Several companies based in Utah or with significant operations in the state reported quarterly financial figures on Thursday.
Sento
American Fork-based Sento Corp. reported a loss attributable to common stockholders of $298,400, or 8 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. The figure included a bad-debt provision of $475,000, equivalent to 12 cents per share. That compares with a net loss of $141,459, or 6 cents per share, a year ago.
Revenues for the fiscal 2005 third quarter totaled $10 million, up from $5.2 million a year ago, boosted by the October acquisition of Xtrasource.
The company said it will consolidate its Utah operations from three centers to "one primary supercenter" during the next two quarters but said no jobs will be lost.
Sento provides customer service and technical support.
Sento stock rose 12 cents Thursday to close at $4.10. During the past year, the price has ranged from $3.60 to $17.89.
Nucor
Nucor Corp., the biggest U.S. maker of steel from recycled metal, said fourth-quarter net income surged to $341.4 million as demand strengthened and prices rose.
Nucor's Vulcraft Group has a plant near Brigham City.
Net income increased to $2.12 a share from $20.6 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose to $3.09 billion from $1.66 billion, helped by acquisitions, the North Carolina-based company said.
The company was expected to earn $1.99 in the quarter on sales of $2.98 billion, the average forecasts of at least six analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
The company's stock rose $1.40 Thursday to close at $54.35. During the past year, the price has ranged from $26.08 to $55.47.
Autoliv
Stockholm-based Autoliv Inc., the world's largest maker of air bags and operator of plants with a few thousand employees in northern Utah, said fourth-quarter net income fell 5 percent after its tax rate rose and a licensing payment wasn't repeated. Sales will increase 12 percent this quarter, the company said.
Net income declined to $87.1 million, or 94 cents a share, from $91.7 million, or 96 cents, the company said. Analysts had forecast earnings of 89 cents on average. Sales rose 15 percent to $1.69 billion.
Autoliv stock rose $1.13 Thursday to close at $46.83. During the past year, the price has ranged from $38.67 to $48.80.
Autoliv has been cutting costs by moving factories to lower-wage areas, and boosting sales with air-bag curtains that protect car passengers in side-impact collisions. Vehicle production in North America, Western Europe and Japan fell 3 percent in the quarter.
Verizon
Verizon Communications Inc., which has several hundred employees at a West Valley City call center, earned $3.04 billion in the fourth quarter, posting a 6 percent revenue gain as another powerful showing by the cellular business more than compensated for the continuing decline of traditional local phone service.
The profit reported Thursday, which included about $1.2 billion in one-time gains and related tax benefits from the sale of some Canadian assets, amounted to $1.08 per share, matching most Wall Street forecasts.
In the same period in 2003, Verizon lost $1.46 billion, or 53 cents per share. That included about $2.9 billion in severance costs as 21,000 employees accepted a buyout to reduce the payroll, as well as about $200 million in environmental remediation costs.
Excluding one-time factors, Verizon earned 64 cents per share in the fourth quarter 2004, up from 58 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2003. -->
Fourth-quarter revenues totaled $18.26 billion, up from $17.20 billion a year earlier.
For all of 2004, Verizon earned $7.83 billion, or $2.79 per share. In 2003, the company earned $3.08 billion, or $1.12 per share. But excluding one-time factors, full-year earnings fell to $2.51 per share compared with $2.60 per share in 2003.
Full-year revenues came to $71.28 billion, up 5.7 percent from $67.47 billion in 2003, Verizon's strongest annual revenue growth in three years.
Shares of Verizon fell 65 cents to close at $35.87 in Thursday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Siebel
Siebel Systems Inc., the world's largest maker of customer-service software, said fourth-quarter profit rose and sales gained for the first time in more than three years on demand for new licenses.
Net income rose to $53.8 million, or 10 cents a share, from $40.7 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier, said the California-based company, which has operations in Utah. Sales advanced to $392 million from $366.7 million.
The consensus analyst expectation was for earnings of 8 cents per share.
Siebel stock rose 4 cents Thursday to close at $9.14. During the past year, the price has ranged from $6.97 to $14.52.
iMergent
Orem-based e-commerce and software company iMergent Inc. reported net income of $3 million, or 24 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That compares with $1.5 million, or 12 cents per share, for the year-ago quarter.
The consensus analyst estimate was for earnings of 14 cents per share.
Revenue for the fiscal 2005 second quarter totaled a company-record $31.4 million, up from $17.7 million in the year-ago quarter. Much of the growth was through workshops, which increased to a company-record 177.
The company adjusted its guidance for fiscal 2005. It said it now expects full-year revenue growth between 30 percent and 35 percent. Third-quarter revenue is expected to be lower than that of the second quarter but still to be higher year-over-year. The fourth quarter should have sequentially higher revenues.
The company's stock rose $2.36 Thursday to close at $19.81, its highest point in more than a year. During that time, the price has been as low as $6.95.
Nutraceutical
Park City-based Nutraceutical International Corp. reported net income of $2.8 million, or 24 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That compares with $3.2 million, or 27 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.
The lone analyst predicting results expected the company to have earnings of 23 cents per share.
The 2005 fiscal first quarter featured net sales of $35.3 million, up from $33.2 million in the year-ago period.
The company markets, distributes, retails and manufactures branded nutritional supplements and other natural products sold primarily to and through domestic health and natural-food stores. Internationally, Nutraceutical sells its branded products to and through health and natural-product distributors and retailers.
The company's stock rose 14 cents Thursday to close at $15.84. During the past year, the price has ranged from $12.24 to $27.62.
Iomega
San Diego-based Iomega Corp., which has operations in Roy, reported net income of $3.8 million, or 7 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That included $1.5 million in pretax restructuring charges and a pretax net benefit of $11.2 million from certain license fees and asset sales.
The results compare with a net loss of $15.5 million, or 30 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter, which included $4.5 million in pretax restructuring charges and $2.3 million in pre-tax charges associated with the reorientation of the Network Storage System product line.
Revenue totaled $89.6 million, down from $93.4 million in the prior-year quarter. The company's hallmark Zip product line saw sales fall $22.1 million to $25.3 million year-over-year. "Source branded" products rose $6.2 million to $46.9 million. NSS rose $200,000 to $3.9 million. Rev product sales totaled $12.9 million, up from $10.3 million in the previous quarter.
For the full year of 2004, Iomega had a net loss of $36.7 million, or 71 cents per share, on revenue of $328.7 million. That compares with a loss of $18.9 million, or 37 cents per share, on revenue of $391.3 million in 2003. Both years included various charges and benefits.
Iomega stock fell a penny Thursday to $5.24. During the past year, the price has ranged from $3.77 to $6.67.
Mity Enterprises
Institutional furniture company Mity Enterprises Inc. reported net income of $795,000, or 18 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That compares with $1.1 million, or 26 cents per share, for the year-ago quarter.
The lone analyst tracking the company predicted per-share earnings of 25 cents.
Sales for the fiscal third quarter totaled $11.6 million, up from $11 million a year ago.
The Orem-based company said it will incur an impairment charge in January between $2.3 million and $2.6 million before tax because it has chosen to abandon its current "next generation" table project.
Mity stock fell 76 cents Thursday to close at $13.55, its lowest point during the past year. During that time, it has been as high as $19.30.
Contributing: Bloomberg News; Associated Press