Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Florida Smaller Corp 2011 Annual Earnings Up 156% Since 2009 Under Obama

In an earlier post, I disclosed the corporate earnings in the most recent three years of the 49 Largest Florida headquartered Corps, which file with the SEC, and with Pretax Income or Pretax Loss of more than $100 mil in any of the most recent three years.

These 49 Largest Florida Corps generated Total Pretax Earnings in 2011 of $18.9 bil, which was up a very robust 85% over such amount two years ago in 2009.

Now I wanted to see if these fabulous earnings also applied to smaller Florida Corps, which file with the SEC.

Thus, I found 27 Florida headquartered Smaller Corps filing with the SEC, which had Pretax Income or Pretax Loss of $40 mil or more in any of the most recent three years, and which weren't included in the 49 Largest Florida Corps.  Thus, these 27 Smaller Florida Corps also did not have Pretax Income or Pretax Loss of more than $100 mil in any of the most recent three years. 

These 27 Smaller Florida Corps nearly doubled the outstanding 85% earnings growth in the most recent two years of the 49 Largest Florida Corps.  The Total Pretax Income in 2011 of these 27 Smaller Florida Corps was an off-the-charts 156% higher than such amount two years earlier in 2009.

Yeah, the Obama Administration created a very robust US economic environment, which permitted Florida companies of all sizes to do just fantastically on the earnings front in the most recent two years.

But a second story here is the earnings results by year.

The 49 Largest Florida Corps generated Pretax Income growth of 10% in 2011 over 2010, and of a substantially higher 67% in 2010 over 2009.

The 27 Smaller Florida Corps generated Pretax Income growth of 35% in 2011 over 2010, and of a substantially higher 90% in 2010 over 2009.

So why is it that these Florida Corps did so much better in 2010 than they did in 2011?  I think you need to look at the political situation.

In both years, the President was the same.....a Moderate Democrat.

However, the US House was under Republican control in 2011, but under Democratic control in 2010.

Also, the US Senate had a lower Democratic majority in 2011 than it did in 2010.

In addition, the Florida Governor was a Very Conservative Republican in 2011, but was a Moderate Republican in 2010.

And the Florida State House and Florida State Senate both had more of a Republican majority in 2011 than they did in 2010.

So clearly, there was a substantial shift from Democratic control in 2010 to Republican control in 2011.

And this reduction in earnings growth even continued in the most recent 1Q 2012.  The 49 Largest Florida Corps had their Total Pretax Income increase by only 4%, going from $4,065 mil in the 1Q 2011 to $4,212 mil in the 1Q 2012.

How could this change in political control make such a huge difference in Florida company earnings?

It is pretty clear to me that in 2010, a Moderate Democratic President, coupled most importantly with a US House in Democratic hands, but also having a US Senate in Democratic hands, and further with having more State Governors and State Legislatures in Democratic hands, did wonders for corporate earnings growth in 2010.  With this political structure, economic stimulus, both much needed business income tax stimulus and wise, carefully-vetted investment spending, can occur on a robust scale.  And this very strong economic stimulus was in full throttle starting in the 4Q 2009, and did Corporations ever reap the benefit of this by generating exceptionally strong profits.

The worse thing that can happen after a financial meltdown, and near depression, is a US government that just waits for the free markets to correct themselves.....a laissez-faire approach, so favored by so many RepublicansFortunately for the country, the exact opposite to that wisely happened in 2009 and 2010.

But then in 2011 and the first half of 2012, the US government was unfortunately forced into a laissez-faire economic approach, due to an uncompromising US Congress stopping nearly every economic initiative of the Obama Administration.  The focus of the US Congress was almost singularly on austerity, when the improving, but still clearly struggling, US economy was shouting out for more economic stimulus, wisely designed

Thus, things stopped to a walk on the US economic front when the US House switched to Republican control with the 2010 election, coupled with the US Senate Democratic majority rule being significantly reduced, and with many US States switching from Democratic Control to Republican Control.

Case in point is Business Income Tax Reform, which the Obama Administration strongly supports, and which nearly all Republicans say they are behind.  If the President's Framework for Business Income Tax Reform, presented more than three months ago, is strengthened by the US Congress and passed, I am pretty certain that all of the US economic problems, including US real GDP growth, US unemployment, US underemployment, and the US Deficit....would all be substantially improved, and on an ongoing sustainable basis over the long run.

