Waste management service provider Stericycle Inc. (SRCL) earned 55 cents in the third quarter, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2 cents. Earnings were up about 24% year-over-year, while it improved 9% sequentially on higher revenues and margins.  Revenues showed an increase of 7.5% year over year to $46.5 million helped by recent acquisitions, which added $19.3 million in the quarter. Stericycle completed six acquisitions during the first nine months of this year, which included the recently acquired Healthcare Waste Solutions’ operations in Minnesota and Wisconsin, besides Omni Medical Waste in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Operating costs decreased to 52.7% of total sales in the quarter from 55.6% in the same period of the previous year following which gross profit expanded to $140.9 million from $123.0 million in the same quarter last year. As a percent of revenue, gross profit improved to 47.3% from 44.4% in the ...

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

Thursday July 30, 2009

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Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WMI) today announced financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2009. Net income(a) for the quarter was $247 million, or $0.50 per diluted share, compared with $318 million, or $0.64 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2008. Revenues for the second quarter of 2009 were $2.95 billion compared with $3.49 billion for the same 2008 period. Only $186 million of the revenue decline, or 5.3% of revenue, was related to the impact of lower volumes in the solid waste collection and disposal business. The majority of the decline was due to commodity impacts related to recycling materials, fuel and energy sales,

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Waste Management Inc. (WMI) had a tough first quarter, but was still able to report earnings per share that surpassed expectations.

Shares of the waste hauler are up approximately 1% today.

Earnings per share, excluding items, came in at 42 cents, edging past the consensus of 41 cents. The waste hauler has a good record of meeting or beating Wall Street's quarterly expectations.

Revenue of $2.81 billion was down from $3.27 billion a year ago as the recession led to lackluster performances across all segments.

Operating expenses, however, declined 17.5% year over year to $1.75 billion.

WMI said restructuring efforts initiated in February are expected to generate cost savings in excess of $120 million on an annualized basis. Waste Management has already realized $20 million in savings during the first-quarter from these efforts.

One out of 8 covering analysts has reduced full-year earnings expectations over the past month, pulling

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Stocks featured in this article are: McDonalds Corp. (MCD), Republic Services, Inc. (RSG), Raytheon (RTN), Sunoco, Inc. (SUN), and Waste Management Inc. (WMI).

< ?DART(15);?> There has been a lot of talk about dividends lately.

Unfortunately, much of the talk is about who's going to cut theirs.

We've all read or heard about mainstream companies suddenly deciding to slash dividends or cut them altogether.

Pfizer is one example, although they were apparently trying to finance their purchase of Wyeth. But regardless of the reason, the investor who was told his dividend would be slashed by 50% was likely none too happy.

Most of the bad news however has come from the financial sector, where companies have been forced to stop their payouts.

But there's no reason to quit looking for good stocks with good dividends.

Smaller growth companies will typically not pay a dividend

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AmEx Cuts 7,000 Jobs; Oil Down on GDP; Governors Lobby Gov. on Auto Industry; Motorola Downsizes; Kodak Results Less Than Picture Perfect; Waste Management Recession Resistant

American Express Co. (AXP) said yesterday (Thursday) that it plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or 10% of its global work force, in an effort to reduce costs by $1.8 billion in next year, The Associated Press reported. The company will also suspend management-level salary increases next year and institute a hiring freeze. American Express has reported four straight quarters of profit declines. Oil prices fell more than 2% yesterday (Thursday), after economic data showed a 0.3% decline in gross domestic product (GDP). Light, sweet crude fell $1.54 at settle $65.96 a barrel, after trading as high as $70.60 earlier in the day. Oil is down 55% from the record high $147.27 a barrel reached in July. It is down 30% in ...

AmEx Cuts 7,000 Jobs; Oil Down on GDP; Governors Lobby Gov. on Auto Industry; Motorola Downsizes; Kodak Results Less Than Picture Perfect; Waste Management Recession Resistant

American Express Co. (AXP) said yesterday (Thursday) that it plans to cut 7,000 jobs, or 10% of its global work force, in an effort to reduce costs by $1.8 billion in next year, The Associated Press reported. The company will also suspend management-level salary increases next year and institute a hiring freeze. American Express has reported four straight quarters of profit declines. Oil prices fell more than 2% yesterday (Thursday), after economic data showed a 0.3% decline in gross domestic product (GDP). Light, sweet crude fell $1.54 at settle $65.96 a barrel, after trading as high as $70.60 earlier in the day. Oil is down 55% from the record high $147.27 a barrel reached in July. It is down 30% in ...

Goldman Sachs made the following changes to its conviction buy list, which can be tracked at:

http://trackthepros.com/stocks/category/930

Goldman Sachs removed Allied Waste Industries Inc. (NYSE: AW) from its Conviction Buy List. The firm is maintaining a Buy rating.

Allied Waste Industries, Inc. operates as a nonhazardous solid waste management company in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Goldman Sachs added Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MMC) to its Conviction Buy List.

Shares of Marsh & McLennan are up 7.7% this AM to $27.61. The 52-week range is $23.12-$36.82.

Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., a professional services company, provides advice and solutions in the areas of risk, strategy, and human capital.

Goldman Sachs upgrades Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) from Sell to Buy and added the stock to their Conviction Buy List.

Applied Materials, Inc. designs, manufactures, and sells semiconductor fabrication equipment worldwide.

Goldman Sachs added Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:

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