Many Factors Influence the Market for IPOs

The SEC’s focus on capital formation gives a perennial rush to commercial interests, mainly lawyers and investment banks who make lots of revenue from the IPO-underwriting business.Kurt Schact The notion is that our economic engine is turbocharged by companies’ ability to access public capital ma...

By Kurt Schacht • Oct. 30, 2017

SEC Unfairly Seen as Scapegoat for IPO Slump

Every few years, when the IPO market takes a dip, the SEC’s disclosure requirements get blamed. But it might be time to step back and take account of all of the ways that the Congress and SEC have made it easier for young companies to access the U.S. capital markets through an initial public offe...

By Thomas Conaghan • Oct. 30, 2017

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Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

JC Penney Stock Dives 14% on Q3 Loss Warning

J.C. Penney shares fell sharply on Friday after the struggling retailer said its third-quarter loss would be far worse than analysts expected due to heavy discounting on its apparel lines.For the quarter ending Oct. 28, Penney is now expecting a loss of between 40 cents to 45 cents a share, well ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 27, 2017

Strong Deal Intensity Can Backfire

Analyzing major software companies’ 10-year performance and merger and acquisition activity, EY found enormous differentiation in both returns and degree of reliance on M&A. Some companies achieved differentiated returns while doing lots of deals, while others performed well with minimal M&am...

By Dean McCauley and Joel John • Oct. 27, 2017

Google Revenue Hits Record on Ad Sales Surge

Google parent Alphabet’s stock price rose above $1,000 after it reported record quarterly revenue driven by a 21% increase in revenue from its core advertising business.Revenue for the third quarter totaled $27.77 billion, with $24.1 billion, or about 87%, of that coming from Google ad sales. Alp...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 27, 2017

Durable Goods Orders Rise 2.1% in September

Orders for U.S. durable goods in September posted the biggest gain in three months, easily beating economists’ forecasts and signalling that the rebound in manufacturing remains on track.The Commerce Department on Wednesday said orders for long-lasting goods manufactured by U.S. companies rose 2....

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 26, 2017

American Weathers Storms With Revenue Gain

American Airlines on Thursday reported a fourth straight quarterly gain in unit revenue despite thousands of hurricane-related flight cancellations but its stock dropped more than 4%, apparently reflecting investors’ concern over rising expenses.For the third quarter, American’s total revenue ros...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 26, 2017

Twitter May Be Headed for First Profit in Q4

Twitter shares jumped more than 18% on Thursday after the social media platform posted better-than-expected quarterly results and indicated it could turn its first-ever profit in the next quarter.For the third quarter, Twitter’s revenue fell 4% to $590 million but beat analysts’ estimates of $586...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 26, 2017

Boeing Stock Drops 3% Despite Delivery Record

Boeing set a new record for commercial aircraft deliveries in the third quarter but its shares dropped more than 3% as two key businesses saw declines in revenue.The aerospace giant on Wednesday also announced a further $329 million in charges on the troubled KC-46 military tanker aircraft progra...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 25, 2017

Chipotle Sales Rise 8.8% But Stock Dips 9.5%

Chipotle Mexican Grill’s turnaround from a food-safety scandal hit a setback as the fast-food chain’s quarterly earnings and same-store sales missed analysts’ estimates.The third quarter featured Chipotle’s initial pilot and then chainwide rollout of Genuine Queso, a blend of cheddar cheese with ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 25, 2017

Caterpillar’s Q3 Results Roar Past Estimates

Caterpillar shares rose nearly 5% on Tuesday after the construction and mining giant announced quarterly results that blew by analysts’ estimates amid continued strong demand for heavy equipment in North America and China.For the third quarter, Caterpillar posted revenue of $11.4 billion, up 24% ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 24, 2017

Promotions Drive McD’s 6% Comp Sales Jump

McDonald’s reported Tuesday that same-store sales rose 6% in the third quarter as promotions and fresh foods offerings offset any effects from the recent hurricanes.The third-quarter gain followed a 6.6% jump in the previous quarter — the best in five years — and topped analysts’ expectations of ...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 24, 2017

Whirlpool Lowers Guidance, Shares Drop 6%

Whirlpool shares fell more than 6% in after-hours trading after the appliance maker reported quarterly earnings and sales below expectations and lowered its guidance for the full year.Whirlpool said Monday it earned $276 million, or $3.72 a share, in the third quarter, compared to $238 million, o...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 24, 2017

