NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Satellite broadcaster Hughes Electronics said Monday that its first-quarter loss narrowed and its revenue rose as it made more money per DirecTV subscriber than expected.
Citigroup said its first-quarter profit rose from a year earlier and beat Wall Street's estimates as strong results at its retail banking and credit card units boosted income at the largest U.S. financial services firm.
Bank of America, the No. 3 U.S. bank, reported a higher first-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as low mortgage rate supported business at its consumer lending arm.
Companies in this roundup
Accenture; Bank of America; BB&T;
Citigroup; Eaton; Fannie Mae;
First Tennessee; FleetBoston;
Hughes Electronics; New York Times;
RPM; Shaw Group; Unisys
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Hughes Electronics
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The owner of DirecTV, in which News Corp. agreed last week to buy a controlling stake, said its loss narrowed to $50.9 million from $837.7 million last year.
Hughes said first-quarter revenue rose 10 percent to $2.23 billion from $2.02 billion last year, compared with a Wall Street consensus of $2.14 billion, according to Multex, from a range of $2.1 billion to $2.18 billion.
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Citigroup
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -- The No. 1 U.S. financial services firm posted a higher first-quarter profit Monday that topped Wall Street estimates. The company said it earned $4.1 billion, or 79 cents a share, from continuing operations, up from $3.5 billion, or 66 cents, on the same basis a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by research firm First Call forecast a profit of 77 cents per share.
Income from Citigroup's (C: Research, Estimates) consumer business, including retail banking and credit cards, increased 26 percent, its corporate and investment banking business saw income rise 22 percent, and its investment management units had a 10 percent increase.
Revenue increased 4 percent to $18.5 billion, as gains in retail banking, credit cards, life insurance and annuities helped overcome weakness in the company's equity trading unit. The company also saw provisions for loan losses decline $506 million from the year-earlier period, due primarily to the absence of $644 million in writedowns and additional reserves taken a year earlier related to Argentina. (more details)
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Bank of America
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The No. 3 U.S. bank said its first-quarter profit rose from a year earlier, helped by growth in its consumer business.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank said it earned $2.42 billion, or $1.59 per share, in the first quarter, up from $2.18 billion, or $1.38, a year earlier. Wall Street expected the company to earn $1.48 per share, according to First Call.
Bank of America (BAC: Research, Estimates), like its rivals, has been helped by interest rates at near 40-year lows, which has boosted lending by fueling record demand for mortgages. It also has benefited from robust fixed-income underwriting.
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Fannie Mae
NEW YORK (Reuters ) -- The largest mortgage financier in the United States said its earnings rose as Americans took advantage of low interest rates and signed up for more home loans.
Washington, D.C.-based Fannie Mae (FNM: Research, Estimates), which benefits from U.S. government backing, said its first-quarter net income was $1.94 billion, or $1.93 per share, up from $1.2 billion, or $1.17 per share, a year earlier.
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Accenture
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The consulting firm said Monday its quarterly earnings rose sharply from a year earlier when it recorded large investment losses. The Bermuda-based company said its net income rose to $118.7 million from $10.6 million the year before.
Excluding nearly $211 million in investment losses the year before and minority interest, the company reported earnings of $249.9 million, or 25 cents per share, up from $236.1 million, or 23 cents. On that basis, Accenture had said it expects a profit between 21 and 25 cents a share. Analysts polled by earnings tracking firm First Call were expecting 24 cents on that basis.
Revenue before reimbursements -- the expenses reimbursed to Accenture (ACN: Research, Estimates) from its clients -- fell to $2.83 billion from $2.91 billion a year ago.
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FleetBoston
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The No. 7 U.S. bank said its first-quarter profit fell as it refocused on its consumer banking and lending business and struggled to rebound from a series of ill-fated loans.
The Boston-based bank said it earned $577 million, or 55 cents per share, from continuing operations, in line with Wall Street's estimates, according to First Call. The company earned $735 million, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier. Net income fell to $567 million, or 54 cents per share, from $735 million, or 70 cents.
FleetBoston (FBF: Research, Estimates) has suffered in the last year because of losses in Argentina and loans to airlines and energy companies such as Enron Corp. In January it said it would cut 1,900 jobs, or nearly 4 percent of its staff.
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New York Times
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The newspaper publisher reported a first-quarter profit, in line with forecasts, and said that while the impact of war on advertising has begun to moderate it could still affect current quarter results. However, the company backed its 2003 earnings per share growth outlook in the mid-single digits to low double-digits range.
