BUSINESS BRIEFS
Broadband plan remains on track
Associated Press
NEW YORK — Sprint Nextel plans to stay the course on WiMax, a developing wireless technology that offers the prospect of unfettered national roaming for wireless broadband users, the acting CEO says.
WiMax "as a strategy is the future of the business," Paul Saleh, recently installed as acting CEO, told USA Today.
Formerly the chief financial officer, Saleh was named acting CEO after the board forced out CEO Gary Forsee this month. The board says it is focusing on outside candidates to fill the job.
Saleh and Forsee worked side-by-side to craft Sprint's strategy, which envisions a world in which consumers can use laptops and other WiMax-enabled mobile devices to surf the Internet at DSL-like speeds wherever they are.
Sprint is working with Clearwire to build a nationwide WiMax network. Their goal: to turn the United States into one, big Internet hot spot."This is where the market is going," Saleh says.
PHARMACEUTICAL EARNINGS MIXED
TRENTON, N.J. — Pharmaceutical companies Schering-Plough Corp. and Merck & Co. posted strong sales yesterday from their joint venture on cholesterol drugs, but otherwise their third-quarter earnings reports — and investor reaction — were strikingly different.
Merck surpassed analysts' expectations and saw its shares rise as much as 3 percent, while cross-state partner Schering-Plough fell shy of what Wall Street expected and its shares plunged more than 13 percent.
Merck posted a 62 percent increase in its third-quarter profit, as revenues jumped by double digits, and it boosted its full-year earnings forecast.
It reported net income of $1.53 billion, or 70 cents per share, for the July-September period, up from $940.6 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenues totaled $6.07 billion, up 12 percent.
Its shares rose $1.53, or 2.9 percent, to $54.64 yesterday, near their 52-week high of $55.14.
Schering-Plough's profits more than doubled, but without one-time gains, it missed Wall Street expectations.
MORE SPENDING LIFTS AMEX PROFIT
NEW YORK — American Express Co., one of the nation's biggest credit-card issuers, said yesterday that higher spending by cardholders pushed third-quarter profit up 10 percent.
The credit-card brand — known for its relatively wealthy, well-vetted customer base — reported that quarterly profit rose to $1.07 billion, or 90 cents per share, from $967 million, or 79 cents per share. Revenue rose 11 percent to $6.95 billion from $6.27 billion.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had projected earnings of 85 cents per share on $7.27 billion of revenue, meaning that American Express beat the earnings estimate even though it fell short on the revenue side.
American Express during the past few quarters has complained to analysts that their revenue estimates are too diverse to make an accurate projection.
OIL FUTURES PRICES TAKE A TUMBLE
NEW YORK — Oil futures prices fell yesterday amid concerns about economic growth and on profit-taking ahead of the November contract's expiration. However, doubts about a possible cease-fire between Turkey and Kurdish rebels in Iraq helped crude pare some of oil's losses.
The stock market's sharp downturn Friday has reignited concerns that the economy might be slowing, cutting demand for oil and petroleum products.
But traders also sold to lock in profits from a rally in which oil futures jumped almost 14 percent in less than two weeks.
Light, sweet crude for November delivery reached a record $90.07 a barrel on Friday morning; it settled yesterday at $87.56, down $1.04 from Friday's close on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
However, oil regained some ground before the close on concerns that an expected Kurdish cease-fire might not have much effect.
