Shares of Ulta Salon are tumbling after the company issued a disappointing earnings forecast for the current quarter. The stock lost as much as 14 percent of its value this morning, falling to its lowest level in more than a year.
It's common to see a company beat analyst targets. It's another thing entirely to watch a company completely obliterate Wall Street's forecasts. Medical imaging and aviation security technology specialist Analogic blew past the prognosticators by a wide margin.
Leading the new pack of bulls who forecast a big leap in the U.S. economy and the stock market are the economists and analysts at Goldman Sachs. And they've a compiled a large batch of their "best-idea" stocks that they're convinced will outperform the market in 2011.
Ford earnings are expected to be weaker next year due to higher costs for pensions and materials, according to a research note released Wednesday by Credit Suisse Securities. Forecasts call for pretax income from Ford's North America operations to fall to $4.2 billion in 2011 from $4.8 billion this year.
After a stronger-than-expected spring, summer doldrums have hit harder than usual. Merchants' second-quarter reports and a slow economic recovery means retailers have to work hard to boost sales for the year.
Investors hoping to turn the page on a lackluster first half of the year were greeted with a slew of downbeat economic data on Thursday. And more turbulence could lie ahead as companies prepare to report second-quarter earnings this month.