Caterpillar (CAT) Raises Guidance after Blowout Quarter

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) revenue and earnings is being driven by the exploding demand for mining equipment as base and precious metals have been soaring in demand and price.

Going forward, Caterpillar boosted its guidance for the remainder of the year to a range of $6.25 to $6.75 a share and sales and revenues in a range of $52 billion to $54 billion. The prior estimate was for profit to be close to $6.00 a share and sales and revenues to surpass $50 billion.

Analysts see earnings of $6.25 a share on revenues of $52.20 billion for the full year.

The revised guidance doesn't include the recent acquisitions of MWM Holding GmbH or Bucyrus International, Inc. because they haven't closed yet.

According to Caterpillar, the improved forecast "would have been greater if not for the impact of the disaster in Japan."

Suppliers from Japan are experiencing unpredictable production disruptions, which have a negative impact on sales, factory efficiency and costs — especially in the second quarter, Caterpillar said.

Caterpillar closed Friday at $155.41, gaining $2.77, or 2.46 percent.

Intel (INTC) Soars as Earnings Exceed Expectations

Intel's (NASDAQ:INTC) earnings beat expectations in the first quarter, driven by increase business demand for business computers, which also generated higher profits.

That was important because of some of Intel's competitors weren't able to make up soft PC sales with stronger business revenue.

Guidance from Intel was also impressive, as shares of the company shot up in after hours trading.

Intel's net income was $3.16 billion, or 56 cents a share, beating the 46 cents a share analysts polled by FactSet were looking for. Last year in the same quarter Intel earned $2.44 billion, or 43 cents a share.

Revenue was $12.8 billion, a 25 percent increase from $10.3 billion a year ago and above the $11.6 billion analysts estimated.

The revenue projection was higher than expected. Intel predicted second quarter revenue of $12.3 billion to $13.3 billion. Analysts expected nearly $11.9 billion, according to FactSet.

Intel closed Tuesday at $19.86, gaining $0.24. or 1.22 percent. After hours it was trading at $20.77, up $0.91, or 4.58 percent.

Alliance (AIQ) Jumps on Guidance Boost

Shares of Alliance HealthCare Services (NYSE:AIQ) soared on Tuesday as the company increased its full year guidance for 2011.

Revenue for the year is expected to rise from the prior projection of $475 million to $505 million to a range of $500 million to $530 million. Analyst estimate 2011 revenue to reach about $483 million.

Alliance also announced Tuesday it has acquired US Radiosurgery LLC for approximately $43 million in cash. US Radiosurgery will become part of Alliance's oncology unit.

Alliance HealthCare Services closed Tuesday at $4.50, gaining $0.25, or 5.88 percent. It was trading in after hours at $4.55, up $0.05, or 1.11 percent, as of 4:55 PM EDT.

Hertz (HTZ) Drops on Outlook, Shareholder Sales

Even though Hertz (HTZ) guided a little better than analysts' estimates, it's still a dismal outlook, as the company expects a net loss of $17.3 million to $22.2 million.

Combined with news on Monday Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC and The Carlyle Group sold an approximate combined total of 50 million Hertz Global shares, has the stock reeling.

The guidance from the company was the result of global sales falling because of winter storms they said, although the higher price of gas may be part of the story as well, and will most likely be going forward as companies and consumers again get more tight with their money.

Hertz was trading at $15.45, falling $0.82, or 5.04 percent, as of 2:07 PM EDT.

Citi (C) Slashes Best Buy (BBY) on Growing Competition

The growing competition faced by electronic retailer Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) has resulted in Citigroup (NYSE:C) downgrading the stock, even has Best Buy gave weak guidance.

Citigroup analyst Kate McShane said, "Mounting pressure from alternative channels will likely continue to pressure pricing. Critically, BBY is struggling to retain market share gains experienced after the bankruptcy of Circuit City, as other retail channels have stepped up CE product assortments and pricing. In particular, significant pressure has come from mass discounters and online retailers given favorable positioning in a commoditizing product channel. Mass discounters are able to capture a greater share of product categories by competing on price, as well as convenience for share of wallet. Furthermore, we have noted a significant increase in the depth & breadth of CE products offered in mass merchant channels, as well as an increased ability to stock new product on shelves earlier in the lifecycle of new technologies (erasing BBY’s relative technological merchandising edge)."

