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Research in Motion posted a fiscal fourth-quarter profit and revenue that missed Wall Street expectations, but the BlackBerry maker’s forecast for the current quarter easily topped analysts’ estimates.

Shares of RIM (RIMM) plunged 5% in after-hours trading after the company reported a profit of $710.1 million, or $1.27 per share. Net income rose 37% compared with a year earlier, but analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for earnings of $1.28 per share.

The Canadian company said it shipped 10.5 million devices and added 4.9 million users during the quarter, driving sales up 18% to $4.08 billion compared with a year earlier, but the figure was below analysts’ estimates of $4.31 billion.

Even as competition intensifies with Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500)’s iPhone and Google (GOOG, Fortune 500)’s Android-based phones, the company maintained its leading role in North America, where the BlackBerry continues to be the top selling smartphone.

And RIM chief executive Jim Balsillie said the company "made great strides in penetrating international markets."

Nearly half of the quarter’s revenue was supported by international sales, he said, and about 38% of new subscribers were from markets outside of North America.

"The fourth quarter results were softer than expected, but the company’s growth in international markets will be a major driver going forward and supports its first-quarter guidance," said Steven Li, analyst at Raymond James.

The company’s cheaper devices, such as the BlackBerry Curve 8520, are strong sellers abroad, but they push the company’s average selling price lower.

But with a new lineup of higher-priced products being introduced in the second half of the year, Balsillie said he is confident in the company’s future growth.

For the current quarter, RIM said it expects to add between 4.9 million and 5.2 million BlackBerry users, driving earning between $1.31 and $1.38 per share, above analysts’ outlook of $1.23. For the three months ended May 29, the company forecast revenue between $4.25 billion and $4.45 billion. Analysts are looking for $4.33 billion.

For the year ended Feb. 27, RIM reported a profit of $2.46 billion, or $4.31 per share, on revenue of $14.95 billion. 

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With austerity the national mindset in this iffy economy, anything hip or trendy may seem extravagant.

Everyone must be too busy clipping sale coupons and saving soap slivers to have time for such frivolity, right? To the contrary, according to some investment experts who believe that hip can be a smart investor direction.

"People don’t feel flush right now so they need a reason to buy stuff," explained Marie Driscoll, retail analyst for Standard & Poor’s Corp. in New York.

The ability to keep up with often-fickle trends is a worthy skill that many companies have failed miserably to master. Those that have done it best often command top dollar for their shares, but their likelihood of continued success could make them worth their premium price.

One retailer that consistently attracts the hippest of young people — ranging in age from the teens to mid-20s — is Urban Outfitters Inc., according to Driscoll. Its ever-changing merchandise, ranging from fashion and furniture to electronics, is part of a strategy to transform casual shoppers into motivated buyers. Its innovative Anthropologie and Free People brands are growing faster than its regular Urban Outfitters stores.

"You go into one of its stores and it’s like a flea market or thrift market, the appeal being that you don’t know what you’re going to see," she explained, noting that even snowy weather didn’t dampen sales. "It has an ear to both guys and girls as target customers and knows how to change to keep up with those customers."

Stock of Urban Outfitters (URBN) is up 4 percent this year after last year’s dramatic 134 percent gain. It receives a consensus "buy" rating from the Wall Street analysts who track it, according to Thomson Reuters.

It is quite possible that when those young customers return home they relax by playing best-selling video game Guitar Hero, which lets them simulate playing the guitar across a variety of rock music songs. It is from Activision Blizzard Inc., the firm that resulted from the 2008 merger of Activision and Vivendi Games.

"Cool games that hardcore gamers like are still coming from the traditional players in this space," noted Toan Tran, technology analyst with Morningstar Inc. in Chicago.

The video game portfolio of Activision Blizzard includes Call of Duty, Tony Hawk and the role-playing game World of Warcraft. If you’re behind the times on those, you’ll surely recognize its Spider-Man and James Bond titles. The durability and worldwide appeal of its franchises, especially throughout Asia, position it for future growth, Tran believes.

