Hot Stocks: Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST), Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LTD) Are Hot Earnings

Lakeway, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/28/2013 -- ThePennyStockProfiler.com, an investment community with a special focus on updating investors with recent news on the U.S. stock market, issues news alert on the following stocks:-

Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) reports its fourth quarter and fiscal year results on Wednesday.

Gross sales increased 16.6% to $545.0 million and net sales jumped 15% to $471.5 million in the fourth quarter. Gross profit, as a percentage of net sales was 51.7% and operating expenses jumped 17% to $130 million. Distribution costs as a percentage of net sales were 4.7% and selling expenses as a percentage of net sales were 12.5%. General and administrative expenses for the 2012 fourth quarter were $48.8 million, or 10.3 percent of net sales. Stock-based compensation (a non-cash item) was $6.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Operating income increased 10.1% to $113.9 million. Net income increased 5.3% to $68.0 million and on per share basis it jumped 10.6% to $0.39 per share.

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During the 2012 fourth quarter, the Company purchased approximately 6.7 million shares of its common stock at an average purchase price of $50.86 per share.

For the 2012 fiscal year, gross sales increased 21.7% to $2.373 billion and net sales increased 21% to $2.061 billion. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 51.75 and operating expenses for the 2012 year increased to $515.0 million with Operating income jumping by 20.6% to $550.6 million.

Net income for the twelve months of 2012 rose 18.8% to $340.0 million, or $1.86 per diluted share, compared with $286.2 million, or $1.53 per diluted share, for 2011.

Shares of the company are up 7%.

Limited Brands, Inc. (NYSE:LTD) resealed its current quarter and fiscal year forecast below analyst expectation.

Is LTD a Strong Buying Opportunity After The Recent Slump? Find out Here

The retailer forecast earnings of 40 cents to 45 cents a share for the first quarter and $2.92 to $3.12 a share for the year. Analysts, on average, had forecast 51 cents for the quarter and $3.24 for the year.

For the last quarter the company earned net income of $411.4 million, or $1.39 a share compared with $359.4 million or $1.17 a share, a year earlier.

Excluding charges for asset impairments, earnings were $1.76 a share just ahead of Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S analyst forecast of $1.74 a share.

Shares of LTD are up about 4%.

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