Amkor Technology opening joint venture in Japan

 

Kenneth Joyce is CEO of Amkor. (Bloomberg)

 

Amkor Technology saw income rise but earnings drop last quarter, according to its recently released third quarter earnings report.

Net sales were down 14 percent to $616 million compared with the same quarter last year; net income during that time period rose from $29 million to $81 million.

The Chandler-based semiconductor testing and packaging company employs 20,500 people and reported nearly $2.7 billion in revenue last year. Along with Toshiba Corp. and Nakaya Microdevices Corp, Amkor is opening an assembly and testing company in Japan. The new company will be called J-Corp. and will include a $17 million investment from Amkor.

The one market you “can’t ignore.”

Freeport-McMoRan Copper's headquarters is located on Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix.

The one market you “can’t ignore?” It’s copper, according to CNN Money.

Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold’s third quarter earnings report is among the influx of 10Qs from Arizona companies in the past week — and it’s good news for the company. The company primarily mines copper and owns mining interests in Chile and Indonesia. It’s also involved in smelting and refining copper concentrates.

The Phoenix-based copper company reported better-than-expected sales and profits on Wednesday, when the company’s stock closed at $79.72. Today, Freeport-McMoran’s stock closed at $81.35, according to Bloomberg.

A conference call with the company’s executive vice president and Chief Financial Officer, Kathleen Quirk, revealed that while demand for copper in the U.S. hasn’t seen a huge pickup, the copper business is booming in China.

Freeport-McMoran expects to reopen a copper mine just east of Phoenix in Miami, Globe, the company reported in the call on Wednesday. Resuming the mining there should add another 250 jobs in the next year.

Don’t tase my chest, bro!

Taser headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ.

As many media outlet are still following up on a reports from Taser recommending that police officer avoid the chest area when tasing people, the company was busy releasing its third quarter report.

Scottsdale-based Taser Inc., a stun gun manufacturer, posted a third quarter loss today of $3.2 million. The same quarter last year, Taser drew a $650,377 gain. Arizona Republic’s Andrew Johnson reported in  more detail about the filing.

I listened briefly to some of the conference call today regarding the third  quarter report from a Bloomberg terminal. Sounds like executives believe that Taser, the most used item on a police officer’s belt, will be in higher demand when newer models come out.

Where’s the (Mongolian) beef?

P.F. Chang's in Scottsdale.

While P.F. Chang’s China Bistro reported a boost in net income yesterday in its third quarter earnings report, the Scottsdale-based restaurant noted a drop in revenue and did not meet estimates for its earnings per share.

P.F. Chang’s, with 192 restaurants, serves food from Canton, Hunan, Mongolia, Shanghai and Szechwan regions in China.

Like most full-service restaurants, P.F. Chang‘s has been struggling during the recession as consumers have cut back on luxury expenses like eating out. P.F. Chang’s also operates 164 Pei Wei restaurants, which are quick service. Same store sales were down 8.5 percent at P.F. Chang’s and .7 percent at Pei Weis.

I checked out a transcript of the P.F. Chang’s earnings call on a Bloomberg terminal in the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism today. Co-chief and founder Robert Vivian, a Scottsdale resident, was calling the third quarter a “low water mark” for this cycle.

“My own personal feeling is that I have a hard time believing that 2010 will be worse than 2009 with respect to the consumer,” Vivian said.

Meanwhile, P.F. Chang’s chairman and CEO Richard Federico, who lives in Emeryville, Calif., called the third quarter of 2009 the “toughest sales quarter ever.”

“We’re disappointed again,” Federico said. “We fell short in our revenue expectations.”

Revenues, while up 4 percent compared with the previous quarter, declined by 2 percent compared with the same quarter last year. As of this afternoon, P.F. Chang’s stocks were up 46.75 percent from the start of the year.

US Airways gives financial update

After selling more than 26 million common stock shares to Citibank Inc., US Airways recently gave investors an update on their financial highlights and projections for the year end. The airline, based in Tempe, filed a 8K with the SEC on Oct. 5 that indicated the company expects its domestic capacity this year to have dropped between 8 and 9 percent. US Airways’ per passenger revenue dropped about 15 percent as of September, compared with the same time last year, according to the press release.

One thing missing from the update? Any mention of the roughly $9.2 million in possible fines that US Airways is facing. The Federal Aviation Administration proposed fining both US Airways and United Airlines for lapses in maintenance the past two years.  It was about a week later, so maybe company officials didn’t see that coming. I’ll look at their next 10Q to see if it’s mentioned.

If fined, at least US Airways has a little extra cash to pull from. The airline recently sold stock through a public offering to raise capital. The more than 26 million shares to Citibank sold for just shy of $5 each for a total of $137 million. US Airways also has some of its debt — about $35 million – reduced after the  sale of 10 planes to Republic Airways last week.

I know a few students in our business journalism class have been trying to get some comments from US Airways for their story package class assignment on US Airways. But they’ve had little luck! Maybe the company’s public relations department is just more focused on these recent events?

Speaking of late filings …

Apollo Group in Phoenix is a bit behind in filing their 10Q, which was due out at the end of last month. That may be because the higher education company, parent of the University of Phoenix, has turned its attention toward submitting a material 8K filing regarding a false claims lawsuit on Sept. 30.

The University of Phoenix, a for-profit college, is being sued by employees on behalf of the federal government. They say the university defrauded the federal government of billions of dollars in student aid loans as it offered incentives to its recruiters based on enrollment numbers. The Apollo subsidiary is trying to settle the matter and has requested a 45-day stay of proceedings from a district court in eastern California to hash out a settlement.

One analyst told the Wall Street Journal that he doesn’t expect the cost from the suit to exceed $200 million. The analyst still placed a “buy” rating on the company, saying he didn’t expect the proceedings to weigh too heavily on its stock.

First Solar finally snags S&P 500 spot

First Solar is headquartered in Tempe.

First Solar will join the flagship Standard and Poor’s Index, replacing Weyth, a pharmaceutical company being acquired by Pfizer. No word on when the change will be official, but the solar company’s shares were up more than five percent today.

In May, the Phoenix-based solar company was among five candidates up to replace General Motors Corp. on the S&P. Instead DeVry took that slot.

First Solar is scheduled to file its next quarterly report in early November, which is expected to get a boost from the sale of its 20-megawatt solar project in Ontario.

Just yesterday, First Solar welcomed new CEO Robert Gillette — formerly CEO of Honeywell Transportation Systems — to his first official day on the job. He succeeded Mike Ahearn, who’s now serving as executive chairman. First Solar set Gillette’s base salary at $850,000 with an annual bonus this year promised at that same amount, “subject to upward adjustment based on performance,” according to its most recent 8K filing on Sept. 10 with the SEC.

Ushering the company into the S&P 500 group in his first week probably won’t hurt his chances for the bonus bump!