The economy is showing signs of fumbling the recovery.
Sure, the housing market is rocking these days. The National Association of Realtors chimed in this week with encouraging news on that front. Sales of existing single-family homes are at their highest level in more than three years. Folks are also paying more fortheir new digs. The median sales price of $173,600 is 12% ahead of where things were a year earlier.
However, what happens when mortgage rates move higher? What happens when more people start freaking out about what’s happening in Cyprus?
The news isn’t just iffy on the macro level. There are also more than a few companies that aren’t pulling their own weight in this supposed economic recovery.
There are still plenty of names posting lower earnings than they did a year ago. Let’s go over a few of the companies that are expected to go the wrong way on the bottom line next week.
| Company | Latest-Quarter EPS (estimated) | Year-Ago Quarter EPS |
|---|---|---|
| JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO) | ($1.53) | ($0.55) |
| Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) | $0.18 | $0.58 |
| AuRico Gold | $0.05 | $0.15 |
| Mattress Firm (NASDAQ:MFRM) | $0.32 | $0.63 |
| Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) | ($0.32) | $0.80 |
Source: Thomson Reuters.
Clearing the table
Let’s start at the top with JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO).
Solar energy has been a cloudy industry lately. No one will dispute the merits of power harnessed from the sun, but at a time when global economies are still wobbly, the government incentives to subsidize costly solar panel installations have been hard to come by.
Things got even worse this week as the main subsidiary of industry bellwether Suntech Power filed for bankruptcy in China.
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO) has struggled. After a profitable run during solar’s heyday, the company has cranked out six consecutive quarterly deficits. It’s not going to get any brighter next week. Wall Street’s betting on JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (NASDAQ:JASO) posting its largest quarterly deficit to date.
Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) is the company behind the virtual University of Phoenix campus.
For-profit secondary educators have come under fire in recent years. Crummy student loan repayment rates and arguments about the effectiveness of online education when pitted against traditional colleges have stung enrollment rates and consumer perceptions.
Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL)’s most recent quarter was a dud. Revenue and operating profits slipped, and degreed enrollment at University of Phoenix declined 14% to 319,700 Web-tethered pupils.
Some will argue that this is what Apollo deserves. Before the niche fell out of favor, Apollo was coming under fire for its aggressive marketing strategies. Now that the merits of virtual classrooms are being questioned, Apollo Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) has earned the dunce cap.