McShane lowered her rating on the stock from "Hold" to "Sell," while slashing her price target to $27 from a prior $36, after the weak outlook for the year.

Best Buy was trading at $28.92, falling $1.21, or 4.02 percent, as of 12:19 PM EDT.

Accenture (ACN) Roars on Strong Guidance

Accenture (NYSE:ACN) shares soared in after-hours trading as the generated a strong second quarter and gave solid guidance going forward.

The company also declared a semi-annual cash dividend of 45 cents a share.

Accenture said it earned $557.6 million, or 75 cents a share, in the latest quarter on revenue net of reimbursements of $6.05 billion. That performance was ahead of last year's equivalent profit of $458.2 million, or 60 cents a share, and topped the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for earnings of 71 cents a share in the February period on revenue of $5.74 billion.

For fiscal 2011, Accenture now sees earnings of $3.22 to $3.30 a share, up from both its previous projection of a range of $3.08 to $3.16 a share, and the current consensus view for a profit of $3.14 a share in the period. The company expects revenue to rise between 11-14% for the year vs. a prior target of 8-11%. It sees revenue for its fiscal third quarter ending in May coming in between $6.3 billion and $6.5 billion.

"With quarterly bookings of $7 billion, including our second-highest consulting bookings ever, demand for our services remains strong, and our growth trajectory demonstrates that we continue to execute our business strategy extremely well," said Pierre Nanterme, the company's chief executive officer. "We remain focused on growing market share and, as always, on delivering value to our clients as well as our shareholders."

Accenture closed Thursday at $51.96, gaining $1.29, or 2.55 percent. As of 8:00 PM, they traded at 54.73, rising another $2.77, or 5.33 percent.





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Research in Motion (RIMM) Sales 14.9 Million Smartphones in Q4

Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) had a decent quarter but was punished in after-hours trading on disappointing guidance.

Revenue in the fourth quarter came in at $5.56 billion, or $1.78 a share. Analysts had been looking for $5.64 billion in revenue and $1.76 a share.

The good news was the company sold 14.9 million BlackBerry smartphones, toward the top of its projected range. Gross profit beat at 44.2 percent of sales, surpassing the 43.6 percent reported in the fiscal third quarter.

Going forward, guidance was weak, with RIM projecting $5.2 billion to $5.6 billion in revenue and EPS of $1.47 to $1.55. Analysts have been looking for $5.64 billion and EPS of $1.65.

Investors didn't seem to be impressed with full year guidance ending February of 2012, where RIM sees EPS “in excess of” $7.50, well above the average of $6.81, after the guidance offered for the first quarter.

Research in Motion closed at $64.09, gaining $1.97, or 3.17 percent. In after-hours trading, as of 5 PM EDT, the company was getting punished, losing $6.72, or 10.48 percent.

Guess (GES) Falls on Weak Guidance

Shares of Guess? Inc. (NYSE:GES) plunged over 5 percent in after hours trading as the company lowered its quarterly outlook to below analysts' expectations.

Guess traded down 5.52 percent at at $41.45. The company said it expects first-quarter earnings of 41 cents to 44 cents a share and revenue of $555 million to $570 million. Analysts polled by FactSet Research currently expects per-share earnings of 62 cents on $596 million in revenue.

The company also projected annual earnings of $3.30 and $3.50 a share on revenue of $2.72 billion to $2.82 billion. Analysts were looking for $3.50 a share and $2.74 billion in sales.

For the fourth quarter, earnings attributable to Guess rose 19% to $103.3 million, or $1.11 a share, from $86.6 million, or 93 cents a share, in the last year in the same quarter. Revenue jumped to $756.9 million from $642 million the same quarter last year. Same-store sales dropped 1.1 percent.

Fourth-quarter earnings were higher than the $1.06-a-share consensus estimate. Sales also came in above the $724.5 million estimate.




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Sonus Networks (SONS) Rocks on Revenue Growth, Guidance

For the most part guidance has been the story this earnings season, and that's the case with Sonus Networks (Nasdaq:SONS), which is up over 35 percent on the day.

