Newmont Mining
Fourth-quarter profit jumped 46 percent, capping a year of record-setting revenue as gold prices climbed to historic highs.
Newmont posted a profit of $812 million, or $1.61 a share, up from $558 million, or $1.13 a share, a year earlier. Sales edged up 1.2 percent to $2.55 billion for the quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently forecast earnings of $1.14 a share.
General Motors
In a remarkable financial U-turn, the once-bankrupt automaker recorded its first profitable year since 2004 and is tantalizingly close to reclaiming its title as the world’s No. 1 automaker.
GM’s $4.7 billion profit for 2010 was impressive, especially considering the company lost more than $80 billion in the five years before its bankruptcy and needed a government bailout to survive.
GM beat Wall Street estimates for the full year and fourth quarter, when it made $510 million, mainly because GM spent millions launching the Cruze, above, and Volt.
Sears Holdings
Fourth-quarter net income fell 13 percent, but adjusted results topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to continued strengthening at its Kmart stores.
Fixing the long-running weakness at Sears will be the challenge for new chief executive and president Lou D’Ambrosio, named to the post Wednesday. Sears reported Thursday that it earned $374 million, or $3.43 a share, for the period ended Jan. 29. That compares with $430 million, or $3.74 a share, a year earlier. Revenue dipped 1 percent to $13.14 billion.
Target
Solid holiday sales and improvements in its branded credit- card business helped the retailer’s fourth-quarter profit rise almost 11 percent, but a company official cautioned Thursday that the economy is a “wild card.”
For the quarter that ended Jan. 29, Target reported net income of $1.03 billion, or $1.45 a share. That’s up 10.5 percent from $936 million, or $1.24 a share, in the same period last year. Target said its earnings included an income tax benefit of 7 cents a share for the quarter and 14 cents a share for the year, but it did not offer adjusted earnings figures.
Total revenue rose 2.4 percent to $20.66 billion.
AIG
The bailed-out insurer ended the year on a strong note, earning income of $11.2 billion in the fourth quarter. Most of the profits came from selling and spinning off various business units, primarily two of its life-insurance businesses.
AIG earned $16.60 a share in the fourth quarter, the company reported Thursday. In the same period last year, the company reported a loss of $8.87 billion, or $65.51 a share.
