Elizabeth Harrow
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As print media continues its prolonged death throes, The Washington Post Company (WPO) announced late Tuesday that it will shut down its U.S. bureaus in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Six journalists will be affected by the closures, and all will be offered jobs in Washington. Three news aides in the bureaus will be offered severance.

As a result of the move, the Post will no longer have any journalists on staff outside its home base of Washington, D.C. In a memo to staffers, Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli explained that the newspaper must focus its journalistic efforts on its own turf.

Playboy Enterprises (PLA) announced Tuesday that it will outsource all of its publishing operations -- save editorial -- to American Media Inc., reports the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The Florida-based firm will take the reins on Playboy's production, circulation, advertising sales, marketing, and support functions, in exchange for fees and incentives. No further financial details on the deal were provided.

"Our goal is to focus our resources on what we do best, which is to create compelling content," explained CEO Scott Flanders. "By joining forces with American Media, we will be able to significantly reduce our cost structure and leverage the economies of scale related to manufacturing, distribution and marketing that are available to this large, multi-title publisher."

A report in The New York Post suggests that Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase (JPM), could be the logical replacement for current U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The paper's sources indicate that "a number of policy makers have begun mentioning Dimon as a successor to Geithner, whose standing in Washington has suffered because of the country's high unemployment rate, the weakness of the dollar, the slow pace of the recovery and the government's mounting deficit."

Meanwhile, reports the Post, Dimon has emerged as one of the heroes of the financial crisis, "having navigated JPMorgan through the recession and being a go-to guy when Uncle Sam last year needed Wall Street's help during the collapses of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual."

Thursday, The Gap Inc. (GPS) reported that its third-quarter net profit totaled $307 million, or 44 cents per share, up 25% from the year-ago period. Revenue for the quarter added 1% to $3.59 billion, while gross margin surged 380 basis points to 42.5%. Operating margin escalated from 11.1% to 13.9%, marking its highest level in 10 years.

The retail issue also announced a new stock buyback plan worth $500 million. About $20 million of that amount will be repurchased from the family of founder Donald Fisher, who passed away in September.

A few lucky executives at Citigroup (C) received base pay raises this year, but CEO Vikram Pandit isn't among them. The bank announced that it will compensate Pandit exactly $1 for his services, with no stock salary. Last year, the chief executive collected a modest salary (by Wall Street standards) of $958,333.

Meanwhile, Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach's base compensation was hiked from $400,000 to $500,000 effective Nov. 1. James Forese, co-head of global markets, enjoyed an even heftier pay raise -- his base salary jumped from $225,000 to $475,000.

Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) tagged a new 52-week peak Tuesday morning in the wake of its latest earnings report. The solar company announced that it raked in a third-quarter profit of $25.3 million, or 69 cents per share, while revenue dipped 16% to $213.1 million. The results handily exceeded analysts' consensus expectations for a profit of 54 cents per share on $210.9 million in revenue.

Shipments for the recently concluded quarter more than doubled on a sequential basis, arriving at 102.6 megawatts (MW). For 2010, Canadian Solar said it expects shipments to range between 600 MW and 700 MW, compared to the current 2009 forecast for shipments of 295 MW to 305 MW.

In other Sprint news this morning, Sprint shares were upped from "neutral" to "outperform" at Credit Suisse. Analyst Jonathan Chaplin set his price target at $6, asserting that the company will benefit from cost cutting, stronger sales of prepaid service, and improved customer retention trends. Sprint's stock settled Friday at $3.10, so Chaplin's price target implies expected upside of nearly 94%.

Yingli Green Energy (YGE) traded sharply higher Friday in the wake of its third-quarter results. The solar issue reported that its quarterly earnings contracted 18% to $17.7 million, or 12 cents per American depositary share (ADS). Excluding items, such as stock compensation, earnings weighed in at 18 cents per ADS. Revenue for the period edged 0.7% higher to arrive at $325.9 million.

Ahead of the report, analysts were looking for a profit of 16 cents per ADS on $331 million in revenue. Despite the revenue miss, YGE surged into the black right out of the gate. In addition to the stronger-than-expected profit number, traders were no doubt enthused by an 80% jump in shipments from second-quarter levels.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) soared to a new annual high Thursday morning after the chipmaker settled its antitrust case against rival Intel (INTC). Under the terms of the agreement, Intel will shell out $1.25 billion to AMD, and will abide by a new set of rules for conducting business. The pact also includes a renewed cross-license agreement between the two chip titans.

