On Friday, Shares of USG Corporation (NYSE:USG), gained 3.43% to $28.06.
USG Corporation, stated results for the first quarter of 2015. “USG is off to a great start in 2015, led by the performance of our U.S. Gypsum and U.S. Ceilings businesses,” said James S. Metcalf, Chairman, President, and CEO. “We generated operating margin improvement in these businesses by achieving price enhances, focusing on manufacturing cost control, and tailoring our spending on investments in these businesses.”
On a merged basis in the first quarter of 2015, net sales were $909 million, up 7 percent from the first quarter of 2014. Operating profit improved 15 percent to $76 million in the first quarter of 2015. The corporation’s adjusted operating profit was $84 million in the first quarter of 2015, which comprises equity method investment income of $8 million from the USG Boral Building Products joint venture, contrast to an adjusted operating profit of $69 million in the first quarter of 2014. USG generated $24 million in net income and $0.16 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2015. Adjusted net income and diluted earnings per share, which adjusts for costs incurred on a refinanced debt obligation, more than doubled in the first quarter of 2015 at $43 million and $0.29 cents per diluted share, respectively. A full reconciliation of adjusted net income to net income, adjusted earnings per share to earnings per share, and adjusted operating profit to operating profit is set forth on a plan attached hereto.
The corporation’s Gypsum segment generated $68 million of operating profit in the first quarter of 2015, led by the United States Gypsum business that improved operating margins by 270 basis points. The United States Gypsum business realized improved volumes, lower costs, and also earned a wallboard price enhance that was achieved in all channels that contributed $4 million of additional operating profit in the first quarter of 2015. Adjusting for $8 million in income from its non-core shipping business and a $7 million non-cash benefit in its mining business in the first quarter of 2014, the Gypsum segment realized $18 million of improved operating profit and 250 basis points of operating margin improvement.
USG Corporation, through its auxiliaries, operates as a manufacturer and distributor of building materials worldwide. Its Gypsum segment provides gypsum and related products that are used to construct walls, ceilings, roofs, and floors of residential, commercial, and institutional buildings, in addition to in various industrial applications.
Shares of LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB), surged 3.34% to $100.83, during its last trading session.
LyondellBasell Industries, declared earnings from ongoing operations for the first quarter 2015 of $1.17 billion, or $2.42 diluted earnings per share. First quarter 2015 EBITDA was about $1.95 billion.
The first quarter comprised of a $92 million non-cash, pre-tax charge for the impact of a lower of cost or market (LCM) inventory adjustment ($58 million after tax). This charge is somewhat unique to our 2010 company formation when all assets and liabilities were measured at fair value, their use of LIFO accounting, and the recent declines in pricing for many of their raw material and finished goods inventories. Not taking into account the LCM adjustment, earnings from ongoing operations during the first quarter totaled $1.2 billion, or $2.54 per share, and EBITDA was $2.0 billion.
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. operates as a manufacturer of chemicals and polymers, refiner of crude oil, producer of gasoline blending components, and developer and licensor of technologies for production of polymers.
At the end of Friday’s trade, Shares of NRG Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NRG), jumped 3.32% to $25.53.
NRG Energy, declared that its Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend on the Company’s common stock of $0.145 per share, or $0.58 per share on an annualized basis. The dividend is payable on May 15, 2015 to stockholders of record as of May 1, 2015.
NRG Energy, Inc., together with its auxiliaries, operates as a power company. The company provides electricity; system power, distributed generation, solar and wind products, backup generation, storage and distributed solar, demand response, energy efficiency, and on-site energy solutions; carbon administration and specialty services; and various energy services, such as operations, maintenance, technical, development, and asset administration services.
Finally, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), ended its last trade with 3.30% gain, and closed at $565.06.
Google, and YouTube, Inc. will visit the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square to kick-off YouTube’s month-long 10th birthday celebrations, on Monday, April 27, 2015 — 3:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.
Founded in 2005, YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community allowing more than a billion people to discover, watch and share originally created videos. YouTube provides a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and acts as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.
In honor of the occasion, Robert Kyncl, Google VP of Content and Business Operations for YouTube, will ring the Closing Bell. He will be joined by some of YouTube’s top creators, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart and Dude Perfect who between them have almost 9 million subscribers.
Google Inc., a technology company, builds products and provides services to organize the information. The company offers Google Search, which provides information online; Google Now that offers information to users when they need it; AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense, which enables Websites that are part of the Google network to deliver ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a marketplace for the trading display ad space; and other advertising platforms, such as AdExchange and AdMob.
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