Updates, advisories and surprises

By MarketWatch

Last Update: 10:01 AM ET Mar 11, 2008

(9:33 AM ET) SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Thornburg Mortgage(TMA)shares more
than doubled on Tuesday after the company said it’s working with lenders to meet
current margin calls within a satisfactory timeframe, without having to sell
assets at a big loss. The company also disclosed another impairment charge of
$248.8 million for 2007, bringing total impairment charges from last year to
$676.6 million. Thornburg said it took the charges because it may not be able to
hold some of its adjustable-rate mortgage until they mature. Disruptions in the
mortgage market have hit the market value of Thornburg’s home loans, even though
the company says delinquencies and foreclosures in the portfolio remain well
below the industry average. “Our immediate challenge is meeting margin calls from
our lenders that have been brought on by the dramatic decline in high quality
mortgage-backed securities prices,” Larry Goldstone, chief executive of
Thornburg, said in a statement. Thornburg shares opened at $1.45, more than
doubling from Monday’s close. The Federal Reserve’s latest efforts to inject more
cash into the financial system also help buoy mortgage-related stocks.

(9:00 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Kroger Co.(KR)said Tuesday that its
fourth-quarter earnings fell to $322.9 million, or 48 cents a share, from the
year-earlier $384.8 million, or 54 cents a share. On average, analysts polled by
FactSet expected earnings of 47 cents a share. The Cincinnati supermarket chain
said sales for the quarter ended Feb. 2 rose to $17.2 billion from $16.9 billion
a year earlier. Sales in supermarkets open at least a year increased 8.2% with
fuel and 5.3% without fuel. For 2008, Kroger expects earnings of $1.83 to $1.90 a
share and same-store-sales growth of 3% to 5%, excluding fuel sales. Shares of
Kroger closed Monday at $25.32.

(8:56 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — John Wiley & Sons Inc.,(JW.A)the Hoboken,
N.J., publisher, reported that fiscal third-quarter net income was 67 cents a
share and adjusted share earnings rose 7% to 59 cents. The February 2007
acquisition of Blackwell Publishing added 9 cents a share to earnings, Wiley
said. Revenue rose 45% to $429 million; excluding Blackwell, revenue rose 6% for
the quarter, which ended Jan. 31. For fiscal 2008, the company expects earnings
per share excluding Blackwell to grow in the low-double-digits percent and
revenue to rise in the mid-single digits. The company increased the contribution
from Blackwell that it expects for fiscal 2008, to earnings of at least 20 cents
a share and revenue approximating $470 million.

(8:41 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Piedmont Natural Gas Co.(PNY)said Tuesday
that fiscal first-quarter net income rose 16% to $82.3 million, or $1.12 a share,
from $70.7 million, or 94 cents, a year earlier. The Charlotte energy company’s
revenue rose 16% to $788.5 million from $677.2 million a year ago. On average,
analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of 97 cents a share.
Piedmont affirmed its 2008 earnings outlook of $1.45 to $1.55 a share. On
average, analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect 2008 earnings of $1.50 a
share.

(8:17 AM ET) NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Bon-Ton Stores Inc.(BONT)said Tuesday that
its fourth-quarter net income fell to $75.2 million, or $4.43 a share, from $88.4
million, or $5.20 a share, a year earlier. The latest period’s results were hurt
in part by a pretax asset-impairment charge of $4.1 million. The York, Pa.,
department-store operator said that sales for the 13-week period ended Feb. 2
dropped 8.9% to $1.14 billion from $1.25 billion a year ago. Bon-Ton and Carson’s
combined same-store sales in the same period decreased 3.6%. The company now sees
fiscal 2008 earnings of 20 cents to 45 cents a share and same-store sales to be
down 1% to 2%.

(6:48 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) — Chinese poker software firm
GigaMedia(GIGM)said fourth-quarter net income rose 8% to $10.7 million, or 18
cents a share, with revenue up 59% to $47.7 million. Excluding non-cash
share-based compensation expenses, and it would’ve earned 19 cents a share.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 18 cents a share on revenue of
$47.4 million.

(6:44 AM ET) WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Duff & Phelps Corp.(DUF)reported a
fourth-quarter loss of nearly $6.4 million, or 49 cents a share. Quarterly
revenue reached $92.7 million from the prior year’s $76.2 million. The results
represent the first for Duff & Phelps, a New York-based provider of
financial-advisory and investment-banking services, since completing its initial
public offering early last October.

(6:38 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) — Aetna Inc.(AET)on Tuesday reaffirmed that
2008 operating earnings will be $4 a share, and first-quarter operating earnings
will be 92 cents a share. For the year, it expects medical membership growth of
800,000 to 850,000 and a commercial medical benefit ratio of less than 80%. Aetna
didn’t say why it was releasing the outlook, but peer WellPoint(WLP)overnight
warned on its outlook.

(6:37 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Aristotle Corp.,(ARTL)the Stamford, Conn.,
maker of educational, health, medical-technology and agricultural products,
reported fourth-quarter net income fell 21% on 5.1% higher sales. Earnings fell
to $5.3 million from $6.6 million in the year-earlier period. After payment of
preferred dividends, net income fell 31% to $3.1 million from $4.5 million. Share
earnings were 17 cents against 26 cents. Sales reached $43.6 million from $41.5
million. Aristotle distributes its products through catalogs under brands
including Nasco and others.

