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COPYRIGHT 2005 Voxant Inc.
Original Source: NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT
PAUL KANGAS, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: A giant quarter for sales in the Amazon -- amazon.com, that is -- that helps the online retailer turn in better than expected profits for the second quarter. Investors bid up the stock after hours on anticipation of some princely sales in the third. We`ll explain.
SUSIE GHARIB, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT ANCHOR: The man who wants to head the Securities and Exchange Commission says enforcing the nation`s securities laws would be his top priority. But first, Christopher Cox has to convince the Senate he`s the right man for the job.
KANGAS: Also tonight, a turnaround for "TV Guide." The small format television magazine is going to be living large this fall and hoping to stop the fall of the stock price of its publisher.
GHARIB: Then, the owner of this home in Rye, New York, has financed it with one of the latest products in the mortgage market. As we continue our special series, "Home Run." we`ll explain why there is growing interest in interest only loans.
KANGAS: I`m Paul Kangas.
GHARIB: And I`m Susie Gharib. This is NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT for Tuesday, July 26.
Good evening, everyone. Amazon.com`s stock surged more than 10 percent in after hours trading tonight on stronger than expected quarterly earnings. And the company gave an optimistic outlook for the third quarter thanks to the latest "Harry Potter" book. "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is flying out of Amazon`s warehouses. Amazon earned $52 million or $0.12 a share, in the second quarter. That was down from the year ago period, but still $0.02 ahead of Street estimates. Profits were impacted by higher than expected costs for Amazon`s free shipping program. Still, sales rose 26 percent to $1.75 billion, more than analysts were expecting. Amazon said revenues could get as high as $1.9 billion in the current quarter.
KANGAS: Meanwhile on Wall Street, it was a split decision today for investor reaction to earnings news on two of the components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As Scott Gurvey explains, investors bought up one stock and sold off the other.
SCOTT GURVEY, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Second quarter earnings for Verizon rose 18 percent as the company`s wireless unit added almost two million new customers. But the news of unexpectedly strong growth for wireless is a mixed blessing for the telecom giant. The company`s traditional wire line telephone business posted a 0.5 percent decline in revenue. After excluding one-time events, which included the sale of wire line and directory operations in Hawaii, Verizon earned $0.63 a share. Analysts were expecting on average $0.64. Verizon gained ground in today`s trading because analysts were not surprised to see the continuing shift of wired to wireless business and the bottom line number was close to expectations. Deutsche bank has an investment banking relationship with Verizon.
VICTOR SHVETS, TELECOM ANALYST, DEUTSCHE BANK: There is actually a value argument to be made that the market is somewhat undervaluing each constituent part of Verizon Communications. Also at the same time, you`re still collecting a 4.5 percent, 5 percent dividend, and the dividend flow is not going to be in our view endangered for the next several years to come at least and quite possibly much longer.
GURVEY: Dupont posted a big top line increase in profit, but the results benefited from one-time gains, while the comparison quarter included big charges. Excluding those special events, Dupont earned $0.91 a share, compared to $0.80 a year ago. The net was significantly below analysts` average expectations of $0.96 a share. Wall Street punished the Dow component in trading today, with shares falling more than 6 percent. Merrill Lynch downgraded the stock, while most...
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