Chrysler • The Detroit automaker on Thursday said it earned $473 million in the first quarter, exceeding its profit for all of 2011 in just three months as its global sales rose 33 percent.
The profit, the largest in any quarter since the carmaker’s 2009 bankruptcy, was more than quadruple that of the same period a year ago, when it earned $116 million. Revenue increased 25 percent, to $16.4 billion.
Exxon Mobil • With oil and natural-gas production down, profits dropped at the company’s chemical plants and U.S. refineries. And its overall net income fell 11 percent, the first decline in quarterly earnings since late 2009.
The results, announced Thursday, signaled a tough year ahead for Exxon and the rest of the petroleum industry. Even after spending billions of dollars hunting for oil at the bottom of the ocean, in the frigid waters of the Arctic and deep underground in North American shale rock, Big Oil is failing to keep up with growing world oil and gas demand.
Amazon • First-quarter profits blew by analysts’ estimates and boosted the company’s stock in extended trading. The online commerce giant said its Kindle Fire tablet computer was its best-selling item and helped lift revenue from digital movies and books.
For the company as a whole, net income declined to $130 million, or 28 cents a share, from $201 million, or 44 cents a share a year ago. That was still better than the 6 cents a share of profit expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
PepsiCo • The maker of Tropicana, Quaker Oats and Lay’s potato chips, in addition to its namesake cola, said its first-quarter net income fell slightly from a year ago.
For the first three months of the year, PepsiCo said it earned $1.13 billion, or 71 cents a share. That compares with $1.14 billion, or 71 cents a share, in the same period last year. A reduced number of average outstanding shares in the quarter lifted the latest per-share results. Not including one-time items, the company said it earned 69 cents a share, which topped Wall Street expectations for 66 cents a share.
PepsiCo affirmed its outlook for the year, forecasting that adjusted net income would fall by 5 percent. Its shares fell 30 cents to close at $66.37 Thursday.
Frontier Airlines • Frontier Airlines reported a pre-tax loss of $21.6 million, compared with a pre-tax loss of $39 million for the first quarter of 2011.
Total revenues increased 19.2 percent to $342.4 million for the first quarter, compared with $287.3 million for the same period in 2011.
Capacity was up 10.8 percent from the prior year’s first quarter, reflecting the year-over-year impact of adding A319 and A320 aircraft to the fleet during the first half of 2011.
Load factor for the first quarter was a record 84.7 percent, an increase of 4.1 points from the first quarter of 2011.
Newmont Mining • Net income from continuing operations reached $561 million, or $1.13 per basic share, up 9 percent from $514 million, or $1.04 per basic share, in the first quarter of 2011.
Consolidated revenue was $2.7 billion, an increase of 9 percent from the prior-year quarter.
Average realized gold and copper price was $1,684 per ounce and $4.01 per pound, up 22 percent and no change, respectively, from the prior-year quarter.
Gold and copper production was 1.3 million ounces and 35 million pounds, down 2 percent and 35 percent, respectively, from the prior-year quarter.
Denver Post staff and wire reports