(6:27 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — ResCare Inc.,(RSCR)the Louisville, Ky.,
provider of home care to the elderly and the disabled, reported fourth-quarter
net income rose 36% on 8.9% higher revenue. Earnings reached $12.2 million from
$9 million in the year-earlier period. After payment of preferred dividends, net
was $10.4 million, up 36% from $7.7 million. Earnings per share were 36 cents
against 27 cents. Revenue reached $367.2 million from $337.1 million. ResCare
affirmed its estimate that it would earn $1.44 to $1.50 a share on revenue of
$1.55 billion to $1.62 billion in 2008. In 2008, President and Chief Executive
Ralph G. Gronefeld Jr. said in a statement, the company will “continue to face
difficult reimbursement and regulatory environments.” The business pipeline is
“robust” and “the acquisition marketplace will remain favorable and valuations
reasonable,” he said.

(6:21 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Stage Stores Inc.,(SSI)the Houston
retailer, reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 20% on 3.7% lower total
sales and 3.1% lower comparable-store sales. For the quarter ended Feb. 2, Stage
Stores earned $31.7 million, or 78 cents a share, compared with $39.6 million, or
88 cents, in the year-earlier period. The year-earlier period’s per-share figure
included special items totaling 10 cents of profit. Shares outstanding fell 10%
to 40.5 million. Sales totaled $473 million against $491.2 million. A survey of
three analysts by FactSet Research produced a consensus estimate of 78 cents for
the latest quarter’s profit. For the fiscal first quarter, Stage Stores expects
to earn 13 cents to 16 cents a share, compared with 20 cents a year earlier.
Revenue should reach $360 million to $367 million from the year-ago $358.2
million.

(5:16 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — MFA Mortgage Investments Inc.,(MFA)the New
York investor in mortgage-backed securities, expects to report first-quarter
earnings of 18 cents a share and said it would reduce its debt as a multiple of
equity to reduce risk. A survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced a
consensus estimate of 23 cents of earnings for the quarter. MFA estimated its
book value — assets minus liabilities — at $5.75 to $6 a share. The company’s
shares closed on Monday at $7.26 each. The company is lowering its target
debt-to-equity multiple to a range of 7 to 9 times from a historical 8 to 9
times. It took the action because credit conditions “are tightening, rapidly and
indiscriminately,” the company said in a statement late on Monday. All
repurchase-agreement borrowers, including MFA, are more likely to face higher
margin requirements, the company said. MFA said that as of March 10, it had $348
million of cash plus unpledged agency mortgage-backed securities valued at $19
million. Both are available to meet margin calls. MFA said it’s satisfied all
margin calls to date.

(4:55 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Elbit Systems Ltd.,(ESLT)the Haifa,
Israel, defense contractor, reported fourth-quarter net income rose 33% on 27%
higher revenue. Earnings reached $31.9 million, or 75 cents a share, from $24
million, or 57 cents, in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose to $591.1 million
from $467.4 million. The order backlog at Dec. 31 was $4.62 billion, up 22% from
$3.79 billion at the end of 2006. Some 70% of the backlog is set for production
in 2008 and 2009, Elbit said. The quarter’s results reflected $10 million of
expense as Elbit wrote off investments in auction-rate securities, “which were
rated AAA or AA when acquired,” Elbit said. The company tried to sell them
multiple times but couldn’t “due to a lack of liquidity in the market for these
securities,” Elbit said. Helping the quarter was a $10 million tax benefit.

(3:46 AM ET) LONDON (MarketWatch) — Life insurer Friends Provident(uk:UK:FP)said
Tuesday that it swung to a loss of 56 million pounds in 2007 from a profit of 328
million pounds in 2006, while gross earned premiums rose 1% to 994 million
pounds. The group said underlying profit on a European embedded valued basis fell
to 16 million pounds from 509 million pounds after it took significant charges
linked to its restructuring plans. Underlying profit also came in short of the 20
million pounds it had previously indicated. Separately Friends Provident
announced that Jim Smart, its chief financial officer, will leave the company in
the summer. Smart had been expected to leave the company under the terms of a
merger with Resolution(uk:UK:RSL), but when that deal collapsed Smart remained to
help review the group’s strategic options.

(3:09 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Schawk Inc.,(SGK)the Des Plaines, Ill.,
provider of graphics services to consumer-products and other markets, said it
would be late in filing its annual report with the Securities and Exchange
Commission because it must complete an accounting of certain capitalized costs
and other matters. The SEC Form 10-K is due March 17, Schawk said. The board’s
audit committee and Schawk’s outside auditors are reviewing the matters, Schawk
said.

(2:57 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Cia. Siderurgica Nacional,(SID)the Sao
Paulo, Brazil, steelmaker, reported late on Monday that 2007 net income more than
doubled on 27% higher revenue. CSN’s earnings reached 2.9 billion reais ($1.7
billion) as revenue rose to 11.4 billion reais. Sales of steel products in 2007
rose 23% to 5.4 million tons.

(2:18 AM ET) TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) — Global Sources Ltd.,(GSOL)the New York
provider of media and marketing services to facilitate trade with China and other
countries, reported fourth-quarter net income fell 47% as revenue rose 16%.
Earnings were $8.1 million, or 17 cents a share, compared with $15.3 million, or
33 cents, in the year-earlier period. Earnings adjusted to exclude special items
rose to 26 cents a share from 20 cents. Revenue reached $60.8 million from $52.3
million. The quarter’s revenue from China rose 28% to $38.6 million. For the
first quarter, GSOL estimates net of 15 cents to 16 cents a share, adjusted
profit of 11 cents to 12 cents, and revenue up 13% to 15%, to $39.5 million to
$40 million.

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