Earnings season has begun in the U.S., with aluminum giant Alcoa Inc. (NYSE:AA) reporting on Monday. As expected, Alcoa’s results were weak.
Expectations ahead of this earnings season are low. While the U.S. economy remains on recovery path, corporate earnings are yet to reflect this. The trend is expected to continue in the fourth quarter of 2015.
According to Reuters, energy and basic materials sectors are once again expected to show disappointing results. This is not surprising as oil and commodities prices remain under pressure. However, Reuters expects consumer discretionary companies to offset some of the weakness in the energy and basic materials sectors.
Reuters further notes that consumer discretionary fourth-quarter profits are expected to show an increase of 8.4%. While this is impressive, it is down from the initial forecast of an increase of 13.6%, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Overall, Thomson Reuters data shows that S&P 500 earnings are expected to decline 4.2% in the fourth quarter of 2015. Revenues are expected to show a decline of 3.2%.
This morning, Trimedyne (OTCPK:TMED), a manufacturer of proprietary Holmium lasers and patented fiber optic laser devices for vaporizing spinal disc tissue to treat herniated or ruptured discs, fragmenting urinary stones and for use in a variety of other, minimally invasive procedures, reported its financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended September 30, 2015.
For the fiscal year, TMED reported revenue of $5.33 million, down 2.3% from the previous fiscal year. The higher sales in the previous fiscal year were mainly due to shipments to fulfill back orders created by the delay of shipments resulting from the impact on manufacturing due to the relocation of a facility in California during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013.
For fiscal year 2015, TMED had an operating loss of $543,000, compared to an operating loss of $466,000 reported in the previous fiscal year. The company’s operating loss for this fiscal year includes a one-time expense of $41,000.
For the quarter ended September 30, 2015, TMED reported revenue of $1.306 million, down 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. The company had an operating loss of $116,000 for the September quarter, compared to an operating loss of $1,000 reported for the same period in the previous year.
Net loss for the quarter was $175,000, or $0.01 per share, compared to net income of $7,000, or breakeven on a per share basis for the same period in the previous fiscal year.
The deteriorating financials are having a similarly bearish sentiment for the stock price with shares of TMED near their 52-week lows.
