>>> Caterpillar beats by $0.36, beats on revs; raises FY15 EPS above consensus,

--> +4.15% Pre market

Caterpillar beats by $0.36, beats on revs; raises FY15 EPS above consensus, reaffirms revs above consensus

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.72 per share, excluding $0.05 in non-recurring charges and excl. $0.14 in gains, $0.36 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.36; revenues fell 4.1% year/year to $12.7 bln vs the $12.49 bln consensus.
  • Co raises guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $5.00, excl. non-recurring charges, vs. $4.75 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate, up from $4.75
  • Co reaffirms FY15 revs of $50 bln vs. $49.63 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  • Sales and revenues were off about 4% from the first quarter of last year, mining remained weak and construction was down in most regions. On the plus side, Energy & Transportation turned in another great quarter, although CAT doesn't expect this to continue due to the oil-related portion of the business.
Despite our outlook for modest improvement in global economic growth versus 2014, significant risks and uncertainties remain that could temper growth in 2015. The primary factors contributing to the decline from 2014 are largely the same as the co expected three months ago:
  • Lower oil prices are expected to negatively impact sales of reciprocating engines within Energy & Transportation and Construction Industries' sales in oil-producing countries around the world, including regions of the United States that rely on oil revenues to drive economic growth
  • The currency translation impact of a stronger U.S. dollar on our sales outside the United States
  • Weaker mining sales
  • Lower sales in our rail business, primarily for locomotives
  • Lower sales in China, primarily for construction equipment

>>> General Motors misses by $0.10, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 EBIT/margin i

--> -3.4% pre market

General Motors misses by $0.10, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 EBIT/margin improvement

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.86 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.10 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.96; revenues fell 4.5% year/year to $35.7 bln vs the $36.91 bln consensus.
  • Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) adjusted was $2.1 billion and included the impact of $0.1 billion in restructuring costs.
    • GM North America reported EBIT-adjusted of $2.2 billion. This compares with EBIT-adjusted of $0.6 billion in the first quarter of 2014, which included the impact of a $1.3 billion pre-tax charge for recall costs.
    • GM Europe reported EBIT-adjusted of $(0.2) billion. This compares with EBIT-adjusted of $(0.3) billion in the first quarter of 2014, which included $0.2 billion for restructuring costs.
  • GM expects its total EBIT adjusted and EBIT-adjusted margin to increase in 2015, compared to 2014, after adjusting 2014 for the impact of recall costs, with improved automotive results anticipated in all regions.
    • Since announcing its $5 billion common stock repurchase program on March 9, 2015, GM has repurchased 19.4 million shares through April 21.
    • TTM ROIC at the end of the quarter was 19.5%, compared to 16.9% last year.

>>> Mead Johnson Nutrition beats by $0.04, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 EPS gu

--> No premarkt

Mead Johnson Nutrition beats by $0.04, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 EPS guidance

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.09 per share, $0.04 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.05; revenues fell 1.7% year/year to $1.09 bln vs the $1.13 bln consensus.
  • Co reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $3.90-4.00 vs. $4.00 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees revenue growth around 7% in constant dollars with growth largely in the second half of the year as new initiatives are launched.
  • The company currently expects the impact of adverse foreign currency translation to be approximately five percent, leading to reported sales growth of approximately two percent.

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
Gapping up: ARRS +17.5%, DAN +7.3%, AFOP +6.9%, DNKN +6.9%, MKSI +6.8%, SKX +6.1%, CAKE +5.6%, EBAY +5.5%, PII +4.3%, SGMO +4%, ENTR +3.9%, ORLY +3.9%, NCR +3.8%, IR +3.7%, CLGX +3.2%, SCSS +2.9%, BAX +2.3%, NEU +2.1%, SNA +2.1%, LOGI +2%, DOW +2%, CLB +1.8%, ADPT +1.8%, TYL +1.6%, ISIS +1.4%, CONN +1.3%, RTN +1.1%,TRCO +1%, LLY +1%, T +0.8%, EGBN +0.8%, CTXS +0.7%, AEP +0.6%, EBS +0.5%, ALGT +0.5%, MPWR +0.5%, HP +0.5%, DHR +0.5%, LAZ +0.5%

Gapping down: MOBL -29.6%, TXN -7.2%, OII -4.5%, LVS -4.4%, WBC -3.9%, XLNX -3.8%, ALXN -3%, QCOM -2.7%, FFIV -2.6%, PHM -2%, FB -1.7%, TSCO -1.7%, VMI -1.6%, MCRI -1.5%, MO -1.5%, INFA -1.4%, WYNN -1.2%, PENN -1.2%, GWPH -0.9%, KNX -0.9%, DGX -0.9%, FISI -0.8%, PG -0.8%, HSY -0.8%, SLM -0.7%, OCR -0.6%, RY -0.6%, WFT -0.6%, POOL-0.6%, USTR -0.5%, AMP -0.5%, CVBF -0.5%, UFI -0.5%

