By Stock Wizard

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO), the world's largest beverage company, is scheduled to release its fiscal fourth-quarter 2009 financial results before the market open on Tuesday, February 9, 2009. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 67 cents a share on revenue of $7.21 billion. In the year ago period, the company posted earnings of 64 per share on revenue of $7.13 billion.

The Coca-Cola Company manufactures, distributes, and markets nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups worldwide. It principally offers sparkling and still beverages.

In the preceding third quarter, the Atlanta, Georgia-based company reported net income that was flat with the prior-year quarter at $1.90 billion or $0.81 per share. Excluding these charges and gains, non-GAAP net income for the quarter edged down to $1.92 billion or $0.82 per share from $1.93 billion or $0.83 per share in the year-ago quarter. Net operating revenues for the quarter declined 4% to $8.04 billion from $8.39 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of $0.82 per share on revenue of $8.11 billion. Gross profit for the quarter decreased 5% to $5.11 billion from the year-earlier quarter, and selling, general and administrative expenses were $2.91 billion, 7% lower than the third quarter of 2008.

Worldwide unit case volumes increased 2% in the third quarter, driven by a 4% increase in international unit case volumes. Unit case volume growth increased strongly in key emerging markets with 37% growth in India, 15% growth in China and 3% growth in Brazil.

In November, the beverages company said its productivity initiatives remain well on track to achieve $500 million target in annualized savings by year-end 2011, and expects to deliver more than half of the savings by the end of 2009.

Coca-Cola is expanding agressively in international market, especially emerging markets, to improve revenue growth. The soft drinks maker is planning to more than double its number of bottling plants in China over the coming decade as part of the group's aim to triple the size of its sales to the country's rapidly emerging middle class. Coca-Cola executives say they expect 60 per cent of the new growth to come from China, India and other emerging markets, with only 15 per cent from developed markets. China, already Coca-Cola's third-largest national market by revenues, has an average per capita consumption of 28 Coca-Cola products per year -- on a par with poor African countries and well below the 199 per capita of Coca-Cola products drunk last year in Brazil.

The company's stock currently trades at a forward P/E (fye 31-Dec-10) of 15.57 and PEG Ratio (5 yr expected) of 1.93. In terms of stock performance, Coca-Cola shares have gained 25 percent over the past year.

Full Disclosure: None.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.

By stockOzone team

Hasbro Inc (HAS.N) posted a much stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and said the momentum in its games and its toys for boys would help 2010 profit and revenue rise, sending its shares up nearly 14 percent.

The upbeat forecast in an "entertainment-light" year for Hasbro -- with toys tied to the releases of only two movies "Iron Man 2" and "Toy Story 3" -- cheered investors, boosting its stock to the highest level since September 2008.

Demand for toys tied to the "Transformers" movie, meanwhile, helped boost the fourth quarter.

The No. 2 toymaker behind Mattel Inc (MAT.O) also hopes to benefit from its joint venture with Discovery Communications Inc (DISCA.O) to form a new children's television network -- The Hub -- and the creation of Hasbro Studios.

It also sees its presence in emerging markets and key long-term licenses aiding future growth.

On a conference call, Hasbro said it expects the sales momentum in the holiday quarter at its games business to continue into 2010 and added that its boys business should be "very robust" in the period.

"2010 guidance is pleasantly surprising," Timothy Conder, an analyst with Wells Fargo, said in an e-mail.

Conder said the announcement for the autumn 2010 line-up for The Hub could be an additional catalyst for shares as "investors will then be able to benchmark a base for growth of this venture going forward."

Some investors are already bullish about the joint venture and expect it to give Hasbro a big boost in 2011.

The strong results came a week after rival Mattel forecast a strong 2010 from new toy lines and renewed demand for its Barbie dolls, but failed to excite investors worried that higher costs could limit its gross margin growth.

Hasbro, on the other hand, gave investors another reason to cheer by saying it did not expect rising input costs to have a material impact on margins in 2010.

Hasbro's fourth-quarter net profit rose to $165.6 million, or $1.09 a share, from $93.6 million, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting earnings of 81 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Net revenue rose 12 percent to $1.38 billion, beating analysts' average forecast of $1.34 billion. Revenue from the boys' segment rose 16 percent in the quarter.

