Stocks to watch for Tuesday, February 5, 2008:

• BP PLC (BP) reported a 4Q net profit of $4.4 bln, or 22.7 cents a share, up 53% from $2.88 bln, or 14.9 cents a share a year ago. Revenue rose 30% to $81.22 billion from $62.53 billion. According to the Wall Street Journal, the company said it would intensify its restructuring strategy, cutting overheads by 15% to 20%.
• News Corp. (NWS) reported fiscal 2Q profits of $832 million, or 27 cents a share, compared with a profit of $822 million, or 26 cents a share a year ago. Revenue rose nearly 10% to $8.59 billion. The company was expected to report a profit of 28 cents a share on $8.25 billion in revenue, according to analysts.
• Toyota Motor (TM) reported 4Q net profit of ¥458.67 billion ($4.3 billion), up 7.5% from ¥426.77 billion a year earlier. North American sales came in at 756,000 vehicles, a slight loss y/y, while in Asia, sales rose 37,000 units to 241,000. Sales were also up in Europe, Central and South America, Oceania and Africa.
• Yum Brands (YUM) reported 4Q net income of $231 mln, or 44 cents a share, compared to $232 mln, or 42 cents a share a year ago. Total sales at the company came in at $3.01 billion, up 8%. Same-store sales, or those at outlets open at least a year, climbed 8% worldwide. According to Reuters, sales rose 12 percent to $4.9 billion, compared with Wall Street estimates of $4.76 billion. The company said half of the sales growth cam from existing business, or it was organic.
• Boston Scientific (BSX) posted a fourth-quarter loss of $458 million, or 31 cents a share, down from a year-earlier profit of $277 million, or 19 cents a share. The company said sales increased to $2.15 billion from $2.07 billion. Boston Scientific forecast 1Q earnings of 13 cents to 18 cents a share on sales of $1.96 billion to $2.08 billion.
• Tyco International (TYC) reported fiscal 1Q earnings from continuing operations and before special items rose to $361 million, or 73 cents per share, from $249 million, or 49 cents per share, a year earlier.
• Whirlpool (WHR) reported 4Q net income of $187 million, or $2.38 a share, up 72% from $109 million, or $1.37 a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 7.5% to $5.33 billion from $4.95 billion.

Market Recap

• Asian trading closed mixed with the Hang Seng -0.89%, Nikkei -0.82%, Sensex +0.02%, Taiwan +2.03% and Shanghai -1.55%.
• A quick look towards Europe finds the CAC -0.81%, DAX -0.51%, FTSE -0.62%, ATX -0.44%, Swiss Mkt. -0.76% and Stockholm -0.87%.
• Over in commodity land, crude oil is trading lower -0.90 to 89.12 and gold is falling -15.2 to 889.7.
  
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