JC Penney Closing 140 Stores in Early 2017

Department store operator JC Penney is the latest retailer to shutter storefronts in response to the onrush of e-commerce.The U.S. retail chain plans to close as many as 140 brick-and-mortar locations after announcing disappointing results over the 2016 holiday season. Comparable sales for the fo...

By Sean Allocca • Feb. 24, 2017

Walmart’s Online Sales Increase 29% in Q4

Walmart Stores reported better-than-expected U.S. sales for the holiday quarter though margins were squeezed by price-cutting efforts and investment spending.Same-store sales in the U.S. rose 1.8%, the 10th straight increase and an improvement on the third-quarter gain of 1.2%. Analysts had been ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 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

Lower Inventories Boost Kohl’s Q4 Margins

Kohl’s sales fell in the fourth quarter amid declining traffic in its brick-and-mortar stores but profit beat analysts’ estimates due to lower inventories.The retailer reported Thursday that total sales dropped 2.8% to $6.21 billion and same-store sales declined 2.2% for the three months ended Ja...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 2017

Fitbit Runs Into Red Ink for Holiday Quarter

Fitbit swung to its first quarterly loss as a public company in the crucial holiday quarter as weak sales of its devices suggested its days of double- and triple-digit growth are over.The fourth-quarter results were worse than both Fitbit and Wall Street analysts had predicted. Revenue fell 19% t...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 23, 2017

Housing Market Fuels Home Depot Sales Rise

Home Depot reported fourth-quarter sales and earnings that beat Wall Street estimates as the retailer continued to benefit from a strong U.S. housing market.Excluding certain items, the company earned $1.74 billion, or $1.44 per share, on revenue of $22.21 billion. Analysts had forecast earnings ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 22, 2017

Macy’s Cost-Cutting Helps Profit Beat Estimates

Macy’s comparable store sales fell for an eighth straight quarter but profit beat analysts’ estimates, reflecting the sale of some of its stores and lower costs and taxes.As Reuters reports, Macy’s, like other department store chains, has been struggling to “overcome stiff competition from Amazon...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 22, 2017

Deere Raises Sales Growth Outlook for 2017

Deere & Co. reported better-than-expected quarterly results and raised its sales growth outlook for 2017, citing signs that demand is stabilizing in key markets after years of falling sales.For the first quarter, the world’s largest farm-equipment manufacturer earned a profit of $193.8 millio...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 21, 2017

Toys “R” Us Lays Off 250 Corporate Employees

The iconic toy store Toys “R” Us is the latest brick-and-mortar retailer to scale back operations due in part to pressures from online competitors. The company laid off close to 15% of its corporate employees, or an estimated 250 positions, last week in a restructuring effort designed to cut cost...

By Sean Allocca • Feb. 21, 2017

Campbell Soup’s Fresh Food Sales Drop 8%

Campbell Soup reported lower-than-expected sales for the second quarter as the struggles of its fresh food business continued to weigh on the company.Campbell Soup has diversified into fresh foods to offset the decline of its iconic canned soups and other packaged foods. Campbell Fresh includes r...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 20, 2017

Nestle Misses Estimates With 2017 Outlook

Nestle reined in its growth outlook for this year after reporting disappointing results for 2016, with profit declining about 6%.The world’s largest packaged food group reported annual sales of 89.5 billion Swiss francs, up just 0.8% year-ago levels, and organic growth of 3.2%, consisting of pric...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 17, 2017

Hilton Swings to Loss on Restructuring Costs

Hilton Worldwide swung to a fourth-quarter loss, due in part to restructuring costs, but earnings still beat Wall Street estimates.The company reported a net loss of $382 million, or $1.17 per share, for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2016, compared to a profit of $816 million for the year-ago q...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 16, 2017

Activist Investors Fined for Disclosure Violations

Two activist investors have been charged with failing to properly disclose material information during a series of campaigns to influence or take control of microcap companies.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Jeffrey E. Eberwein and Charles M. Gillman began collaborating on activi...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 15, 2017

FASB Eyes Big Changes in Inventory Disclosure

After more than 60 years of little change in the requirements for disclosing inventory, U.S. accounting standard setters are proposing to update the standards.Prompted by financial statement users who want more details about changes in inventory during reporting periods, the Financial Accounting ...