The stock of Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is up 5 percent this year after last year’s 29 percent increase. Its consensus analyst rating is between "strong buy" and "buy."

For the modern crowd that expects the latest communication devices, Apple Inc no teletrack payday loans. is hotter than BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, believes Michael Lippert, portfolio manager of Baron iOpportunity Fund (BIOPX) in New York. Although outstanding for e-mail, the BlackBerry hasn’t connected with younger consumers, he said.

"Apple’s iPhone will gain even more market share when it moves to multiple carriers rather than just AT&T," predicted Lippert, who acknowledges BlackBerry’s competency but doesn’t believe the younger crowed is all that excited about it. "I feel that if you can walk into a Verizon store and get a BlackBerry or iPhone for the same price, why will anyone get anything other than an iPhone?"

Apple has remained a relevant company, said Lippert, who expects that its new iPad tablet computer will also be popular with the college-age crowd.

"There is no more hip company in technology than Apple," agreed Tran. "While it remains to be seen how big an impact the iPad will have on the market, I’m leaning toward the view that it will be another huge hit."

The stock of Apple (AAPL) is up 7 percent this year after last year’s 147 percent increase. Its consensus analyst rating is between "strong buy" and "buy."

Lippert’s $182 million Baron iOpportunity Fund is up 82 percent in value over the past 12 months and has a five-year annualized return of 8 percent. Besides Apple, another big holding is Google Inc. (GOOG).

"The YouTube service used by millions of people is one reason why Google is still hip and cool," said Lippert. "Other companies such as Facebook, Twitter and Hulu are at the epicenter of what’s considered cool, but unlike Google they aren’t public companies that you can invest in."

Engadget, a popular Web-based consumer electronics magazine based in Silicon Valley, is also considered hip these days, added Lippert. Not everyone may know that this weblog and podcast operation is owned by AOL Inc., now a stand-alone company after its divorce from Time Warner. Shares of AOL (AOL), up 9 percent this year, are a consensus "hold" among the analysts who track them.

Another Driscoll favorite is J. Crew Group Inc. (JCG), whose merchandise always has a fresh look and increasingly attracts shoppers from luxury designer stores, she said. Meanwhile, Tran admires Electronic Arts Inc. (ERTS) for its leadership in video games, with Asia the growth driver. Its Rock Band game competes with Activision Blizzard’s Guitar Hero.

Whether 2010 hipness leaders will continue into 2011 and beyond will be decided by their hip customers.

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If the economy cooperates and auto sales recover a bit, General Motors Co. has a reasonable chance of turning a full-year profit in 2010, its new chief financial officer said Wednesday.

Former Microsoft Corp. CFO Chris Liddell, at his first meeting with reporters, said the automaker was making money in Brazil and China, in the middle in North America and struggling in Europe cheapest personal loan rates.

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Australia may resume leading the world in raising borrowing costs, increasing the benchmark interest rate for the fourth time in five meetings, economists say. Traders aren’t so sure.

Governor Glenn Stevens will boost the Reserve Bank of Australia’s overnight cash rate target to 4 percent from 3.75 percent, according to 14 of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Futures traders estimate a 54 percent chance of an increase when the decision is announced at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow in Sydney.

Australia’s economy probably grew the most in 1 1/2 years in the fourth quarter, a separate analyst’s survey ahead of a report on March 3 shows, boosted by A$22 billion ($20 billion) in spending by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on roads and schools. Concerns about sovereign debt in Europe and financial markets turmoil may prompt Stevens to wait another month, some economists say.

“Tomorrow’s decision is close to a coin toss,” said Stephen Walters, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Sydney and the only analyst surveyed by Bloomberg who correctly predicted Stevens’ first rate increase in October. “Rates need to go up, but if they don’t it’s because there’s uncertainty about how the consumer will hold up, sovereign debt, and weak data out of the U.S.”

