Several companies, including some with Utah connections, have reported quarterly financial results this week.

Headwaters

South Jordan-based Headwaters Inc. on Tuesday reported net income of $44.9 million, or 95 cents per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with $19.5 million. or 51 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.

Wall Street's consensus estimate was for the company to earn 81 cents per share in the most recent quarter.

Revenue totaled $315.1 million, up from $198.6 million in the year-earlier quarter.

For the year ended Sept. 30, Headwaters reported net income of $121.3 million, or $2.79 per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with $64.3 million, or $1.88 per share, in the prior year. Revenues jumped 92 percent to more than $1 billion.

The company also said it reduced debt by $318 million during the year, leaving debt at $654 million.

Headwaters said it expects earnings per share of $2.60 to $2.75 during fiscal 2006.

Headwaters is involved in natural resources technology, including alternative energy.

The company's stock fell 21 cents Tuesday to close at $32.83. During the past year, the price has ranged from $26.31 to $45.75.

1-800 Contacts

Draper-based replacement contact lens company 1-800 Contacts Inc. on Tuesday reported a net loss of $600,000, or 4 cents per share, for the quarter ended Oct. 1. That compares with net income of $1.4 million, or 10 cents per share, for the same quarter last year.

Sales totaled $60.9 million, up from $56.9 million a year ago.

The operating loss for the ClearLab international manufacturing business was $1.4 million, although it was smaller than the year-earlier operating loss of $2.1 million.

The company's stock fell 2 cents Tuesday to close at $16.78. During the past year, the price has ranged from $16.51 to $24.75.

FX Energy

Salt Lake-based FX Energy Inc. on Tuesday reported a net loss of nearly $1.4 million, or 4 cents per share, for the third quarter. That compares with a loss of more than $1.4 million, or 5 cents per share, for the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue totaled $2.5 million, up from $970,000 in the prior-year quarter.

FX is an energy exploration and production company. Its stock fell 11 cents Tuesday to close at $10.01. During the past year, the price has ranged from $8.10 to $16.71.

Specialized Health Products

Bountiful-based Specialized Health Products Inc. on Tuesday reported a net loss of $351,000, or 1 cent per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. It includes a $327,000 charge related to the amortization of deferred compensation. It compares with net income of $174,000, or breakeven, for the same quarter a year ago.

Revenues totaled $1.7 million, up from $1.6 million.

SHPI develops, manufactures and markets disposable medical devices.

The company's stock was unchanged Tuesday at 62 cents. During the past year, the price has ranged from 55 cents to $1.20.

Arkona

Salt Lake-based Arkona Inc. on Monday reported earnings before taxes of $243,284 for the quarter ended Sept. 30. That compares with a loss of $14,846 for the same quarter last year.

Revenue was a company-record $2.7 million, up from $1.5 million a year ago.

Arkona is involved in automotive and powersports dealer management products.

The company's stock rose 4 cents Tuesday to close at 58 cents. During the past year, the price has ranged from 41 cents to 72 cents.

Blockbuster

Blockbuster Inc., the nation's largest movie-rental chain, posted a $491.4 million third-quarter loss as the elimination of most late fees continued to chip away at revenue and the growth of the company's online service stalled. The company's shares tumbled more than 5 percent.

Executives said Blockbuster would cut spending and raise at least $100 million through a private placement of convertible preferred stock.

In a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Blockbuster said "a very large majority" of its assets are already pledged as collateral on loans and that trade creditors were imposing stricter terms.

The company said it could be forced into bankruptcy protection if a new credit agreement with lenders doesn't become effective or if lenders recall loans because of failure to meet debt covenants — typically things like exceeding debt ratios.

Blockbuster said it lost $491.4 million, or $2.67 per share, during the three months ended Sept. 30, compared to a loss of $1.41 billion, or $7.81 per share, a year earlier. Both periods included big charges.

Blockbuster shares fell 10 cents, or 2.3 percent, to close at $4.20 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. They have ranged from $4.03 to $10.65 in the past year.