>>> Rockwell Collins beats by $0.01, beats on revs; reaffirms FY15 guidance

Rockwell Collins beats by $0.01, beats on revs; reaffirms FY15 guidance

Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $1.22 per share, $0.01 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.21; revenues rose 5.4% year/year to $1.34 bln vs the $1.3 bln consensus.
  • Co issues reaffirms guidance for FY15, sees EPS of $5.10-5.30 vs. $5.23 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY15 revs of $5.2-5.3 bln vs. $5.29 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate.
  • "Our performance in the first half of fiscal 2015 is underscored by another quarter of double digit EPS growth driven by organic sales and earnings growth across all of our businesses,"

>>> 3M misses by $0.08, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 organic local-currency sa

--> -1.62% Pre-Market

3M misses by $0.08, misses on revs; reaffirms FY15 organic local-currency sales growth guidance

Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.85 per share, $0.08 worse than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.93; revenues fell 3.2% year/year to $7.58 bln vs the $7.83 bln consensus.
  • The company noted that foreign currency impacts reduced first-quarter pre-tax earnings by approximately $90 mln or the equivalent of $0.10 per share
  • For 2015 in total, 3M now expects foreign currency impacts to reduce earnings by $0.35-0.40 per share versus a prior expectation of negative $0.20 per share
  • For the full year, 3M maintained its forecast for organic local-currency sales growth in the range of 3-6%

Volkswagen board chief wants CEO Winterkorn out before May 5

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URGENT: Sources: Volkswagen board chief wants CEO Winterkorn out before May 5 2015-04-23 10:18:51.450 GMT

URGENT: Sources: Volkswagen board chief wants CEO Winterkorn out before May 5

Wolfsburg, Germany (DPA) -- Volkswagen's all-powerful board chairman Ferdinand Piech, wants chief executive Martin Winterkorn out before a shareholder meeting on May 5, sources tell dpa.

-0- Apr/23/2015 10:18 GMT

Times of India : Capgemini likely to acquire $3.6bn Igate, take it private

BENGALURU: Europe's biggest IT services company Capgemini is likely to acquire Nasdaq-listed Igate, multiple sources told TOI.

If the deal goes through, it will be one of the biggest M&As in the IT services space. Igate, founded by Sunil Wadhwani and Ashok Trivedi and with most of its employees in India, had revenue of $1.27 billion in 2014 and its market capitalization now stands at $3.6 billion dollars.

HP's $13.9 billion acquisition of EDS in 2008 has been one of the biggest so far. More recently, Canada's CGI acquired UK's Logica for $2.6 billion.

Speculation about Igate being sold started soon after private equity giant Apax Partners, which financed much of Igate's $1.2-billion acquisition of Patni Computer Systems in 2011, converted its debt into equity four months ago to become the largest shareholder in the company.

Apax now owns 29% stake in Igate, while Igate founders together hold 25% of the shares. Sources told TOI that Capgemini is looking at acquiring the 54% stake held by the promoters and Apax initially. They said it may later take Igate private by buying out the shares of other shareholders.

When asked about the possible acquisition, Capgemini told TOI, "We do not comment on market rumours or speculation." Igate had not responded to queries at the time of going to print.

There has been talk of French IT company Atos and BPO major Genpact looking at acquiring Igate, but Capgemini is said to have nearly sealed the deal.

Igate will enable the 10-billion-euro, Paris-headquartered Capgemini to strengthen its footprint in North America. The US contributes nearly 70% to Igate's revenues. Igate's top clients are GE Electric and Royal Bank of Canada, contributing 16% and 10%, respectively, to 2014 revenues. On the other hand, 70% of Capgemini's revenues comes from Europe, and only 20% from the US, by far the biggest IT outsourcing market in the world.

Igate employs 33,000 people, most of that in India. In January, Over 40% of Capgemini's global workforce of 1.41 lakh employees is based in India.

With Igate, Capgemini will rival Accenture and IBM in its people strength in India. Accenture and IBM have 1 lakh or more employees here. "Capgemini has been trying to grow presence in tier II spoke-centres in India to price competitively, but hasn't gained the level of scale offshore as its primary competition. It has stated that it wants to grow offshore (not just nearshore), so Igate's footprint will definitely help. Capgemini acquired Kanbay in 2006, which was a successful acquisition and it really got them started in India. So they probably view the Igate acquisition as a similar story," said Phil Fersht, CEO of US-based HFS Research.