I always love to talk about personal finance with my friends and family. And as a wise man once told me 😉, “Personal finance is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” But recently, the same word keeps coming up repeatedly: “inflation”… A compelling fact is that my $100 bill from three years ago has now shrunk to more … Continue reading Uncertain Times: Navigating the Wild World of Inflation
PNC Financial Services Group reported net income of $1.1 billion, or $1.99 per diluted share, for second quarter 2013 compared with $1.0 billion or $1.76 per diluted share for first quarter 2013. There were some one-time items, including securities gains ($61 million), gains on sale of Visa V stock ($83 million), and lower loss provision due to the better than expected improvement in commercial credit … Continue reading PNC Poised For Strong Third Quarter
A benign quarter of weather-related catastrophe events as well as strong favorable reserve development provided a surge in first-quarter earnings at Arch Capital Group. Both primary and reinsurance lines reported favorable reserve development, but the reinsurance segment provided the bulk of it, reducing the combined ratio by 16 points to 79%. Favorable reserve development also helped the primary insurance combined ratio dip below 100%, resulting … Continue reading First-Quarter Earning Surge at Arch Capital
Spark Infrastructure reported a solid first-half 2013, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, increasing 11% to AUD 340 million on a proportional basis. Growth was driven by substantial tariff increases to recover increased investment, partly offset by lower volumes. Regulated asset base (RAB) grew 9% in the past year and will continue growing robustly in coming years as investment continues. Spark … Continue reading Spark Infrastructure Reports Impressive First Half Results
Westar management announced a cost-cutting initiative via employee reductions to save $16 million annually (roughly 3% of total operating and maintenance and selling, general, and administrative expenses) beginning in the fourth quarter of 2012 and extending through the third quarter of 2013, given continued economic weakness and soft customer growth. Westar filed an abbreviated rate case in April 2013 to recover $335 million of its … Continue reading WR Announces Cost Cutting Initiative
AutoNation reported second-quarter results that matched consensus EPS expectations of $0.73 while revenue of $4.4 billion exceeded consensus expectation of $4.3 billion. Analysts  intend to raise the  fair value estimate to account for higher revenue growth and AutoNation capturing slightly more market share than we currently model in our five-year forecast period.  The results show that the U.S. auto recovery continues at a strong pace … Continue reading AutoNation Matches Consensus
