Earnings Estimates

Constellation Energy Group Inc. said yesterday that it had a first-quarter loss because of a $198.4 million charge from two new accounting changes that are affecting the energy industry, but the Baltimore-based company still exceeded analysts' expectations. Constellation reported a loss of $131.4 million, or 80 cents per diluted share, for the three months that ended March 31, compared with a profit of $228.6 million, or $1.40 a share, in the corresponding period a year earlier. Without the accounting charges, Constellation earned $59.1 million, or 36 cents per share in the first quarter.

T. Rowe Price Group's third-quarter profit dipped 13 percent as the Baltimore money manager's revenue from investment services fell. Still, the company reported Friday that clients continued to pour money into its mutual funds and other products, driving in $7.4 billion of new money during the quarter. Earnings beat Wall Street estimates of 46 cents per share based on a survey of 18 analysts by Bloomberg News. Shares rose $5.16 to close at $54.27 yesterday. Price Chief Executive and President James A.C. Kennedy said in an interview that the company is producing positive results for clients, noting that 87 percent of its funds outperformed their peers during a five-year period that ended Sept.

RICHMOND, Va. -- Circuit City Group, the No. 2 U.S. consumer-electronics retailer, said yesterday that it will pull the plug on its unprofitable Divx digital videodisc venture, resulting in a $114 million fiscal first-quarter charge.The retailer also said it will split its stock 2 for 1, and it reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings before the Divx charge. Its shares yesterday rose $8.375 to $90.375.Circuit City invested about $200 million in Divx, hoping to capitalize on the growth of digital videodiscs.

A disappointing year for Lockheed Martin Corp. grew even darker yesterday as the Bethesda aerospace giant warned investors that earnings will be lower than expected for the fourth quarter, the year and even 1999.The company's stock dropped like a lump of coal on the news, closing down $10.50 at a 52-week low of $84.50."They've had a lot of problems and this is a crowning blow at the end of the year," said financial analyst Paul H. Nisbet of JSA Research Inc.Expectations were already down because of a similar warning the company issued last month, but the situation is even worse because of lagging commercial space business and delays in rocket launches and deliveries of C-130J military transport planes.

Network security specialist SafeNet Inc. reported second-quarter results yesterday that beat Wall Street estimates as it reaped the benefits of its acquisition of a California technology company. SafeNet said revenue more than tripled to $54.3 million in the three months that ended June 30, the first full quarter to include the effect of its purchase of Rainbow Technologies Inc. That compared with $16.5 million in the second quarter last year. Excluding acquisition costs, the company reported adjusted net income of $7.4 million for the second quarter, or 30 cents per diluted share.

Constellation Energy Group reported an 83 percent increase in first-quarter net income and a 20 percent increase in sales yesterday as a growing list of Fortune 100 companies and municipal utilities chose the Baltimore company as their power supplier. With profit flat at its regulated utility, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., the energy provider's strategy of going after big power buyers in competitive energy markets nationwide fueled much of the jump in earnings. Net income in the three months that ended March 31 was $120.

ARMONK, N.Y. -- International Business Machines Corp.'s third-quarter earnings beat estimates on strong sales of personal computers and mainframes, the computer maker said yesterday.IBM's net income, or operating profit, was $1.28 billion, or $2.45 a share, from $1.3 billion, or $2.30 a share, a year ago. Wall Street expected net of $2.44 a share, based on the average estimate of 15 analysts polled by IBES International Inc.IBM's shares rose to a high of $135.375 after Richard Thoman, the company's chief financial officer, said he expects demand for all the firm's products to hold up well.

Baltimore-based Provident Bankshares Corp. reported yesterday fourth-quarter results that slightly exceeded expectations, with the bank benefiting from growth in its core business, as well as from its push into the Washington marketplace. Provident, the parent of Provident Bank, recorded net income of $13.3 million for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, a 7 percent increase from the $12.4 million recorded for the corresponding period in 2001. Earnings per share on a fully diluted basis were 53 cents, a 10 percent jump from the 48 cents reported for the year-earlier quarter.

M&T Bank Corp.'s purchase of Baltimore's Allfirst Financial Inc. in April helped lift third-quarter earnings by 42 percent, beating Wall Street estimates despite merger expenses of $12.4 million and slimmer profits on loans. Officials at Buffalo, N.Y.-based M&T said yesterday that the $3.1 billion merger cost $50 million to $60 million less than originally projected and is likely to have a negligible effect on earnings in the current quarter. The merger vaulted M&T into the top 20 U.S. banks but cost 657 jobs in Maryland.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. reported yesterday that a record amount of investor money flowed into its funds last year, raising assets to an all-time high of $235 billion and making the Baltimore mutual fund firm one of the fastest-growing in the country. Mounting assets and investment advisory fees, as well as a rising stock market, contributed to a fourth-quarter net income of $97 million. That was up more than 40 percent from $69 million a year ago. Earnings per share of 71 cents beat Wall Street estimates by 5 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial.