Arkansas Stocks To Report Year-end Results

Arkansas companies are set to begin reporting fourth-quarter results when Home Bancshares Corp. kicks off the year-ending earnings period ahead of Thursday’s opening bell.

Several Arkansas companies have already touched 52-week highs in the first few weeks of the New Year, however, earnings expectations for Arkansas’ publicly traded companies could be muted by possible loan losses for local banking stocks and job growth concerns in the overall market.

"It remains to be seen whether global productivity growth will return to its pre-recession trend as employment picks up momentum in 2011," said Bart van Ark, chief economist of The Conference Board, which produces a monthly U.S. consumer confidence report.

And although Conway-based Home Bancshares is expected to report its first quarterly loss in nearly two years due to a $60 million-$65 million charge to cover several problem loans, rivals Bank of the Ozark and Simmons First National Bank are expected to improve upon last year’s results.

Wall Street expects Home Bancshares to report a loss of 65 cents per share on revenue of $46 million compared to earnings of 26 cents per share a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters.

Little Rock-based Bank of the Ozarks, which completed its fifth FDIC-assisted acquisition last week with the purchase of Oglethorpe Bank in Georgia, will release its fourth quarter and year-ending report on Monday, Jan. 24. Simmons First will follow on Thursday, Jan. 27.

Analysts expect Bank of the Ozarks to report fourth quarter earnings of 68 cents per share on revenue of $44.1 million. The consensus for Simmons is 40 cents per share on revenue of $42.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters.

Bank of the Ozarks and Simmons have touched their 52-week highs in the past month as the banks continue to expand through the FDIC’s troubled bank fire sale.

Meanwhile, investors should find other winners among Arkansas stocks that will be reporting in late January and early February.

Murphy Oil and J.B. Hunt Transport are expected to issue their fourth quarter end year-end results on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28, respectively. And despite a few hiccups the final three months of the year, both companies are expected to meet or beat expectations.

On Jan. 6, Murphy announced it would take a $36 million charge in the fourth quarter due to expenses related to three failed drilling wells in the Republic of Congo. Still, analysts expect the El Dorado oil giant to report a fourth-quarter profit of $185 million on revenue of $5.6 billion, according to the average on Thomson Reuters.

In the trucking sector, several Wall Street analysts recently upgraded J.B. Hunt. This week, analysts at Piper Jaffray raised J.B. Hunt’s fourth quarter earnings per share above current expectations of 45 cents per share on revenue of $1 billion, and boosted the Lowell-based trucking firm’s yearly stock price target from $42 to now $48.

J.B. Hunt and Murphy have touched 52-week highs in the first two weeks of the New Year. Other Arkansas stocks whose year-end results will be closely watched include recently acquired Fort Smith-based Baldor Electric Co., market darling Dillard’s Inc. and industry titans Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Tyson Foods.

Zurich, Switzerland-based ABB announced Nov. 29 the move to acquire Baldor in an all-cash $4.2 billion deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2011. Last week, both companies announced that they were extending the tender offer to Jan. 19 for the more than 13 percent of shares not tendered on the earlier deadline of Jan. 10.

Baldor is expected to release its financial results on Feb. 2, although the company has not officially announced its fourth-quarter earnings timetable. Analysts expect the Fort Smith industrial supplier to report quarterly earnings of 48 cents per share versus 13 cents a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters.

The announced and tentative earnings dates for publicly traded companies in Arkansas followed by Talk Business include:
Acxiom Corp. (3Q): Jan. 27
America’s Car-Mart (3Q): Feb. 21
Arkansas Best Corp.: Feb. 3
Deltic Timber: Feb. 21
Dillard’s: March 4
P.A.M. Transport: Feb. 7
Tyson Foods: Feb. 4
USA Truck: Jan. 28
Wal-Mart: Feb. 22
Windstream: Feb. 14