Recent Earnings

Some recent earnings report excerpts from stocks to watch at Minyanville....

Centex said it swung to a fiscal third-quarter loss as home builders struggle with lower demand for homes and land charges as they scramble to reduce inventory.

D.R. Horton posted a 65% quarterly earnings decline and took land-related write-downs as the largest U.S. home builder continued to battle a deteriorating housing market.

Sun Micro said it swung to a fiscal second-quarter profit on higher sales of corporate servers, topping Wall Street expectations and helping send its shares 8% higher in after-hours trading.

Johnson & Johnson said net rose 3.5% on an 8.5% sales increase as the company shifted its focus from drugs and medical devices to consumer products.

UAL reported a $61 million loss as revenue at the United Air parent suffered from storm-related flight cancellations.

Xerox's net fell 24%, weighed down by higher restructuring costs as the copier and printer maker contibues to cut jobs and close facilities. Revenue rose 3% .

Yahoo reported a 61% drop in earnings because of stock-option expenses and a year-earlier investment gain but said an upgrade of its Internet search advertising system was on track to deliver financial benefits.

Bank of America’s net income junmped 47%, while rival Wachovia (WB) saw a 35% gain in net income, as the banks were able to partially offset a tough interest-rate environment with revenue from acquisitions.

Capital One reported a 39% jump in fourth-quarter net income, but the results, as well as the credit card and banking company's 2007 forecast, fell short of Wall Street expectations.

Washington Mutual said that fourth-quarter net income came in at $1.06 billion, or $1.10 a share, up 23% from a year earlier when the lender made $865 million, or 85 cents a share. Earnings include an after-tax gain of $415 million from the sale of WM Advisors Inc., the company's mutual fund business, WaMu added.

Pfizer said it will slash 10,000 jobs as it unveiled restructuring plans. The drug maker posted flat sales, though net surged on a gain from the sale of a unit. Fourth-quarter net income rose sharply, boosted by gains on its $16.6 billion sale of its consumer division to Johnson & Johnson in June.

Texas Instruments, the world's largest maker of mobile phone chips, said its fourth-quarter profit rose 2% from a year ago, helped by a tax-related gain.

IBM's net rose 11% as sales advanced 7.5%, reflecting strength in services and software. Still, IBM shares fell 5.5% after hours.

Motorola said fourth-quarter net income plunged 48%, hurt by disappointing margins in its mobile-devices unit. Revenue rose 17%.

Apple's earnings surged 78% on record iPod sales, which helped push up revenue 24%. Mac sales rose 28% from a year ago.

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