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Discover’s Momentum Continues in 1Q

Discover Financial Service DFS reported net income of $673 million, or $1.33 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2013. The narrow-moat company continued to generate strong momentum across business lines, increasing book value more than 5% during the quarter, and we may moderately increase our fair value estimate as we incorporate the quarter’s results and transfer coverage to a new analyst. In contrast … Continue reading Discover’s Momentum Continues in 1Q

China Telecom Reaps Efficiency Gains in 1Q After 3G Assets Acquisition

Carrier China Telecom CHA increased first-quarter revenue 15% year over year to CNY 78 billion ($12.6 billion) thanks to strong mobile service revenue and handset sales. EBITDA grew at a much faster pace of 36%, as the firm benefited from scale efficiencies on its 3G network after it acquired the assets from its parent at the end of December. We are maintaining our narrow economic … Continue reading China Telecom Reaps Efficiency Gains in 1Q After 3G Assets Acquisition

Investments in Mobile Weighed on First-Quarter Margins for Baidu; Shares Undervalued

Chinese search engine Baidu BIDU posted a 40% increase in first-quarter revenue that met our expectations, although margins came under pressure due to aggressive investments in mobile Internet. We believe these strategic investments behind product innovation, engineering talents, network infrastructure, and marketing campaigns are critical to fortifying Baidu’s competitiveness in the fastgrowing mobile Internet space over the longer term. We applaud management’s decision to accelerate … Continue reading Investments in Mobile Weighed on First-Quarter Margins for Baidu; Shares Undervalued

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Avon Takes Steps to Enhance its Corporate Governance; Shares Far From a Beauty

Avon Products AVP announced on Friday that independent chairman Fred Hassan would be stepping down immediately in light of ” his other professional commitments” (which presently include working as a managing director and partner at private-equity firm Warburg Pincus, as well as a director at Time Warner TWX and chairman of Bausch and Lomb) . Former Campbell Soup CPB CEO Doug Conant (a director since … Continue reading Avon Takes Steps to Enhance its Corporate Governance; Shares Far From a Beauty

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Avnet Reports Soft Sales to Western Markets, Growth in Asia

We’re maintaining our fair value estimate and moat rating for Avnet AVT after it reported third-quarter results that indicate trepidation from enterprise businesses in Western markets, but continued growth in emerging markets. Avnet generated $6.3 billion of total sales, in line with seasonality and our own expectations. Pro-forma sales to higher-margin Western markets (EMEA and Americas) declined year-overyear in both of Avnet’s segments—electronics marketing (EM) … Continue reading Avnet Reports Soft Sales to Western Markets, Growth in Asia

Ametek Delivers Earnings Growth in First Quarter

Ametek AME delivered first-quarter earnings of $0.51 per diluted share, an 11% increase versus the first quarter of 2012. While operating margin performance was ahead of pace to meet our full-year expectation, revenue growth, including acquisitions, of 7% was a bit weaker than we anticipated. Management increased the bottom end of its full-year EPS guidance from $2.07 to $2.08, resulting in a new midpoint of … Continue reading Ametek Delivers Earnings Growth in First Quarter