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Thursday, January 29, 2009
Amazon posted a higher-than-expected profit on higher sales.
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
3M (MMM), the maker of office supplies and healthcare products, reported a 37% drop in fourth-quarter profits due to low sales brought on by a sluggish economy.
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
Things aren’t so HOT at Starwood Hotels and Resorts (HOT) where profits fell 46% in the fiscal fourth quarter due to worldwide travel cuts brought on by the global recession. Revenue fell 17% to $1.33 billion.
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
Altria meets Wall Street's profit expenctations.
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Starbucks weighed in with a drop in profit after Wednesday's closing bell.
MORE NEWS
- Target to Lay Off Employees at Corporate Headquarters
- Retail Sales Forecast to Fall in 2009
- Hershey Net Income Climbs 50%
- Pfizer Could Buy Wyeth in $60B-Plus Deal
- Harley-Davidson to Lay Off 1,100 as Earnings Fall
- ABInBev Sells Some Stake in Chinese Brewer to Help Finance Acquisition
- Capital One Reports Loss as Delinquencies Climb
- Intel to Cut Up to 6,000 Jobs, Consolidate Operations
- Johnson & Johnson Reports Rise in Earnings
- FOXBusiness.com's Week in Review: Jan. 12-16, 2009
Blog List
PRESS RELEASES
- PriceSmart Announces Increase in Semi-Annual Dividend
- Comstock Homebuilding Companies, Inc. Announces Restructuring of $13.5 Million Penderbrook Debt
- Fresh Ideas Media Changes Name to China Auto Logistics Inc. With a New Trading Symbol Effective Today of CALG
- Indie Ranch Media Subsidiary NetMix Broadcasting Network Begins Deploying BlueShift Broadcasting Devices with Plurlife Social Network
- Orthofix Shareholders Show Strong Support to Call a Special General Meeting of Shareholders
- Synta Pharmaceuticals to Present at the BIO CEO & Investor Conference 2009
- CompuMed Inc. Teams with University of Miami Miller School of Medicine To Provide Landmark Pediatric ECG Services
- US Airways Group, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and 2008 Financial Results
- GlobalOptions Group Signs Three-Year Contract with Well-Known Insurance Company
- Humana and Wisconsin Health Information Exchange Announce Collaborative Business Program
FOX Translator
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Ever been to a clearance sale at a department store and wonder how a massive store like Macy's or Saks can have 50%, 60%,
or even 75%-off sales and still remain in business? Ever wonder why that piece of cloth that an Italian designer calls a dress
can be worth $2,400, and how much it really costs to make and sell?
Ladies and gentlemen, let's talk profit margin.
Profit margin is the difference between how much it costs a company to manufacture, transport and sell its products, and how
much it sells them for. If a company made $10 million in profit of sales of $100 million, the profit margin is 10%. You get
that number by dividing the profit ($10 million) by the income ($100 million). Usually you'll hear profit margin as a percentage.
The
profit margin is a great way to tell how well a company is run. If you have a high profit margin in a company, that means
that the company's costs to make the product are low and it can withstand changes in price fairly well. Also you can use profit
margin to tell how well a company is run when you look at similar companies.
Let's say you were looking a two candy companies. One has a profit margin of 15%, off $200 million in sales. The other company has a profit margin of 7% off $400 million in sales. The $400 million candy company's profit margin shows the company is having trouble keeping costs down. It might be spending too much money on their CEO's private jet, or their sugar suppliers aren't as good as they could be. Anyway, if investors were looking at the $400 million candy company, they would be asking some serious questions.