Institutional Investor (April 2)
Expectations are low as U.S. companies prepare to report first quarter results. Consensus forecasts “show a decline in first quarter earnings of more than 4 percent, with anticipated shortfalls across all sectors. This represents the largest downward revisions since the first quarter of 2009.”
Tags: Decline, Downward revision, Earnings, Expectations, Forecasts, Results, Sectors, Shortfalls, U.S. Q1
Washington Post (March 5)
There has been a “great shift in what U.S. corporations have done with their money.” Companies once invested 40% of “every dollar that a corporation either borrowed or realized in net earnings.” This “went into investment in its facilities, research or new hires. Since the ’80s, however, just 10 cents of those dollars have gone to investment…. The money that once went to expansion and new ventures has gone instead into shareholders’ pockets.”
Tags: Corporations, Earnings, Expansion, Facilities, Investment, Research, Shareholders, Shift, U.S.
USA Today (July 14)
“Raising the minimum wage can lead to higher corporate earnings,” writes Bill Gross, the founder of PIMCO. “Main Street is Wall Street’s best friend…. It is time to let common sense as opposed to the race for short-term corporate profits guide our economic future.”
Tags: Bill Gross, Common sense, Earnings, Economic future, Main Street, Minimum wage, PIMCO, Short-term corporate profits, Wall Street
Institutional Investor (October Issue)
We are living in “disparate times.” Income inequality hit a record in 2012, with the top 10% accounting for 50.4% of total earnings. Much as hypertension can lead to a coronary event, “inequality my leave markets prone to crashes.”
Wall Street Journal (May 30)
“Flush with cash and bolstered by a strong currency, Japanese companies are in the midst of the biggest boom in overseas investment the country has ever seen.” At home, earnings are threatened by the shrinking domestic market, uncertain electric supply, disrupted supply chains, and weak domestic economy. In the past, “Japanese mergers-and-acquisitions booms sometimes focused on trophy properties with little regard to value.” Today’s boom is driven by value and “powered by fear.”
“Flush with cash and bolstered by a strong currency, Japanese companies are in the midst of the biggest boom in overseas investment the country has ever seen.” At home, earnings are threatened by the shrinking domestic market, uncertain electric supply, disrupted supply chains, and weak domestic economy. In the past, “Japanese mergers-and-acquisitions booms sometimes focused on trophy properties with little regard to value.” Today’s boom is driven by value and “powered by fear.”
Reuters (April 6)Reuters (April 6)
Amid a dearth of disclosure, overseas and domestic investors are finding it difficult to assess investments in Japan. In response to the quake, the TSE is allowing firms an extra three months to announce earnings. “Underscoring the uncertainty, some 460 firms listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange have yet to tell the bourse when they plan to announce earnings for the year ended on March 31, more than 5 times the average.” Moreover, fewer firms are expected to provide “a forecast for the year ahead, depriving investors of a key guide on which they would normally rely to make trading decisions.”
A “cup of sake could save the nation.” The Financial Times disagrees with Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara’s efforts to discourage traditional hanami cherry blossom viewing parties out of respect for those still suffering from disaster. The Governor’s entreaties could make a bad situation worse, as restraint worsens a reeling economy. “Mr Ishihara risks deepening the post-disaster slump by simultaneously seeking to stop Tokyo residents from celebrating the arrival of cherry blossoms with their traditional hanami flower-viewing parties.”
Tags: Earnings, Forecast, Japan Investors, Quake, TSE
