Companies can be and as allamerican as they come. Coke, boeing, and late today, American Express. And thats where we begin. The Financial Services company struggling since its exclusive relationship with cosco was broken off earlier this year and today it posted disappointing results. Earnings per share came in at 1. 24, and that was a full 7 cents below estimates. Revenue for the quarter also missed, and it was down about 1 from a year ago, and that pressured shares initially in extendedhours trading, as you see there. Mary thompson has more on American Expresss results. Reporter well, American Express is spending more to get new business, and that hurt its bottom line in the Third Quarter. The electronic payment giants profits falling over , hurt by higher spending on growth initiatives, the impact of a stronger dollar and money spent to renew cobranded relationships. With its exclusive deal to be the lone credit card accepted in Costco Stores expiring next year, amex expanding more on products that would widen its base and portfolio. As a result, the firm is expecting an uneven earnings performance in the quarters ahead, thanks to higher spending and an uneven economy. Still, its maintaining its outlook for positive Earnings Growth next year and Earnings Growth of 12 to 15 in 2017. For this year, though, it is expecting profits to decline between 4 and 6 from last year. For nightly business report, im mary thompson. Now to boeing, which saw profits climb 25 on record deliveries of its commercial jets. The Worlds LargestAerospace Company said the backlog of orders is solid and it lifted its Financial Guidance for the year. The big source of concern for wall street had been the cost of its flagship 787 dreamliner, but boeing said those costs are on track to decline, and that sent shares higher in trading today. A different story for dow component cocacola. The company said revenue fell more than expected in the Third Quarter. The strong dollar is partly to blame. Coke gets a ton of sales overseas, and those nonu. S. Sales convert back into fewer dollars when the buck is buoyant. And coke said the strong dollar will likely squeeze its revenue for the full year. And that sent shares lower today, as you see there. With sales struggling and consumer tastes changing, some are starting to think about the future of this allamerican brand. Reporter no matter how you spin it, cocacolas latest Earnings Report is less than fizzy. And maybe thats fitting for a company best known for soda thats now leaning more on its still beverages, like water and tea, where volumes grew 6 . Yes, earnings were slightly better than expected, but those profits were down more than 500 million from last year. Revenue worse than thought, down more than 4. 5 . The Company Makes most of its money outside of the United States and says a strong dollar will put a 7 dent in revenue for this year. Thats a full percentage point lower than it was expecting back in july. With the dollar stabilizing some in recent months, continued costcutting and a streamlining of its giant bottling and distribution business, some analysts hope cokes outlook will improve. Remember, coke is characterized 2015 as a transition year, and thats exactly what weve been seeing this year. So, were optimistic that in 2016, theyre going to start getting some momentum on volume, price and on earnings. Reporter still, fullcalorie soda consumption is down more than 25 over the past two decades, and the company just reported that diet coke sales for the Third Quarter were down 8 , worse than expected. Coke just became the second American Icon in less than a week. Ibm was the other. To post lessthanstellar earnings. Cokes stock roughly flat for more than two years. So, whats next . Could cocacola possibly be someones deal partner . Could an activist investor get involved . Warren buffett is cokes biggest shareholder, so maybe thats hard to imagine. Then again, think about anheuserbusch and sab miller, or kraft and mondelez. Big, transformative deals do happen, and sometimes they surprise. Joining us now to talk more about coke and whether it needs to do Something Big is ally debage, Senior Analyst at sanford bernstein. Welcome. Thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me. Talk to me about the future of coke. You know, tys piece just left off with, you know, big deals maybe need to be done. Is that the case for coke or no . I think theres certain things they can do structurally. I think one of the big things they are doing and they have to do is get out of the distribution system, right . They have to get rid of their bottlers. Thats something theyre starting to do slowly. We would like them to do a little bit more. But you know, they are a branding company. They should stick to branding. Thats one of the major things they should focus on. What can get the stock going . Is it the kind of stock that an activist might target, like dupont or like a ge . Look, there are many things the company can do, and an activist could push for. I always wish the companies would move faster than they do move. Thats my nature. So, i think there is a possibility that an activist gets involved. A big shareholder is Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway owns 10 of the company, so you have to get some implicit understanding that Warren Buffett is behind you on this, but there are certainly things the company can do to accelerate improvement and get the stock to work. Other than getting rid of bottling units, what else would you like them to see or to attempt . Yeah, so, the three main things. One is becoming much more pricerational. Give them credit, theyre starting to do that. Its something they resisted when we wrote about it and pushed them to do for many years. Theyre finally becoming price rational. There is not a lot of elasticity on carbonated soft drinks. Believe it or not, you could take prices and not a lot of volume goes down, so thats something