Chief Financial Officer Craig Owens said Monday that the price increases are coming because the soup giant expects input costs to continue rising, although at more moderate levels than over the last year.

The price increases will not apply to Campbell’s ready-to-serve soups.

Owens made the comments on Campbell’s earnings call for the fiscal third-quarter. Profit fell 5.4% as the food company was hit by rising commodities prices and higher marketing and selling expenses.

Campbell is in the midst of a multi-year plan to turn around its soup business after several years of declines.

Campbell shares were down 2.3% in recent trading to $32.62.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/campbell-to-hike-list-prices-for-condensed-soup-5-2012-05-21

Chief Executive Marc Bolland is expected to roll back aggressive growth targets he set 18 months ago, amid the consumer downturn. The retailer is likely to moderate store expansion in the U.K from the 3% space growth per annum until 2015, outlined when Bolland revealed his strategic blueprint in November 2010, the FT said.

Some investors and analysts are also calling for capital expenditure to be reduced, in line with the softer targets, the newspaper said.

This could help cut M&S’s capital expenditure, originally estimated at GBP900 million a year over three years, the FT said.

M&S declined to comment, the FT said.

In curbing expansion, the retailer would join Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN), Britain’s biggest supermarket by market share, and its smaller rival J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN), which have both pledged to limit the opening of new U.K supermarkets, and extensions to existing stores, the newspaper said.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.ft.com

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ms-to-scale-back-new-stores-growth-targets-ft-2012-05-19-94854434

Launched in 2008, CrowdGather is deeply committed to bringing together and improving the world of online communities for end-users, forum owners, and marketers. Active as a forum member since 1998, founder and CEO Sanjay Sabnani recognized a unique opportunity to enrich the forum member’s experience as well as effectively monetize a network of sites. Beginning in 2002, he began steadily acquiring some of the world’s busiest online communities and aggregating them into key verticals.  

CrowdGather’s 16+ million unique visitors monthly includes smart, stylish, and inquisitive men and women looking to our sites to provide the inside scoop on their passion. Since 2008, CrowdGather has grown from 9 million page views a month to over 220+ million. The CrowdGather Network is made up of thousands of online communities for technology professionals, gamers, and lifestyle enthusiasts.  

Deeply dedicated to their discoveries, subscribers rely on CrowdGather sites for their latest products, trends, and ideas, and then spread them with a zeal that makes them unparalleled.

CrowdGather, Inc. has quietly been building up a dynamic network of sites by consolidating one of the oldest and most robust groups of online users – those that post on message boards and forums. Our goal is to create the world’s best user experience for forum communities and world class service offerings for forum owners. We believe that forums are the richest source of high value, user generated social media. We also believe that nothing will ever replace their position as the help desk of the Internet.

CrowdGather aims to enrich the world’s search experience by giving people the ability to query and contribute to the most content-rich communities on the web. We expect our numbers to surge dramatically with the launch of this patent-pending, highly interactive and informational forum platform.

SOURCE: http://www.crowdgather.com/

For the year, the company now expects results at the high end of its March view, which called for a profit of 85 cents to 95 cents a share and revenue of $9.1 billion to $9.5 billion.

The company forecast third-quarter earnings of 21 cents to 29 cents a share with revenue flat to down 10% from the prior quarter, amounting to $2.29 billion to $2.54 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected 26 cents and $2.44 billion, respectively.

Applied Materials is the largest provider of machines used in making semiconductors, solar panels and displays. Due to tough conditions in the solar market, the company earlier this month said it plans to restructure its solar business and will start posting charges in its third quarter.

The company now has reported three consecutive quarters of weaker earnings amid pressure from lagging solar and display markets.

Applied Materials, best known for its semiconductor manufacturing equipment business, regularly experiences sharp boom-and-bust cycles triggered by fluctuations in supplies of chips and demand for them. The company has broadened its business to include tools used in making solar panels and displays used in computers and TVs. But supply gluts for manufacturers in those businesses have slowed plans to boost production capacity in the past year and have hurt Applied Materials’s results.

For the quarter ended April 29, Applied Materials reported a profit of $289 million, or 22 cents a share, from $489 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding restructuring costs, acquisition-related expenses and other adjustments, per-share earnings were 27 cents. Revenue dropped 11% to $2.54 billion.

