Although they probably didn’t dance in the streets, analysts were probably still ecstatic that Coca Cola’s earnings exceeded their estimates. That’s as rare as lunar eclipse these days on Wall Street.

Foreign expansion pushes revenue growth

One area where KO excelled was in growing foreign markets. The company say double digit sales growth in China, Eastern Europe, and India.

The company earned $995 million, which translated to 43 cents per share, in the quarter that ended December 31st 2008. This was down from $1.21 billion, or 52 cents per share, in the 2007 period.

“Our performance in the fourth quarter was very solid,” said CEO Muhtar Kent in a statement.

Overall revenue was lower at $7.13 billion from $7.33 billion a year ago. This represented a 3% decline in sales.

The real money’s in water

Coca-Cola has done an excellent job in recent years marketing water. H20 is a big hit with consumers, and adds to the bottom line. But water wasn’t the only product that sold well.

Overall unit case volume grew 4 percent during the quarter, and Coca-Cola, the flagship product, managed a 2% gain. Even in troubled times, people still wanted their coke.

The company has recently opened the World of Coca Cola in Atlanta to showcase company history.

Coca-Cola is still the real thing when it comes to business.

Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis sent a prepared statement to Congress yesterday in which he defended BAC’s record, and said the company is loaning money.

“Notwithstanding these headwinds, the new loans we made in the fourth quarter included: $59 billion in commercial loans; Nearly $7 billion in commercial real estate loans; $45 billion in mortgages; Nearly $8 billion in domestic card and unsecured consumer loans; More than $5 billion in home equity products; About $2 billion in consumer Dealer Financial Services (auto, marine, RV loans). And nearly $1 billion in new credit to more than 47,000 new Small Business customers,” wrote Lewis.

All the heads of major banks are expected to tell Congress the exact same thing: we are lending to credit worthy customers. With the average consumer up in arms about the deteriorating condition of the economy, bank heads have become an obvious target.

Congress is also expected to delve into the controversial subject of executive compensation. They’ll attempt to learn why bank executives are being paid so highly when many people blame them for the economic meltdown in the first place.

At Bank of America, more reports are emerging that employee morale is hitting a low point. The company is currently paring 35,000 jobs throughout its division, and most people aren’t sure if they’re next on the chopping block.

Lewis has been busy communicating with workers about the rumors that are swirling around the company.

“It is one thing to say that in an interview. But I know that talk can be cheap. Which is why I — along with several of our directors and executive officers — have continued to purchase Bank of America stock over the past few weeks. I bought another 200,000 shares last week. Of course, I am not recommending nor encouraging anyone inside or outside the company to buy Bank of America stock. I only hope my actions speak for my confidence in our company, and in all of you,” Lewis wrote.

Lewis and insiders have been buying up stock, but it hasn’t done much to restore confidence from investors or employees. This week promises to be an extremely volatile one for BAC.

The lender’s goodwill, or value booked if the price of an acquisition exceeds the fair value of assets, may be wiped out by auditors, Bill Carcache of Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller said today in a research note. Capital One, rated “in line” by Carcache, reports fourth-quarter results tomorrow.

“It’s an increasingly difficult environment to justify the value of those assets on your balance sheet,” Carcache said in a telephone interview. Tatiana Stead, spokeswoman for Capital One, didn’t return a telephone call seeking comment.

Capital One shares are already down 42% in the past twelve months as hardly anyone is bullish about their prospects. Their profits have been tanking each quarter as more and more people get behind on their credit cards. With unemployment numbers through the roof, it’s doubtful a major improvement in their situation will be happening any time soon.

The $12.8 billion in assets were purchased in a time when the company had a very bullish outlook on the credit industry, and took over rivals. Now those assets are becoming virtually worthless as time marches on.

Meat sales are down due to the general economic malaise, plus commodity prices in 2008 pushed margins to a thin level.

“After seven years of helping lead or leading the world’s largest meat company, I have decided it is in both my best interest personally, and the best interest of the company for me to move on and pursue other interests,” Bond said in a statement.

It’s not clear from the statement whether the board had a hand in pushing Bond out, but clearly the poor numbers reported by Tyson Foods in the last quarter couldn’t have helped his standing with the company.

Or, he took an advantageous moment to bail out of a business that is facing a number of pressures.

A recent display of bad form occurred during the “Bowl Games.” Companies that have accepted billions from our government were still advertising during the Bowl Games, a move that didn’t sit well with many viewers.

“Some of the advertising folks at these firms might think it’s important to put their corporate brand on public events, but taxpayers might think they’re being taken for a ride,” said Pete Sepp, vice president for policy and communications at the National Taxpayers Union.