Group of 20

Boosting the benchmark rate tomorrow would make Stevens the first central banker from a Group of 20 economy to raise borrowing costs this year. He was the first in the world to increase rates three times last quarter, when he raised the key rate in three quarter-point steps to 3.75 percent from a half- century low of 3 percent.

By contrast, the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said last week the world’s largest economy is in a “nascent” recovery that still requires low interest rates. The Fed has kept its benchmark rate close to zero since late 2008. The European Central Bank’s rate is at a record low of 1 percent.

A rebound in Australian consumer confidence, higher business optimism, surging house prices, a drop in unemployment, and signs of an investment boom in resources projects such as Chevron Corp.’s Gorgon natural gas field off Western Australia are forecast by the central bank to fuel an acceleration in Australia’s economy, one of few to skirt last year’s recession.

Australian manufacturing expanded last month at the fastest pace in more than two years, a report showed today. The performance of manufacturing index increased 2.8 points from January to 53.8, Australian Industry Group and PricewaterhouseCoopers said.

‘Gentle Retreat’

Gross domestic product probably rose 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, when it gained 0.2 percent, according to the median estimate of 18 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The economy probably expanded 2.4 percent from a year earlier, they said. The figures will be released at 11:30 a.m. on March 3.

“With the shrinking unemployment rate and the likely rebound in December-quarter GDP, we are convinced that another gentle retreat from the accelerator is required,” said Annette Beacher, an economist at TD Securities Ltd. in Singapore.

A report published last week showed business investment jumped in the fourth quarter at almost three times the pace predicted by analysts as companies raised their forecasts for investment plans to the highest level in five years.

Chinese Demand

BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company, said last month it will increase capital spending on iron-ore mines and oil fields by 63 percent next year to $20.8 billion from $12.8 billion this year.

Rising Chinese demand for Australian iron ore and coal is stoking a record boom in mining investment that may last more than a decade, central bank Deputy Governor Ric Battellino said on Feb guaranteed online payday loans. 23. Investment in new mines, ports and infrastructure may reach 6 percent of GDP, more than double the amount spent during the last resources boom in the late 1970s, he said.

Chevron, Exxon Mobile Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have this year begun construction on the A$43 billion Gorgon natural- gas venture, the nation’s single-biggest investment project that is forecast to generate as many as 10,000 jobs.

The economy has less scope than previously expected for “robust” growth that doesn’t stoke inflation, Governor Stevens told a parliamentary committee in Canberra on Feb. 19. “Monetary policy must therefore be careful not to overstay a very expansionary setting.”

House Prices

While inflation in Australia cooled in 2009 amidst the global recession, the central bank has pointed to accelerating house prices as a key reason for boosting borrowing costs last quarter.

House prices jumped 11.8 percent in the year through January, according to a Feb. 26 report by real-estate monitoring company RP Data-Rismark, whose figures are used by the central bank in its quarterly monetary policy statement.

Retail sales rose 0.5 percent in January after falling in December for the first time in five months and building approvals gained for a third straight month, according to Bloomberg surveys of analysts ahead of reports to be released tomorrow.

“Australia’s economy is in much better shape than was anticipated when rates were cut to a generation low a year ago,” said Rory Robertson, an economist at Macquarie Group Ltd. in Sydney. “I’ll be very surprised if the Reserve Bank doesn’t decide to continue its ‘normalization’ process” tomorrow.

“After all, it has already paused for nearly 90 days having hiked three times in just 60 days,” he said.

Not Convinced

Still, not all investors are convinced that Stevens and his board will boost borrowing costs in tomorrow’s announcement.

Traders are betting there is a 54 percent chance of a quarter-percentage-point rate increase, according to Bloomberg calculations based on interbank futures on the Sydney Futures Exchange at 8:55 a.m.

Reports published late last week have stoked speculation that the global recovery will be hampered by weak growth among the world’s biggest economies.