In prepared comments, AMD CEO Dirk Meyer called the settlement a game-changer. "We are optimistic that it will usher a new era for our industry," he said. "We recognize that it will take time for people to understand how the operating conditions in the processor business have changed. But make no mistake -- they have changed."

Late Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is preparing to relaunch its stalled construction projects in Macau, China's hot gambling region. Financial woes forced Las Vegas Sands to walk away from the two construction sites a year ago, but newly secured funding means that the casino company can resume work on the projects as soon as January.

Las Vegas Sands disclosed in a regulatory filing on Monday that it secured $1.45 billion in financing from banks, and the firm is looking to lock down an additional $300 million. The gaming issue is also attempting to raise as much as $3.83 billion by launching an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong of its Macau assets, about $500 million of which will be used to fund construction on the stalled sites.

Notorious insurance titan American International Group (AIG) is on the upswing today, after Moody's Investors Service reported late Monday that it expects AIG will be able to repay its government debt. The ratings agency observed that AIG has made progress with its restructuring plan, and the firm's latest quarterly earnings "show continued stabilization of the core insurance operations despite challenging market conditions."

The insurance issue has put many of its non-core assets up for sale during the past year to generate capital and pare its unwieldy size, but some of those plans have been iced by new CEO Robert Benmosche. Moody's likes the new chief's approach, with the firm observing, "We believe that the slower approach to restructuring could help AIG to generate more favorable values from its business portfolio than would be the case under rushed asset sales."

Shares of The Boston Beer Company (NYSE: SAM) surged to a new 52-week high Friday morning, after the brewmaster reported a third-quarter profit of $10.4 million, or 72 cents per share, on revenue of $108.7 million. The company swung to a loss of 2 cents per share in the third quarter of 2008, but attributed its turnaround to strong shipments and decreased advertising expenses.

The results were better than analysts expected, with consensus estimates calling for Boston Beer to bank a profit of 39 cents per share on $107.5 million. Looking forward, Boston Beer now expects full-year earnings of $1.75 per share to $2.05 per share, a marked increased from its prior forecast for a 2009 profit of $1.40 per share to $1.70 per share.

Traders initially seemed thrilled with Wednesday's third-quarter earnings report from Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL), but the stock then backpedaled into the red. The retailer banked a quarterly profit of $7.8 million, or 28 cents per share, up from its year-ago net income of $5.5 million, or 20 cents per share. Revenue for the period surged 14% to $140.5 million. The results comfortably outpaced analysts' consensus estimates, which called for a profit of 24 cents per share on $137.1 million in revenue.

Looking ahead, Lumber Liquidators is forecasting full-year revenue of $535 million to $543 million, up from its previous guidance of $528 million to $538 million. Earnings for fiscal 2009 are expected to range between 90 cents and 95 cents per share, compared to the retailer's previous forecast of 85 cents to 91 cents per share. Wall Street, on average, is expecting full-year earnings of 90 cents per share on $537.1 million.

Hartford Financial Services (NYSE: HIG) is scheduled to step into the earnings spotlight right after Tuesday's closing bell, with the insurance issue releasing its final third-quarter figures. Analysts are expecting Hartford to report a profit of $1.11 per share, according to Thomson Reuters, representing a dramatic reversal from its year-ago loss of $1.40 per share.

Hartford has a mixed history on the earnings front, with the company exceeding consensus expectations in two of the previous four reporting periods -- and falling short of Wall Street's predictions during the other two quarters. On the plus side, sector peer Lincoln National (NYSE: LNC) recently released a stronger-than-expected third-quarter report, which could bode well for Hartford.

An article in Barron's suggests that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is on the verge of regaining some of its former mojo. The company recently offered a solid outlook for the remainder of the year, and it could garner new business after debuting two smartphones featuring Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system -- namely, the Droid and the Cliq.

The author cites analyst Ed Snyder of Charter Equity Research, who believes Motorola is on the cusp of "an extended upswing in handsets ... over the next several quarters." Snyder believes that the firm's ailing handset division could achieve break-even results as soon as the second quarter of 2010.