Amazon
A plunge in third-quarter profit comes after the online retailer ramped up spending on new products such as the Kindle Fire tablet.
Net income fell 73 percent to $63 million, or 14 cents a share, from $231 million, or 51 cents, a year earlier, the Seattle-based company said Tuesday in a statement. That missed the 24 cents predicted by analysts, according to Bloomberg data. Amazon also said it may post an operating loss this quarter. Net sales climbed 44 percent last quarter to $10.9 billion.
The company is sacrificing profit margins in search of sales volume and market- share gains. Amazon will sell its Kindle Fire tablet for as low as $199, less than half the price of Apple’s cheapest iPad.
Delta Air Lines
The airline will cut back on flights next year and probably be more expensive for passengers too.
Delta reported net income of $549 million, or 65 cents a share, up from $366 million, or 43 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10 percent to $9.8 billion. If not for losses from fuel hedging and other items, Delta would have earned 91 cents a share.
Delta said it expects to be profitable in the fourth quarter too.
United Parcel Service
A 5.1 percent increase in third- quarter earnings topped Wall Street’s profit forecast, although overall package volume was stagnant because of a downturn in Asian exports and slack U.S. demand.
UPS reported a third-quarter profit of $1.04 billion, or $1.06 a share, compared with a profit of $991 million, or 99 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 8 percent to $13.17 billion.
3M
Americans put the brakes on purchases of LCD TVs and other electronics this summer. That didn’t help manufacturers like 3M — which rely on those expensive goods to drive their business.
The Maplewood, Minn., company now expects to earn $5.85 to $5.95 a share, compared with $6.10 to $6.25 a share previously.
3M issued the outlook as it reported third-quarter earnings fell about 2 percent to $1.09 billion, or $1.52 a share, from $1.11 billion, or $1.53 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 10 percent to $7.53 billion.
BP
Third-quarter profits more than doubled thanks to higher oil prices, with the chief executive saying the results marked a turnaround from the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
BP also announced that it now aims to dispose of $45 billion in assets, up from the $30 billion it originally set to raise money to pay for damage from the blowout on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010. Eleven rig workers were killed in the explosion and fire.
For the three months ending Sept. 30, BP had a profit of $4.9 billion, compared with $1.8 billion a year earlier. Revenue rose 31 percent to $97.6 billion.
U.S. Steel
A profit of $22 million in the third quarter comes as steel sold for higher prices. The company lost $51 million in the year-ago quarter. U.S. Steel reported per-share income of 15 cents for the three months ended Sept. 30. That compares with a loss of 35 cents a share for the same period in 2010. Revenue increased 13 percent to $5.08 billion.
Xerox
Third-quarter profit jumped 28 percent on strength in its technology services and color printers businesses.
Xerox reported a third-quarter profit of $320 million, or 22 cents a share, up from $250 million, or 17 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 2.9 percent to $5.58 billion.
