The Wall Street Journal reports Sony (SNE) Thursday reported Q309 net profit fell 95% and reiterated it will likely to swing into its first net loss in 14 years for this fiscal year ending March.

The co said net profit for the October-December period said net profit for the October-December period dropped to 10.4 bln yen ($115.2 mln) from 200.2 bln yen a year earlier as it felt the full force of recession in key global markets that has crimped consumer spending.

Thursday it said revenue in the third quarter fell 25% to 2.15 trln yen from 2.86 trnl yen in the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, operating profit fell: The co said it made an operating loss of 18 bln yen in the quarter compared with an operating profit of 236.2 bln yen in the same period a year earlier.

The third-quarter net profit slide was in line with the 10 bln yen forecast Sony issued last week, when it warned it now expects a 150 bln net loss this fiscal year, a reversal from a 369.4 bln net profit a year ago.

That underscored the urgency of a global restructuring program Sony announced last December: cutting 16,000 jobs around the world -- half of them full-time -- Sony hopes to save 250 bln yln in costs in the next fiscal year starting April, while booking 170 bln yen in total charges to cover the cutbacks. At a briefing in Tokyo, officials said the co booked a loss of 43 bln yen from its TV operations in the October-December quarter.

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Jacobs beats by $0.01, beats on revs; guides FY09 EPS in-line (40.56 ) : Reports Q1 (Dec) earnings of $0.90 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus of $0.89; revenues rose 30.8% year/year to $3.23 bln vs the $3.12 bln consensus. Co issues in-line guidance for FY09, sees EPS of 3.55-3.90 vs. $3.67 consensus (co reduces upper end of EPS guidance to $3.90).

Co announces backlog totaling $16.0 bln at December 31, 2008, including a technical professional services component of $7.9 bln. This compares to total backlog and technical professional services backlog of $15.0 bln and $7.1 bln, respectively, at December 31, 2007. During Q109, JEC was notified by certain clients that they were cancelling projects that had been included in backlog. Accordingly, $840 mln of revenues was removed from backlog during the recent quarter.

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Reports Q4 (Dec) loss of $3.88 per share, includes items, is not be comparable to the First Call consensus of $0.02; revenues fell 13.8% year/year to $1.46 bln vs the $1.28 bln consensus. Co says it is uniquely prepared to weather this economic storm, and it will continue to make the necessary adjustments. Co expects Q1 shipments of between 850,000 and 900,000 tons. The co will take advantage of the economic downturn to temporarily idle its Middletown blast furnace, beginning early in March, to perform extensive maintenance, which is expected to take about 45 days. As such, the co expects to experience a significant operating loss in Q1. However, co expects Q2 shipments to improve, and, coupled with lower raw material costs relative to Q1, the co expects to generate a modest operating profit in Q2.

 

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Morgan Joseph notes that JEC reported Q109 EPS of $0.94, which compares to $0.75 last year, and their est of $0.94 (consensus was $0.90). Revs of $3.23 bln were up 30.8% Y/Y and above their $3.19 bln est. Backlog of $16.0 bln was up 6.9% from last year and included the negative impact of $840 mln in order cancelations. Mgmt trimmed the top end of guidance for FY09 EPS to a range of $3.55-$3.90 from range of $3.55-$4.05 (consensus $3.67); their current est for FY09 is $3.90. They believe the co is one of the best operators in the business and should benefit from positive long term macro trends in certain end markets over the next several years, despite the uncertainty in current markets.

 

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Lazard notes that GNK announced that it had renegotiated its $1.4 bln credit facility and achieved a waiver of its collateral maintenance covenant, in exchange for the cessation of its dividend, any share repurchases, and a higher margin of 200bps. They say the dividend cut will likely not be well received in the very short term. Given that dividend cuts have been a focus of discussion for months now, they believe any cut by GNK should come as no surprise. They note, however, that the shares of each dry bulk company that announced dividend cuts recently (DSX, EGLE, DRYS, etc.) declined significantly initially, recovering over the following weeks, with yield investors divesting the shares (the initial decline) and value players swooping in. They note the shares are trading at an attractive 3x P/E and 5.75x EV/EBITDA... GNK was also downgraded at Oppenheimer earlier this morning.