Deere Profits Jump 50% to Record $1.21B

Deere & Co. shares jumped more than 5% on Friday after the world’s largest farm-equipment maker reported record quarterly profits on a surge in equipment sales.For the second quarter, Deere’s net income rose 50% to $1.21 billion, or $3.67 per share, while worldwide net sales and revenues incr...

By Matthew Heller • May 21, 2018

Big Four Facing Calls for U.K. Breakup

The Big Four accounting firms are facing pressure to break up their U.K. businesses after a scathing government report labeled them a “cozy club” with conflicts of interest embedded in their audit functions.The Financial Times reported that all four firms are planning for a potential breakup amid...

By Matthew Heller • May 17, 2018

U.S. Retail Sales Increase 0.3% in April

U.S. retail sales increased for a second straight month in April, indicating consumer spending is accelerating after a sluggish first quarter.The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that retail sales climbed 0.3% last month following an upwardly revised 0.8% surge in March. The April gain matche...

By Matthew Heller • May 15, 2018

Home Depot Sales Hit by Slow Spring Spending

Home Depot shares dipped on Tuesday after the retailer reported a quarterly revenue shortfall that it attributed to a slow start to the key spring selling season.For the first quarter, Home Depot’s same-store sales grew 4.2%, missing analysts estimates of 5.4% growth. Excluding the performance of...

By Matthew Heller • May 15, 2018

Will New Tax Law Uproot Overseas Financial Structures?

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) slashed the corporate tax rate and levied a first-time U.S. residual tax on overseas earnings. But it also contained a lot more changes for finance and tax departments to contend with: among them, provisions to encourage companies to locate new intangible investme...

By John Hintze • May 15, 2018

Symantec Stock Dives on News of Internal Probe

Symantec shares plunged to their worst day in 17 years on Friday, shedding about $6 billion in market value after the cybersecurity firm disclosed it was investigating “concerns” raised by a former employee.The disclosure came as a major shock to Wall Street since, as CNN Money reports, Symantec ...

By Matthew Heller • May 14, 2018

Deloitte Turkey Execs Banned for Audit Rigging

In another case of alleged rigging of audit inspections, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has banned two former chief executives at Deloitte’s Turkey practice for their roles in a plan to alter documents ahead of a 2014 inspection of three audit engagements.The accounting watchdog sa...

By Matthew Heller • May 11, 2018

CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch: Duo Security

We combed through websites, interviewed tech experts, and researched a host of product categories to assemble, once again, the roster of 20 companies that make up our annual “Tech Companies to Watch.” We uncovered a wide range of technologies and products that would be valuable to finance chiefs,...

By Keith Button • May 11, 2018

Seattle Businesses Decry Proposed ‘Head Tax’

Seattle-based companies including Alaska Airlines, Redbox, and Expedia have joined a chorus of opposition to the city’s proposed “head tax” on large businesses to fund programs for the homeless.Top executives from a total of 131 companies signed an open letter to city council members that said th...

By Matthew Heller • May 10, 2018

CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch 2018: Adaptive Insights

We combed through websites, interviewed tech experts, and researched a host of product categories to assemble, once again, the roster of 20 companies that make up our annual “Tech Companies to Watch.” We uncovered a wide range of technologies and products that would be valuable to finance chiefs,...

By Keith Button • May 10, 2018

CFO’s Tech Companies to Watch 2018: Emagia

We combed through websites, interviewed tech experts, and researched a host of product categories to assemble, once again, the roster of 20 companies that make up our annual “Tech Companies to Watch.” We uncovered a wide range of technologies and products that would be valuable to finance chiefs,...

By Bob Violino • May 9, 2018

Metric of the Month: Days Sales Outstanding Measures Efficiency

Days sales outstanding is a key measure of a finance team’s efficiency and is closely linked to days cash on hand and liquidity. Every organization is happy to have sales, but closing sales isn’t enough to keep a business afloat. Collections are key — and the faster the money comes in, the more b...

By Perry D. Wiggins • May 9, 2018

How CFOs Can Navigate Trump’s Trade War

The United States and China are approaching the $200 billion mark in threatened tariffs and retaliatory tariffs on one another as the two economies spar over global trade strategy. For the companies caught in the middle of it all, navigating these sweeping changes can create major operational and...