Confidence among households and companies in the 16-nation euro economy fell and bank loans to the private sector declined for a fifth month, plus Standard & Poor’s said Feb. 25 that it may soon downgrade Greece again as the country grapples with the region’s largest budget shortfall.

The number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose last week, the Labor Department said in Washington.

That contrasts with Australia where reports published last month showed business confidence rebounded and employers added 194,600 jobs in the five months through January, the biggest increase in more than three years that has cut the unemployment rate to an 11-month low of 5.3 percent.

“If anyone is going to boom, surely it’s Australia,” Gerry Harvey, chairman of Australia’s largest electronics retailer Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd., said in a Feb. 26 interview. “We never really went into a recession at all. Our unemployment rate was projected to reach 7, 8, 9, or 10 percent, but it never even got to 6 percent.”

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Toyota president Akio Toyoda accepted on Thursday a formal invitation to testify at a hearing to be held next Wednesday.

The House Oversight Committee sent the invitation Thursday morning. Toyoda had initially said he would not appear before the committee but would instead send North America chief Yoshimi Inaba.

But late Thursday, Toyoda released a short statement: "I have received Congressman Towns’ invitation to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on February 24 and I accept. I look forward to speaking directly with Congress and the American people."

The invitation sent by Committee Chairman Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., reads: "There appears to be growing public confusion regarding which vehicles may be affected and how people should respond. In short, the public is unsure as to what exactly the problem is, whether it is safe to drive their cars, or what they should do about it."

After Toyoda announced his acceptance, Towns released his own statement, with Ranking Member Darrell Issa, R-Calif,: "We are pleased Mr. Toyoda accepted the invitation to testify before the Committee. We believe his testimony will be helpful in understanding the actions Toyota is taking to ensure the safety of American drivers."

Earlier Thursday, the committee issued a subpoena for "all documents relating to Toyota motor vehicle safety and Toyota’s handling of alleged motor vehicle defects and related litigation" that are held by Toyota’s former U.S. counsel Dimitrios Biller.

Biller has claimed that he possesses documents that proved Toyota hid key findings of safety defects. Even before Thursday’s news, Toyota had filed an injunction to prevent Biller from making those documents public, but a Committee aide said the Committee’s subpoena overrides the state-level injunction.

"Mr. Biller is a former Toyota attorney who left the company in 2007," Toyota spokeswoman Cindy Knight said in an e-mailed statement. "He would have no knowledge about Toyota matters since that time and is not a reliable source of information."

Toyota will continue to fight Biller’s allegations, Knight said.

Mr. Toyoda has been criticized for being slow to speak up regarding the issues. The carmaker has recently faced a string of massive recalls and, only yesterday, became the subject of a second ongoing National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into potential safety problems with its cars.

Also, late Thursday, the NHTSA announced it had officially opened an investigation into possible steering problems with Toyota’s Corolla compact cars.

The investigation involves reports that Corolla cars can wander or drift at highway speeds. Seven people have been injured in incidents that may have been related to the problem, according to a NHTSA report.

Toyota plans to cooperate fully in the investigation, a Toyota spokesman said.

Gene Grabowski, head of the crisis communication practice for Washington-based Levick Strategic Communications, said Toyoda "needs to be very well-prepared."

Grabowski’s firm has worked with more than a dozen witnesses called to testify on Capitol Hill, he said, and the most important thing they all must remember is to remain humble. A witness must remember that the members of Congress need to be seen helping their constituents and the best thing for a witness to do is to play his part.

"Your job in a hearing is to assist the members of Congress," he said, "and sometimes that means taking some lumps."

If Mr. Toyoda is smart, Grabowski said, he’ll come to Washington a few days early to meet privately with the Congressional members he’ll be testifying for.

"If you go in cold and they don’t know you," Grabowski said, "they’re far more likely to attack you." 

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St. Louis University will tap into the large pool of laid-off Pfizer scientists to launch a new research center focused on discovering drugs to treat medical problems in the developing world.

