Delta, Coke Post 1st-Q Numbers

Major Georgia companies Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola are out with their first-quarter earnings reports, with both continuing to weather the economic storm.

Atlanta-based Delta was hit with a net loss of $794-million. Its struggles included bad bets on future fuel costs. To help make up the deficit, the world’s largest airline announced a new $50 fee for most passengers checking a second bag on international flights.

For Atlanta-based beverage maker Coca-Cola, it reported a net income loss of more than $1.3 billion in the first quarter--around 10-percent.

Home Depot Posts $54-M 4th-Q Loss

Home Depot’s $54 million loss in its fourth-quarter represents the first net loss for the nation’s largest home retailer in 27 years.

The loss is tied to Home Depot’s closure of its EXPO design center chain and related side businesses. But excluding that one-time charge, the Atlanta-based retailer says it had earnings of 19 cents-a-share. Even though it represents a drop of more than 50-percent from the previous year, that still beat analysts’ forecasts of 15 cents a share.

The home improvement giant’s recent shuttering of its EXPO stores included layoff’s of 7,000 employees. It’s part of the company’s scale-down of operations, including a focus more on its signature stores.

Home Depot CEO Frank Blake says he expects the home improvement market to be just as challenging this year as in 2008. The company projects total sales to fall about 9 percent going forward.

Home Depot earnings take sharp dive

The world’s largest home improvement retailer says its third-quarter profits took a beating at the hands of a dismal U.S. economy.

The Home Depot reports profits were down 31-percent for the most recent three month period. But despite the fall, the 45 cents earnings-per-share beat analysts’ expectations by seven cents a share.

The retailer reported sales at stores open for at least a year were down over eight-percent.

The Atlanta-based chain joins North Carolina-based rival Lowe’s in reporting big earnings drop-offs for the most recent quarter.

Home Depot chief executive officer Frank Blake says he expects the housing and home improvement market to remain challenging going forward. The chain has recently been focusing efforts on improving service across its 2,000 store chain.

UPS expects lower earnings

A sluggish US economy and high fuel costs has the world’s largest shipping carrier, UPS lowering its earning expectations. The Atlanta-based company says earnings per share for the second quarter could be as low as 83 cents to 88 cents as opposed to .97 or $1.04 per share. UPS says the economy coupled with record fuel prices has resulted in less anticipated shipping overall, as well a reduction in premium air product use.

Home Depot absorbs sharp 1st-Q hit

A continued anemic housing market has contributed to the sharp drop in 1st-quarter earnings for the world’s largest home improvement retailer.

The Home Depot reports a 66-percent dip in earnings for the three months ending in early May. Along with a housing slump, the company cites its own one-time charge in the quarter as factors for the sharp profit decline.

The Atlanta-based retailer says it earned 356-million dollars for the quarter, or 21 cents a share. It’s a steep drop compared to a year earlier when the company posted a profit of 1.06 billion dollars, or 53 cents a share.

Home Depot’s one-time charge for the quarter represents a plan to shrink future expansion, and close 15 of its flagship stores by July.

Excluding the one-time charge, the company’s profits were 697-million dollars, or 41 cents a share, which beat Wall Street expectations.

Home Depot absorbs big hit in 4th quarter earnings

The world’s largest home improvement store chain this morning announced a huge hit to its fourth quarter profits. Atlanta-based The Home Depot says its profits for the three months ending February 3rd fell more than 27-percent in the midst of a nationwide housing slump. Home Depot says it earned 671-million dollars, compared to a profit of 925 million for the same period a year earlier. Sales at Home Depot stores fell over eight-percent for the quarter.

Coca-Cola earnings see sharp increase

The Coca-Cola Company reports robust earnings from its fourth-quarter sales of 2007.

The world’s largest beverage maker says its profits rose nearly 80-percent on the strength of a double-digit increase in sales. The company said the uptick is due to growth of key soft-drink brands, and in its water, sports drink, and orange juice categories.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola reports earnings of 1.2 billion dollars, or 52-cents a share for the three months ending December 31st. That represents a big jump from a year earlier, when profits reported were 678 million dollars. Company officials say they’ve now had four consecutive quarters of double-digit earnings-per-share growth.

The fourth-quarter earnings-per-share reported by Coke were ahead of what analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting.

Improved returns for Delta muted by future conditions

Despite a loss of 70-million dollars in last year's 4th quarter, Delta Air Lines ended with a profit of 1.6 billion dollars in 2007. That represents a turnaround from a nearly 6-billion dollar loss for all of 2006.

The Atlanta-based airline came out of bankruptcy in April of last year, and has since restructured its operations to cut costs. But, Delta says record-high fuel prices are continuing to pressure its bottom line.