MeadWestvaco Corp. (MWV) reported second-quarter EPS of $0.22, well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.03. The better-than-expected earnings can be attributed to reduction in overhead costs and productivity improvement. However, quarterly EPS declined 29.0% year over year due to lower sales across the board.

Quarterly revenue was down 16.2% to $1,432 million from $1,709 million a year ago, primarily led by lower volumes for most products. Packaging Resources sales were down 9% due to lower volume, primarily in the food service, general packaging paperboard, tobacco and liquid packaging markets.

In the Consumer Solutions segment, MeadWestvaco reported a sales decline of 16% as strong volume growth in healthcare packaging was more than offset by lower volumes in personal care and media packaging as well as unfavorable currency translation.

The Consumer & Office products business reported a 13% decline in sales driven by lower volumes for most of the

...

HIDDEN VALUE

If Crude oil Breaks Through $53, It’s a Screaming Buy

Dear Value Seeker,

America’s job losses have come into sharp focus again today.

The New York Times calls it a “rising tide.” It’s more like a tsunami…

Initial jobless claims for the week ended January 17 shot up by 62,000 to 589,000. This is the highest weekly rise in unemployment since November 1982.

Meanwhile, Microsoft ensured an abrupt reversal of yesterday’s stock market rally by warning that it was “not immune” to the recession.

The tech giant also announced it would give 5,000 workers their marching orders, including 1,400 today.

Microsoft joins a long and growing list of blue chips that have announced job cuts in 2009.

It’s a list The Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics blog is tracking:

Company name Date of announcement...

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 16, 2009 As of Friday morning, January 16, here is what we have accumulated for our Misery Index: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; US. Auto Industry ndash; Ford expects U.S. light vehicles to reach 12.2 million units this year, Chrysler expects sales to reach 11 million and GM projects 10 to 11 million - down from 16 million in 2007 and 13.2 million last year. Wachovia expects 10.3 million unit sales. CSM worldwide expects 2009 sales in the U.S. to hit 11.5 million (but then rebound to 13.6 million in 2010). Deutsche Bank projects 2009 sales in the U.S. to decline by 13% to 11.5 million units. J.D. Power amp; Associates projects sales in the U.S. to decline to 11.4 million units in 2009, and then grow to 13.4 million in 2010, and 14.7 million units by 2011.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Global Auto Industry ndash; French-Romanian manufacturer Dacia announced a ...

Glenview Capital, an $8 billion+ hedge fund run by Larry Robbins, made the following major buys and sells in Q1:

Significant New Positions

1. Brocade Communications (BRCD) -5.6 million shares

2. Coach (COH) - 4.8 million shares

3. Ebay (EBAY) - 4.5 million shares

4. ITT Educational services (ESI) - 2 million shares

5. Polo Ralph Lauren (RL) - 500,000 shares

6. Qualcomm (QCOM) - 1.9 million shares

7. Smart Balance (SMBL)- 2.5 million shares

8. Wyeth (WYE)- 1.25 million shares

Significant Sold Positions

1. Goldman Sachs (GS)- 250k shares

2. GPO Aeroportuario (PAC) -1.2 million shares

3. Teradata (TDC) -2 million shares

4. Thomson (TRI)- 3 million shares

5. Wesco (WSC) - 1.3 million shares

6. Tween Brands (TWB) - 450k shares

Significant Reductions/Additions

1. Telllabs (TLAB) - sold 10 million shares (60% of holding)

2. Wellpoint (WLP) -sold 2 million shares (50% of holding)

3. Amdocs (DOX) - added 4 million shares (now owns 8.7 million shares)

4. Arvinmeritor (ARM) - added 2 million shares (now

...