CBS Corporation (CBS) Currently On Hold

CBS Corporation is a mass media company that operates in both the US and Internationally and is near another 52 week high after a great climb to $24.51 today. This 5.51% improvement came after an analyst at Miller Tabak & Co liked the increased viewing audience watching the NCAA tournament on CBS this season.

Exxon-An Example Of Success

Exxon Mobil, is one of America’s biggest oil companies and has just reported yesterday a huge fifty-three percent profit increase in 2010’s fourth-quarter.  This is due to the world’s slowly recovering economy and the increase in crude oil prices per barrel.  This was their best reported profit in over 2 years.  This shows the trend of the oil market since 2007 when it was up, then crashed in 2009 before making its way back up by the end of last year.   This is not uncommon results in the oil industry as this profit margin can be seen all across the board in other refinery businesses.  

More than half a million persons joined Verizon Communications Inc. as subscribers in the last quarter, which indicates the company's robustness even before the launch of the iPhone scheduled for February.

Analysts had expected to enroll 650,000 subscribers but the actual numbers were about 872,000 for the contract based plans. These plans based on contracts are the most lucrative for the company, and Verizon has confirmed that 75 percent of these subscribers went in for smart phones that have added fees for data.

AutoZone (AZO) Continues to Perform

The Memphis Tennessee operator of specialty retail stores in the automotive industry continues to see earnings expectation increases and new stock price highs with it’s current quarter to be announced December 7th. Currently priced at $11.38 billion, the company does not offer a dividend and has provided nice appreciation over the past year.

The stock of AutoZone recently hit a new 52 week high of $249.53 on November 10th and looks within range to top that price sometime in the near future. Analysts continue to improve their estimates for the current quarter and are now expecting $3.38 a share. The current year estimates have also been increased over the past three months, from $16.54 a share to $17.39. Revenue is also expected to increase 7% compared to the same quarter last year.

eBay Rises 7% Overnight on Earnings

The online auction business eBay rose over 7% in after-hours trading on Wednesday after a better than expected earnings report. Profit for the third quarter rose 23% compared to a year ago. The main earnings driver for the company was its online transaction processor PayPal. Current quarter estimates were also increased by the online auction operator which made investors snap up shares quickly.

Lowes 2Q Results

Hot weather was a help and a hindrance to Lowes sales in early summer. The big home-improvement retailer reported that heat probably boosted sales for outdoor grills and air conditioners, helping to increase 2Q net income by 10 percent. However, the heat kept away other customers as well as the continued anemic economic recovery.

The observations by Lowes, the second largest home improvement chain in the nation, echo the attitude of a great many companies who are not seeing any signs that create any expectation of dramatic increases in consumer spending. The company has adjusted its annual revenue projections because of the troubling lack of progress in the nation's economic recovery.

Transocean (RIG) Beats Earnings For Quarter

Transocean (RIG) announced their earnings for the quarter ending in June after-hours tonight and beat analyst estimates depending on considerations. The consensus estimate was $1.68 per share while the company actually earned $2.22 a share. Revenue was soft for the off shore drilling company. They brought in $2.5 billion in revenue while the street was expecting $2.56 billion. This was down from the same quarter last year when revenue was $2.88 billion. Shares rallied throughout the day in addition to the days leading up to the announcement. The stock is up slightly after the announcement.

The official figures for Microsoft's fourth quarter of 2010 are out which is 16.04 billion US Dollars. With the announcement by Apple last Tuesday, it was expected in several quarters of the country that Apple would over take Microsoft in the net revenue generation and that would be the first time in the recent history. But Microsoft proved most of them wrong. Though Apple had reported 15.7 billion US Dollar last quarter, Microsoft crossed that with ease at 16.04 billion US dollar.

VMWare Inc (VMW) stock has been on a nice run over the past year from a low $26.12 a share on July 8, 2009 to a recent high of $70.71. The company develops, markets, and sells the very popular software product by the same name that allows enterprises world-wide the ability to better utilize computer server space by partitioning the resources into separate virtual servers.

Autozone (AZO) Climbs as Earnings Approach

Despite a slight sell off down to the $175 a share range along with the market swoon Monday this week, the stock of Autozone (AZO)continues to perform and is close once again to a new 52 week high. The stock has moved back to $185 over the past three days within reach of the current year period high of $187.94. With earnings season approaching, the stock should behave well over the near term.