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Monday, November 03, 2008
Principal Financial Earnings Tumble 59%
Adam Samson
FOXBusiness
Principal Financial Group (PFG) says its earnings plunged 59% in the third quarter, still beating analysts’ expectations.
Profit available to shareholders totaled $90.1 million, or 35 cents a share, in the third quarter, compared with $232 million in the same period last year.
Earnings excluding investments and other items, the metric analysts use as a comparison point, were $251 million, or 96 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of 91 cents per share.
The financial company racked up numerous investment-based losses. Among them were $114 million in fixed income securities, and $13 million from soured equity investments.
Shares of Principal Financial were lower by about 3.9% in after-hours trading.
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If you've seen TV footage of an active trading pit, you've probably noticed the atmosphere is uproarious and wild. The reason for all the shouting? Open outcry.
On exchange floors that use the open-outcry system, traders shout prices they want to sell while others yell back the price they want to buy at. They also use hand gestures to communicate with each other.
This system has been used for a long time, but is being replaced with modern technology. Some argue electronic exchanges can do the job faster and more accurately. One of the few exchanges that continue to use open outcry is the New York Mercantile Exchange.
