Finances

Vail Resorts, Inc. (MTN), a company that operates resorts throughout Colorado, California and Nevada, reported its quarterly earnings on March 6.

Vail Resorts reported quarterly revenue of $422.5 million. This represents an increase of 13.2% from the same period last year when the company reported revenue of $373.3 million.

The company reported quarterly net income of $60.55 million. This represents an increase of 30.5% from the same period last year when Vail Resorts reported net income of $46.39 million.

Robert Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts, stated, "We are very pleased with our performance in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, which was notable for two distinct dynamics we experienced in the quarter. The first was our results through the middle of December, which were marked by unusually warm and dry weather in Colorado that limited the terrain we could open, leading to lower than expected results for our four Colorado resorts. The second began with the Christmas and New Year's holidays as weather conditions in Colorado returned to more normal patterns, leading to strong visitation and significant consumer spending in our ancillary businesses producing a record holiday season. Subsequent to the holidays, this momentum continued with solid results through the end of January."

Vail Resorts owns and operates ski resorts including Vail Breckenridge, Keystone and Beaver Creek mountain resorts in Colorado. Also, the company operates Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood mountain resorts in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada.

Vail Resorts, Inc. (MTN) shares ended the week at $63.50.

Steinway Reports Quarterly and Annual Earnings

Steinway Musical Instruments (LVB), a designer and manufacturer of high-end pianos and other musical instruments, released its quarterly earnings on March 6.

Steinway reported fourth quarter revenue of $100.7 million. This represents an increase of 15.5% from the same period last year when Steinway reported revenue of $94.6 million. The company reported annual revenue of $353.72 million, which represents a slight increase from last year when the company reported revenue of $346.26 million.

Steinway reported net income of $6.35 million for the quarter. This represents an increase of 95.4% from the same period last year when the company reported net income of $3.25 million. Annual net income was $13.5 million, representing a large increase from last year when Steinway reported net income of $1.95 million.

"We finished the year with very positive results in the fourth quarter," said Michael Sweeney, CEO of Steinway. "Revenue and gross margins increased in both our band instrument and piano businesses. While we incurred some unusual operating expenses in the fourth quarter of both 2011 and 2012, our normal SG&A expenses were in line with sales. All in, our operating income rose a very strong 45%. We are quite pleased with our overall performance."

Steinway Musical Instruments owns Steinway & Sons, which has been making high-end pianos since it was founded by Henry Steinway in a Manhattan loft in 1853.

Steinway Musical Instruments (LVB) shares ended the week at $22.76.

Pandora Reports Fourth Quarter and Annual Earnings

Pandora Media, Inc. (P), provider of internet radio services, reported its fourth quarter and year-end results on March 7.

Pandora reported fourth quarter revenue of $125.1 million, which represents an increase of 35% from the same period last year when the company reported revenue of $81.3 million. The company reported annual revenue of $427.15 million, representing an increase of 55.7% from last year when Pandora reported revenue of $274.34 million.

Pandora reported a net loss of $8.18 million for the quarter, which represents improvement from the same period last year when Pandora reported a net loss of $14.56 million. The company reported an annual net loss of $16.1 million, which is an improvement from last year when Pandora reported a net loss of $38.15 million.

"We continue to monetize mobile at record levels and exceeded our expectations for the quarter," stated Joe Kennedy, Chairman and CEO of Pandora. "We closed the year with a record 8% share of total U.S. radio listening and record mobile monetization that cemented our leadership in mobile advertising. We have completed our technology integration with radio ad buying platforms and are rolling it out to the market. Pandora has been hiring top talent in local radio markets to further increase our share of the $15 billion radio ad market. We are now effectively the largest radio station in almost every major market and begin fiscal year 2014 with extraordinary momentum."

At the end of January 2012, Pandora had approximately 125 million registered users. The company was founded in 2000 and is based in Oakland, California.

Pandora Media, Inc. (P) shares ended the week at $13.79.

The Dow started the week at 14,090 and closed at 14,397. The S&P 500 started the week at 1,518 and ended at 1,551. The NASDAQ started the week at 3,160 and finished at 3,244.

Bond yields reached their highest level in eleven months upon the U.S. Department of Labor's release of the latest jobs data on March 8.

According to the latest figures, the economy added 236,000 jobs in February. This outpaced the average forecast of 90 economists surveyed by Bloomberg who predicted an additional 165,000 jobs would be added last month. In addition, the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits fell to 340,000 last week. Finally, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the unemployment rate dropped from 7.9% to 7.7%, the lowest level since December 2008.

Investors reacted to the Department of Labor's figures by shifting to riskier assets upon the hope that the economic data signals the economic recovery is building momentum. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.08% in early trading on March 8, the highest level since April 2012. The 30-year Treasury note yield rose to 3.25%, also the highest since April 2012.

The U.S. central bank has been purchasing $85 billion of bonds each month in order to keep borrowing costs low and stimulate economic growth. "It is clear and unambiguous – the economy's doing better," said William O'Donnell, head U.S. government-bond strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group's RBS Securities unit. "The Fed's policy actions are clearly having some impact."

The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 2.06% while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 3.26%.

Freddie Mac released the results of its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS) on March 7. The results showed average fixed mortgage rates holding steady near their historic lows.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.52% this week. This was a slight increase from last week when it averaged 3.51%. Last year at this time the 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.88%.

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage this week averaged 2.76%, which is the same as last week. One year ago it averaged 3.13%.

"With gross domestic product growing only 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012, inflation remains at bay and consequently mortgage rates low," said Frank Nothaft, Vice President and Chief Economist at Freddie Mac. "In fact, the price index of personal consumption expenditures rose only 0.1% in January which was below the market consensus forecast. Moreover, these low mortgage rates are helping to revive the housing market. For instance, the CoreLogic® home price index rose 9.7% between January 2012 and 2013, marking the largest annual increase since April 2006."

The money market fund finished this week at 0.5%. The 1-year CD finished at 0.6%.