The company’s upbeat February forecast called for a per-share profit of 20 cents to 28 cents with revenue of $2.3 billion to $2.52 billion.

Gross margin narrowed to 39.8% from 41.5%.

Shares edged up 1.4% after hours Thursday to $10.63. The stock is down 2.2% so far in 2012.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/applied-materials-earnings-fall-41-2012-05-17

The largest U.S. domestic carrier had steadily booked rising traffic for much of last year with help from its acquisition of low-cost rival AirTran. However, the airline industry has been challenged by higher fuel costs and has been cutting capacity to retain pricing power.

The dividend was raised for the first time since early 2001, with the company boosting the payout to 1 cent a share, up from .45 cent. The increase should cost Southwest an extra $4.2 million a quarter.

The stock buyback program, which still included $175 million from a previous authorization, was boosted to a total of $675 million.

Southwest last month reported stronger first-quarter income amid positive hedging impacts and strong revenue growth.

Shares are up 1.4% at $8.18. The stock is down 4.4% so far this year.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/southwest-air-lifts-dividend-and-buyback-program-2012-05-16

Under the deal, Boyd will take over privately held Peninsula’s Kansas Star, Diamond Jo, Diamond Jo Worth, Evangeline Downs and Amelia Belle casinos, which are located in Kansas, Iowa and Louisiana. The deal includes $200 million of cash consideration plus about $1.2 billion of assumed debt. Peninsula also will include a roughly $144 million note as part of the deal.

Boyd President and Chief Executive Keith Smith called the deal a “transformative transaction that fits perfectly into our growth strategy” by broadening the regional operator’s scale and bolstering its financial profile.

Boyd, one of Las Vegas’s oldest gambling companies, had posted mostly weaker results in recent quarters as revenue from its other casinos in the South and Midwest–once a source of solid revenue growth–failed to keep up with growing costs.

Its first-quarter results still improved over last year’s pressured bottom line, delivering a stronger-than-expected core profit.

Boyd expects its latest purchase, which is slated to close by the end of this year, to add immediately to its earnings.

Boyd is required to make additional payments in 2016 if a measure of Kansas Star’s earnings tops $105 million in 2015.

Boyd shares closed Wednesday down one cent at $6.98 and were inactive after hours. The stock is off 28% over the past year.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/boyd-gaming-to-buy-peninsula-gaming-in-145b-deal-2012-05-16

Based on discussions between the parties over the past week, Talbots said the exclusivity agreement now will terminate on May 22. The parties had signed an exclusivity agreement last week that was originally set to terminate on Tuesday.

Shares jumped by 8.8% to $2.59 in recent after-hours trading Tuesday. Through the close, the stock was off 23% over the past three months.

Talbots said it doesn’t intend to comment further on its negotiation with Sycamore or the company’s evaluation of strategic alternatives, unless a specific transaction is recommended by its board.

Last week, Talbots received an increased takeover offer from Sycamore Partners, the private-equity firm run by retail veteran Stefan Kaluzny. The latest offer values the company around $215 million.

The bid, worth $3.05 a share, is a 5-cent per-share increase from Sycamore’s December offer. Talbots had rejected the unsolicited bid, saying it was inadequate and substantially undervalued the company. Kaluzny and the Sycamore firm took a 9.9% stake in Talbots last year to become its No. 2 shareholder after OppenheimerFunds. They received access to the company’s books earlier this year.

Efforts by Talbots to stage a turnaround from fashion mistakes and the recession have produced uneven results as the retailer has aimed to freshen its range of merchandise, reduce its store count and broaden its appeal beyond the older women who had been its core customers.

Last month, Talbots reported its fiscal fourth-quarter loss widened, as restructuring, executive retirement costs and promotions pressured results, and sales declined 1.1%.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/talbots-exclusivity-deal-with-sycamore-extended-2012-05-15

The supermarket operator raised the dividend to 17.5 cents a share from 14.5 cents, which should cost the company an additional $8.2 million a quarter.

Safeway–which operates regional grocery chains such as Vons and Randalls–has warned that a slower-than-expected economic recovery and high gasoline prices will continue to pressure consumer spending and hurt sales across the supermarket industry. The company has tried to manage margins by selling more private-label products, controlling expenses and improving marketing.

