Market briefing---Lane (medium)
Amazon---Su (fast)
NYSE---Deb (fast)
Nasdaq---Anthony (slow)
welcome to bloomberg’s “world financial report”. i’m lane bajardi in new york. shares of amazon.com are rally be more than 6% in extended trading after the world’s biggest internet retailer reported higher-than-expected-sales and earnings. amazon releasing its numbers after the close said its second quarter loss narrowed as consumers bought close to 1.5 million copies of the latest harry potter book on line. bloomberg’s su keenan is here with the details.
>> lane, amazon.com began taking orders for the latest harry potter book in january, offering 40% off the cover price. the company says that combined with other discounts and free shipping on big orders boosted sales 37%. amazon reported its third straight quarter of sales above $1 billion saying sales jumped to $1.1 billion from $806 million last year at this time. the net loss for the quarter narrowed to $43.3 million, from $93.6 million a year earlier. checking out thes, excluding stock -based compensation and other expenses, amazon.com said it would have profit of 10 cents a share in the quarter. as you can see, that compares with the six cents a share estimate of operating profit from analysts surveyed by thompson financial which you see a year ago, amazon reported a loss a penny of a share. the company expects 2003 sales of $4.9 billion to $5.1 billion. that conference call just getting under way. we’ll be bringing you details later in the hour. meanwhile analysts and investors say one of the main concerns is valueization. shares have more than doubled in the past year and are up 85% in 2003. that said, paul cook who directs technology investing for munder capital management’s $30 billion in assets, says the stock is still attractive.
>> amazon has done a very good job of growing into their valuation over time. if we continue to see the upside surprises in the stock we have in the past, for the past three or four quarters and management continues to guide up numbers, amazon can be reasonably priced, and even a buy at these levels. we think maybe 50 cents this year is reasonable for them, maybe 75 or 80 cents next year is reasonable as well. so i see them growing as maybe 60% on their earnings front for the next year.
>> that is paul cook. again, the technology director for munder capitol. recapping amazon shares which closed down a percent ahead of the earnings, they are rallying in extended trading, up as much as 6%, now trading, lane, at $37.15 after closing at $34.87.
>> su keenan. now, so many earnings and news coming out after the close of stock market trading, we want to get to deborah kostroun who is at the new york stock exchange with more on an awful lot of information. deb.
>> that’s right, lane. in fact, dana rejecting the $2.2 billion offer. they are calling it inadequate. after the close of stock market trading, dana rejecting the $2.2 billion hostile takeover bid from smaller auto parts supplier arvin arvin meritoring it was inadequate, the kmigest maker of axles for commercial trucks. they began that $15 offer for dana shares on july 9 lthth. coming here after the closing bell, quite a bit of earnings news. many companies here at the new york stock exchange, that are trading here at the new york stock exchange, actually raising their―and boosting their forecasts. beazer homes just one of them. in fact, they announce a record fiscal third quarter earnings per share of $3.01 a share. beazer homes boosting that 2003 e.p.s. target to a range of $12.25 to $12.50. in fact, ryeland also boosting its forecast for the year to over $8 versus the consensus estimate of $7.92. ryland homes trading higher in the after-hours session. now, we did get earnings from ryland, also beazer, wellpoint also coming out with their earnings after the closing bell. they also raised their full-year forecast. wellpoint seeing the full year e.p.s. $5.60 to $5.65. they had seen it at $5.50. the consensus forecast $5.51. also wellpoint coming out with their second quarter, net numbers, $1.49 a share versus the consensus of $1.39. not only beating on the second quarter but boosting that forecast. however, i should mention that revenue for wellpoint coming in just a little lighter than the thompson financial estimate, $4.99 billion was the estimate. the actual sales coming in on wellpoint, 4.94. also in today’s session, some of the things that had an impact on the session, obviously saddam hussein’s sons dead. that started out earlier in the session. we got the confirmation right in the last 20 minutes of trading here at the new york stock exchange. also texas instruments, not only their news that sales will increase by 11% but also getting an upgrade from lehman. that helping boost many of the tech semis. some of the best performers on the day. cyclicals at morgan stanley cyclical index hitting another 52-week high. we saw that higher, also merck raising its dividends, also kind of gives us ideas that maybe some other companies may be raising their dividends as well. lane, now to you.
>> deborah kostroun at the big board. shares of sun microsystems fell more than 6% in extended trading after reporting profit plunged 80%. net income, as you see it there, trading live at the moment, 11% lower, 54 cents at $4.23. net income in the fiscal fourth quarter fell to $12 million, break even on a per share basis from $61 million a year ago. sales dropped 13% to $2.98 billion, as businesses have scaled back purchases of sun’s computer servers. >> sun micro shares rose 6.4% in the regular session and risen 53% so far this year. as we showed you, giving back some of those gains in the extended trading. the world’s biggest biotechnology company also reported earnings after the close of regular trading. let’s check the stock in extended hours right now. talking about amgen which is currently unchanged at $68.983. the company’s second quarter net income increased to $607 million from $412 million a year earlier. total revenue rose 63% to $2 billion. the sales of arthritis and cancer medicines climbed. amgen boosted its profit forecast for the year to as much as $1.95 a share compared with the previous estimate of as much as $1.9. amgen fell 2/10 of a percent in the regular session. it is up, straight up. look at that chart. up 43% so far this year. chip stocks helped boost today’s rally for tech stocks . bloomberg’s anthony massucci has the latest in semiconductor news.
>> novellus shares were higher by 5% today. sales were up 7.6% for the company. analysts said the good news was there were no surprises in the quarter. they also saw an improving environment for the company, and c.e.o. richard hill said much the same, saying that he’s optimistic. he sees steady growth ahead, actually he saw “possible” steady growth ahead” from the c.e.o. of novellus. that lpd the other chip equipment stocks on the day. ra tencor and asml both traded higher. lehman brothers said they saw chip equipment stocks going up. with that they said novellus, applied materials, lam research would go higher. in fact, they increased the ratings on all three companies. now, lehman also said that the equipment industry would be gradually recovering, similar to what richard hill said. here is why from lehman. they said a strong performance during a typically weak third quarter, which is where we are now, encouraging comments from companies. they also saw an outlook for equipment pricing helping stocks and they said a faster recovery would be coming in 2004. then they also said 2005 would be robust. so there is the call from lehman brothers. leer are more stocks they’d like to go higher. r.f. micro devices and sky works both traded up and both called overweight at lehman. they were upgraded. two others were upgraded including try quint and anadigics, both rated equal weight up 10% on the nasdaq. the rating boosted the shares. lehman in the call, finally they said companies had greater operating earnings and this could lead to favorable earnings surprising in the coming quarter. so they are saying they are recommending that investors get on board the chip equipment stocks before the stocks go higher from here. back to you in the studio.
>> anthony massucci. now, there were a fleury of earnings reports in the extended hours. right now the theme seems to be higher forecasts. some of the companies raising their predictions include wellpoint health networks, beazer homes and ryland group. amazon.com raised its full year revenue forecast to at least $4.9 billion, $200 million more than its original projection. doubleclick is boosting its sales forecast. ask jeeves as well, seeing full year profit coming in at 33 cents a share, a nickel more than consensus estimate. adding to the list we have lendingtree, amgen and career education. a clear theme seems to be emerging in the earnings reports we have after the close. a.o.l. time warner is scheduled to report its second quarter earnings before the opening bell tomorrow. with its stock up 27% so far this year, our expectations a bit too high for the company? talk to jim carroll, portfolio manager at loomis sayles, a large holder of a.o.l.