they should push for and theyre continuing to do that. Secondly when you realize your top line isnt going to grow as fast, youre not as much of a growth company, you have to cut costs. Thats something theyre doing, announcing a 3 billion costcutting plan last september. Perhaps an activist could push them to do more of that. And finally, refranchising the bottling could happen much faster. Is mutar kent there for the long haul . Say that again . Is mr. Kent there for the long haul, the ceo . Its up to him. Hes clearly cleared the team around him. Theres a new coo, chief marketing officer and new head of north america, so hes built up the team around him to hopefully deliver on these numbers, and if he does, i think hes around to 2020, which is the vision hes laid out. Ali, if im an investor and i hold cocacolas stock right now, what do i do . Were recommending actually, this is a Good Opportunity. Clearly, one of the pressures theyre facing is macro emerging market pressure from a currency perspective. We believe thats giving investors a Good Opportunity to step into this name right now, seeing the changes that theyre under going from a pricing perspective, from costcutting, from refranchising, and that valuation relative to history isnt that bad, so we like the stock here. Do you prefer coke or pepsi . I dont know whether you follow pepsi. We follow pepsi closely. Coke took over pepsi as our number one pick, really because pepsis kind of laid the groundwork of what you should see from one of these Companies Cutting costs, taking pricing, doing things in a world where its a little bit more difficult making tough decisions. Coke is just starting on that path, so it overtook coke as our number one pick right now. Ali, thank you for spending time with us. A record performer dow component general motors, Strong Demand for trucks and improved Profit Margins in china helped them top forecast. Cost cuts and improved sales in north america offset costs related to recalls. A strong truck market, a strong suv market is helping, but i think also its our view and our continued focus on driving cost efficiencies. And if you look at the material performance and the cost efficiencies that we had in the Third Quarter, overall about 700 million, a lot of that accrued to north america. So, i think its seizing the opportunities from a market standpoint, but also continuing to drive efficiency in the business. Europe and south america remain trouble spots for the company, but investors shook that off and sent the stock up nearly 6 today. Consolidation in the Semiconductor Sector is heating up. Today two deals worth about 30 billion total were announced. Western digital plans to buy sandisk for nearly 20 billion, increasing its presence in the market for chips used in smartphones and tablets. Shares of Western Digital fell. Sandisk rose. And semiconductor equipmentmaker lam research has agreed to buy rival klatencor for about 10 billion. Both rose with kla soaring 18 . Josh lipton tells us why this sector is a hotbed of dealmaking activity and which Companies May be next. Reporter the rate of consolidation in the chip space is fast and furious. Lam researchs acquisition of klat klatencor and Western Digitals takeover of sandisk are just the latest deals in the Semiconductor Industry this year. In may, avago said it would buy broadcom for 37 billion. In june, intel agreed to buy augtera for 17 billion. In all, Chip Companies have already announced 104 billion in m a this year, according to deallogic. Last year, in total, it was 38 billion. The chip market is an increasingly mature industry, where there is a lot of competition and growth is harder to come by. Thats why financial analysts say consolidation is the right strategy. Its the right move because the organic growth is almost impossible to achieve today, given that things are growing at a slow growth rate, but you still need to massively invest in your business, you still need to create new chips, you still need to build new facilities to manufacture those chips. For investors, one question is this which are the next acquisition targets . The team at b. Riley highlights three names to watch integrated device technology, intersill and cavium, companies that they argue all boast valuable technologies and competitive mothers. They say the trend of consolidation will continue in the chip sector. Big players like intel and texas instruments, she says, need to get bigger, while Smaller Companies will find it increasingly tough to compete on their own. For nightly business report, im josh lipton in san francisco. On wall street, the major indexes closed near their lows of the session, dragged down by concerns over earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 48 points to 17,168. Nasdaq down 40. S p 500 dipped 11. And despite the pullback today, stocks have moved higher in october so far. Look at those numbers. Gains of roughly 5 . Seema mody tells us why this month is bucking the historic downtrend for stocks. Reporter it was supposed to be a scary october, but so far, this month hasnt been terrifying at all. The s p 500 is up nearly 6 , and earnings, a mixed bag of tricks so far, havent weighed down stocks. So, whats behind the rebound . Thank the fed and china. That uncertainty about the fed has been pushed off until next year, like it or not. I dont, but thats the case. And the other is china and the Economic Data of china has stabilized. Reporter another crucial part of the markets rally is oil, holding above 40 a barrel, helping Energy Stocks outperform, and so far, energy is the best performing sector this month. But the big question mark hanging over markets is just how theyll react through the rest of the earnings season. Any stability in oil prices is going to be very supportive for an index that has been plagued by persistent declines in the commodity price over more than a year now. Reporter showing growth of little more than 4 so far, earnings