Earnings Per Share

LOCALLY T. Rowe Price Group Inc. Shares rose $2.54 to $52.79 after the Baltimore-based mutual fund firm reported that net income nearly doubled in the first quarter. Earnings per share climbed 87 percent in the quarter as assets under management rose to a record $201 billion. NATIONALLY Exxon Mobil The world's largest publicly traded oil company led a surge in energy stocks after the president of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said the official oil-price target may be increased to $32-$34 a barrel in an effort to compensate for a weaker dollar.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc. expects to report an 80 percent jump in first-quarter earnings per share and is well positioned to weather market jitters stemming from the fighting in Iraq and the threat of global terrorism, Chairman and President George A. Roche said yesterday. Roche told stockholders at the company's annual meeting in downtown Baltimore that revenue for the quarter increased about 40 percent. The firm's estimates mean Price should post earnings per share of about 56 cents and revenue of roughly $307 million in its first-quarter earnings report April 27. That compares with per-share earnings of 31 cents on revenue of $219 million recorded in last year's slack first quarter.

Profit at Black & Decker Corp. soared 31 percent in the fourth quarter as more buyers than expected snapped up the company's DeWalt power tools and two newly acquired security hardware companies delivered strong performances. The Towson maker of power tools also said yesterday that it expects earnings growth of as much as 11 percent in 2004 as it continues launching new products, seeking acquisitions and cutting costs by moving production overseas. Net earnings rose to $99.5 million, or $1.27 per diluted share, in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, meeting the expectations of analysts polled by Nelson Information.

A rebounding stock market helped lift Legg Mason Inc.'s income by 47 percent, setting a record as the Baltimore brokerage and money management company raked in more from fees in its fiscal second quarter. Net income in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 was $66.6 million, up from $45.4 million in last year's quarter. The company also reported record diluted earnings per share, which rose 93 cents, up 41 percent, from 66 cents in the fiscal second quarter last year. The company's assets have soared this year, and it is among several brokerages that have reported double-digit percentage increases in quarterly earnings as the market has surged.

Mercantile Bankshares Corp. reported a 3 percent decrease in third-quarter net income as low interest rates, the fallout from a management shake-up in its wealth management division and merger costs related to its acquisition of F&M Bancorp cut into profits. Net income in the quarter that ended Sept. 30 was $47.2 million, compared with $48.6 million in the third quarter last year. Earnings per diluted share were 63 cents, down 9 percent from the 69 cents reported for the same period last year.

Sales fell slightly at Black & Decker Corp., but the world's largest power tool maker posted a 15 percent increase in second-quarter profit yesterday after it continued to lower costs. The Towson-based company's total sales fell to $1.12 billion in the quarter that ended June 29, excluding foreign currency translation, compared with $1.13 billion in the corresponding quarter last year. Higher gross margins, lower interest expense and favorable exchange rates helped Black & Decker's net income rise to $75.7 million, or 97 cents per diluted share, compared with $66.1 million, or 81 cents per diluted share, in last year's second quarter.

Mercantile Bankshares Corp. said yesterday that its second-quarter earnings rose 6.5 percent even as a difficult economy and low interest rates continued to hamper growth in areas such as commercial lending. Mercantile posted net income of $50 million for the quarter that ended June 30, compared with $46.9 million in the second quarter last year. Earnings per share were 72 cents on a fully diluted basis, a rise of 7.5 percent from 67 cents a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had been expecting Mercantile to earn 71 cents a share.

What's the difference between basic and diluted earnings per share? Despite its imperfections, the earnings per share figure - which measures the accounting income a company generates per common share in a given time period - is one of the most widely used measures of company profitability. As with so much in accounting, however, the devil is in the details. We'll provide some examples courtesy of the 2002 annual report of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., a provider of financial and business services, to make things a bit more concrete.

On the heels of the worst stock-market slump since the Great Depression, Legg Mason Inc. reported yesterday a better-than expected fourth quarter to cap a record year, the payoff of its transformation from a regional brokerage house to asset manager. While its rivals have foundered, Legg reported, its profit for the three months that ended March 31 were up 5.6 percent, to $48.7 million, from the $46.1 million earned in the fourth quarter last year. Earnings per share on a fully diluted basis were 71 cents, up 6 percent, from 67 cents in the final fiscal quarter last year and 2 cents ahead of Wall Street estimates.

T. Rowe Price Group Inc.'s profit sank 27 percent in the first quarter, and revenue and assets under management also fell, as stock market volatility continued to ravage money managers, the company said yesterday. Price, a global investment management firm based in Baltimore, made $38.8 million in the first quarter, which ended March 31, down from $53 million in the corresponding period a year earlier. Earnings per diluted share slipped 24 percent in the quarter to 31 cents, down from 41 cents a year earlier.