Dow's Surge Tempered By Sobering Earnings Results

A slew of US companies reported earnings after the close yesterday and this morning:

• Caterpillar said third-quarter profit fell 6.4% (missing estimates) as materials costs rose for steel and other materials.  Net income declined, but sales rose 13%.  The company declined to give guidance for 2009 given the uncertain outlook.
• National City and Fifth Third both posted large losses.  NCC had a $729 million loss ($5.1 billion including the preferred dividend it was forced to cough up to preferred investors) and announced plans to cut 14% of its workforce.  FITB lost $56 million and said it would ask for an investment from the US government.
• Texas Instruments issued a weak outlook for the fourth quarter, lowering fourth-quarter revenue guidance to $2.83-$3.07 billion, below analysts estimates of $3.33 billion.  The company said earnings per share would be in the 30 to 36 cents range, below the average analyst estimate of 43 cents.
• BlackRock, the largest publicly traded US investment manager said third-quarter earnings fell 15% due to investor redemptions and losses.  Assets under management declined by 12% to $1.26 trillion from the prior quarter.  However, revenues rose 1.2% and fees increased 6% indicating that the company is navigating fairly well through the crisis.
• Biogen Idec posted solid results on its MS drug Tysabri.  Third-quarter profit rose to $207 million from $119.4 million a year earlier, beating analysts estimates.  Revenue rose 38% to $1.09 billion and the company raised its earnings forecast for the year.  
• Pfizer profits tripled on higher sales outside of the US and lower costs from 11,000 job cuts undertaken this year.  Net income jumped to $2.28 billion on revenue of $12 billion.