By David Katz • Feb. 15, 2017

Cash-Flow Forecasting Still Vexing

By now, one would think finance departments would have made some improvements to the all-important task of cash-flow forecasting. But this year’s Global Corporate Treasury Benchmarking survey by PwC suggests otherwise. While a vital function of the treasury department, cash-flow forecasting is st...

By Vincent Ryan • Feb. 14, 2017

GOP Group Pushes Tax on Carbon Emissions

A group of prominent Republicans has proposed a tax on carbon emissions to combat climate change, calling it “a conservative climate solution” based on free-market principles.The proposed tax, released in a report titled “The Conservative Case for Carbon Dividends,” would replace the Obama admini...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 14, 2017

Metric of the Month: The Cost of General Accounting

In some organizations, general accounting processes run like well-greased machines, and when adjustments to the process model are needed, the changes are not unwieldy. In others, it seems there’s always the need to call in a mechanic to keep the gears moving smoothly. Constantly “fixing” things c...

By Mary Driscoll • Feb. 13, 2017

Burger King Same-Store Sales Jump 2.8% in Q4

Restaurant Brands International shares jumped more than 4% on Monday after the company reported better-than-expected profits and same-store sales growth at both its Burger King and Tim Hortons chains.As Financial Post reports, the chains “posted strong sales in the U.S. market, where rival McDona...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 13, 2017

Franchising Boosts Dunkin’ Brands to Profit

Dunkin’ Brands swung to a profit in the fourth quarter as the owner of Dunkin’ Donuts benefited from increased royalty income and franchise fees.Same-store sales at Dunkin’ Donuts shops in the U.S. grew 1.9% in the quarter, missing Consensus Metrix’s expectations of 2.1% growth, while same-store ...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 11, 2017

More Companies Met Project Objectives in 2016

For the first time in five years, more organizations are meeting project goals on time and on budget, according to new data from the Project Management Institute. Seventy percent of all projects met strategic business goals in 2016, up from just over 60% the previous year, PMI said.The Pulse of t...

By Sean Allocca • Feb. 10, 2017

No ‘Trump Bump’ for Twitter in 4th Quarter

Twitter shares tumbled more than 12% on Thursday after the social media platform’s fourth-quarter results suggested it is struggling to convert growing usage into revenue growth.While the number of daily Twitter users rose 11% year over year, revenue increased just 1% to $717.2 million — the slow...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 9, 2017

Whole Foods Same-Store Sales Slide 2.4% in Q1

Whole Foods reported lower-than-expected earnings and a sixth straight quarterly decline in same-store sales as the grocer continued to struggle with competition from conventional grocery stores offering organic foods at lower prices.For the first quarter, Whole Foods earned 30 cents per share on...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 9, 2017

ComScore Gets Booted Over Delinquent Filings

Media measurement and analytics company ComScore, known for tracking website metrics, has been curiously unable to track its own financial numbers for the better part of a year.The firm was finally delisted from the Nasdaq exchange this morning after announcing it won’t meet a Feb. 23 deadline to...

By Sean Allocca • Feb. 8, 2017

‘Fantastic Beasts’ Boosts Time Warner in Q4

Time Warner’s fourth-quarter revenue and profit beat analysts’ expectations as the media conglomerate benefited from hits such as the movie “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them” and the HBO series “Westworld.”Time Warner on Wednesday reported that revenue rose 11% to $7.9 billion due to incre...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 8, 2017

GrubHub Delivers 27% Increase in Food Sales

Grubhub’s revenue jumped 38% in the fourth quarter as the food delivery service added markets and customers, though profit missed analysts’ estimates.As The Wall Street Journal reports, GrubHub, which went public in April 2014, “has grown rapidly, generating increasing profit by charging restaura...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 8, 2017

Disney’s Profit Drops 14% But Beats Estimates

Walt Disney Co. reported first-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates but its media networks segment continued to struggle, posting declines in revenue and operating income.The company earned $2.5 billion, or $1.55 per share, down 14% from the year prior figure of $1.63, but better than t...

By Matthew Heller • Feb. 7, 2017