Story Stocks

Rohm and Haas:

Rohm and Haas (ROH 56.50) reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings, although revenue dropped by a larger-than-expected amount and uncertainty remains regarding the Dow Chemical (DOW 10.88) takeover.

Sales fell 13% year-over-year to $2.03 billion, which was worse than the $2.28 billion consensus estimate. Rohm and Haas said the downturn was due to accelerating market declines in all of its businesses and regions, with the exception of salt.

ROH earned $0.69 per share, excluding asset impairment charges and other nonrecurring items, which was $0.02 better than the consensus estimate of $0.67, but down from year-ago adjusted EPS of $0.90. Including $0.08 in costs related to the proposed merger with Dow Chemical, $0.03 related to hurricanes and $0.41 in asset impairments, Rohm and Hass earned $0.17 per share, or $32 million.

For full year 2008, sales rose 8% to $9.6 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $3.31, down slightly from $3.37 one year ago.

The company said, "As market conditions continue to weaken, we are implementing additional actions to navigate these difficult times, while remaining focused on positioning our businesses for success when markets recover."

Rohm and Haas added that it believes Dow Chemical has the ability to live up to its obligations and complete the $78 per share takeover deal. Dow failed to close the deal by the Jan. 27 deadline and recently posted a quarterly loss.

09:30 ET

McDonald's: McDonald's (MCD 58.46) reported another strong month of sales in January, as cash-strapped consumers continue to seek out the low-cost offerings of the restaurant chain. McDonald's said that January same-store sales across the company were up 7.1% year-over-year. The U.S. saw same-store sales increase 5.4%, driven by strong breakfast sales. Same-store sales in Europe were up 7.1% and the company saw strong 10.2% growth in Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. McDonald's said successful Chinese New Year promotions contributed to January's performance. Looking ahead, McDonald's said same-store sales in February will be negatively impacted by about 4 percentage points as the prior year's results included one extra day due to leap year. McDonald's said sales saw a calendar shift benefit of about 2 percentage points in January. Shares of MCD are up less than 1% in Monday's premarket trade.

09:17 ET

Hasbro: Hasbro (HAS 23.54) reported lower-than-expected earnings as the toymaker said promotional pricing negatively impacted operating profit. Hasbro reported earnings of $0.62 in the fourth quarter, $0.13 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.75. Revenues fell 5.1% year-over-year to $1.23 billion, short of the $1.27 billion consensus. The maker of Scrabble and Monopoly said that it put promotional programs in place prior to the holidays. As a result, Hasbro said it ended 2008 in a "much better inventory position than we would have otherwise, although it did negatively impact operating profit in the fourth quarter."

09:01 ET

NYSE Euronext: NYSE Euronext (NYX 22.90) reported lower-than-expected earnings and said that average daily volume was down in January. For the fourth quarter, NYSE Euronext reported earnings of $0.52 per share, excluding nonrecurring items, $0.03 worse than the First Call consensus of $0.55. Pro-forma non-GAAP revenues rose 20.8% year-over-year to $1.18 billion. The consensus expected $1.19 billion. Net revenues benefited from higher volumes, but were negatively impacted by new pricing initiatives which resulted in higher rebates to customers. Foreign exchange variances also negatively impacted net revenues by $55 million in the quarter. The company said it will maintain its $0.30 quarterly dividend through 2009, but that it "decided to refrain from stock repurchases at this time." NYSE Euronext said the trading volumes are down year-over-year in January, with average daily volume in the U.S. down 8.9% to 3.5 billion shares and European down to 1.3 million transactions from 1.9 million in 2008.

08:34 ET

Whirlpool: Whirlpool (WHR 36.39) posted lower profits and said it "expect(s) 2009 economic conditions to be among the most challenging that we have faced." For the fourth quarter, Whirlpool reported earnings of $0.60 per share, including restructuring costs and product recall expense. The results may not be comparable to the First Call consensus of $0.78. Revenues fell 19.0% year-over-year to $4.32 billion, short of the $4.88 billion consensus. Whirlpool said fourth-quarter earnings reflect sharply lower global unit sales and production volumes, higher material and oil-related costs and unfavorable foreign currency exchange movements compared to the fourth quarter of 2007. Whirlpool issued downside guidance for 2009, expecting earnings between $3.00 and $4.00 per share, excluding nonrecurring items. The current consensus calls for earnings of $4.12 per share. Based on current economic conditions, Whirlpool said it expects 2009 U.S. industry unit shipments to decline approximately 10% from 2008. Whirlpool expects shipments in the European region to decline 8%, and sees both Latin America and Asia flat to down 5%.