Revenue rose 21 percent to $83 million, from $68.7 million in the same period quarter last year, far more than the $68.6 million analysts were looking for. Net income jumped to $11.4 million from $10.3 million in the same quarter last year. EPS came in at 4 cents a share.

Guidance for 2011 is for revenue to rise to a range of $265 million to $285, above the $242.3 million analysts projecting.

While the product portfolio of the company is slightly profitable, it doesn't justify the huge jump in the share price of the company, which is sure to come crashing back to earth, although possibly at a little higher level than where it started before the earnings report.

Sonus was trading at $4.11, soaring $1.08, or 35.64 percent, as of 2:38 PM EST.

HP (HPQ) Another Company Punished by Guidance

It no longer matters in these uncertain times what the most recent quarter is for a company, if guidance doesn't show future growth and success, a company is punished, with the latest being Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ).

Upside surprise

Non-GAAP EPS for HP's fiscal first quarter was $1.36, compared with guidance of $1.28 to $1.30 and the consensus estimate of $1.29. Revenue of $32.3 billion was shy of the $33 billion consensus. Positives included a 40 basis point improvement in operating margin year-over-year, driven by a 150 basis point uptick in gross margin and helped by "benign" component pricing.

There was a lot to like about the quarter. Although revenue grew only 4%, operating cash flow increased 28% year-over-year. HP enjoyed strength in commercial hardware, including servers, networking, PCs, and printers. In services, margins expanded and megadeal signings hit a record. Printer hardware strength bodes well for future high-margin consumables demand.

Disappointing guidance

Current quarter guidance included non-GAAP EPS of $1.19 to $1.21, versus an analyst estimate of $1.26, and revenue of $31.4 billion to $31.6 billion, versus a consensus forecast of $32.6 billion.





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Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD) Jumps on Strong Guidance

Brocade Communications Systems (NASDAQ:BRCD) is enjoying an analyst love-fest today, as the beat earnings expectations and guidance was better than analysts were looking for.

Canaccord Genuity and Wedbush maintained their "Buy" rating on Brocade, while ThinkEquity and Wunderlich raised their rating to "Buy."

Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) didn't join the herd on this one, saying, "Our latest IT checks suggest continued volatility in Brocade’s sales and OEM partner execution – a trend that we anticipate to persist through FY11/12. The bar set by Cisco’s (NASDAQ:CSCO) Nexus switches and the upcoming Juniper’s (NASDAQ:JNPR) Stratus switch is likely to be steep for Brocade to overcome."

Brocade was trading at $6.56, gaining $0.54, or 8.97 percent, as of 11:49 AM EST.

Barrick (ABX) Looking for Another Strong Year

Coming off an impressive year in 2010, Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX) is poised for another, expecting gold production to reach up to 8 million ounces in 2011.

Barrick easily exceeded earnings estimates in the fourth quarter, as the company made 95 cents a share, 11 cents above consensus of 84 cents a share. That was 55 percent above the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter surged to a new high of $2.95 billion at cash costs of $486 an ounce. Net costs came in at $326 an ounce. Net costs are determined by subtracting sales of byproduct metals of the mines.

Guidance for 2011 is for cash costs to be from $450 to $480 an ounce, or net $340 to $380 an ounce.

Costs will be slightly higher in 2011 because of the boost in price in raw materials and the lower quality grades encountered as some of Barrick's mines.

The gold miner is keeping their quarterly dividend at $0.12.

Barrick closed Thursday at $50.64, up $0.92, or 1.85 percent.

Agnico-Eagle (NYSE:AEM) Expecting Blowout Year

Even though Agnico-Eagle (NYSE:AEM) has been going through a period of growing pains for several years, they were a great growth story in 2010, and promise to be an even better one in 2011.

Taking into consideration Agnico had higher costs at its Meadowbank and Kittila mines, as well as finding lower grades at a couple of other mines in the fourth quarter, they continue to be efficient, as they still produced gold at $485 an ounce in the quarter, still among the lowest in the industry.

Consequently, the gold miner also dropped in production by 1.2 percent below its 2010 estimates.

