EBay shares decline on missed forecasts

EBay Inc. on Wednesday missed Wall Street earnings expectations for the first time in at least three years, sending its shares down 12 percent and taking other Internet stocks lower.

The online marketplace didn’t benefit as much from a weaker dollar as analysts had expected, and the disappointment was compounded by its previous record of blowing past estimates.

EBay’s fourth-quarter net profit rose 44 percent to $205.4 million, or 30 cents a share, from $142.5 million, or 21 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items, eBay’s profit was 33 cents a share, 1 cent shy of analysts’ expectations.

Courts

Enron execs’ trials set for Houston

Enron Corp.’s top leaders will be tried in Houston on criminal charges connected to the scandal-ridden company’s 2001 collapse, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake’s decision denies claims from company founder Kenneth Lay, former chief executive officer Jeff Skilling and former top accountant Richard Causey that they couldn’t get a fair trial on their home turf.

All three have pleaded innocent. Lake has not scheduled trial dates for any of the three.

Defense lawyers had contended that media coverage of Enron’s collapse made it difficult to find unbiased jurors in the Houston area.

Airline earnings

Southwest profits rise; AMR, Northwest drop

The divide between the airline industry’s winners and losers was on stark display Wednesday as Southwest Airlines reported a fourth quarter profit despite high fuel prices and low fares, while American Airlines and Northwest Airlines lost more than $800 million.

Southwest earned $56 million, or 7 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, down from $66 million a year earlier.

AMR lost $387 million, or $2.40 per share, in the fourth quarter, compared to a loss of $111 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.

Northwest, the nation’s fourth-largest airline, lost $420 million, or $4.84 per share in the fourth quarter, compared to a profit of $363 million, or $3.60 per share, a year earlier.

Pharmaceuticals

Pfizer shares decrease

Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, said Wednesday that its net income for the fourth quarter more than quadrupled, driven by strong sales of cholesterol drug Lipitor and comparison with results depressed by bigger charges a year ago.

Its earnings excluding certain items missed analysts’ forecasts, however, and its shares closed down 42 cents Wednesday to $24.88 on the New York Stock Exchange.