have been underwhelming. Even those beating estimates have been showing a drop in sales growth, that according to thomson reuters. And tech earnings kick into high gear tomorrow. Google will report for the First Time Since announcing the creation of alphabet in august. Also due to report, amazon, microsoft, as well as fastfood giant mcdonalds. Experts say disappointing earnings from these multinationals could still change the direction of the market. For nightly business report, im seema mody. Coming up, why its getting very expensive for companies to protect themselves against a growing threat. Shares of ferrari got off to a racing start. The luxury sports carmaker began trading on the New York Stock Exchange after pricing at the top of the range. Ferrari and fiats chairman was pleased with the Strong Demand for the offering and discussed how he can grow demand for his cars. We need to grow the demand side before we climb supply, and they really destroy the exclusivity of the brand. Its a very careful walk and a very, very tight relationship between us and the dealer body. Shares of ferrari rose more than 5 . Bob pisani tells us why this ipo is different from some of the others weve seen recently. By all accounts, it was a very respectable ipo for ferrari, and here it is right here, but it has nothing to do with the recent ipo market. Ferraris an anomaly, a very unusual ipo. In the last four weeks, theres been 14 ipos, according to renaissance capital. Of those 14, only 2 priced within the expected range. Not a single one priced above the price talk. On average, those 14 priced 22 below the midpoint of the price talk. Thats a big decline. But this has been good news for investors because those that have been priced have been doing better. Its buy low, sell high, after all. The average ipo that has gone public in the past month is up about 11 . So, why is ferrari a special case . It goes to what matters with ipo pricing. First is the sector, the luxury lifestyle sector. Big names like besh erie have stock multiples and margins higher than the general market, but the most important factor is the uniqueness of the ferrari product. Ferrari oozes sex appeal, and the company has a very close relationship with its customers, including owners clubs. That breeds a lot of loyalty and goodwill. The question now is whether they can expand production and maintain that goodwill and the healthy Profit Margins. For nightly business report, im bob pisani at the New York Stock Exchange. Ebay tops earnings expectations. The stock takes off initially in afterhours trading, and that is where we begin tonights market focus. The Quarterly Results were the first for the Company Since it spun off its paypal unit. Ebays marketplace businesses performed well, merchandise volume climbed, and its active buyer base grew. Shares climbed initially after the report in the regular session, they were lower slightly at 24. 21. Texas instruments saw more growth in the core Business Unit as overall revenue for the company declined because of weak demand. Shares initially rose on the report but closed lower at 51. 90. Tupperware brands reported betterthanexpected quarterlies, profit and sales. The food containermaker was helped by strong results in emerging markets like brazil, china and indonesia. Shares rose more than 8 to 59. 81. And the Biotech Company biogen says it will cut about 11 of its workforce. The cuts are part of a companywide restructuring to save about 250 million a year. Biogen also reported thirdquarter results that topped expectations, and that news sent shares up nearly 4 to 276. 34. St. Jude medical lowering its fullyear earnings guidance. The company says the strong dollar will continue to have an impact on sales. It also blamed the weak outlook in part to a delay in approval for a new pacemaker device. Shares of the devicemaker fell nearly 9 to 62. 30. And Consumer Review site angies list reported a rare quarterly profit, its first profitable Third Quarter ever, but the company also lowered its fullyear guidance and cited a onetime expense associated with finding a new ceo. Shares of this smallcap stock rose more than 11 to 6. 94. I. T. Management Company Solar winds is selling itself to two private equity firms. That transaction has already been approved by the companys board, and it is expected to be completed in early 2016. Shares of the company surging 16 to 58. 31. And late today, visas board approved a 17 hike in the companys dividend to 14 cents a share. The dividend will be paid december 1st to shareholders of record on november 13th. Visa shares rose slightly initially and afterhours trading. It closed down 1 in the regular session to 75. 46. Well, Companies Want to protect themselves from a growing threat, cyber attacks. And to do that, according to a new report, they snapped up Cyber Insurance in the first half of the year, and it didnt come cheap. Mary thompson has our story. Reporter with cyber theft on the rise, so, too, is demand for Cyber Insurance. Insurance broker marsh saying in the first half of this year, the number of its u. S. Based clients buying this protection increased by 32 , a trend bob parisi sees no signs of slowing. I would expect it to increase even more next year. Reporter in its benchmark in trends report, marsh announced a familiar reason for the increase, an increase in cyber attacks. Along with new clients, the report says many of marshs existing customers increase their limits on existing coverage, even as pricing increased, especially in Industries Like retail that have been recent targets of cyber thieves. The sector adding insurance at the highest rate . Higher education. A smart move, according to parisi. They have all the information that a large bank, a large retailer, a Large Health Care provider has, so they really have a perfect storm from the point of view of holding confidential information. And i think theyre finally realizing that theyre not finding