SLU has committed $5 million over the next two years to fund the Center for World Health & Medicine, which will launch in July, Raymond Tait, SLU’s vice president for research, said Wednesday. The school initially plans to hire a dozen soon-to-be former Pfizer researchers.

In November, Pfizer announced it would lay off 600 of its 1,000 employees in St. Louis, part of a 15 percent reduction of the drugmaker’s global work force. The reductions followed Pfizer’s $68 billion acquisition of the drugmaker Wyeth. Pfizer’s main research campus in the area is located in Chesterfield.

SLU began discussions in early December to figure out ways to keep some of those scientists in St. Louis. In a time of strained university resources, this reflects SLU’s commitment to the region, Tait said.

"St. Louis U. worked with uncharacteristic speed," he said. "The initial reaction was a form of horror to think about the impact of (the layoffs) on the St. Louis region. After we had a chance to digest it, we then thought, ‘Gee, this also provides us with an important opportunity that could be transformative for research at St. Louis U.’"

This is a somewhat unusual venture, in that universities have not typically delved into the realm of drug discovery, Tait acknowledged.

"We’re not going to compete with Pfizer and Wyeth," he said. "We’re not going after blockbuster drugs."

Rather, the appealing part of this idea was that the school could follow its Jesuit mission by helping underserved populations, he said.

Steve Johnson, senior vice president of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, said SLU’s move is a small but important step in the right direction if St. Louis hopes to plug the leakage of high-skilled workers to other areas.

There are between 1,700 and 2,000 laid-off scientists and skilled technical workers in the region right now, Johnson said. Keeping them, and their skills, in St. Louis is becoming an increasingly high priority, he said.

"That represents a tremendous amount of talent," Johnson said payday advance. "You don’t want to dehumanize people, but those are marketable assets for the region."

They are the kind of assets that can help lure other big medical and technology firms here, or that can seed startups, or that, as in this case, can help launch research groups at local universities.

"We applaud (SLU’s effort)," Johnson said. "And we’ll be digging into this whole issue and look at what other regions are doing."

SLU still has to hash out many of the details about the new center — such as whom exactly it will hire, where it will be housed, and what areas it will focus on.

"This is still a work in progress," Tait said. "Give us another couple of months where we can flesh out who will be working with us."

While many of the scientists have already vacated their laboratories, they are still under contract with Pfizer, Tait said. So SLU has not yet officially hired anyone, but it has spoken with several people who are very interested in the new center, he said.

Targeting childhood diarrhea is one area that some scientists have expressed a special interest in, he added.

Tait said he hopes the center will be sustained down the line in part through research grants, subcontracting work, and perhaps foundation support.

"We’ll see if we cannot make this viable," he said. "Over time, we suspect we will get some intellectual property, but intellectual property is not the lifeblood."

SLU has already started writing up an application for a federal stimulus-funded research grant at the new center, he said.

Down the line, Tait said, SLU could work with pharmaceutical companies — including, but not limited to, Pfizer.

"I don’t see us undertaking clinical trials," he said. "What I can see us doing is identifying some promising treatment approaches, working to where we have some evidence or sense that they are safe. But in order to bring them to market, we will have to partner."

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Rural/Metro Medical Services is launching a new service designed to help the homebound and seniors in case of emergency.

Many people will remember the television commercials in which an elderly woman pushes a button on a wearable monitor for help after falling. Rural/Metro’s HomeHelpLine service offers a similar service with a major difference: Calls come in to trained emergency medical dispatchers who respond using Rural/Metro’s network of local hospitals and ambulance services.

“When you call a LifeLine or other national providers, calls come through security companies or you’re really dealing with a call center that could be anywhere in the country,” says Jay Smith, public affairs manager. “Our dispatchers are medically trained EMTs and emergency dispatch. We’re local and we’re trained.”

Launched in mid-December, the service has signed up 60 customers so far with a goal of 500 by the end of Rural/Metro’s fiscal year in July. The service is currently available in Erie and Niagara counties, but plans call for extending service into all eight Western New York counties.

