Author: FX_Trdr

Deere & Co. (NYSE:DE) in trouble this morning with the current U.S. drought hurting its bottom line. The largest maker of farm equipment posted its third quarter earnings this morning, saying the company had a profit of $788 million or $1.98 a share. This was well below estimates of $2.32. Revenue had modest gains rising 16% year over year to $8.93 billion. But, predictions put that growth at 25% for the quarter. According to Deere CEO Sam Allen, lower demand for farm equipment is the cause of the lower than expected earnings, with the worst U.S. drought in five decades being the main reason for the decrease in demand.The company also cut its full-year forecast, saying profit will be $3.1 billion now, down from its previous prediction of $3.35 billion. Analysts also predicted the profit to be higher at $3.33 billion.

Another retailer posting their earnings this morning on news U.S. retail sales jumped in July. Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) announced their fourth quarter earnings, with a profit of $51.2 million or 13 cents a share. Excluding restructuring costs EPS came in at 17 cents per share, higher then the average analyst estimate of 16 cents.Revenue rose in the quarter to $2.25 billion, also being analyst estimates of $2.21 billion.Estee Lauder showed they experienced strong sales across the product line, with make up seeing the biggest increase of 11%. President and CEO of the company Fabrizio Freda said the company will continue putting more resources into emerging markets, online, and its travel retail segment, parts of their business that has seen big gains.The retailer also announced its forecast for fiscal 2013, saying it sees EPS of $2.44 to $2.56 on revenue of $10.3 billion to $10.5 billion. Analysts are predicting profit of $2.57 per share on revenue of $10.25 billion.

Bob Evans Farms Incorporated (BOBE) announced its quarterly dividend of 27.5 cents per share, an increase of about 10% over its prior dividend in May of 25 cents. The dividend is payable on September 17 to stockholders of record as of September 4.

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

This is your Mid-day Market Update for August 14. Stocks showing modest gains Tuesday on news of strong retail sales in July amid global economic woes.The Commerce Department reported retail sales jumped an unexpected 0.8% in July from the previous month. Analysts were expecting a rise of just 0.3%. The news could be seen as a sign the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery. But, with investors still looking to Europe, gains in the market are minimal in today’s session. Oil and Gold trading mixed so far today. Oil is up over $93 a barrel and gold is down $8 on the day to $1,605 an ounce.A big winner so far in today’s session is Michael Kors. The retailer’s stock is up over 13% due to its profits almost tripling for the quarter. One of the biggest losers is Groupon. Its shares are down over 24% on negative revenue results for the quarter.Currently, the Dow is up 48 points to 13,217. The S&P is up by over 5 points and the Nasdaq has gained 10 points so far today.For more market updates and analysis of the business world follow us on twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com

In trading on Wednesday, diagnostics shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 1.2%. Leading the group were shares of Alliance Healthcare Services (AIQ), up about 14.8% and shares of Amn Healthcare Services (AHS) up about 2.9% on the day.

Target (TGT) announced that it earned $1.06 per share in its most recent fiscal quarter, versus the $1.01 per share that analysts estimated. Revenue was $16.78 billion.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) is yet another retailer seeing positive quarterly results. The owner of Marshalls and T.J. Maxx reported net profit of $421.1 million or 56 cents a share, above the 55 cent analyst estimate. Revenue rose 9% from last year to $5.95 billion, just below the street’s estimate of $6 billion.TJX attributes the gain to an increase in shopper traffic and demand for inexpensive designer products. On this positive news, the company now expects full-year earnings in the range of $2.39 to $2.45, an increase from their previous forecast earlier this month.Shares of the company seeing a slight boost in today’s trading. TJX stock is currently up close to a half a percent to $44.41.

From FNNO.com, this is the Financial News Network. I’m Cleo Stiller-Farrell.Today’s top story: second quarter results announced for many European markets, with numbers better than expected. Europe’s leading economy, Germany, saw its GDP rise 0.3% from its first quarter levels and France’s economy plateaued. While these numbers are by no means impressive, France was able to avoid a market contraction, which analysts are counting as good news. US market futures traded up in reaction to the announcements. I’m Cleo Stiller-Farrell. For more coverage of the business world follow us on Twitter at FNNonline or check our website out at FNNO.com.

This is your Market Close Wrap Up for August 14, 2012. Stocks fall into the red toward the end of trading today most likely on worries over the eurzone economy. But wall street fought back to finish relatively flat after having modest gains for most of the day.Those modest gains were caused by good news from the Commerce Department. The agency reported retail sales jumped an unexpected 0.8% in July from the previous month. Analysts were expecting a rise of just 0.3%. The news could be seen as a sign the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery.Oil and Gold finished mixed on the day. Oil was relatively flat but was up above $93 a barrel. Gold lost $11 to finish at $1,602 an ounce.One of the biggest winners today was Transcontinental Realty Investors, finishing up over 20% after posting positive second quarter earnings results. One of the biggest losers: Groupon. It’s shares finishing down over 26% on news of its less-than-expected quarterly revenue. Taking a look at where the markets closed today. The Dow finished up over 2 points to 13,172. The S&P finished flat and the Nasdaq was down over 5 points.For more market updates and analysis of the business world follow us on twitter @FNNOnline or check out our website at fnno.com