Posts Tagged ‘profit’

Collaborative Consumption

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

collaborative-home.png
(image credit: Collaborative Consumption)

But isn’t that like, communism, man?

Not exactly – people still own things and are making a profit from them, and that’s sort of the point.

Technology (i.e. the internet) is allowing regular people like you and me to share their skills, stuff or space with the world – for profit. New websites and services like TaskRabbit, SkillShare and Airbnb (and even old stuff like eBay and Craigslist) allow people to take advantage of stuff they own or stuff they can do by lowering barriers-to-entry.

But, wait, if, like, everyone can easily buy and sell stuff, isn’t that at least, like, socialism, man?

Not exactly.

Earnings are…

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

Earnings are the amount of money that a company makes over a certain period of time, usually after taxes. So if you have a painting business for the summer, your earnings for the summer would be the amount of money that you’re left with after paying your employees, buying all the materials, and paying taxes on your profit.

A Windfall Profit is…

Thursday, May 19th, 2011

A windfall profit is a big profit that you don’t expect. If you own a store and make a steady amount of profit every month, you probably expect that the next month you’ll keep making the same amount.

But if one month you bring in twice as much money as you normally do, then the unusually large profit is called a windfall profit. Windfall profits are unexpected and sometimes you don’t even know why they happened!

Flipping Positions, Dividends Paying Out More Than Bonds

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

For the first time in 15 years, a usually-small bonus payout is earning investors more money than long-term corporate bonds!

  • Dividend-paying stocks are handing a higher return percentage to investors than corporate bonds issued by the same companies, in part because in the short-term, companies are pretty flush with cash, but nobody knows what the long term holds.
  • The recession drove down the prices of most S&P 500 companies, but at the same time their profits have soared. This means their stock prices are relatively cheap, considering the health of the companies.
  • Bond yields have been low since the start of the recession for many reasons, including the Fed’s rock-bottom interest rate and uncertainty about the future of the economy.

Facts & Figures

  • Interest on 10-year Treasury bonds was 2.42% last month
  • Kraft dividends are up to 3.82% – that’s 0.18% higher than their bonds expiring in 2018

Best Quote

“The economy is slowing down, but productivity has been so great in this country and companies have been able to make good profits,” said Duessel, the Pittsburgh-based equity market strategist at Federated. “Companies that would have cut their dividends already did so. It’s an unusual time where, yes, their profits are good, their cash is good, they can afford to pay more in dividends.” – Linda Duessel, Equity Market Strategist for Federated Investors

BMW Remains On Top

Wednesday, August 11th, 2010

Second-quarter profits indicate that BMW is still the best when it comes to luxury cars makers.

  • BMW’s net profit for the 2nd quarter rose to $1.1 billion, and sales rose 12.5%.
  • Although the luxury car market was hit hard by the economic downturn, there has been a faster-than-expected rebound.
  • The new generation 5-Series is expected to boost sales even further.

Facts & Figures

  • BMW is the world’s best-selling luxury car maker, ahead of Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
  • In the first 6 months of 2010, 696,026 BMW, Mini, and Rolls-Royce cars were sold.
  • BMW now expects sales to rise by approximately 10% (to more than 1.4 million cars) in 2010, which is significantly more than expected at the beginning of the year.

Best Quote

“Sharp sales volume growth on major markets and a high-value model mix are the main reasons for the strong second-quarter performance. [BMW] improved efficiency significantly in all areas of the company.” – Norbert Reithofer, Cheif Executive, BMW

McDonald’s To Serve Billions More, Faster Than Ever

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Could shaving off seconds from a Big Mac order retain some customers for the fast-food giant? What about ordering while waiting in line at the register?

  • Even-though McDonald’s is the world’s largest restaurant chain, it ranks 7th out of the ten top fast-food chains on the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
  • In an effort to get more customers through their “golden arches,” McDonald’s will focus on serving burgers faster, fitting more food on every tray and squeezing more cars into the drive-through line.
  • The company is experimenting with hand-held ordering devices that would allow workers to come from behind the counter to improve efficiency and shorten long lines.

Facts & Figures

  • Sales in the last year at McDonald’s restaurants (open for at least 13 months) climbed 3.8%.
  • McDonald’s aims to serve each customer within 90 seconds of their order.
  • The company has an “innovation center” 20 miles southwest of their headquarters in Illinois, where they practice new serving techniques and other new ideas.

Best Quote

“The moment of truth comes in the transaction. We have to get better at that moment of truth.” – Jeff Stratton, McDonald’s Chief Restaurant Officer

A Profit Margin is…

Friday, August 21st, 2009

A profit margin is the amount by which the income of a business exceed its costs – or, in other words, the percentage of an item’s price that the seller gets to keep. So if your business sells jeans for $100 a pair, but each pair takes only $89 to make, you get to keep the remaining $11, and your profit margin is 11%.

Value Added is…

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Value added is the amount by which the sale price of a commodity exceeds the value of the materials and labor used to produce it. In mathematical terms, value added = value after production − costs of production.

Operating Profit is…

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

Operating profit is a calculation of how much profit was made by a firm in a given time period. You can find operating profit by subtracting total costs and expenses from revenue.

Profit is…

Wednesday, June 17th, 2009

Profit is the positive monetary gain after subtracting the amount earned and the amount spent over the course of a period of time.  For example, if you bought a pair of sneakers for $80 and then sold them on eBay for $120, your profit would be $120 (income) – $80 (expense) = $40 (profit).