Hot Earnings: The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS), BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP)

Lakeway, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/01/2013 -- 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:-

The Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) shares rose by $1.05 or 3.22% to close at $33.99 after the company posted its strong fourth quarter results and announced of raising its annual dividend by 10 cents to 60 cents for the current year.

Is GPS a Strong After The recent price Movement? Let’s Find out Here

For the last quarter the company earnings increased by 61% to $351 million, or 73 cents per share on revenue of $4.73 billion which jumped 10%.

Analysts expected 71 cents per share on revenue of $4.69 billion, on average.

Revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 5%.

For the fiscal year 2012 net income jumped by 36% to $1.1 billion, on revenue of $15.6 billion, which increased by 7.6%.

Gap's first-quarter dividend of 15 cents per share will be paid on or after May 1 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 10.

The company expects to earn $2.52 per share to $2.60 per share this year in comparison to analysts' consensus estimate of $2.59.

"At the end of the day, we are looking at the consumer and saying we have to continue to give her reasons to buy," Gap CEO Glenn Murphy told investors during a conference call. “We have to bring more and more uniqueness, differentiation and excitement to the business."

BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP) 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico probe did not explore whether decisions by upper-level management or cost cuts had a role in causing the disaster because investigators.

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

Mark Bly, who led the investigation and has served as BP's global head of safety, said his team didn't have enough information to conduct a "systemic evaluation" of what caused the blowout of BP's Macondo well without cooperation from rig owner Transocean Ltd. or other companies that worked on the project.

A BP policy says accident investigations should include attempts to identify any "systemic failures within the management system." Bly, however, said he and then-BP chief executive Tony Hayward got an exception to the policy and decided at the outset not to attempt a broader probe.

While questioning Bly on Wednesday, plaintiffs' attorney Paul Sterbcow read aloud from the report and asked him about its eight "key findings." One of those said BP rig supervisors and Transocean crew members botched a crucial safety test that should have showed them a blowout was brewing.

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