Excluding a $347 million charge in the latest quarter for lost goodwill from former parent Viacom Inc.'s purchase of Blockbuster several years ago, Blockbuster said it would have lost 24.6 million or 13 cents per share. That matched the forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Revenue fell 2 percent, to $1.39 billion. Analysts had expected sales to match the year-ago figure of $1.41 billion, but growth in rental revenue was offset by a sharp drop in money from late fees, which Blockbuster scaled back in January to draw customers back to its stores.

Sales at stores open at least a year fell 3.8 percent, including 2.5 percent in rentals and 7.8 percent in merchandise sales.

Blockbuster is facing tough competition from Netflix Inc., whose online service is bigger and growing faster than Blockbuster's, and from cheap DVDs sold at mass marketers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Chairman and Chief Executive John Antioco, however, gave investors a determined stay-the-course message on Tuesday. He blamed the company's troubles on a general downturn in the rental industry and said Blockbuster would cut costs and become more dominant as the rental industry consolidates.

Antioco said Dallas-based Blockbuster might sell some game stores, but he stood by the decision to cut late fees, which accounted for 13 percent of Blockbuster's revenue a year ago.

"We are not changing direction we will continue to move full-steam ahead with our core business, which is Blockbuster stores and Blockbuster online," Antioco declared.

Antioco said Blockbuster's decline was far smaller than an 11.7 percent industry decline, according to Rentrak, a research company that follows the entertainment industry. He said Blockbuster "accomplished what we did this quarter in large part because of our no-late-fees program, not in spite of it."

EchoStar

EchoStar Communications Corp., the second-biggest U.S. satellite-television broadcaster, said Tuesday that third-quarter profit doubled as it added 255,000 subscribers.

Net income rose to $209 million, or 46 cents a share, the Colorado-based company said. Revenue climbed 14 percent to $2.13 billion.

Customer growth slowed, partly because EchoStar lost subscribers who had their homes damaged by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina. EchoStar, like larger competitor DirecTV Group Inc. last week, reported an increase in customer defections as cable companies lured clients with packages of phone, TV and Web access.

"The cable offering is getting more competitive." said Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York who rates EchoStar "market perform." "It's hard not to focus on the very high" increase in subscriber defections.

EchoStar shares fell 64 cents, or 2.4 percent, to close at $26.28 Tuesday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Pixar

Pixar, the computer-animation film studio run by Steven Jobs, posted a 22 percent rise in profit on surging home-video sales from movies such as "The Incredibles." The shares jumped 11 percent.

Net income rose to $27.4 million, or 22 cents a share, from $22.4 million, or 19 cents, a year earlier, California-based Pixar said Tuesday. Sales rose 3 percent to $45.8 million.

Eleven cents was also the average estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Pixar shares fell $1.87 to $50.88 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading Tuesday. The shares have risen 19 percent this year.

Visteon

Auto parts maker Visteon Corp., which recently closed on a bailout plan with former parent Ford Motor Co., said Tuesday it narrowed its third-quarter loss from last year but failed to meet Wall Street's expectations. The company's shares tumbled 11 percent in morning trading.

The nation's No. 2 auto parts supplier also forecast a smaller current-quarter loss compared with the third quarter, but added that it doesn't expect to achieve operating profitability or positive cash flow from operations in the quarter.

Visteon posted a loss of $200 million, or $1.58 per share, versus a year-ago loss of $1.4 billion, or $11.48 per share. Sales totaled $4.1 billion, a decline of $15 million from last year, weighed down by lower sales to Ford.

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Special charges totaled 9 cents per share in the latest quarter, primarily for buyouts for non-U.S. employees. The year-ago results included charges of $1.3 billion for deferred tax asset valuation allowances and asset impairments, which lowered results by $10.13 per share.

Wall Street's mean estimate was a loss of $1.34 per share, based on a survey of 11 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, on sales of $4.24 billion.

Visteon shares fell $1.26, or 14 percent, to close at $7.72 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, where they have traded in a 52-week range of $3.14 to $10.91.


Contributing: Associated Press, Bloomberg News.

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