BUSINESS BRIEFS
Yahoo sees better times ahead
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo Inc.'s third-quarter profit slipped less than analysts feared, raising hopes that the slumping Internet powerhouse can deliver on the comeback promises of a new management team that took over four months ago.
The prospect of better times ahead lifted Yahoo's stock price nearly 10 percent late yesterday.
The Sunnyvale-based company said it earned $151.3 million during the three months ended in September. That was 5 percent less than its net income of $158.5 million in the same period last year.
The earnings were 11 cents per share in both periods because Yahoo bought back some of its stock in an attempt to bolster its eroding market value.
INTEL POSTS 43% INCREASE IN PROFIT
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Intel Corp.'s profit leaped 43 percent in the third quarter as cost-cutting, swelling microprocessor demand and a massive restructuring helped the world's largest semiconductor company glide past Wall Street's already-bullish expectations.
The Santa Clara-based chip maker said yesterday it earned $1.86 billion, or 31 cents per share, in the three months ended in September. That beat by a penny the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, and it's 43 percent higher than the $1.3 billion, or 22 cents per share, Intel earned in the year-ago period.
Intel is profiting from robust worldwide PC sales that are driving up demand for microprocessors, which act as the brains of those computers.
LM ERICSSON FALLS AMID SALES SLUMP
STOCKHOLM, Sweden — LM Ericsson shares plunged nearly 24 percent yesterday as the wireless network company unexpectedly cut its third-quarter forecast, the latest cell phone technology company to feel the pinch of slowing sales worldwide.
The announcement sparked new concerns about the tighter market that wireless equipment makers, including leader Alcatel-Lucent SA and Nokia Siemens, may face in the coming months. Shares in all of the companies were dragged down in concert with Ericsson's warning.
While Nokia Siemens and Alcatel-Lucent have struggled with integration issues and have cut costs and jobs, Ericsson has so far not had to do so. The company's announcement caught markets by surprise, particularly since none of the concerns were raised last month.
BANK PROFITS FEEL HOUSING PINCH
SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo & Co.'s profit grew at its slowest pace in more than six years during the third quarter, dragged down by deteriorating home loans likely to cause more trouble in the months ahead.
The story was similar at U.S. Bancorp, whose earnings slipped by 2 percent amid a traumatic housing downturn that's threatening to yank the economy into a recession.
Wells Fargo, the fifth-largest U.S. bank, said yesterday that it overcame the rocky market conditions to produce a profit of $2.28 billion, or 68 cents per share, during the three months ended in September. That represented a 4 percent increase from net income of $2.19 billion, or 64 cents per share, a year ago.
HOUSING INDEX LOWEST SINCE 1985
WASHINGTON — Home builders are getting gloomier about the slumping housing market, as a 22-year-old index that tracks their sentiment set a record low yesterday.
The National Association of Home Builders said its housing market index, which tracks builders' perceptions of conditions and expectations for home sales over the next six months, fell two points to 18 in October, the lowest level since the index began in January 1985. It was the eighth straight monthly decline.
The consensus forecast of economists surveyed by Thomson/IFR was for a reading of 19.
Index readings higher than 50 indicate positive sentiment. The seasonally adjusted index has been below 50 since May 2006.
