Growth, Interrupted

Uncertainty about U.S. regulatory and trade policies is prompting some companies to put business expansion plans on hold, according to the second-quarter Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook survey.More than one-third of U.S. finance executives (36%) report that the level of uncer...

By CFO Editorial Staff • July 26, 2017

Crowe Horwath Censured Over China Audits

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has sanctioned Hong Kong-based audit firm Crowe Horwath CPA Limited for refusing to cooperate with the board’s investigation of the firm’s audits of a publicly-traded Chinese company.According to the PCAOB’s disciplinary order, the board’s Division of...

By Matthew Heller • July 26, 2017

Explore the Trendline➔

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

Chipotle Soothes Investors With Earnings Beat

Amid renewed concerns over food safety at its restaurants, Chipotle Mexican Grill reported it more than doubled earnings but its same-store sales growth missed Wall Street expectations.The restaurant chain was hit last week by reports of a norovirus outbreak at a store in Virginia and of vermin i...

By Matthew Heller • July 26, 2017

Caterpillar Earnings Beat Drives Stock up 5.9%

Caterpillar shares rose nearly 6% on Wednesday after the construction and mining giant reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and raised its outlook for the full fiscal year.For the second quarter, Caterpillar posted revenue of $11.33 billion, up 10% on the year-ago period, and net inco...

By Matthew Heller • July 25, 2017

Alphabet Beats Estimates With 21% Sales Rise

Google-parent Alphabet Inc. reported a better-than-expected increases in revenue and profit but its cost of sales rose faster as it spent heavily to deliver mobile traffic to its search engine.For the second quarter, the company said late Monday it earned $5.01 per share on revenues of $26.06 bil...

By Matthew Heller • July 25, 2017

Landing the Megadeal: Seven Keys to Closing Big Sales That Make Money

It all started out so well. A long-time, valued customer of a networking company put out the word that it was planning a massive purchase of equipment. The supplier assembled a deal team, submitted a bid, and made the sale. But not at a profit. The customer loved the extra scope the supplier had ...

By Brian Selby, David Levitch, and Aditya Pande • July 24, 2017

Colgate Sales Sag Amid ‘Challenging’ Conditions

Colgate-Palmolive reported that net sales fell 0.5% in the second quarter and forecast a low-single digit increase for 2017 amid “challenging” market conditions.The consumer products giant said net sales dropped to $3.83 billion from $3.85 billion a year earlier, missing analysts’ estimates of $3...

By Matthew Heller • July 24, 2017

GE Shares Sink 2.9% Despite Q2 Earnings Beat

In the last earnings statement of CEO Jeff Immelt’s 16-year tenure, General Electric reported a smaller-than-expected decline in profit but its shares sank to a 21-month low.For the second quarter, GE’s earnings fell to 28 cents per share from 51 cents a year ago as revenue dropped 11.7% to $29.5...

By Matthew Heller • July 21, 2017

Malware Bug to Infect Nuance’s Q3 Results

Nuance Communications, a voice transcription service for health care providers, said Friday it expects its third- and fourth-quarter results to be impacted by a malware program that hit businesses around the world last month.Nuance was one of the many corporate victims of the “NotPetya” malware, ...

By Matthew Heller • July 21, 2017

Blackstone Misses Estimates, AUM Hits Record

Investment firm Blackstone Group reported a 36% increase in earnings but missed analysts’ estimates as credit investments were hit by a drop in commodity prices.Blackstone’s economic net income (ENI) — a key metric for U.S. private equity that accounts for unrealized investment gains or losses — ...

By Matthew Heller • July 21, 2017

Valspar Costs Weigh on Sherwin-Williams Profit

Paint maker Sherwin-Williams reported sales soared to an all-time quarterly high but costs related to its acquisition of Valspar weighed on its bottom line.The company has benefited from strong consumer spending and that continued in the second quarter as sales jumped 16% to $3.74 billion, beatin...

By Matthew Heller • July 20, 2017

What a Corporate Tax Cut Might Mean to Your Company

On April 26, 2017, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the basics of the Trump Administration’s desired corporate tax reform. In that briefing he stated, in part, “Right now, we have a 35% corporate rate on worldwide income and deferral. It is perhaps the most complicated and uncompetitiv...

