Canadian gold mining company Kinross Gold Corporation (KGC) recently received authorization from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Non-Renewable Natural Resources to re-commence advanced exploration activities at the Fruta del Norte (FDN) gold project in Zamora-Chinchipe province of Ecuador, which was put on hold last year as the gold mining activities were halted in the country. Kinross had acquired the project last year by buying Aurelian Resources (another gold mining stock in Ecuador) for $1.2 billion. With this authorization, Kinross expects to re-commence its drilling program at FDN shortly. The program includes a 20,000 meter drilling campaign to support the completion of a feasibility study. The company plans to use four drills to execute the drilling campaign which is expected to take six months to complete. Kinross expects to complete a pre-feasibility study in January 2010. Kinross benefits from higher gold prices, exploration projects and acquisitions. The company ...

Telefonica (TEF) reported third-quarter 2009 results with earnings per ADS of US$1.88, comfortably beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of US$1.49. The Spanish telecom giant reported net income of €1.99 billion (US$2.85 billion), down 0.6% year over year, due to lower sales as a result of the beleaguered economy, especially in Spain. Revenue Consolidated revenue fell 5.7% year over year to €14.1 billion (US$20.2 billion). Revenue was impacted by weak contributions from domestic and European markets due to the recession. Latin America contributed 40% of the group revenues followed by Spain at 35% and Europe at 25%. Result by Segments Telefonica Espana The company’s Spanish revenue declined 8.9% to €4.9 billion (US$7 billion), impacted by a reduction in mobile termination rates (inter-operator fees) and the economic downturn. Wireline business revenues fell 9.4% year over year to €2.9 billion (US$4.1 billion) while revenue from wireless ...

Earlier this week, LAN Airlines S.A. (LFL) and its subsidiaries released its preliminary monthly traffic statistics and punctuality indicators for October. Passenger traffic rose 15.7% year over year while capacity jumped 10.1%. Its load factor increased 3.9 points to 80.2%.   International passenger traffic accounted for almost 69% of total passenger traffic, with the rest coming from domestic passengers.   Domestic passenger traffic in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador rose 14.1% and international passenger traffic rose 16.5%. Domestic capacity increased 8.6% and international capacity increased 10.8%. International capacity was mainly driven by a surge in operations in Europe and certain regional routes.   In line with the global decline in import and export markets cargo traffic fell 6.2% mainly due to the slowdown in import and export markets in Latin America, as well as the reduction of salmon exports from Chile. In line with the decrease in demand, ...

AES Corporation’s (AES) adjusted EPS of 26 cents in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 was in line with the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate for the quarter. However, adjusted EPS for the quarter fell short by five cents compared to the year-ago EPS of 31 cents. The year-ago adjusted EPS had been boosted by 6 cents from currency transaction losses, 2 cents from incremental losses and a penny from mark-to-market losses. In comparison, the reported quarter’s EPS was affected by 3 cents from currency transaction gain and 2 cents from disposition losses. This was partially offset by 3 cents from mark-to-market losses.  In the reported quarter, consolidated revenue decreased $481 million year-over-year to $3.8 billion. Of the downside, $367 million was due to the strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to the Brazilian real, which depreciated 13%. Also, lower commodity input prices translated into lower revenues at ...

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Oct. 30, 2009 (Marketwire) — Magma Energy Corp. (TSX:MXY) is pleased to announce that its US subsidiary, Magma Energy (US) Corp. (”Magma”), has been awarded $10 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for two of its Nevada geothermal exploration properties, Soda Lake and McCoy. The grants will reimburse 50 – 80% of Magma’s planned innovative exploration expenditures on those properties over the next 24 months. At Soda Lake, Magma will apply new oil and gas technology to discover geothermal resources, and at McCoy, Magma will validate a combination of innovative exploration technologies in its search for a large geothermal reservoir on the property. The funding is part of $98.1 million allocated by the US Department of Energy under the Recovery Act for innovative geothermal exploration and drilling projects.

