Local earnings

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Nov 9, 2006 | by Deseret Morning News

Several companies, including some based in Utah or with ties to the state, reported quarterly financial results on Wednesday.

FX Energy

Salt Lake-based oil and gas company FX Energy Inc. reported a net loss of $1.7 million, or 5 cents per share, for the third quarter. That compares with a net loss of $1.4 million, or 4 cents per share, for the 2005 third quarter.

The Wall Street consensus expectation was for the company to lose 10 cents per share in the most recent quarter.

Revenues totaled $1.8 million, down from $2.5 million in the year- earlier period.

FX holds a land position of nearly 2 million acres in Poland.

The company's stock rose 6 cents Wednesday to close at $5.53 per share. During the past year, the price has ranged from $3.84 to $12.04.

NPS

New Jersey-based NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported a net loss of $21.1 million, or 45 cents per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with a net loss of $38.3 million, or 95 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2005.

Wall Street's consensus expectation was for the company to earn 68 cents during the most recent quarter.

Revenues totaled $10.1 million, up from $4.7 million a year earlier.

NPS discovers and develops small molecules and recombinant proteins as drugs and also has drug candidates in various stages of clinical development. The company, formerly based in Utah, has about 75 employees in the state.

NPS stock rose 8 cents Wednesday to close at $4.50 per share. During the past year, the price has ranged from $3.54 to $16.

News Corp.

News Corp., the global media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, posted a first-quarter profit on better results from cable and broadcast TV compared with a year ago, when it had a big accounting charge.

The company, which owns the Twentieth Century Fox studio, Fox News Channel, the New York Post and MySpace, earned $843 million in the three months ended in September, versus a net loss of $433 million a year ago.

The results in the prior-year period were dragged down by a $1 billion charge to write down the value of its TV stations' broadcasting licenses. Excluding the charge, the year-ago earnings were $580 million.

The results were equivalent to 28 cents per Class A share, the most widely held class of News Corp. stock, versus a loss of 14 cents per share a year ago.

Revenue rose 4.1 percent to $5.91 billion from $5.68 billion in the same period a year ago.

Operating income fell 6.4 percent to $851 million as a steep decline in the often volatile earnings from News Corp.'s hit-driven film and TV business offset gains in broadcast and cable television networks.

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems Inc., the world's largest networking equipment maker, said its first-quarter earnings jumped 27 percent over last year on higher sales of the gear that connects computers to the Internet.

Net income for the quarter ended Oct. 28 was $1.61 billion, or 26 cents per share, compared with $1.26 billion, or 20 cents per share, in the same period last year.

Quarterly sales for the San Jose-based company were $8.18 billion, compared with $6.55 billion last year.

Excluding one-time charges, the company would have earned $1.9 billion, or 31 cents per share.

The company was expected to earn, on average, 29 cents per share on $7.9 billion in revenue, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Specialized Health Products

Bountiful-based Specialized Health Products Inc. reported net income of $557,000, or 1 cent per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with a net loss of $351,000, or 1 cent per share, for the same quarter last year.

Revenue totaled $4.1 million, up from $1.7 million in the year- earlier quarter, boosted by about $1.3 million from Med-Design Corp., which SHPI acquired and integrated.

The company develops, manufactures and markets safety medical devices.

The company's stock was unchanged Wednesday at 63 cents per share. During the past year, the price has ranged from 35 cents to 71 cents.

Electric Aquagenics

Lindon-based Electric Aquagenics Unlimited Inc., while not specifically announcing net results for the company, reported that revenues totaled $778,737 in the third quarter, up from $278,767 for the year-earlier quarter. It said general and administrative expenses totaled $1.3 million, down from $1.8 million a year earlier.

The company provides electrolyzed oxidative water for use in several industries.

EAU's stock fell 2 cents Wednesday to close at $1.45 per share. During the past year, the price has ranged from 90 cents to $3.35.

Sirius

Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. said its third-quarter loss narrowed as revenue more than doubled because of a surge in subscribers.

Sirius, whose top radio personality is shock-jock Howard Stern, reported a loss of $162.9 million, or 12 cents per share, while analysts were looking for a loss of 14 cents per share. In the year- ago period, the loss reached $180.5 million, or 14 cents per share.

Sirius' shares rose 3 cents to close at $4.12 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock is still down since the beginning of the year and has traded between $3.60 and $7.98 over the past 52 weeks.