Early Stocks in Motion
Oracle
(ORCL) - Get Report
said third-quarter earnings fell 15% to $540 million, weighed down by special items related to its PeopleSoft acquisition. Excluding the charges, the company earned 16 cents a share, beating Wall Street forecasts by a penny. Including a pro forma adjustment, the company's revenue rose to $3.09 billion, also edging out the Wall Street consensus estimate. Still, applications sales shrank by 7% year over year when PeopleSoft's $31 million contribution is backed out.
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
added 200 million shares to its buyback program Tuesday night. The Charlotte, N.C., financial services giant said the move gives the company the authority to buy back as much as $12 billion of its own stock over 18 months. The shares covered in Tuesday's move are valued at $8.75 billion at recent prices. Bank of America had 4.05 billion common shares outstanding at Dec. 31.
Sonic Corp.'s
(SONC)
second-quarter earnings jumped 28% to $12.6 million, or 20 cents a share, matching the Thomson First Call consensus. Revenue in the most recent quarter was well ahead of forecasts, coming in at $129.9 million, compared with the consensus estimate of $129.9 million. Looking ahead, the company expects to earn about 36 cents a share on revenue growth of 4% to 6% from a year ago, matching estimates.
Atlantis Plastics
(ATPL)
said Tuesday night that it will pay a special dividend of $12.50 to shareholders of record April 1. The dividend is payable April 8. The company, which also changed its state of incorporation to Delaware from Florida, has previewed the dividend in several
SEC
filings, saying it's an efficient way of returning money to several "patient" money investors who are nearing retirement age. On March 1, Atlantis said 2004 earnings rose 40% from the previous year to $11.4 million on a 20% jump in sales to $347.8 million.
Electro Scientific
(ESIO) - Get Report
reported lower third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street analyst estimates but warned sales could trail forecasts in the current period. The equipment maker earned $2 million, or 7 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $10 million, or 34 cents a share, last year. Adjusted for a charge, the company earned 10 cents a share in the latest quarter, 7 cents ahead of estimates. For the fourth quarter, the company expects revenue of $40 million to $50 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had been expecting revenue of $51.1 million.
SCO Group's
( SCOX) Nasdaq listing status remains in the hands of market regulators who are reviewing the company's plans for filing two late financial reports. The technology company is currently tardy on both its 10-K for the year to Oct. 31 and its 10-Q for the period ended Jan. 31. Last week, SCO laid out plans with Nasdaq staffers for filing the 10-K, and also discussed its plans for filing the 10-Q. A day later, SCO said the Nasdaq Listing Panel notified the company that it "will consider the filing delinquency of the company's first-quarter Form 10-Q in addition to the filing delinquency of the company's Form 10-K in rendering its decision." SCO remains listed on the Nasdaq Small-Cap market as it awaits the decision.
FSI International
( FSII) reported second-quarter earnings of $3.9 million, or 13 cents a share, after the bell Tuesday, compared with a loss of $6.1 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted for special items, the company lost 9 cents a share in the quarter, 2 cents wider than Wall Street was expecting. Revenue of $24.2 million roughly matched estimates. For the third quarter, FSI expects to post revenue of $20 million to $24 million. The analyst consensus was for revenue of $26.5 million.
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