Kimberly-Clark Misses on Sales, Profit Beats

Kimberly-Clark reported lower-than-expected quarterly sales on Tuesday amid continued weakness in the North American market but the personal care company’s cost-cutting helped drive a 3% increase in profit.For the third quarter, Kimberly-Clark’s net revenue totaled $4.64 billion, up 1% from $4.59...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 23, 2017

GE Broods on Cash-flow Woes

Times are tough at General Electric, and the big problem is cash.That much was evident on an extraordinary third-quarter earnings call on Friday, with outgoing GE CFO Jeffrey Bornstein saying that “the buck stops with me” and CEO John Flannery declaring, “We can, and we will, and we must improve ...

By David Katz • Oct. 23, 2017

P&G Sales Rise 1% on Grooming Weakness

A week after fending off Nelson Peltz’s bid for a board seat, Procter & Gamble (P&G) delivered another quarter of stagnant sales, possibly giving more ammunition to the activist investor.For the first quarter, P&G’s net sales rose just 1% to $16.65 billion, missing analysts’ expectati...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 23, 2017

‘Nimble’ Rivals Take Bite out of Unilever Sales

Unilever is a Goliath of the consumer products world but its latest quarterly results suggest some relative minnows are nibbling away its sales.The maker of Dove soap, Lipton tea, Hellman’s mayonnaise and other major brands said Thursday that underlying sales grew 2.6% in the third quarter to 13....

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 20, 2017

GE Chief Exec Calls Q3 Results ‘Unacceptable’

General Electric’s third-quarter report highlighted the challenges facing new CEO John Flannery, who called it “completely unacceptable” and indicated there are big changes ahead for the conglomerate.Excluding one-off items, GE earned 29 cents per share from continuing operations in the third qua...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 20, 2017

Directors’ Experience Doesn’t Always Pay Off

It may seem obvious that shareholders stand to benefit when outside directors on a company’s board have experience in the industry the company operates in.However, a forthcoming research paper contends, that doesn’t hold true in the case of highly diversified companies, where directors tend to “p...

By David McCann • Oct. 19, 2017

Six Ways to Reduce Days Sales Outstanding

Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business. And a key measure to track for a healthy cash flow is Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). DSO represents the number of days it takes for a company to convert its accounts receivable into cash. The sooner the company gets that cash, the stronger its cash flow ...

By James Daly • Oct. 19, 2017

Forecast of ‘Dynamite’ Q4 Boosts SAP Shares

German business software giant SAP missed estimates for third-quarter revenue and profit but its shares rallied after its CEO predicted a “dynamite” fourth quarter.For the third quarter, SAP’s revenue grew 8% to 5.59 billion euros ($6.6 billion) from a year earlier, while core profit excluding sp...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 19, 2017

U.S. Bancorp Posts Record Revenue, Profit

U.S. Bancorp reported Wednesday that quarterly revenue grew faster than expenses for the first time since the end of 2015 but the U.S. Bank parent’s shares fell amid concerns over loan growth.For the third quarter, U.S. Bancorp’s net income increased 4%, to $1.56 billion, or 88 cents a share, fro...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 18, 2017

Rio Tinto, Ex-CFO, Former CEO Inflated Assets: SEC

The Securities and Exchange yesterday charged Rio Tinto, as well the company’s ex-CFO and former chief executive, with hiding the impairment of a Mozambican coal business, thus enabling the global mining giant to inflate the value of the coal assets it had bought for $3.7 billion. Three years lat...

By David Katz • Oct. 18, 2017

IBM Stock up 5% on Renewed Turnaround Hopes

IBM shares climbed more than 5% in after-hours trading as the company’s stronger-than-expected third-quarter results revived hopes that its turnaround strategy is back on track.Big Blue has been reorganizing itself around a set of emerging cloud, security, and data analytics businesses that CEO G...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 18, 2017

US Slump Continues to Weigh on Harley-Davidson Sales

Despite a continued sales slump in the U.S., Harley-Davidson is aiming to add 2 million new riders over the coming decade. Its third-quarter results illustrated the challenges in the way of achieving that goal.The world’s largest manufacturer of heavyweight motorcycles reported on Tuesday that ne...

By Matthew Heller • Oct. 17, 2017