Nonetheless, Agnico says they see 2011 being much stronger, projection gold production to reach 1.2 million ounces for the year.

CEO Sean Boyd said, "The growth plan that transformed the Company over the past several years has resulted in record gold reserves and record annual financial and operating results."

After a strong 2010 and more expected in 2010, investors and shareholders are wondering if the company will boost its current 16 cent dividend even more.

For the last quarter, Agnico generated earnings of $88 million, or 53 cents a share, a gain of 71 percent over the same quarter last year.

Agnico closed Thursday at $72.79, dropping $3.67, or 4.80 percent.

Weight Watchers (WTW) Blows it Out, Share Soar Over 37 Percent

Shares of Weight Watchers (NYSE:WTW) were up over 37 percent as the company after strong results in the fourth quarter and earnings guidance for the full year exceeding analysts' expectations.

Revenue in the quarter jumped to $356.7 million, a gain of 15.6 percent. Analysts were looking for revenue of $318.91 million.

Earnings were far above consensus as well, coming in at 64 cents a share, 9 cents over the 55 cents a share analysts projected.

What shocked analysts and the impetus behind the surge in the share price of the stock was full-year 2001 earnings guidance, which was from a range of $3.50-$3.85 a share, far above the $2.77 estimated by analysts.

David Kirchhoff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Weight Watchers said, "Looking at 2011, we are seeing terrific enrollment volumes in our North American and UK meeting businesses and further strengthening in our WeightWatchers.com business. We are providing a 2011 earnings guidance range of between $3.50 and $3.85 per fully diluted share."

Weight Watchers was trading at $61.80, gaining $16.88, or 37.58 percent, as of 11:15 AM EST.

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) Misses Big on Revenue, Profits and Guidance Strong

Revenue for Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) plunged almost 10 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter of the company, dropping 9.8 percent to $886 million. The company had estimated revenue growth to rise by 3 percent to 5 percent.

Earnings for the quarter were stronger, rising to $171.7 million, or 29 cents a share, up from $131.1 million, or 23 cents a share in the same quarter last year. Those figures include a gain of 6 cents a share from the deal with Intel. Even so, they still would have beat analysts' expectations of 14 cents a share.

The Intel agreement is a reference to Intel agreeing to pay Nvidia $1.5 billion over a five-year period to license its graphics technology.

Guidance was strong from the company, as Nvidia said sales should increase 6 to 8 percent from the fourth quarter to the first quarter, which would generate revenue of $940 million to $957 million. Analysts are looking for revenue of $889 million.

Margins are also looking good, with a estimated range of 48.5 to 49.5 percent for the fiscal first quarter. That's a little above the 48 percent expected by analysts.

Operating expenses are taking off though, as Nvidia expects it to rise by 33 percent this quarter over last quarter, citing the hiring of more engineers to offer more product support. Also cited was as a reason for higher operating expenses is compensation expenses rising from the higher-priced company stock.

Gleacher & Company analyst Doug Freedman has some concern there, saying, "Operating expenses seems to be growing faster than revenues and incremental gross margins are not strong, if we remove the impact from Intel payment."

Shares of Nvidia are up over 50 percent since January 1, 2010.

Nvidia closed Wednesday at $23.38, gaining $0.38, or 3.68 percent. In after hours trading it dropped to $23.33, down $0.05, or 0.21 percent.

Shares of Atlas Air Worldwide (NASDAQ:AAWW) Soar on Guidance

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (NASDAQ:AAWW) are up over 15 percent as of 12:44 PM EST, as the company's guidance for 2011 of $5.30 was above the $5.08 analysts on average were looking for.

The company earning $41.6 million, or $1.58 a share, up from the $28.3 million, or 1.17 a share they earned last year in the same quarter. Adjusted earnings came in at $1.58 a share.

Revenue increased to $359.7 million, an increase of 12 percent over the $321.6 million they had last year. Full year revenue rose from $1.06 billion in 2009 to $1.34 billion in 2010.

Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings was trading at $64.70, up $8.25, or 14.61 percent, as of 12:48 PM EST.

Ford (NYSE:F) Admits they Blew it on Guidance

After a major miss on earnings in the last quarter, Ford Motor (NYSE:F) admitted that they blew it with guidance, and it was a big blow, as it was way off the mark, suggesting too much optimism and not enough reality.