Last month, the company said its first-quarter profit nearly tripled as a hefty tax charge weighed on the company’s year-ago results.

Shares closed Tuesday at $18.78 and were up 12 cents after hours. The stock is down 11% so far this year.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/safeway-boosts-dividend-by-21-2012-05-15-178390

Shares rose 2.8%, to $40 after hours, as the company raised its full-year earnings forecast and beat its quarterly guidance. As of Monday’s close, the stock was up 11% so far in 2012.

Agilent raised its adjusted earnings guidance for the year, now forecasting $3.18 to $3.24 a share and narrowed its revenue guidance to $6.94 billion to $7 billion in revenue. In February, Agilent’s view was $3.13 to $3.23 and $6.92 billion to $7.02 billion, respectively.

For the current quarter, the company expects earnings between 82 cents to 84 cents a share on $1.77 billion to $1.79 billion in revenue. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently projected 83 cents in earnings and $1.76 billion in revenue.

Agilent’s core results have improved over the past year as newly introduced products and an expanding geographic reach drive its revenue growth. Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in December raised its rating on Agilent by two notches, citing the company’s stronger-than-expected revenue and margin growth.

Signifying its stronger finances, the company in January declared its first ever quarterly dividend.

For the quarter ended April 30, Agilent reported a profit of $255 million, or 72 cents a share, up from $200 million, or 56 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding amortization costs, acquisition-related adjustments and other items, per-share earnings rose to 78 cents from 74 cents. Net revenue improved 3.3% to $1.73 billion.

In February, the company predicted adjusted earnings of 71 cents to 73 cents a share on $1.7 billion to $1.72 billion in revenue.

Operating margin widened to 17.3% from 15.9%.

Agilent’s electronic-measurement segment, its largest top-line contributor, reported 5% higher revenue on strength in wireless manufacturing.

Revenue from the chemical-analysis unit rose 1.8%, while the life-sciences segment reported 1.1% higher revenue.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/agilent-posts-28-higher-profit-2012-05-14

HOUSTON -(MarketWatch)- Chesapeake Energy Corp. CHK -13.80% said Friday that it could delay or change some of its planned asset sales in order not to endanger compliance with the conditions set out by creditors.

In a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Oklahoma City, Okla.-based oil and gas producer said that while asset sales generate cash, they decrease the cash flow generated by the company, and “reduce the amount and value of collateral available to secure our obligations, both of which are exacerbated by low natural gas prices.” In order to comply with the requirements of its $4 billion corporate credit facility, the company “may delay one or more of our currently planned asset monetizations, or select other assets for monetization.” As of March 31, the company had $2.5 billion outstanding in its corporate credit facility.

The language, which Argus Research analyst Phil Weiss says is new, puts a damper on Chesapeake’s unrelenting strategy of raising money from asset sales to keep drilling in new areas and bring down its high levels of debt. At times when natural gas prices were high, the company was able to keep aggressively growing while selling stakes in its fields. But with prices near decade-low levels, “at least there may have to be a change in the asset monetization strategy,” Weiss said.

The company says it expects to obtain $11.5 billion to $14 billion from asset transactions in 2012, which will be enough to fund its capital expenditures and reduce debt.

Chesapeake shares tumbled Friday after the company filed a notice that it would not be able to produce an annual report on time with the SEC, followed shortly by the quarterly report, which had been expected Thursday. In 46 minutes, Chesapeake’s market capitalization lost $1.05 billion, as shares fell from $16.39 to their $14.81 closing price. Total market capitalization now sits at $9.8 billion, falling below $10 billion for the first time since the financial crisis. In July 2008, Chesapeake was worth about $49 billion.

Chesapeake has recently come under scrutiny due to the extraordinary complexity of its financial operations, which concerns many analysts. In addition, Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon has borrowed personally up to $1.4 billion to finance his participation in a controversial Chesapeake program that gives him a small stake in every well drilled by the company; he borrowed money from financial institutions that had done business with Chesapeake, prompting investors and analysts to decry a lack of oversight at the top echelons of the company. The program has since been scrapped, and McClendon was removed from his chairman role on Chesapeake’s board, although he remains CEO.

Ben Casselman of The Wall Street Journal contributed to this article.

SOURCE: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chesapeake-says-may-delay-asset-sales-2012-05-11