“DETROIT (AP) — General Motors says its second-quarter profit fell 41 percent as losses in Europe and South America cut into strong North American earnings.

The company says it earned $1.5 billion from April through June, $1 billion less than its $2.5 billion net income a year earlier.

GM earned 90 cents per share compared with $1.54 a year earlier. Revenue fell 5 percent to $37.6 billion.

The company beat Wall Street expectations. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 75 cents per share.

GM lost $361 million before taxes in Europe, compared with a $102 million profit a year earlier. Even North America showed a little weakness. Pretax profits fell nearly 13 percent to $1.8 million.”

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$TWX went from a $1.25 last year this time to $1.43 on a 9% gain in revenues.

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“BNP Paribas SA (BNP), France’s largest bank, posted a 13 percent drop in second-quarter profit as Europe’s debt crisis curbed trading revenue.

Net income dropped to 1.85 billion euros ($2.26 billion) from 2.13 billion euros a year earlier, the Paris-based company said in a statement today. That beat the 1.65 billion-euro average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.”

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“(AP) NEW YORK – Burger King Worldwide Inc.’s (BKW) net income surged 60 percent in the second quarter as the fast food chain reworked its menu and focused on expanding overseas.

As the fast-food market becomes increasingly crowded at home in the U.S., Burger King has concentrated on growing abroad. In the past year, 80 percent of new store openings have been in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”

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“(AP) MILWAUKEE – Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) says its second-quarter net income jumped 30 percent on higher U.S. demand for motorcycles.

Harley reported net income of $247.3 million, or $1.07 per share, for the three months ended July 1. That’s up from $190.6 million, or 81 cents per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.05 per share.”

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“MasterCard Inc.’s second-quarter profit increased 15% as cardholder transactions and payments volume continued to grow, though revenue slightly missed expectations.

The Purchase, N.Y.-based company said it earned $700 million, or $5.55 per share, up from $608 million, or $4.76 per share, a year earlier. The results included a previously disclosed $20 million pretax charge for a pending multi-billion settlement of merchant lawsuits MasterCard, Visa Inc. and numerous banks entered into last month.

Excluding the charge, MasterCard posted a profit of $713 million, or $5.65, beating analysts’ estimates.”

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$TWX beat by a penny, but profits are down 30% + from last year….

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“Societe Generale SA (GLE), France’s second- largest bank, posted a bigger-than-expected 42 percent drop in second-quarter profit after taking writedowns on its Russian unit and U.S. asset manager TCW Group.

Net income fell to 433 million euros ($533 million) from 747 million euros a year earlier, the Paris-based bank said by e-mail today. That was short of the 695 million-euro average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. The bank took a 250 million-euro writedown on its Rosbank division in Russia and a 200 million-euro markdown on Los Angeles-based TCW.”

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Does Coach earnings spell a sign to come for the wealthy ? We will have to see, but it is not a good sign for luxury retailers.

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“LONDON (Reuters) – BP Plc cemented its status as problem child among the world’s top oil companies on Tuesday with unexpectedly weak quarterly results, slashing $5 billion off the value of its U.S. assets and undershooting forecasts at operating level.

The British oil company, struggling under the weight of litigation over the 2010 U.S. Gulf oil spill and a row with its Russian partners, said both oil production and refining margins fell in the second quarter and would fall again in the third.”

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Losses on Fuckbook and other dismal investment banking transactions caused UBS to see its profits fall 58%.

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Currently $SBUX is down 9.9%. earlier it had been down as much as 14% which was this years gains. Net income was up 19%, but the company missed by 2 cents and guided lower than wall street’s estimates.

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$MRK beat estimates, but faced tough competition as net income fell 11%.

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“I wish there was better news to report on the profits front, but there just isn’t much to like about the current outlook for corporate profits.  And as Albert Edwards of SocGen recently noted, it’s been a slow bleed as analysts expectations turn increasingly negative:”

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“Oil-and-gas giant Exxon Mobil reported earnings per share of $3.41, substantially above estimates for $1.95.

However, that figure includes a net gain of $7.5 billion on tax gains and divestments.

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Earnings would have been $1.81 per share when stripping out the one time gains, based on the number shares outstanding.

Revenue topped analyst expectations, improving 1.5 percent to $127.4 billion.”

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“Whole Foods Market Inc.’s (WFM) healthy performance in the second quarter of 2012 was followed by better-than-expected third quarter results. The company seems to be sustaining its growth momentum in fiscal 2012 on the back of strong sales as shoppers are flocking to the grocery chain.

The company has been gaining better market share against other supermarket chains, defying economic fears.

These boosted management’s expectations about the company’s performance in 2012, which was quite evident from an upbeat outlook. The shares of the company rose $9.82 or 11.6% to $94.35 in after-market trading hours on Wednesday.”

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Customers paid higher prices which helped to boost sales by 6.4%, but the company saw its losses widen.

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“PulteGroup Inc. (PHM), the largest U.S. homebuilder by revenue, reported a second-quarter profit that exceeded analyst estimates as it reduced costs and sold more houses at higher prices.

Net income was $42.4 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with a loss of $55.4 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier, the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan-based company said today in a statement. The average estimate of 10 analysts in a Bloomberg survey was for earnings of 6 cents a share.”

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