Dr. Frank Monastero, Magma’s President, said, “We are very pleased with this financial support through the

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America Movil (AMX) reported results for third-quarter 2009 with earnings per ADS of 86 cents edging past the Zacks Consensus Estimates of 85 cents while increasing 22.6% from the year-ago earnings per ADS of 70 cents. Net profit surged 50.6% year over year to 18.7 billion pesos (US$1.4 billion) or 0.57 pesos per share. This healthy growth was fuelled by higher revenue and lower financing costs which fell 82.5% year over year due to gains stemming from favorable exchange rate swings.  Revenue & EBITDA Latin America’s largest wireless carrier continues to register a double-digit revenue growth as evident from the 16.9% year over year increase in consolidated revenue in the quarter to 99.8 billion pesos (US$7.5 billion), driven by 19.5% growth in service revenue. Revenue growth was supported by healthy business momentum across 3G wireless and broadband Internet businesses.  Consolidated EBITDA for the quarter was 40.4 ...

Chile-based LAN Airlines S.A. (LFL) yesterday reported discouraging results for the third quarter 2009. Net income of US$52.1 million was 37.3% lower than  net income of US$83.0 million in the third quarter of 2008. Excluding non-operating extraordinary items recognized in the third quarter 2008, net income decreased 58.3%. Consolidated revenues declined 19.1%, driven mainly by lower yields in both the cargo and passenger businesses. This was partially offset by a 14.3% decline in operating expenses, driven mainly by lower fuel costs. Operating income reached US$92.4 million a 46.1% decrease compared to US$171.3 million in the same quarter of previous year. Operating margin reached 10.1%, compared to 15.1% in the same period of 2008. Third quarter 2009 results continued to be impacted by fuel hedging losses, although to a much lesser extent than in previous quarters. The fuel hedging loss during the quarter amounted to US$14.4 million ...

Skechers USA Inc. (SKX), the designer, marketer and distributor of footwear, recently reported its third quarter results that topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate.   Skechers’ quarterly earnings of 52 cents a share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 34 cents, but fell 13.3% year over year from 60 cents delivered in the prior-year quarter. The company returned to profitability after posting a loss of 13 cents in the second quarter of this year.   Net sales for the quarter climbed 0.5% to $405.4 million driven by a high single-digit growth in international business and a double-digit improvement in retail operations as well as robust growth in online business.    The sustained focus on new line of products, opening of additional Skechers retail stores and distribution channels, and the development of new international distribution agreements in India and Mexico, should facilitate the increase in sales and profitability.  ...

AES Corporation (AES) is heading into its next report on rising estimates and good valuations.

Company Description

AES provides energy to 29 countries with energy through generation and distribution. The company has diversified portfolio of thermal and renewable fuel sources.

EPS Rises

On Aug 7 the company announced quarterly earnings per share of 28 cents, 3 cents higher than last year and 8 cents higher than the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

All types of cash flow increased dramatically, including a $181 million jump in Consolidated Cash Flow, to $495 million.

Raising Guidance

During the same release the company raised full-year EPS guidance to between $1.05 and $1.10. The bottom and top end of the range rose 8 cents and 3 cents, respectively.

Solid Growth

Analyst estimates are coming in near the middle of the AES's forecasts, which would yield earnings growth of 9% this year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is now $1.23,

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Earlier this month, LAN Airlines S.A. (LFL) and its subsidiaries released its preliminary monthly traffic statistics and punctuality indicators for September. Passenger traffic rose 11.9% year over year while capacity jumped 9.3%. Its load factor increased 1.8 points to 78.8%.   International passenger traffic accounted for almost 71% of total passenger traffic, with the rest coming from domestic passengers.   Domestic passenger traffic in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador rose 17.5% and international passenger traffic rose 9.8%. Domestic capacity increased 15% and international capacity increased 7.1%. International capacity was mainly driven by a surge in operations in Europe and the South Pacific, which was partially offset by a decrease in certain regional routes.   Cargo traffic fell 8% mainly due to the slowdown in import and export markets in Latin America, as well as the reduction of salmon exports from Chile. In line with the decrease in demand, ...