For the quarter ended Dec. 31, profit increased to $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share, from $2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share in the same period last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had forecast a profit of 46 cents per share.

Revenue rose 31 percent to $16.37 billion from $12.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, ahead of analysts' prediction of $15.95 billion in sales.

The quarter was particularly strong when compared with a year ago, when Microsoft deferred more than $1 billion in revenue due to delays in getting Windows Vista, its newest operating system, to consumers.

Nucor Corp.

The second-largest U.S.-based steelmaker posted fourth-quarter profit that exceeded analyst estimates as the company increased shipments and raised prices.

Net income fell 9.9 percent to $364.8 million, or $1.26 a share, from $405.1 million, or $1.34, a year earlier. The earnings topped the $1.21 average estimate of 13 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

AT&T Inc.

The telecommunications company earned $3.1 billion in the fourth quarter as its wireless and broadband businesses did well.

AT&T's net income for the quarter came to 51 cents per share. During the same period in 2006, the company earned $1.9 billion, or 50 cents per share. The results that quarter did not include the earnings of BellSouth because AT&T's takeover wasn't completed until the final days of the period.

Revenue in the most recent quarter nearly doubled to $30.35 billion from $15.9 billion, mostly due to the takeover of BellSouth.

Excluding the effects of acquisitions, the company would have earned 71 cents per share during the fourth quarter, in line with the expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. The company earned $11.95 billion in 2007, amounting to $1.95 per share. In the previous year, the company earned $7.36 billion, or $1.89 per share.

Motorola

Motorola's new CEO Greg Brown spooked investors Wednesday with a gloomy assessment of the cell phone maker's inability to turn around its ailing handset division, saying a recovery will take longer than expected.

Shares nosedived almost 23 percent to a 4 1/2 -year low on the company's outlook for worse-than-anticipated first-quarter results and Brown's acknowledgment that Motorola is short on promising new products.

Motorola also reported results from the fourth quarter that were about as weak as analysts had feared, with net profit falling 84 percent and mobile phone sales down 38 percent. Brown said global market share - already down to 13 percent late last year from 23 percent at the end of 2006 - is continuing to drop as Nokia and other competitors carve into its sales.

Motorola's $100 million profit was its first since the first quarter, albeit small by Motorola's historical standards. It amounted to 4 cents per share and was down from a year-earlier profit of $623 million, or 25 cents per share. Sales fell to $9.65 billion from $11.79 billion.

eBay Inc.

Meg Whitman, 51, confirmed that she will soon step down as CEO of the online auction company that went from wobbly startup to multibillion-dollar household name in her 10-year tenure.

In reporting its fourth-quarter earnings, the company said profit was $530.9 million, or 39 cents per share. In the same period a year earlier, eBay earned $346.5 million, 25 cents per share. Revenue rose 27 percent to $2.18 billion.

United Technologies Corp.

The industrial conglomerate's fourth-quarter earnings rose 23 percent as broadbased sales increased, led by its aerospace unit Sikorsky and elevator maker Otis.

Net income rose to $1.06 billion, or $1.08 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31 from $865 million, or 87 cents per share, in the year-ago period, exceeding estimates. Revenue jumped 15 percent, to $14.71 billion, surpassing Wall Street estimates.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.

The world's second-largest copper producer said fourth-quarter profit fell 2.8 percent and missed analysts' expectations as costs from the acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corp. increased. The shares tumbled.

Net income declined to $414 million, or $1.05 a share, from $426 million, or $1.99, a year earlier. Sales more than doubled, to $4.18 billion. Earnings per share excluding some items were $1.36, less than the $1.73 average forecast of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Pfizer Inc.

The world's largest drug maker beat Wall Street earnings expectations for the fourth quarter, raised its 2008 revenue outlook and said it is on track to rebuild its product pipeline.

The outlook came as Pfizer continues with a restructuring plan that cut 11,000 jobs and closed eight facilities in 2007. Its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor is edging closer to patent expiration in 2010.

Profit fell 70 percent from a year-ago period that included hefty gains on the sale of the company's consumer health business, but adjusted profit and sales both topped Wall Street expectations. Pfizer earned $2.88 billion, or 42 cents per share, down from $9.45 billion, or $1.32 per share, a year ago. Revenue climbed 4 percent, to $13.07 billion.

Abbott Laboratories

The pharmaceutical and medical products company reported a $1.2 billion fourth-quarter profit on the strength of strong drug sales worldwide, capping a year which saw international sales account for a majority of its business for the first time.

Blockbuster anti-inflammatory drug Humira led the way with a 43 percent jump in sales from a year earlier to top $3 billion in sales for 2007.

The fourth-quarter gain represented a turnaround from a loss a year earlier, when results were reduced by hefty acquisition charges for Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the company's net income amounted to 77 cents per share and compared with a loss of $476.2 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same period of 2006. Revenue rose to $7.22 billion from $6.22 billion, exceeding analysts' estimates.

ConocoPhillips

Record oil prices at the end of 2007 contributed to a 37 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit, even as the third-largest U.S. oil company produced less crude and natural gas than a year earlier. Still, the company's shares, like those of other oil majors, fell Wednesday amid fears a slowing economy could diminish demand for oil.

ConocoPhillips' net income rose to $4.37 billion, or $2.71 per share, compared with $3.2 billion, or $1.91 per share, during the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased to $52.7 billion from $41.5 billion.

General Dynamics Corp.

The defense contractor said higher sales of combat vehicles to the Army and corporate jets pushed fourth-quarter earnings up 42 percent, but its 2008 outlook fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Net income jumped to $579 million, or $1.42 per share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, from $408 million, or $1 per share, in the year-ago period. Sales rose 15 percent, to $7.52 billion, but missed Wall Street's estimate of $7.55 billion.

DuPont

The giant chemicals company reported a decline in fourth-quarter earnings, but said earnings rose sharply when one-time items that boosted the previous year's profit were excluded.

Net income dropped 37 percent to $545 million, or 60 cents per share, from $871 million, or 94 cents per share, in the final quarter of 2006. Excluding a series of gains, earnings rose 27 percent, from 45 cents to 57 cents per share, exceeding estimates on Wall Street. U.S. sales rose 5 percent, depressed by the weak housing and automotive markets but boosted by higher prices. Total net sales rose 11 percent, to almost $7 billion.

Texas Instruments

The largest maker of chips for mobile phones said its fourth-quarter profit rose 13 percent on strong sales of analog and digital signal processing chips. The company posted net income of $756 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with $668 million, or 45 cents per share, in the last quarter last year. Revenue rose 3 percent, to $3.56 billion.