Edison International's (EIX) adjusted EPS of $1.09 in the third quarter of fiscal 2009 pushed past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.05 by 4 cents. However, adjusted EPS for the quarter fell short of the year-ago $1.46 EPS.

On a GAAP basis, the company reported quarterly EPS of $1.23, compared to $1.33 in the year-ago quarter. The discrepancy between GAAP and adjusted EPS were due to non-cash accounting benefit from the final regulatory approval to transfer its Mountainview power plant to utility rate base.

Edison's revenue fell 14.7% year-over-year to $3.7 billion from $4.3 billion. The downside was more prominent in electric utility revenue (83.7% of total revenues), which decreased 11.6% year-over-year. Competitive power generation revenues fell 27.2% to $592 million. Financial services and other revenues were only $7 million in the reported quarter from $14 million in the year-ago quarter.

Southern California Edison's (SCE) GAAP EPS in the reported quarter

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Southwest Airlines (LUV) reported an operating income of 3 cents per share, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 2 cents per share. This was lower than the profit of 9 cents per share in the prior-year quarter. Passenger revenues decreased 7.8% to $2.6 billion from $2.8 billion in the prior-year period. Cargo & Freight revenue decreased 24.3% y-o-y to $28.0 million, primarily due to fewer shipments as a result of the ongoing worldwide recession. Other revenue increased 1.1% y-o-y to $88.0 million. Fall-off in business travel because of the recession negatively affected the revenues. Total operating expenses decreased 5.7% year-over-year, mainly due to lower energy prices. The quarter’s operating expenses included $27 million of early out program launched during the previous quarter. Southwest’s revenue passenger miles (RPMs) increased 4.7% y-o-y to 19.7 billion miles from 18.8 billion miles in the prior-year quarter. Capacity (available ...

Anadarko Petroleum (APC) posted better-than-expected numbers for the second quarter of 2009 on higher sales volumes, lower lease operating expenses (LOE) and improved drilling efficiency. Net loss from continuing operations were 47 cents per share, lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 66 cents. It reported a net income of 3 cents per share in the same period last year.   Sales volumes went up 12% to 56 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) or 617 thousand BOE per day, above the quarterly guidance, primarily due to higher volumes in the Rockies and Independence Hub and higher natural gas liquids (NGL) recoveries at the Chipeta Cryo plant in Utah. Daily sales volumes of crude oil & condensate, natural gas and NGL averaged 182 thousand barrels (down 7%), 2.3 billion cubic feet (up 25%) and 46 thousand barrels (up 12%), respectively.   Revenues dipped 37% to $1.7 billion due ...

Kimberly Clark Corporation (...

a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109amp;sid=azhEBUdwRKrcamp;refer=home"Interesting take today via Bloomberg/a. Naturally with commodity prices depressed (although not as much as they were a month ago), we'd expect consolidation among the industry. Cash-rich companies are naturally going to buy up smaller names in order to grow. This may still be coming as these companies have recently been worrying about price hedges, but that will change:br /br /blockquoteQuantum Energy Partners, the Houston private-equity firm that put together a $3.5 billion bankroll to go bargain-hunting for acquisitions after oil and natural-gas prices plunged, is waiting for a better time to pounce. Buyers will accelerate acquisitions late this year and in early 2010 as the hedging contracts that shielded potential takeover targets from tumbling prices expire, said Wil VanLoh, Quantum’s chief executive officer.br /p“By the first quarter of next year, we’ll be pretty darn active,” VanLoh said in an ...

Although the industrial sector had a rough year in 2008, there were some sectors,  like conglomerates, rails, and aerospace and defense sub-sectors, that were able to help boost some of the lagging sub-sectors that relied heavily on residential construction and business spending. The net effect was an out performance in the first three quarters of the year. In Q4 2008 and the beginning of 2009, we’ve seen the performance of the Industrials ETF, the XLI [XLI: 21.11, -0.01 (-0.05%)],  significantly underperform the S&P 500 as the more attractive sub-sectors in 2008 began to plummet based on economic factors such as the expected 2010 defense report for the defense sector, and lower volumes for the railroad companies. Since March 9th, stocks are 18% off their recession lows, and some analysts are even bold enough to predict an earlier-than-expected recovery in the second quarter of this year. Whether or not  this is

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Companies highlighted in this weekly wrap include Tetra Tech, Inc. (...

Last week’s crude and gasoline inventories dropped more than expected as the effects of Hurricane Gustav resulted in some production disruptions. Gustav, which struck last month, was the fourth-most-destructive storm to hit the United States, causing $20 billion in damages. And then came Hurricane Ike. Ike made landfall in the Galveston area of the U.S. Gulf Coast on in the pre-dawn hours Saturday (the day I was penning this column) as a Category 2 storm with winds hitting 110 miles per hour.  Ike’s path toward Houston makes it the first storm to hit a major U.S. metropolitan area since Hurricane Katrina eviscerated New Orleans in 2005, Bloomberg News reported. We won’t know how much direct damage those high winds from Hurricane Ike will cause for several days at least. From the initial reports, the results appear to be devastating. But the indirect costs are ...

By William Patalon III Executive Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke didn’t use the "S" word - stagflation - but he might as well have. On Friday, the U.S. central bank chief said that the financial crisis that has hammered the U.S. market is combining with rising inflation to eviscerate American economy. Together, the two forces are making it extremely difficult for the Fed to restore economic stability in the U.S. market. Bernanke apparently welcomed the recent drop-off in the prices of oil and other key commodities - and says that inflationary pressures will moderate over the next year and a half, but also cautioned that the current inflation outlook remains highly uncertain. The upshot: The Fed will monitor the economic situation closely and will "act as necessary" to make sure that inflation doesn’t get out of ...