coverage for that risk anywhere else. Reporter power firms and utilities doubled their purchases of Cyber Insurance in the first half of the year, a level almost matched by manufacturing companies. The industry with the highest percentage of coverage, though, is health care. 41 of marshs clients in this sector have cyber policies to cover costs linked to attacks on their clients Sensitive Data s. Higher demand leading to higher prices. On average, clients paid 19 more for Cyber Insurance this year than last with sectors that have been hard hit by this crime wave, like retail and health care, seeing increases almost double that amount. A developing industry, marsh says the industrys capacity is being tested, and this means some firms have difficulty finding coverage, or its forcing them to reduce or change the coverage they get for business interruption, scrubbing their systems, and client care after a breach. Firms also looking at ways they can better protect their data, insuring in other ways that their clients information is safe. For nightly business report, im mary thompson. Coming up, the quest for the holy grail of the flu. A universal vaccine. The final part of our series on the big business of the flu is next. Heres a look at what to watch tomorrow. Another big day for earnings. The dow components 3m, caterpillar, mcdonalds and microsoft are due out. On the tech front, we will hear from amazon. Com and the google parent, alphabet. Economic data include existing home sales and jobless claims, and that is what to watch tomorrow. Espn to lay off about 300 employees. The disneyowned network is cutting jobs as part of an organizational change. The network is facing rising programming costs, slowing growth, and its also under pressure from viewers who are migrating online. A very rough day for shares of valiant the Pharmaceutical Company which has been at the center of the drug pricing debate. Saw its shares plunge after an influential short seller accused the company of inflating its revenue by creating phantom sales. Serious charge. Valeiant denies the allegation. Shares fell as much as 40 midday, but they did climb back a bit to close about 19 lower. Shares of Health Insurers fell today after democratic president ial candidate Hillary Clinton said she had serious concerns about etnas plan to acquire huma and anthems bid to buy cigna. In a statement, she said she would like to see the multibillion dollar deals closely reviewed by regulators and shes skeptical it would be good for people. Many are attributing those comments for the decline in shares. Roll up your sleeves, folks, its time for your flu shot. But if you plan to get it, you will not be protected against all of the different mutations of the virus. In the final part of our series, meg tirrell looks at the cuttingedge work being done to create a vaccine that protects against all the strains of the flu. Reporter scientists call it the holy grail of flu, the quest for universal flu vaccine has been decades in the making. Why arent we there yet . The flu virus is tricky, possessing an ability to evade the immune system like few others. Influenza is a very interesting virus that has the ability and frequently changes a bit from year to year, not dramatically, but just enough to make the vaccine that you may have had the Previous Year not the perfect fit. Reporter researchers call that drifting of the virus, and its what made last years vaccine so much less effective. Now, Public Health officials make an educated guess every year about which strains will be in heaviest circulation during flu season. A universal vaccine, they say, would make that unnecessary. And recent Research Suggests we may be getting closer. The flu virus has proteins on its surface shaped like a bulb with a stem. The bulb is the part that the immune system recognizes, but its also the part that can change from season to season. The new approach is to focus on the stem, which doesnt change as much, explains dr. Anthony fauci, director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases. If we can successfully induce a response against that stem part of that protein, were going to be very close to developing a universal flu vaccine. Reporter so, what would that mean for the business of flu shotmakers . Its an estimated 4 billion Global Market annually. Both Sanofi Pasteur and glaxosmithkline are among those working on universal vaccines. Sanofi says the most likely nearterm product will be a broadey spectrum vaccine, and glaxosmithkline points out, that Market Opportunity is one any vaccinemaker would want. The First Company to make a universal flu vaccine would make a fortune because they would grow the market share in a market thats highly commoditized and charge appropriately a premium for the vaccine and impact Public Health in a very positive way. Were investing a lot to have that. Reporter dr. Fauci of the nih says the universal vaccine may be five to ten years away. For nightly business report, im meg tirrell. A little chill. To read more about the big business of the flu, head to our website, nbr. Com. Get your shot. I just dont like the closeups of the vaccines. That does it for us tonight. Thanks for joining us. Im sue herera. Thanks from me as well. Im tyler mathisen. Well see you back here tomorrow night. Announcer the following program contains mature content which may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. Ah, camillfortescue cholomondeleybrowne . Yes. Come in. I generally answer to chummy. You can ride a bike . I can ride a horse. That cant be so very different, surely. Woman miss, could you change a £5 note for me . People like you are supposed to help people like me. Chummy it would seem, betty, as though your baby is presenting in the breech position. You what . Its coming out ass first. Mrs. Fraser thats bad. Announcer funding for call the mie is provided by contributions to your pbs stations from viewers like you. Thank you