Nintendo profit soars on game machines

Booming sales of the popular Wii and DS game machines lifted Nintendo's earnings 77 percent in the latest fiscal year as the Japanese game maker held its own against bigger rivals Sony and Microsoft.

Nintendo reported a group net profit of $1.47 billion in the year through March, up dramatically from $829 million a year earlier.

Sales soared 90 percent to $8.13 billion from $4.3 billion in the previous year, powered by brisk sales of its handheld DS machine and its wand-wielding Wii console, the Kyoto-based maker said in a statement.

Nintendo did not release fiscal fourth-quarter figures. But subtracting nine-month profit from the full-year figure showed that the latest quarter's earnings rose almost sevenfold and quarterly sales almost tripled.

Nintendo ADR shares trading in the U.S. fell 35 cents Thursday to $18.

Ford

Loss narrows; plan touted by Mulally

At $282 million, Ford's first-quarter loss was much improved over the $1.4 billion in red ink it posted during the same quarter last year.

Company officials, including former Boeing executive and now Ford CEO Alan Mulally, touted the results as a sign that its restructuring plans were taking hold, but Ford still is struggling to make money on its core business — selling cars and trucks in North America.

The first-quarter loss, announced Thursday, was Ford's seventh consecutive negative quarter, but the automaker said the smaller deficit reflected its efforts aimed at cutting costs and rolling out new products to compete with Asian automakers.

Ford's revenue rose 5 percent. Its loss excluding special items was smaller than Wall Street expected.

Revenue rose to $43 billion from $40.8 billion a year ago.

Ford shares rose 32 cents to close at $8.20 Thursday.

Exxon Mobil

Earnings beat forecast; sales slip

Exxon Mobil said Thursday its net income grew 10 percent in the first quarter, as higher refining, marketing and chemical profit margins overcame lower crude oil and natural-gas prices from a year ago.

The earnings of $9.3 billion were the company's highest ever for the first quarter and beat Wall Street expectations, but revenue slipped and fell well short of analysts' forecasts.

Net income amounted to $1.62 per share for the January-March period. That was up from $8.4 billion, or $1.37 per share, a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for a profit of $1.52 per share.

Revenue fell to $87.2 billion from $88.9 billion a year earlier, well below the $100 billion analysts had forecast.

Like other major oil companies, Exxon Mobil was hurt by lower oil and natural-gas prices to start 2007 compared with a year ago.

Last year, Exxon Mobil posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $39.5 billion.

Shares of Exxon Mobil, a Dow component, rose 63 cents to close at $80.55.

US Airways

Modest growth in revenue posted

US Airways on Thursday said profit edged up 2 percent in the first quarter on modest revenue growth, and the airline company backed its forecast for a profitable year.

Earnings totaled $66 million, or 70 cents per share, for the January-March period compared with $65 million, or 76 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2006. Excluding one-time credits and other items, earnings per share would have totaled 37 cents versus 5 cents a year ago.

Revenue grew 4 percent to $2.73 billion from $2.63 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, forecast earnings of 12 cents per share and revenue of $2.74 billion.

US Airways shares fell $3.32, or 7.8 percent, to close at $39.33.

The airline also announced that it has begun hiring 1,000 new workers to boost its customer service.

Compiled from The Associated Press