The company is targeting seniors and homebound individuals, as well as the children of such people who worry they can’t check in on their loved ones as often as they’d like. Smith says the company is relying on brand recognition and Rural/Metro’s reputation in the region to close the deal.

Additionally, the company is targeting individuals recovering from surgery; those with chronic conditions; and anyone who lives alone or spends several hours at home alone on a regular basis.

The service is available for $24.99 per month. That’s lower than some national services, enabled in part by Rural/Metro’s existing equipment and infrastructure that results in less overhead, Smith says.

Based in Scottsdale, Ariz., Rural/Metro Corp. (RURL) is a national provider of emergency services in 22 states.

Locally, the company has more than 550 employees, including 450 EMTs and paramedics, and a fleet of 90 emergency vehicles that responds to more than 100,000 calls every year.

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Fluke Networks said it’s purchased ClearSight Networks of Fremont, Calif., which makes computer networking analysis tools, for an undisclosed price.

Everett-based Fluke installs and certifies the testing, monitoring and analysis of copper, fiber and wireless networks.

“ClearSight’s network analysis solutions maximize network engineers’ ability to actively monitor critical links carrying high volumes of network traffic for performance bottlenecks, security anomalies and intermittent disruptions,” said Arif Kareem, president, Fluke Networks, in a statement.

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Personal income posted its largest gain in half a year in November and spending by individuals rose for a second straight month, according to government data released Wednesday.

The Commerce Department said income climbed by 0.4%, or $49.7 billion, during the month, after an upwardly revised 0.3% rise in October. That was the biggest gain since May, when it rose 1.5%. The figure was still below a consensus estimate of a 0.5% rise collected by Briefing.com.

Spending by individuals rose 0.5% last month, or $47.9 billion, below analysts’ expectations of a 0.7% hike. Personal spending was up 0 emergency payday loan.6% in October.

Personal savings totaled $521.1 billion in November, or 4.7% of disposable income, compared to $516.7 billion in October.

The report came one day after the government said that gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, grew 2.2% in the third quarter.

Tuesday’s report showed that consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the nation’s economy, was weaker than previously thought. 

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Roughly 9 million U.S. households have no checking or savings account while many who do have bank accounts struggle to build credit histories, according to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. survey released Wednesday.

An additional 21 million households with checking accounts are considered "underbanked" because they use problematic alternatives such as payday loans or overdraft programs that provide quick cash but carry fees or triple-digit interest rates.

"In addition to paying more for basic transaction and credit financial services, these households may be more vulnerable to loss or theft and often struggle to build credit histories and achieve financial security," according to the report.

According to the survey roughly 7.7 percent of U.S. households have no bank accounts, or are "unbanked," while 17.9 percent are underbanked.

For the St. Louis metro area, the percentage was 7.5 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively.

The survey also reported that minorities were more likely to have no checking account or use problem alternative services. Approximately 21.7 percent of U.S. black households are unbanked, while 19.3 percent of Hispanic households are unbanked. Roughly 3.5 percent of Asian and white households have no checking or savings accounts payday loans.

An estimated 31 percent of black households are underbanked, while 24 percent of Hispanics are underbanked.

The disparity was greater in St. Louis: 31 percent of the area’s black households are unbanked, while 34 percent are underbanked. In contrast, the figures were 1.1 percent and 19.2 percent, respectively, for the area’s white, non-Hispanic households.

St. Louis’ unbanked percentage among black households was the highest among 20 metro areas studied by the FDIC, though seven areas didn’t report a breakdown on black households. Detroit was the second-highest at 30 percent, followed by Chicago’s 25.5 percent.

"The report shows that banks in the St. Louis region have done a poor job reaching out to African Americans," Mira Tanna, assistant director of the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council, said in an e-mail.

"It is time for banks to offer equitable access to credit to African Americans in the St. Louis region."

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