Month: August 2012

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) seeing gains in its second quarter profit but misses on revenue. The world’s largest retailer posted an EPS of $1.18 per share, just edging out the street’s estimate of $1.17. Revenue for the quarter rose 4.5% to $114.3 billion, missing the $115.75 billion analysts were expecting. Even though Wal-Mart had a successful quarter, expectations were high for its sales. And with the slowing U.S. economy and troubles overseas, the retailer was not able to exceed estimates. Despite these troubles though, Wal-Mart also raised and narrowed its full-year earnings estimate to between $4.83 and $4.93. This is now more in line with analyst estimates of $4.93 per share.

Today, Ecuador granted political asylum to Julian Assange, the founder of controversial website Wikileaks. Assange lost a legal battle weeks ago to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about sexual assault charges from two women. Since losing the legal battle, Assange has holed up in London’s Ecuadorean embassy, and he has now been there for eight weeks. Assange sought asylum because of his worry that he will be sent to the United States, where influential people are furious about the hundreds of thousands of secret US documents he leaked. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino, who announced the asylum decision, said Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States, and could possibly face the death penalty if tried there. Just yesterday, the British government threatened to storm the Ecuadorean embassy and arrest Assange. Now, even though Ecuador has granted asylum, Britain still intends to follow through on its legal obligation to extradite him. Assange’s protection ends the moment he steps foot outside the embassy, and only begins again when he is on Ecuadorean territory. So in between, he is vulnerable to arrest. No one yet knows how Assange will attempt to leave the embassy, where he has been sleeping on an air mattress and continuing to oversee Wikileaks, but he can’t stay in there forever.

Facebook’s stock has plunged to a new low today, now that one of the bans preventing insiders and early investors from selling their shares has expired. So far today, Facebook’s stock has plunged down to a low of $19.69, although it’s currently bounced back a bit and is trading at just over $20. This is close to 6% down from Wednesday’s close, and close to 50% below the price of its initial public offering, which was $38. This means that the stock has lost nearly half of its value since its IPO, which was one of the most anticipated in history. Some of the investors eligible to sell today are firms like Goldman Sachs and Microsoft, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, and various Facebook board members. It’s unclear whether stock prices are declining because the marketplace is now flooded with their shares, or because other investors anticipated such an event. This is only the first of multiple lock-ups, which are meant to prevent volatility. 271 shares were freed up today, but another 247 million shares will be freed up on October 16th, and November 15th will see the unlocking of 1.2 billion shares.

Groupon (NYSE:GRPN) showing signs the online deal market is dwindling. The company posted a 45% rise in second quarter revenue to $568.3 million, a positive number for the online deal site but a negative one for Wall Street. Analysts were expecting revenue to be $575.3 million. Groupon said they missed estimates because of weakness in Europe which resulted in poor sales internationally. The company added it hopes to boost its business in that region for the coming quarter.Looking ahead, the company sees revenue between $580 million to $620 million, more or less in line with the average analyst estimate of $607.4 million.

Costar (CSGP) was downgraded by Morgan Stanley (MS) to underweight from equal weight as the stock price has exceeded the $73 price target. Shares are lower by almost three percent.

Broadcom Corporation (BRCM) maintained its quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on September 17, 2012 to holders of record of the Company’s Class A and Class B common stock at the close of business on August 31, 2012.

From Fnno.com, this is the Financial News Network. Here’s a few things to watch for in the financial world today August 14.Groupon (NYSE:GRPN) showing signs the online deal market is dwindling. The company posted a 45% rise in second quarter revenue to $568.3 million, a positive number for the online deal site but a negative one for Wall Street. Analysts were expecting revenue to be $575.3 million. Groupon said they missed estimates because of weakness in Europe which resulted in poor sales internationally. The company added it hopes to boost its business in that region for the coming quarter.Micahel Kors (NYSE:KORS) is making it work, especially for his company’s first quarter. The Project Runway judge’s company announced a profit of $68.6 million or 34 cents, almost three times as much from last year. Revenue also jumped 71% to $414.9 million. Both earnings and revenue comfortably beating expectations. Since the company went public this past December, its stock has gained 55% and will most likely continue its climb on a boost in its full-year estimate as well.Finally, Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is another winner when it comes to earnings this morning. The company posted an EPS of $1.01, beating analyst expectations of 97 cents a share. Revenue was also up 1.7% to $20.6 billion, just missing estimates of $20.7 billion. The largest U.S. home-improvement retailer said the positive earnings was due to increased sales as more customers are starting remodeling projects. The company also raised its full-year profit forecast by five cents a share. Those were a few things to watch out for here on the Financial News Network. For more coverage and analysis of the business world follow us on twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com.

Michael Kors (NYSE:KORS) is making it work, especially for his company’s first quarter. The Project Runway judge’s company announced a profit of $68.6 million or 34 cents, almost three times as much from last year. Revenue also jumped 71% to $414.9 million. Both earnings and revenue comfortably beating expectations. The retailer also raised its full-year profit estimate, predicting EPS between $1.32 to $1.34 on revenue of $1.8 billion to $1.9 billion. The company expects same-store sales to increase in the mid- to high-20% range.Since the company went public this past December, its stock has gained 55%.

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) is another winner when it comes to earnings this morning. The company posted an EPS of $1.01, beating analyst expectations of 97 cents a share. Revenue was also up 1.7% to $20.6 billion, just missing estimates of $20.7 billion. The largest U.S. home-improvement retailer said the positive earnings was due to increased sales as more Americans are deciding to start remodeling projects. The company also raised its full-year profit forecast to $2.95 a share, up from the previous forecast of $2.90 and above the $2.92 average estimate.Home Depot is also benefiting from the rise in housing starts over the last quarter. The number of single-family housing starts has accelerated over the past four months.

Lenovo Group (LNVGY), the world’s second-largest PC maker behind Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) announced that profit rose to $141.4 million for the quarter ending on June 30, up from $108.8 million in the same period last year. Analysts estimated earnings of $133.5 million.