Stocks to Watch: American Express, Wells Fargo, Chevron

NEW YORK -- American Express (AXP) said Thursday it was cutting 5,400 jobs, or about 8.5% of its work force, and would take fourth-quarter restructuring charges of $742 million.

American Express also announced fourth-quarter charges of $153 million for "cardmember reimbursements for various types of transactions dating back several years. This amount deals with fees, interest and bonus rewards as well as an incremental expense related to the consent orders entered into with regulators last October."

The charges totaled $594 million after taxes and American Express said that its fourth-quarter net income fell to $637 million, or 56 cents a share, from $1.19 billion, or $1.01 a share, in the year-earlier period.

Excluding special items, American Express said fourth-quarter adjusted net income was $1.2 billion, or $1.09 a share. Analysts were expecting fourth-quarter earnings of $1.06 a share.

American Express Slashes Workforce, Takes Charge

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Wells Fargo (WFC) is expected by Wall Street to report fourth-quarter earnings Friday of 88 cents a share on revenue of $21.29 billion.

Wells Fargo is the first of the major U.S. banks to report earnings.

Buy-Rated Big-Bank Stocks to Trade Pre-Earnings

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Chevron (CVX) said Thursday that fourth-quarter earnings would be "notably higher" than third-quarter profit, getting a lift from bigger gains on asset sales and more oil and gas production.

Chevron, the nation's second-biggest oil company, earned $5.25 billion, or $2.69 a share, in the third quarter.

Chevron is expected by analysts to report earnings of $3.03 a share in the fourth quarter. It reports earnings on Feb. 1.

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Apple's (AAPL) Phil Schiller, the tech giant's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, reportedly nixed rumors swirling about a cheaper iPhone in an interview with The Shanghai Evening News.

In a translation obtained by The Next Web, Schiller spoke about the speculation of a cheaper iPhone, saying this will "never be the future of Apple products." Schiller, instead, reiterated the company's commitment to building premium products.

Apple Nixes Cheap iPhone Chatter: Report

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Boeing's (BA) 787 Dreamliner jet suffered a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan on Friday, Reuters reported. Earlier this week, an All Nippon Airways 787 flight in Japan was canceled after the crew discovered an error message related to the plane's braking system.

The latest mishap brings to five the number of incidents the Dreamliner has suffered this week.

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India's Infosys (INFY) saw profits in the December quarter decline less than expected and raised its annual revenue forecast to $7.5 billion from $7.3 billion.

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-- Written by Joseph Woelfel



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