By Brian Peccarelli • May 8, 2018

Loan Originations Boost LendingClub Earnings

LendingClub reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings as it originated more loans, but net income took a hit from legal costs related to government investigations of its lending practices.For the first quarter, the peer-to-peer lending pioneer said Tuesday its revenues rose 22% from a year...

By Matthew Heller • May 8, 2018

CFOs Bullish on 2018

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may be getting a lukewarm reception from consumers, but CFOs are clearly over the moon about the lower corporate income tax rate and other provisions in the new law. In the first quarter, CFO optimism in the United States climbed to its highest level since 1996, and fina...

By CFO Editorial Staff • May 4, 2018

Ex-Wilmington Trust CFO Guilty of Loan Fraud

The former CFO and three other former executives of Wilmington Trust were convicted on Thursday of hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in past-due loans from regulators to mask the bank’s true financial condition after the 2008 financial crisis.After a two-month trial in Delaware federal court...

By Matthew Heller • May 3, 2018

Avon Stock Dives on ‘Unsatisfactory’ Results

Avon Products shares tumbled on Thursday after its new chief executive said its latest quarterly results were “unsatisfactory” and the beauty company was designing a turnaround strategy with “deliberate urgency.”For the first quarter, Avon narrowed its net loss to $20.3 million from $36.5 million...

By Matthew Heller • May 3, 2018

Kraft Heinz Sales Fall for 8th Quarter in a Row

Kraft Heinz’s revenue declined for an eighth straight quarter amid weak demand in the U.S. for processed foods but profits got a boost from higher pricing.The maker of such products as Velveeta cheese and Heinz ketchup has been raising prices in the U.S. and other parts of the world, driving over...

By Matthew Heller • May 3, 2018

Mastercard Beats Views With Record Revenue

Mastercard on Wednesday reported record quarterly revenue and profit, with much of the growth coming from transactions processed outside the U.S.For the first quarter, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.41 on revenue of $3.6 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings of $1.25 per...

By Matthew Heller • May 2, 2018

Gibson Guitar Maker Faces Chapter 11 Music

The maker of the iconic Gibson guitars has filed bankruptcy to reduce a debt load that it accumulated in trying to transform itself into a lifestyle brand.Gibson Brands plans to reorganize around its core musical instruments business, pinning the blame for its troubles on its “innovations” divisi...

By Matthew Heller • May 2, 2018

McDonald’s Serves up 5.5% Comp Sales Gain

Pricier burgers fueled strong quarterly same-store sales growth for McDonald’s, which also benefited from another increase in customer traffic.With commodity prices going up, particularly for food, restaurant chains have been increasing prices to keep their profits up. On Monday, McDonald’s said ...

By Matthew Heller • May 1, 2018

Marathon Buys Rival to Become Top U.S. Refiner

Marathon Petroleum said Monday it had agreed to acquire rival Andeavor for $36 billion in a deal that would make it the largest oil refiner by capacity in the U.S.With Marathon currently the second-largest and Andeavor, formerly Tesoro, the fifth-largest refiner, the combined companies would over...

By Matthew Heller • April 30, 2018

Free Cash Flow: What Is It, Really?

In the minds of shareholders, free cash flow has been replacing earnings as the gold standard of financial performance metrics. Less easily manipulated than net income, it has become a go-to measurement of a company’s health.CFOs and other corporate managers are increasingly choosing to mention f...

By David Katz • April 30, 2018

Exxon Shares Drop 3.7% on Another Profit Miss

Exxon Mobil’s earnings missed analysts’ estimates for a second straight quarter as weakness in its chemicals and refining operations offset higher crude prices.The giant oil producers’ profits have improved as oil prices have recently hit their highest levels since the end of 2014. For the first ...

By Matthew Heller • April 27, 2018

GM Profit Takes Big Hit From Factory Downtime

General Motors’ quarterly profits tumbled as production fell at factories that the automaker is retooling ahead of the launch of new full-size pickup trucks.The hit from factory downtime was significant, with pretax profits in North America for the first quarter declining to $2.2 billion from $3....

By Matthew Heller • April 27, 2018