profit

Whether or not you think the billions invested in saving the financial industry was worth the cost, the banks were saved. And at least one of those bailouts actually turned a big profit.

It's not as if DreamWorks Animation had an awful year at the box office. Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots combined for a healthy $1.2 billion in worldwide ticket sales. But that's down from 2011's $1.6 billion take when Shrek Forever After was in theaters.

It's hard to complain too much about how Japan "stole" the high-tech electronics business from the U.S. More accurately, they took a low-margin business off our hands. And you know what we should be saying to that? Good riddance!

An online giant sees its margins contract as it replaces physical delivery with digital delivery. Revenue's growing. Profitability's shrinking. It may even post an operating loss during the next quarter. Not many months ago, this was Netflix. Now, it's Amazon.com.

Macy's is raising its earnings outlook for the fourth quarter and full year due to a strong holiday season and says it will double its quarterly dividend to 20 cents a share. The retailer is also increasing its share repurchase program by $1 billion. The announcements came as the department store operator reported Thursday that a key measure of its December sales rose faster than analysts had expected.

If you want to be a player in baseball card investing, you'll probably have to swing for well-preserved, expensive cards. The free-agent vintage cards that have already appreciated are the safest path to big wins in the future.

Procter & Gamble recently added "Shop Now" buttons to the Facebook fan pages for its of several brands such as Gillette, Olay and Tide. Even if this latest plunge into e-commerce succeeds, though, there's some question about whether it could boost P&G's bottom line.

Based on Sprint's improving average revenue per user for mobile data service and the growth rate of its subscriber base, Trefis has raised its outlook for the telecom giant.

Mother Earth is getting a little bit of relief as more companies yield to pressure from environmentalists and activist shareholders to reduce their carbon footprints. But Gaia isn't the only one who's benefiting: Just ask some of the companies that have saved serious greenbacks by going green.

Apple's earnings per share nearly doubled last quarter, and its performance the previous quarter was almost just as good. But Apple's shares are only up 11% in the last six months, trailing the Nasdaq. Here's why the stock could be set to take off.