Janus Capital Group Inc.
The Denver-based mutual-fund company missed analysts’ estimates for first-quarter earnings after clients withdrew $4.3 billion from its Intech quantitative-investment unit.
Net income was $31.3 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with a loss of $818.1 million, or $5.22, a year earlier, the company said in a statement Thursday. That fell short of the 18- cent average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Shares of the Denver-based restaurant chain rose 14 percent Thursday, or $17.97, to close at $144.72 after posting a 49.1 percent gain in earnings Wednesday.
Net income rose to $37.8 million, or $1.19 per diluted share, compared with $25.4 million, or 78 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2009.
Revenue for Chipotle, which opened 20 new restaurants in the quarter, rose to $409.7 million, an increase of 15.6 percent.
ProLogis
The Denver-based owner of warehouses said Thursday that slack demand for storage and distribution centers resulted in lower first-quarter earnings.
ProLogis said funds from operations fell to $22.9 million, or 5 cents a share, from $232.3 million, or 86 cents a share, a year earlier.
Amazon.com
The online retailer said Thursday its first-quarter profit surged 68 percent, showing that consumers are even more comfortable opening their wallets to the online retailer as the economy slowly improves. But investors were spooked by Amazon’s forecast for the current quarter, and its shares fell in extended trading.
Amazon earned $299 million, or 66 cents a share, in the January-March period. That compares with a profit of $177 million, or 41 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 46 percent to $7.13 billion.
Amazon’s earnings were 5 cents more than expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Microsoft Corp.
The software giant said Thursday that its net income in the most recent quarter rose 35 percent, helped by strong sales of Windows 7.
For the January-March fiscal third quarter, Microsoft earned $4 billion, or 45 cents a share. That’s higher than the 42 cents a share forecast by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. It’s up from $3 billion, or 33 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue rose 6 percent to $14.5 billion.
Southwest Airlines
By the slimmest of margins, the low-fare carrier made a profit in the first quarter while other big carriers were losing money. The airline said Thursday it earned $11 million, or a penny a share. Revenue rose 11.6 percent.
Southwest’s first-quarter profit included write-downs of its fuel-hedging contracts that were designed to save money. Without those write-downs, it would have earned $24 million, or 3 cents a share, which matched the forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Continental Airlines
The Houston-based airline lost $146 million in the first quarter as higher fuel costs offset an increase in revenue. Continental said it lost $1.05 a share in the first quarter. Revenue rose slightly to $3.17 billion.
