Third-quarter profits fell a steep 43% at BB&T, to $268 million, or $0.37 per share, from $469 million, or $0.66 per share, a year earlier. However, the decline was due to an unusual tax item, without which profits would have come to $503 million, or $0.70 per share. The 7% increase in adjusted profits was…
On Tuesday, Plains All American Pipeline PAA announced the negotiated terms of its proposed merger with its natural gas storage subsidiary, PAA Natural Gas StoragePNG. PNG’s public unitholders are to receive 0.445 common unit of PAA, higher than the proposal of 0.435 common unit announced in August. The amount is equivalent to about $23.27 per PNG unit,…
Quest Diagnostics followed up its earlier release of disappointing preliminary third-quarter results with more details behind the under performance and pulled back its outlook for the full year. The addition of this information has not materially changed our assumptions and we are holding steady on our $65 fair value estimate. Despite the new management team’s…
Baxter reported third-quarter results that put it on track to meet our $4.68 adjusted EPS estimate for the year, slightly ahead of management guidance of $4.65-$4.67. We’re maintaining our $80 fair value estimate despite branded hemophilia and generic anesthesia and chemotherapy competition that will likely begin to emerge as headwinds in early 2014. We think…
Danaher delivered third-quarter earnings of $0.84 per share, a 9% increase versus the prior year. The company reaffirmed its full-year earnings guidance, which was higher than our full-year estimates. We have increased our fair value estimate to $62 per share to reflect better-than-expected performance and cash earned since our last report. The resiliency of Danaher’s…
Third-quarter profits at Westamerica Bancorporation fell 16% year on year to $16.7 million, or $0.63 a share, from $20.0 million, or $0.73 a share. Earnings decreased largely due to lower net interest income as a result of declining asset yields. While we are not making changes to our narrow moat rating or fair value estimate,…