However, the US House Ways and Means Committee must initiate the legislation on this critically needed Business Income Tax Reform.  And what have they done so far?  Absolutely nothing.  I'm not kidding.  On the other hand, if the US House was under Democratic control, I am pretty certain that this Business Income Tax Reform would have gotten out of the US House Ways and Means Committee by now and been placed on the US House Floor.

Instead, the Republicans in the US House are focused on attempting to pass an extension of the much lower Bush income tax rates on the wealthy, which increases the US Deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next decade, and creates almost no US jobs.  This continual off-focus approach to governing by the Republicans in the US House shows that they are clearly unfit to be reelected, due to either their gross incompetence on US economic issues, or to their only be interested in governing for the top 1% of the country.

On the other hand, when the President is a Democrat and the US House is in Democratic control, economic initiatives move forward, and they clearly did very robustly in 2009 and 2010.


While substantial US job creation doesn't necessarily result from substantially higher corporate earnings, I can clearly tell you one thing.....lower corporate earnings will undoubtedly result in a significant loss of US jobs.  When corporate earnings absolutely tanked in late 2008 and in 2009, corporations were very quick to dramatically cut US full-time employees.  And to give a recent illustration, when Hewlett Packard recently announced down earnings, it also announced it will be cutting 27,000 jobs, or 8% of its workforce.  And Ohio-based Procter & Gamble, just recently taking a $452 mil Restructuring Charge, has to mean a significant loss of US jobs.  And Michigan's Dow Chemical did likewise.  And I have seen so many large Restructuring Charges made by Corporations in their 1Q 2012 Earnings Statements, made in the same quarter where their earnings growth has fallen off the cliff.

In deriving Pretax Income, I start with Pretax Income under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), and then exclude several clearly unusual very large items relative to Pretax Income, such as Asset Impairments, and Gains and Losses on both Debt Retirements and Asset Dispositions.

I use Pretax Income rather than After-tax Net Income, since so much of the change in effective income tax rates just happens due to financial engineering.

I excluded Corps in the Development Stage, and ones generating losses for many years.

Let me first show each of the 49 Largest Florida Corps.  Below here is the Headquarters location and the Sector of each of these companies.


Florida Largest Corps Florida HQs Sector



AutoNation Fort Lauderdale Retail
AV Homes Kissimmee Homebuilding
BankAtlantic Bancorp Fort Lauderdale Financial
BankUnited Miami Lakes Financial
BE Aerospace Wellington Public Buildings
BFC Financial Fort Lauderdale Financial
Brown & Brown Tampa Financial
Burger King Holdings Miami Retail
Carnival Miami Leisure and Entertainment
Chicos FAS Ft Myers Retail
Citrix Systems Fort Lauderdale Technology
CSX Jacksonville Transportation: Railroads
Darden Restaurants Orlando Retail
EverBank Financial Jacksonville Savings Institution
Fidelity Natl Fincl Jacksonville Financial
Fidelity Natl Info Svcs Jacksonville Financial
Fresh Del Monte Produce Coral Gables Foods
Geo Group Boca Raton Facility Support Mgt
Harris Corp Melbourne Technology: US Defense
Health Mgt Associates Naples Health Care
Heico Hollywood Aircraft Engines & Parts
HSN St Petersburg Retail
International Speedway Daytona Beach Leisure and Entertainment
Jabil Circuit St Petersburg Technology
Landstar System Jacksonville Transportation: Trucking
Lender Processing Svcs Jacksonville Financial
Lennar Miami Homebuilding
Lincare Holdings Clearwater Health Care
Marriott Vacations Worldwide Orlando Real Estate Agents & Managers
Mastec Coral Gables Construction
Mednax Sunrise Health Care
NCL Corp, Ltd Miami Leisure and Entertainment
Office Depot Boca Raton Retail
PSS World Medical Jacksonville Health Care
Publix Super Markets Lakeland Retail
Raymond James Fincl St Petersburg Financial
Rayonier Jacksonville REIT: Forest Products
Roper Industries Sarasota Industrial Instruments
Royal Caribbean Miami Leisure and Entertainment
Ryder System Miami Motor Vehicle Leasing
SBA Communications Boca Raton Communication Services
Seacor Holdings Ft Lauderdale Deep Sea Foreign Transportation & Freight
Spirit Airlines Miramar Air Transportation
Syniverse Holdings Tampa Communication Services
Tech Data Clearwater Technology
Tupperware Orlando Home Products
Watsco Coconut Grove Wholesaling
Wellcare Health Plans Tampa Health Care
World Fuel Services Miami Wholesaling

And below here is the Pretax Income (PTI) or Pretax Loss of each of these 49 Largest Florida Corporations for each of the most recent three years, along with the related percentage changes in earnings, with the most recent fiscal year ends ranging from May 2011 to January 2012.  BankUnited’s below 2009 Pretax Loss is for the 15 months ended December 31, 2009, since the 12 months ended December 31, 2009 information wasn’t available. 






