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The Boston Library Exchange says that Patriots Day is a state holiday in Massachusetts and Maine, marking the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. As a result, residents of a couple patriotic New England states don't have to file their 1999 taxes until today. Which is somewhat strange, considering that this year, Patriots Day will be celebrated on April 20th -- except in Concord, where they'll celebrate it on the real day -- April 19th. The tradition is that Patriot's Day is celebrated the third Monday of April, which this year coincides with tax filing day.
My good buddy and Massachusetts resident, Jean Macaulay (TMF Jeanie), informs me that this is a totally appropriate occurrence considering that the Boston Patriots protested taxation in 1775 by dumping tea in the harbor. Now, they're protesting taxes by filing a day late.
It makes no sense that this isn't a national holiday. In the Encyclopedia of Days, it's listed under United States holidays, not Massachusetts holidays. Does every state have its own peculiar holidays? Should Pennsylvania declare a national holiday on Groundhog Day? Should Mardi Gras be celebrated the Monday prior to Fat Tuesday, giving us the pleasure of another three-day weekend? Should New Yorkers celebrate the day Ed Koch became the judge on The People's Court?
All this forces me to ponder one nagging question. If residents of New York are called New Yorkers and residents of Florida are called Floridians, what do we call folks from Massachusetts? Massachusettsians? Massachusettsites? Manchuriancandidates?
If all this seems rather foolish, it's merely a distraction from the madness that has gripped the market over the past few days. I'm certainly happy that the recovery from Friday's bludgeoning seems to be in full swing, in contrast to media reports that yesterday and today were going to see even steeper sell-offs.
Still, the occurrences of the past few days make very little sense.
Here at home, two Foolish Four stocks reported earnings. There's good news emerging out of the chrysalis at Caterpillar <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: CAT)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: CAT)") end if %>!
The world's largest construction and mining equipment company announced net income of $258 million, or $0.73 a share, compared to $205 million, or $0.57 cents a share from a year ago. More efficient manufacturing and higher volume and growth in its engine and financial services units contributed to the success. As a result, Caterpillar smashed through the First Call consensus estimate of $0.58 per share.
Other positive changes from the first quarter of 1999 included sales and revenues of $4.92 billion, an increase of $52 million; a 9% increase in revenues from Financial Products; a 5% increase in U.S. sales; a five-fold increase in Engine segment operating profits; and the repurchase of 5.34 million shares in accordance with the company buy-back program announced in October 1998.
Hopefully, this earnings report will help the stock rebound. CAT has declined 32% tover the last year.
Things aren't developing as well for Eastman Kodak <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: EK)") end if %>. First, some good news. Q1 operating net earnings were $297 million, or $0.95 per share, up 19% on a per-share basis from $259 million, or $0.80 per share in Q1 '99. The results beat Wall Street estimates of $0.93 per share. Profits rose because of higher film sales and narrowing losses in the digital photography business. Another bright light was sales in emerging markets (China, India, Russia, and Brazil), which accelerated 16% in the quarter.
Unfortunately, this couldn't overshadow the negative news. Analysts had expected revenues to reach possibly $3.25 billion, but the film company giant rang up sales of only $3.10 billion, essentially flat with a year ago.
While Kodak has continued to reduce its workforce in an effort to trim costs, this was not enough to counteract the hard and cold fact that it continues to lose market share in the consumer film business, and it reported a sharp decline in its business aimed at professional photographers.
It's likely that the stock will continue to be under pressure going forward, and perhaps will see another year as one of the Foolish Four.
I still don't have an answer to the questions from Massachusetts. Rumor has it that they are called Bay Staters. This has got to go. If that is, in fact, the case, shouldn't we call people from Colorado "Rockies"? Floridians, "Citrusites"? Folks from Michigan, "Michiganas"?
Or maybe everyone from Massachusetts needed the extra tax filing day in order to recover from running or watching the Boston Marathon. That would make sense! On the condition, of course, that there's any sense in running for 26 miles.
Happy Tax Day, Bay Staters!