It doesn't break out profits by product segment, but its gross margin rate is declining.
Some of the investors who had to cash out found they could best do so by borrowing against the securities at a margin rate of 7 percent or more.
Sears Holdings saw its gross margin rate increase 130 basis points for the fourth quarter of 2012 and 90 basis points for the year from the comparable prior year periods.
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So a low profit margin hurdle rate could be a competitive advantage for Japanese companies competing internationally, particularly if it were a choice.
Kevin Mountford, of Moneysupermarket.com, said that the margin between the Bank rate and the interest paid by savings accounts was actually very high at present.
The economy added 236, 000 jobs in February, beating the consensus estimate of 163, 000 by a wide margin as the unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, as my colleague Steve Schaefer reported.
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Compared with the pharmaceutical sector, which has a similar growth rate and profit margin, software looks woefully under-geared.
Looking ahead, managers say capital continues to pour into the market from all quarters as investors look for floating-rate, wide-margin opportunities.
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The cost of ELA to IBRC is assumed to be 200 basis points higher than the MRO rate but this profit margin goes to the Central Bank and is subtracted off when calculating the net cost.
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Meanwhile, voters in the second-largest US city rejected a measure to raise the sales tax rate, by a wide margin.
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If an individual plans both to own shares and to borrow, he will often get a lower rate of interest on a margin loan, because it is secured against shares.
"We believe gross margin will continue to fall at a similar rate given the higher price of scrap silicon which we have confirmed in our recent trip to China, " Pichel said.
Although we expect IBM to maintain its high margins given the strength of its GBS business, a contraction in GBS profit margin in the future to historical average of rate of 12.5% would result in downside of 5% to the Trefis price estimate.
But those figures are always higher than the official rate often by a wide margin, even in the best of times.
These burdens are occurring amid tepid loan growth and in a low interest rate environment that contributes to net interest margin contraction.
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Corporate profits are increasing at a pace faster than the rate of inflation, which creates a margin of value for investors.
It shows a comparable gross margin, but has higher expenses, half the growth rate in revenue and scant expansion in square footage. (The Gap, with half of Kmart's revenue, flaunts 40% gross margins and earns twice as much money.) Costco does compete well with Sam's Club, the slower growing, warehouse-style branch of Wal-Mart.
And Wisconsin voters in Democratic counties are turning out at a higher rate and outnumber voters in Republican counties by a margin of nearly 3 to 1.
Summers said gross margin improvements did not grow "meaningfully" along with the rate of generic sales, and believes it will slow down as the generic sales cycle rolls off.
Cheaper than developed-country utilities by any metric but with a past and future growth rate near 20%, it enjoys an operating margin (Ebitda to revenues) of 32%, triple the industry norm.
The bank's net interest margin--the difference between its cost of capital and average loan rate--has fallen for five consecutive quarters, to 0.9%.
The bonds carry a variable interest rate that tracks six-month Euribor rates with an average additional margin of 263 basis points.
This gradual shift towards a more favorable margin segments is how IBM plans to grow profits at more than twice the rate of sales growth (forecasted to grow 5% annually).
Net interest margin declined to 3.66%, a reflection of the low interest rate environment being orchestrated by the Federal Reserve thanks to its asset purchase programs over the past several years aimed at greasing the skids for an economic recovery.
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Currently, the market is starved for leveraged profit margin stories and for properties that can compound earnings close to a mid-teens rate.
Net profit margin has been adjusted to exclude taxes and include owner compensation in excess of their market-rate salaries.
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Its criteria include: a better than average price-earnings ratio over the past five years, a positive growth rate in earnings per share over the past 12 months, and a positive operating margin over the past 12 months.
Don't buy a fund that greatly exceeds this turnover rate unless it delivered really outstanding results--beating the market by a wide margin over a long period and with the same manager at the helm most of that time.
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