Ford generated earnings of 30 cents a share, while analyst had been expecting a whopping 48 cents a share. There was an obvious disconnect there.

CFO Lewis Booth said, "We recognize that we missed versus people's expectations, but we also will continue to try to do a better job of making people aware what the outlook is."

Booth added that while the company did give guidance on some increased costs, they did fail with Europe. He noted, "We gave pretty clear guidance we were going to have some cost increases in the fourth quarter. We're clearly disappointed that we guided that Europe was going to be profitable."

In other words, the miss was bad enough, but the guidance was atrocious when you consider an 18 cent gap between consensus and performance.

Ford didn't offer any guidance for 2011, but CEO Mulally and Booth said the company will improve pre-cash flow and profits during 2011.

Ford was trading at $16.14, down $2.65, or 14.10 percent, as of 12:05 PM EST.

Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Guidance Conservative Says Barclays

Citing a plethora of catalysts, Barclays believes the already solid guidance given by Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) for the current quarter and full year 2011 is on the conservative side.

Barclays says, "Post close wireless innovator QCOM delivered impressive December quarter results and raised both its March and FY11 outlook sharply (even ex-$250M boost from royalty resolution). We believe QCOM remains a core growth pick given leverage to Smartphones, Tablets, 3G momentum and accelerated 4G deployments. We believe the guidance for EPS and chip margins remains conservative with design and customer wins at Mobile World Congress (2/14/11) and incremental opportunities with AAPL's new iPhone for mid CY11 are likely to further boost sentiment.

"FY11 moves up from $12.7B to $13.9B with extra $650M from chips and $550M from royalties with CY11 device ASP estimate up from $186 to $195. FY11 EPS to over $3.00 from $2.75 and WCDMA/CDMA market size raised again to 775M units from 765M. We believe chip margin guidance of 23% for FY11 versus 30% in December may prove conservative.

"We consider resolution of 2nd larger (we believe) dispute should further lift EPS and while opex moves up again our CY11 EPS moves up crisply from $2.80 to $3.02. Laterals: QCOM's 60 dual core Snapdragon wins for Tablets/Phones could temper sentiment towards NVDA's Tegra."

Barclays reiterates an "Overweight" rating on Qualcomm (QCOM), which closed Thursday at $54.90, up $3.04, or 5.86 percent. Barclays has a price target of $62 on QCOM.

Boeing (NYSE:BA) Drops on Disappointing Revenue, Guidance

Boeing (NYSE:BA) met the expectations of most analysts in the latest quarter, but disappointed in revenue and their guidance, causing shares of the company to drop after their report.

Net income for the fourth quarter dropped to $1.16 billion, or $1.56 a share, falling from the $1.27 billion, or $1.75 a share in the same quarter last year.

Revenue fell to $16.55 billion, down from $18 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Excluding one-time items, earnings were at $1.11 a share.

For fiscal 2010, net income came in at $3.3 billion, or $4.45 a share, on revenue of $64.3 billion. Net income in the fourth quarter of 2009 was $1.3 billion, or $1.84 a share, on revenue of $64.7 billion.

Guidance is what is weighing on the company today, as earnings for 2011 were estimated in a range of $3.80 to $4.00, far lower than expected.

Boeing said a pension contribution, weak defense environment, and their ongoing 787 issues were the reasoning behind the low guidance.

Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) Guidance Above Street Expectations

While Texas Instruments' (NYSE:TXN) guidance was above Street estimates, Susquehanna sees share growth taking time.

Susquehanna said, "While management's commentary suggests that the inventory correction is largely over, bookings declined by 9%, a function of shortening lead times. Going forward, we think accelerating top-line growth will require significant share gains, which will likely take time, and runs the risk of pricing pressure."

They boosted their full year EPS estimate on Texas Instruments from $2.43 to $2.51 in response to their revised guidance.

Susquehanna reiterates a "Neutral" rating on Texas Instruments (TXN), which closed Tuesday at $33.98, down $0.67, or 1.93 percent. Susquehanna raised their price target on TXN from $25 to $35.