSE---Deb (fast)
Nasdaq---Anthony (slow)
>> welcome to “world financial report.” i’m lane bajardi in new york. amazon shares with extending their three-day decline after they posted record third quarter results an issued a full quarter―full-year analyst that one analyst calls conservative. matt?
>> the 90-page release that’s coming out, in the estimate of one analyst is a conservative figure. we look at the after-hours trade, we’re seeing amazon shares weaken up in extended hours. down almost 2% from where they closed today. there we go, down at 58.28. down 0.4% in regular trade today. enough of that. let’s get to the numbers actually driving it here. we’ll start with where we’ve been and go to where we’re going. third quarter net income, $15.6 million. that’s 4 cents a share. also this compared to an operating profit of 11 cents a share versus the expectations of 10 cents per share. that’s―when you back up within-time items and charges. the sales were up 32%, almost 33% to $1.13 billion. that’s up from about $851 million a year ago. again, that is right about exactly in line with the thompson financial estimate now. where we’re going, the fourth quarter, the final quarter, the christmas quarter for amazon, they’re forecasting a record quarter. the third quarter was a record third quarter. expecting more of the same in fourth. they see the seas in the fourth quarter up as much as 33% from a year ago. the range is $1.76 billion to $1.91 billion. the midpoint of that is $1.83 billion. the thompson estimate is $1.79 billion. there lies the conservative reaction we got from at least one analyst at sound view technology. he says the companies numbers were in line, actually met miest mats, he said, which were high. however, he said lately internet stocks that don’t beat these estimates have been trading down after hour. he goes on to say the revenue outoutlook is good, but the company may not be endorgs as strong an outlook as many would have liked. we think the company is being “conservative.” there we have it. amazon shares, which have been just absolutely unbelievably strong this year. up 214% year to date. now i want to take a look at my terminal moment. your green line here is the dow jones internet commerce index, up a scant 110%. then on the bottom, up this year. back to you.
>> a year ago this stock was trading at $18 a share. now it’s at $58 in suspended trading.
>> amgen came out with their profits in the third quarter. analysts had expected earnings of 51 cents a share. revenue came in at $2.21 be, mading the median analyst forecast on strong sales of two of its drugs. in regular session, shares shot up nearly 3%. and as you saw in extended trading, they are pulling lower right now. washington mutual said third quarter profit rose. the savings and loan reported a net income of $1.3 million. that’s $1, 12 cents a share in line with estimates. the cheeve executive is -- chief executive in regular session, shares of washington mutual are down 1% or 41 cents heat of numbers. in the eck tepided hours, they’re currently unchanged at $40.47. boston scientific out with results after the bell. analysts had expected 29 cents. revenue came in at $876 million. thompson financial estimate was for $855 million. in the regular session, boston scientific shares, moving higher. up 24 cents. in current trading unchanged. now general electric is also making news in the after hours session. our deborah kostroun is at the new york stock exchange with the news behind g.e.’s moves.
>> well, g.e. power system is going to be cutting about 1,000 jobs. they’ll be cutting 600 in greenville, south carolina. the power systems also going to be cutting another 400 in new york as well. the power system still has about 34,000 employees before those cuts. and g.e. power systems, this is the unit that makes turbines that turn into electricity. they confronted a lot of liquidty crisis caused by the drop in energy trading profits. slightly lower in the after hours session. centex raised their forecast. not only that, we’ll get to ryland in just a second. 2788 versus the 2.33 consensus estimate. s that above the 2.36 million estimate. they also raised their 2004 e.p.s. as well. and of course, that stock , centek raised 85% this year as buyers really kind of jumping in on those low nor gadge rates. also, ryland increasing their third quarter e.p.s. to $2.40 versus the 2.14 estimate. and of course, very much the same thing. they also have a backlog of some of their previous records. really kind of puts them into a good position in terms of growth. so they’re both boosting their forecast here in the after hours. in addition, in today’s session, obviously we had telecom. that was the name of the game. earnings, obviously, at the top of the list. we had telecom, a pretty big drag. semiconductors, however, rising in today’s session. s.b.c., pretty much they had a sales decline for a 12th straight quarter. the outlook isn’t that great. this was the biggest drag on the s&p and telecom. and dow bl aggard, we had eastman kodak year to date. at&t, that’s the second biggest drag on the dow and also s.b.c. compare that to gains in intel. up 106% year to date. back to you in the studio.
>> deborah kostroun at the big board, thanks. nazzcack raised. anthony massucci with more on today’s trading. now, money managers are saying that this rally may have run its course recently. earnings are factored into the stock already at this point. the market needs new reasons to go up. with that in mind, keep in mind that tech stocks have held up their gains. although we are seeing some stocks fall. let me give you one example. j2 global communications. a big performer in 2002 and 2003. losing 1/4 of its value today. stock closing down 24%. this is a company that sends you fax or voice mail as an email. the company said fourth quarter profit would be below what it earlier expected. and with that mis, the stock getting hit pretty hard today. fargo electronics, losing 10%, fourth quarter earnings 12 cents to 16 cents a share that’s lower than the analyst estimates on that company. the electronics maker fargo. earthlink shares going up. internet stocks continue to perform well. shares rose. net income of 2 cents. that’s up from a loss of 20 cents. with that, earthlink had a nice day. going up 13%. silicon labs to round it out. makes chips for mobile phones. the stock up. third quarter profit rose to 26 cents, which is up from a year ago. again, investors are concerned about earnings. the kind of impact they’re having on the market. but the biotech stocks had no problem shedding that concern. they were up today. and chip stocks also showed gains. nasdaq up 15 points on the day. back to you in the studio.
>> anthony massucci at the nasdaq. we’ll find out what’s next for mgm when we talk to the president and chief financial affers james murren after this.
