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Medtronic’s Profit Falls 19 Percent on Layoff Costs

May 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The company’s quarterly profit fell short of Wall Street estimates, as did its outlook for the new fiscal year.

Stock in Medtronic, which is based in Minneapolis, fell $1.06, or 3 percent, to $40.20 a share in early trading.

Medtronic said it earned $776 million, or 72 cents a share, down from $954 million, or 86 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding $198 million in charges related to layoffs, asset write-downs and other costs, the company earned 90 cents a share.

Sales in the period, which ended April 29 and which was the fourth quarter of Medtronic’s fiscal year, rose 2 percent, to $4.3 billion, from $4.2 billion in the same period a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 93 cents a share on sales of $4.29 billion, on average.

Medtronic has struggled to maintain earnings growth amid sluggish sales of its two leading products: heart defibrillators and spinal implants. In February the company announced 2,000 layoffs to bolster its financial position.

It forecast revenue growth of 1 to 3 percent for the next fiscal year ending in April, which implies sales of $16.1 billion to $16.41 billion. The company expects to earn $3.43 to $3.50 a share. That includes 4 to 6 cents a share in costs related to its acquisition of a blood pressure treatment maker, Ardian.

Analysts expect a profit of $3.62 a share and $16.7 billion in revenue for the current fiscal year.

For the fourth quarter, sales of implantable heart rhythm products fell 7 percent to $1.32 billion on lower sales of devices that are used to treat rapid heartbeats. Sales of those products, called implantable cardioverter defibrillators, fell 16 percent to $760 million as sales in the United States continued to slump. Sales of cardiovascular devices grew 16 percent to $879 million.

The company’s spinal revenue fell 1 percent, to $875 million. However, sales of diabetes treatments, surgical technology and neuromodulation devices, which treat pain and other conditions by stimulating the nervous system, all improved.

Medtronic said its international sales rose 12 percent on better sales in emerging markets like China, Latin America, India and the Middle East and Africa.

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Mixed Results From Two Major Retailers

May 16, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Lowe’s, the home improvement chain, said its profit fell 6 percent, held down by economic conditions, while the department store chain J. C. Penney said its profit rose 6 percent, helped by cost cuts and a strong reception to its exclusive merchandise.

Lowe’s said its results were also hurt by bad weather and cut its full-year forecast. The company’s results also fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Lowe’s reported net income of $461 million, or 34 cents a share, down from $489 million, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue in the period, which ended April 29 and was the first quarter of Lowe’s fiscal year, dipped 2 percent to $12.19 billion, with revenue at stores open at least a year down 3.3 percent. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected earnings of 36 cents a share on revenue of $12.54 billion.

Lowe’s cautioned in February that consumers were still holding back and its earnings were at the low end of its forecast of 34 cents to 38 cents a share for the quarter.

The chief executive, Robert A. Niblock said in a statement that the company was also dealing with difficult comparison to a year ago, when federal rebates raised demand for appliances.

For the full year, Lowe’s expects earnings of $1.56 to $1.64 per share and an approximately 4 percent revenue increase. The chain previously forecast earnings of $1.60 to $1.72 per share on a 5 percent revenue rise.

Analysts predict full-year earnings of $1.70 per share on revenue of $50.9 billion.

Stock in Lowe’s, which is based in Mooresville, N.C., fell 2.8 percent in early trading Monday.

J. C. Penney said it earned $64 million, or 28 cents a share, up from $60 million, or 25 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue in the period, which ended April 30 and was the first quarter of Penney’s fiscal year, edged up to $3.94 billion from $3.93 billion. Penney’s revenue at stores open at least a year rose 3.8 percent.

Analysts predicted earnings of 26 cents on revenue of $3.94 billion, according to FactSet.

“We are successfully implementing our merchandising initiatives, with strong gains in both our men’s and women’s apparel businesses,” the chief executive, Myron E. Ullman III, said in a statement. “Additionally, the steps we have taken to manage our expenses position us to increase the flow-through of sales to the bottom line.”

Under pressure from shareholders, Penney has cut costs, including closing some stores, outlets and call centers. It is also finishing up closing its catalog business after announcing in November 2009 that it would stop publishing its twice-a-year “big book.”

Mr. Ullman promised more cost-saving initiatives, including trimming marketing expenses and streamlining sourcing operations. The company expects to save about $25 million to $30 million by 2013, with about half of that in 2012.

He expects the company to achieve an earnings target of $5 per share for 2014.

Stock in Penney, which is based in Plano, Tex., rose 4.5 percent in early trading.

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Motorola Solutions and Huawei Settle Claims Over Intellectual Property

April 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The agreement is expected to clear the way for Motorola Solutions to complete the sale of its networking division to Nokia Siemens Networks. Analysts say that deal has been delayed partly because of the legal disputes.

Separately, in a filing Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Motorola Solutions and Nokia Siemens said they expected to close the sale by April 29, pending approval by Chinese regulators.

The companies also said the price Nokia Siemens would pay for Motorola Solutions’ networking unit had been reduced to $975 million from $1.2 billion. The companies did not explain why the price had been reduced.

Motorola Solutions and Huawei issued a joint statement late Wednesday in Beijing. Motorola Solutions said it had agreed to drop a lawsuit filed last year in an Illinois court accusing Huawei of conspiring with several Motorola workers to steal trade secrets.

Motorola Solutions, which focuses on business customers, split off from Motorola in January.

For its part, Huawei said it had agreed to drop its lawsuit, filed early this year in Illinois, trying to block Motorola Solutions from proceeding with the sale of its networking unit because the deal involved some of Huawei’s technology.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the agreement announced Wednesday.

“This puts us in a better position to close the transaction,” Nicholas Sweers, a Motorola Solutions spokesman, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

As part of the settlement, Motorola Solutions, which is based in Schaumburg, Ill., said it had agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to Huawei to compensate the company for the technology that would be part of the sale to Nokia Siemens, a joint venture between Nokia and Siemens.

Robert Haslam, a lawyer working with Huawei, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday, “We believe the payment is a vindication of Huawei’s intellectual property rights and a recognition of its value.”

Huawei, based in Shenzhen, China, is one of China’s biggest and most dynamic young companies. But it has been dogged for years by claims that it had close ties to the Chinese military and that it gained some of its telecommunications know-how by theft.

Wednesday’s settlement may bolster Huawei’s assertion that it has been developing its own intellectual property. Some years ago, the company also settled a lawsuit in which Cisco Systems had accused the company of stealing trade secrets.

Huawei is now the world’s second-largest telecommunication equipment supplier. Only the Swedish company Ericsson is bigger. But despite Huawei’s strong presence in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, it has struggled to enter the United States market, largely because of concerns about national security and intellectual property rights.

Huawei executives insist the company has no ties to the Chinese military and say they respect intellectual property rights. They also say opponents — and perhaps competitors — are spreading rumors to prevent the company from gaining even more global market share.

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