Move to




More More Obama




Republican Democratic Bump




PTI(L) PTI(L) Two Year




% % %




Change Change Change

Total Total Total 2011 2010 2011

PTI(L) PTI(L) PTI(L) vs vs vs

2011 2010 2009 2010 2009 2009

mils $s mils $s mils $s


Florida Largest Corps





CSX 2,888 2,546 1,746 13% 46% 65%
Publix Super Markets 2,262 2,039 1,775 11% 15% 27%
Carnival 1,912 1,979 1,806 -3% 10% 6%
Harris Corp 881 840 741 5% 13% 19%
Fidelity National Information Services 744 771 301 -4% 156% 147%
Darden Restaurants 648 544 513 19% 6% 26%
Royal Caribbean 607 516 152 18% 239% 299%
Roper Industries 605 448 340 35% 32% 78%
Jabil Circuit 481 247 18 95% 1272% 2572%
AutoNation 461 381 349 21% 9% 32%
Raymond James Financial 451 356 236 27% 51% 91%
Citrix Systems 430 334 194 29% 72% 122%
Wellcare Health Plans 418 193 198 117% -3% 111%
Fidelity National Financial 415 549 315 -24% 74% 32%
Mednax 353 311 288 14% 8% 23%
Health Management Associates 337 287 228 17% 26% 48%
Tupperware 331 300 265 10% 13% 25%
BE Aerospace 323 211 205 53% 3% 58%
Tech Data 323 304 235 6% 29% 37%
Rayonier 306 233 154 31% 51% 99%
BankUnited 303 313 (1,034) -3% 130% 129%
Lender Processing Services 303 510 482 -41% 6% -37%
Lincare Holdings 290 298 223 -3% 34% 30%
Ryder System 279 186 144 50% 29% 94%
Brown & Brown 271 266 255 2% 4% 6%
World Fuel Services 238 178 150 34% 19% 59%
Chicos FAS 224 179 110 25% 63% 104%
HSN 200 164 121 22% 36% 65%
Watsco 195 162 78 20% 108% 150%
Landstar System 180 136 110 32% 24% 64%
Burger King Holdings 168 284 285 -41% 0% -41%
Mastec 145 154 79 -6% 95% 84%
Heico 138 109 88 27% 24% 57%
NCL Corp, Ltd 127 23 67 452% -66% 90%
Geo Group 124 106 112 17% -5% 11%
Spirit Airlines 123 20 65 515% -69% 89%
PSS World Medical 119 110 84 8% 31% 42%
International Speedway 114 75 48 52% 56% 138%
Marriott Vacations Worldwide 110 112 (2) -2% 5700% 5600%
Fresh Del Monte Produce 101 60 132 68% -55% -23%
Lennar 98 95 (760) 3% 113% 113%
EverBank Financial 82 182 88 -55% 107% -7%
BFC Financial 45 (146) (325) 131% 55% 114%
Office Depot 33 (6) (285) 650% 98% 112%
Seacor Holdings 27 328 163 -92% 101% -83%
Syniverse Holdings 7 145 106 -95% 37% -93%
BankAtlantic Bancorp (68) (145) (221) 53% 34% 69%
SBA Communications (125) (144) (141) 13% -2% 11%
AV Homes (149) (36) (62) -314% 42% -140%




Total all 49 18,878 17,107 10,219 10% 67% 85%

Now let me show each of the 27 Smaller Florida Corps.  Below here is the Headquarters location and the SEC Standard Industrial Classification of each of these companies.