The New York Times Co (NYT: Research, Estimates)., which is based in New York and is publisher of the newspaper of the same name, reported a net profit of $68.8 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $54.5 million, or 35 cents per share. The average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call was for earnings per share of 42 cents. On March 28, the company said it expected earnings to be in a range of 42 cents-to-45 cents per share.
Revenue in the quarter rose 6.3 percent to $783.7 million from $737.1 million a year earlier and the First Call estimate for revenue of $780.7 million.
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Unisys
NEW YORK (Reuters ) -- The computer services and hardware company said quarterly profit and revenue rose as strong demand for technology services and outsourcing offset declines in sales of server computers.
The company reported earnings of $38.5 million, or 12 cents per share, up from $32.7 million, or 10 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $1.4 billion from $1.36 billion.
Analysts expected Unisys (UIS: Research, Estimates) to earn 12 cents per share on revenue of $1.36 billion, according to research firm First Call.
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Shaw Group
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The construction and engineering company posted a fiscal second-quarter loss, citing a charge for the settlement of claims related to building two power plants for PG&E Corp. For the quarter, ended Feb. 28, the Baton Rouge, La.-based company reported a loss of $7.9 million, or 21 cents per share, compared with a profit of $21.3 million, or 51 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Shaw (SGR: Research, Estimates) took a $19 million charge for reaching a deal to continue building two power plants for PG&E's PG&E National Energy Group. Shaw said revenue for the quarter rose 27 percent to $720.5 million.
Analysts expected a profit of 29 cents-to-31 cents a share before special items such as the $19 million charge, with an average estimate of 30 cents, according to Thomson First Call.
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Eaton
CHICAGO (Reuters) -- The maker of industrial and automotive products said quarterly earnings more than doubled as it cut costs to weather slow markets, and it maintained its profit forecast for the full year. The Cleveland-based company said first-quarter net income rose to $72 million, or $1 a share, from $33 million, or 47 cents, a year ago.
First-quarter revenue rose 12 percent to $1.92 billion, boosted by acquisitions, favorable currency exchange rates, and growth that exceeded industry trends. Eaton (ETN: Research, Estimates) said its profit excluding restructuring charges of $77 million, or $1.06 a share, exceeded its expectations. Analysts on average expected 96 cents a share, according to First Call.
The company maintained its forecast for full-year 2003 earnings before charges of $5.00-to-$5.25 a share and predicted its net earnings would be $4.50 to $4.75 a share. For the second quarter, it forecast operating earnings of $1.30-to-$1.40 a share and net income of $1.15-to-$1.25 a share. Wall Street had been expecting 2003 earnings of $4.65-to-$5.25 a share, with an average estimate of $5.00. For the second quarter, analysts expected earnings of $1.34 a share, within a range of $1.25-to-$1.45 a share.
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BB&T
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The Southeast regional bank said first-quarter profit rose amid strength in its consumer lending and mortgage business. The Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bank, which has more than 1,100 branches, reported net income of $327.7 million, up from $309.6 million a year earlier.
BB&T (BBT: Research, Estimates) has roughly $80 billion in assets and operates in 11 states and the District of Columbia. The bank has grown rapidly through acquisitions and recently said it will buy First Virginia Banks Inc. for $3.38 billion in stock.
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First Tennessee
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The Southeast regional bank posted a higher quarterly profit, helped by more mortgage applications and gains from refinancings.
Memphis, Tenn.-based First Tennessee (FTN: Research, Estimates) earned $119 million, or 91 cents a share, in the first quarter, up from $87.1 million, or 67 cents , a year earlier.
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RPM
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- The maker of specialty coatings like Rust-Oleum said its fiscal third-quarter earnings rose 50 percent, citing improved results at both its consumer and industrial units. For the quarter ended Feb. 28, Medina, Ohio-based RPM reported net income of $4.9 million, or 4 cents a share, up from $3.3 million, or 3 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts had expected the company to earn between 3 cents and 8 cents per share, with an average estimate of 4 cents per share, according to Thomson First Call. Net sales for the quarter rose 6 percent to $433.6 million from the prior-year quarter.
RPM (RPM: Research, Estimates) also said it has started a formal process to estimate the cost of its future asbestos liabilities and hopes to be finished by the time it reports fiscal 2003 year-end results. It expects to accrue enough of a liability to cover any estimated future costs, the company said in a statement.
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