"Overall, the fourth quarter was very good and was much better than we envisioned even factoring in what were clearly market share gains in action figures and games/puzzles," Conder said.

Standard & Poor's analyst Erik Kolb backed his "buy" rating and raised his target on the stock to $38 from $34, saying he expected the boys segment to likely remain the strongest in 2010.

Looking ahead, Hasbro has a huge entertainment lineup, with "Stretch Armstrong," "Battleship," "The First Avenger: Captain America" and "Spider-Man 4" movies all slated for release in 2012.

Last December, Hasbro also signed a 10-year deal to make and sell toys and games based on characters in the American children's television series "Sesame Street."

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.

By stockOzone team

The former chief executive of Merrill Lynch, John Thain, has been appointed as the new boss of US lender CIT Group, which recently emerged from bankruptcy.

CIT will pay Mr Thain $6m (£3.8m) a year - $500,000 in cash, $2.5m in stock to be held for one year, and $3m in stock to be held for three years.

Mr Thain resigned from Merrill just after it merged with Bank of America at the start of last year.

He was criticised for allowing big bonuses despite Merrill's hefty losses.

These were paid out just days before the takeover by Bank of America.

"John is a well-respected financial services executive and proven leader who is uniquely qualified to lead CIT at this critical stage," said board member, John Ryan.

The new boss said the firm was well-placed, despite its recent troubles.

"The company's numerous market-leading positions are evidence of the resiliency of the franchise and its unwavering commitment to customers," Mr Thain said.

CIT suffered in the recession as its many bad loans were exposed. It filed for bankruptcy protection on 1 November last year after failing to restructure its debt.

The company emerged from protection just a few weeks later.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.

By Stock Wizard

Activision Blizzard Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is scheduled to release fiscal fourth-quarter 2009 earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, February 10, 2010. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 44 cents a share on revenue of $2.23 billion. In the year ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 31 cents per share on revenue of $2.34 billion.

Activision Blizzard, Inc., through its subsidiaries, publishes online, personal computer, console, and hand-held games worldwide. The company develops and publishes video games, as well as maintains its proprietary online-game related service, Battle.net. It also publishes interactive software products and peripherals internationally. The company?s products cover various game categories, including action/adventure, action sports, racing, role-playing, simulation, first-person action, music, and strategy. Its products include Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Tony Hawk, Spider-Man, X-Men, James Bond, and Transformers, as well as Diablo, StarCraft, Warcraft, and World of Warcraft.

In the preceding third quarter, the Santa Monica, California-based company posted net income of $15 million or $0.01 per share compared to a loss of $108 million or $0.08 per share, in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 4 cents a share. Revenue for the quarter totaled $703 million. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of $0.04 per share on revenue of $724.04 million.

For the third quarter, Activision Blizzard increased its U.S. and European share 1.2 points over last year, across all platforms to 12.3% and had two of the top-10 best-selling titles in the U.S., Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero World Tour, according to the NPD Group (U.S. data) and Charttrack and Gfk (European data).

For the fourth quarter, Activision Blizzard anticipates a GAAP loss of $0.04 per share, and non-GAAP earnings of $0.43 per share. GAAP net revenues are estimated to be $1.33 billion, and non-GAAP net revenues are expected to be $2.22 billion. For calendar year 2009, the company continues to expect GAAP earnings of $0.26 per share, and non-GAAP earnings of $0.63 per share. GAAP net revenues are estimated to be $4.05 billion, and non-GAAP net revenues are expected to be $4.50 billion.

In the fourth quarter of calendar year 2009, Activision Publishing released five holiday titles namely "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" and "Tony Hawk: Ride" this month, as well as the already released "DJ Hero" and "Band Hero." In November, Activision Publishing released Infinity Ward's highly anticipated first-person action game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 globally. According to its own internal estimates, Modern Warfare 2 racked up $550 million in its first five days on the market. In January, Video game publisher Activision Blizzard Inc. said that the game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" has brought in more than US$1 billion in revenue since it went on sale. "Call of Duty" has an edge over other games because of its online multi-player mode. New updates to the online version can give titles a longer shelf life. The company is poised to benefit from strong holiday sales.

The company's stock currently trades at a forward P/E (fye 31-Dec-10) of 13.80 and PEG Ratio (5 yr expected) of 1.08. In terms of stock performance, Activision shares have gained 12 percent over the last year.

Full Disclosure: None.