Florida Smaller Corps Florida HQs SEC Standard Industrial Classification



Bankrate North Palm Beach Services: Business Services
Bluegreen Boca Raton Real Estate Agents & Managers
CNL Lifestyle Properties Orlando REITs
Dycom Industries Palm Beach Gardens Water, Sewer, Pepeline, Power Line
Elizabeth Arden Miramar Perfumes & Cosmetics
Flag Intermediate Holdings Ft Lauderdale Wholesale: Metals Service Centers
Interline Brands Jacksonville Wholesale: Hardware & Plumbing & Heating Equipment
Interval Leisure Group Miami Real Estate Agents & Managers
KForce Tampa Services: Help Supply Services
Metals USA Holdings Fort Lauderdale Wholesale: Metals Service Centers
Metropolitan Health Networks Boca Raton Services: Office & Clinics of Doctors
National Beverage Ft Lauderdale Soft Drinks
National Retail Properties Orlando REITs
OSI Restaurant Partners Tampa Retail: Eating Places
Perry Ellis International Miami Mens & Boys Furnishings & Work Clothing
Petmed Express Pompano Beach Retail: Proprietary Stores
Universal Insurance Holdings Ft Lauderdale Fire, Marine & Casualty Insurance
UNR Holdings Orlando General Building Contractors: Residential Buildings
Vector Group Miami Cigarettes
Web.com Group Jacksonville Services: Prepackaged Software
Winn-Dixie Stores Jacksonville Retail: Grocery Stores
St. Joe Watersound Land Subdivider & Developer
Stein Mart Jacksonville Retail: Family Clothing Stores
Steiner Leisure Coral Gables Services: Personal Services
Sun Hydraulics Sarasota Fabricated Metal Products
Sykes Enterprises Tampa Computer Integrated Systems Design
TIB Financial Naples State Commercial Bank

And below here is the Pretax Income (PTI) or Pretax Loss of each of these 27 Smaller Florida Corporations for each of the most recent three years, along with the related percentage changes in earnings.







Move to




More More Obama




Republican Democratic Bump




PTI(L) PTI(L) Two Year




% % %




Change Change Change

Total Total Total 2011 2010 2011

PTI(L) PTI(L) PTI(L) vs vs vs

2011 2010 2009 2010 2009 2009

mils $s mils $s mils $s


Florida Smaller Corps





Bankrate 53 (8) (15) 763% 47% 453%
Bluegreen 57 67 34 -15% 97% 68%
CNL Lifestyle Properties (46) (15) (15) -207% 0% -207%
Dycom Industries 36 11 40 227% -73% -10%
Elizabeth Arden 56 23 (14) 143% 264% 500%
Flag Intermediate Holdings 93 23 (68) 304% 134% 237%
Interline Brands 62 58 43 7% 35% 44%
Interval Leisure Group 66 69 64 -4% 8% 3%
KForce 43 33 22 30% 50% 95%
Metals USA 99 18 (86) 450% 121% 215%
Metropolitan Health Networks 48 42 23 14% 83% 109%
National Beverage 63 51 39 24% 31% 62%
National Retail Properties 91 81 86 12% -6% 6%
OSI Restaurant Partners 77 55 (36) 40% 253% 314%
Perry Ellis International 44 36 17 22% 112% 159%
Petmed Express 33 41 36 -20% 14% -8%
Universal Insurance Holdings 34 62 46 -45% 35% -26%
UNR Holdings 49 31 21 58% 48% 133%
Vector Group 66 70 88 -6% -20% -25%
Web.com Group (63) (17) 0 -271%           NM         NM
Winn-Dixie Stores (28) 37 59 -176% -37% -147%
St. Joe 3 (28) (42) 111% 33% -107%
Stein Mart 32 53 34 -40% 56% -6%
Steiner Leisure 58 52 43 12% 21% 35%
Sun Hydraulics 58 32 2 81% 1500% 2800%
Sykes Enterprises 64 31 71 106% -56% -10%
TIB Financial 5 (52) (42) 110% -24% 112%




Total all 27 1,153 856 450 35% 90% 156%

I do think US companies, the US economy, and US job creation would all be helped immensely if the recalcitrant US Congress would start working with the Obama Administration on much needed, bold, targeted like a laser, quick-hitting, highly effective, short-term economic stimulus, which is also wisely designed to get the maximum bang for the buck.  And especially for Florida's sake, a piece of this economic stimulus must be the ability for as many home owners as possible, including those underwater, to be able to quickly refinance their mortgages to the prevailing lower interest rates, and at little cost to refinance.