By Mark E. Haskins and Paul J. Simko • July 20, 2017

Rewards Spending Cuts Into AmEx Profit

American Express reported better-than-expected second-quarter results but net income fell 33% amid heavy promotional spending.The company’s profit dropped to $1.3 billion, or $1.47 per share, from $2.0 billion, or $2.10 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Sales reached $8.31 billion, up...

By Matthew Heller • July 20, 2017

W.W. Grainger CFO to Retire, Stock Falls 7%

Shares in W.W. Grainger tumbled on Wednesday, apparently reflecting investor concern over the retirement of CFO Ron Jadin even though the industrial supplier’s latest quarterly earnings beat Wall Street estimates.Jadin, 56, who joined the company in 1998 and has served as CFO since 2008, announce...

By Matthew Heller • July 19, 2017

Revenue Drops 40% at Goldman’s FICC Unit

Goldman Sachs shares fell 2.5% on Tuesday as investors focused on the continuing troubles of the bank’s fixed income, currency, and commodities client execution unit rather than its quarterly earnings beat.For the second quarter, Goldman delivered earnings per share of $3.95, ahead of analysts’ e...

By Matthew Heller • July 18, 2017

BofA’s Retail Unit Hits ‘Milestone’ $2B Profit

Bank of America on Tuesday reported that second-quarter earnings rose 10% as revenue from its consumer banking unit was boosted by strong demand for loans amid low interest rates.CEO Brian Moynihan and CFO Paul Donofrio both described the quarter as one of the best in the bank’s history, with Moy...

By Matthew Heller • July 18, 2017

Netflix Adds 5.2M Subscribers, Shares up 10%

Netflix shares rose more than 10% after the digital streaming giant said it added 5.2 million new subscribers in the second quarter, easily beating analysts’ projections.The return of marquee content such as “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards” helped boost Netflix subscriber growth in ...

By Matthew Heller • July 18, 2017

Falling Global Tax Rates Make U.S. Less Competitive

A country’s corporate tax rate is one of the largest factors that dictate where and how much companies invest their money. Presently, the United States is one of the highest-tax locations in the world, with a federal rate of 35% for corporations plus an extra layer of state taxes. Over the past 1...

By Jason Gerlis • July 18, 2017

Customer Obsession Drives Financial Results: Study

It’s about the customer, stupid.Companies that aren’t putting solutions to customer concerns at the top of their to-do lists risk losing ground to competitors. That might not be a surprising statement, but new research suggests that CFOs are flat-out obsessed with the idea.In a survey of 250 fina...

By David McCann • July 17, 2017

The Ideal Federal Tax Rate? 21%

President Trump’s plan calls for cutting the federal corporate tax rate to 15%. However, 15% may not be feasible.Emilio Escandon A rate of 21% — whether applied strictly to business entities that are taxed at the corporate level or also applied to pass-through entities, such as S corporations and...

By Emilio Escandon • July 17, 2017

House Looks at Tightening Pass-Through Rules

Republican lawmakers appear to be leaning toward coupling a cut in pass-through business tax rates intended for small businesses with rules that would prevent large companies from taking advantage of pass-through treatment.At a hearing on tax reform, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), who is chairman of...

By Matthew Heller • July 14, 2017

CFOs Pump Out Free Cash Flow

On the heels of last year’s economic recovery, U.S. companies have improved brilliantly this year as generators of free cash flow, mostly by tying up less cash in working capital, a new study finds.“CFOs as a group have once again demonstrated their ability to improve on the generation of cash,” ...

By David Katz • July 14, 2017

Companies Aren’t Paying Their Fair Share of Taxes

Corporations and their lobbyists complain about the 35% federal corporate tax rate. But the effective corporate tax rate — what corporations actually pay after taking advantage of loopholes — is as low as 14%, according to a recent study by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.Frank C...

By Frank Clemente • July 13, 2017

Profit Drop Clouds Delta’s 2.5% Revenue Rise

Delta Air Lines showed growth in a key revenue metric for the first time in two and a half years but sharply higher labor and fuel costs cut into its bottom line.For the second quarter, Delta’s passenger unit revenue — which compares sales to how many seats an airline flies and how far it flies t...

By Matthew Heller • July 13, 2017

Lower Corporate Taxes Would Spur Capital Investment

A tax rate in the range of 20% to 25% should make the United States an attractive destination for capital investments and help to align the fortunes of the overall economy with those of the stock market and corporations.Urooj Khan U.S. equities recently have been trading at all-time highs, and Am...

By Urooj Khan • July 13, 2017