Bailed out banks are big ballers

This is only the tip of the iceberg. A bigger conflict of interest would be that these same companies are still lobbying the government, despite getting public funds. Should companies that have failed so enormously be allowed to shape public policy? And if companies aren’t lending money to Americans, then why bother spending huge money on ads?

That’s the exact question that Republican Scott Garrett posed.

“The irony is these guys aren’t lending to people, so what are they advertising for?” Mr. Garrett said.

Bank leaders could care less

Of course you can’t actually expect leaders of the nation’s banks to feel guilty about advertising while accepting bailout cash.

“For the last several years this has been part of an integrated marketing strategy and no taxpayer-funded TARP money was used for it,” said Citi spokesman Luis Rosero.

The auto industy has a huge base of lobbyists

Now that the US auto industry has been bailed out, will the still be allowed to lobby against fuel efficiency laws as they’ve done for decades? The auto makers have been so in love with gas guzzling vehicles for so long now that they automatically fight any push for greater fuel efficiency, which would also reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

Now that bailout funds have been dispersed to keep the auto makers in business, shouldn’t we as taxpayers expect that they should be allowed to exert less pressure on policy in Washington? Whether they do or not will be interesting as it concerns Barack Obama. Obama has pledge greater fuel efficiency on the campaign trail, and now that the government he represents is an investor in the “Big Three” auto makers, he’s in a position to push them to greater change.

Whether he does so successfully may end up being contingent on the power of the auto makers lobbying efforts. Personally, I’d like to see these companies lose any right to lobby now that they’re being “bailed out” by public funds.

Bailout insanity full speed ahead

There doesn’t appear to be any temperance ahead for any of the bailed out companies. In fact, taxpayer dollars are now being used to fund takeovers. That’s right, several banks are already in the process of using TARP funds to acquire rivals.

“As we see this economy shake out, there are going to be some that make it and some that don’t make it,” said Alan B. White, PlainsCapital’s chairman and chief executive. “And there are going to be good opportunities that people are going to be able to take advantage of. I hope I’m one of those.”

It turns out some companies that received bailout funds didn’t “need the money” and are now looking to use it to make higher returns.

“Some of the banks that have received the money don’t need it but decided they would go ahead and take it since it was available,” said Robert L. Clarke, a senior partner at Bracewell & Giuliani in Houston who was comptroller of the currency under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. “But it has not changed their view of the risk of making loans.”

So even though these banks are willing to take money that they don’t need, they have no intention of loaning it back out to beleaguered consumers.

The bailout of the financial industry has left out one big component: the consumer. Consumers can’t expect even the slightest bit of credit reform until 2010. So in 2009, you can expecte bailed out banks to overcharge and abuse consumers in every while possible, all the while using TARP funds to take over rivals and lobby the government. Only in America.

GMAC has long been the financing arm of General Motors and government regulators feared that losing GMAC would further threaten the health of General Motors. The government also put a massive cash infusion into General Motors in the past seven days.

GMAC is strictly obligated to make payments on the interest. If they fail to do so for six consecutive quarters, the Federal Government will replace two of their board members with two G-men.

GMAC also loses some exclusive financing deals they’ve had with General Motors. So far there’s no guess on how that would hurt future profitability. Right now profits are off in the future, as both GM and GMAC fight for survival. Car sales worldwide have slowed, and in particular they’ve stalled out in the mature markets of the USA, Japan, and Europe.

I think it’s safe to say we’ll many incentives being offered to anyone who can get approved for credit. With the Federal Funds rate as low as it is, the government is doing everything to jump start the beleaguered consumer credit market.

Whether it will be enough remains to be seen.

The U.S. Treasury is expected to transfer $9.3 billion to General Motors and $4 billion to Chrysler, but Mark Zandi, chief economist with Moody’s Economy.com, predicts that over the next few years taxpayers will pay a total of $75-$125 billion to keep the Big Three out of bankruptcy.

Even though the companies are receiving money, it doesn’t mean they’ve lived up to the requirements of the bailout. In fact, the UAW isn’t going along with the re-structuring that’s required as part of the deal.

The current amount of money paid to GM today ($9.3 billion) is only thought to be enough to keep them alive through February. Without a major increase in auto sales, which seems unlikely in the coming few months, most analysts are already expecting they’ll keep coming back for more government cheese. Some say the bailout of the U.S automotive industry will probably cost taxpayers at least $100 billion.

Kuwait yesterday scrapped a deal to buy a 50 percent stake in Dow Chemical’s plastics-making unit. Rohm & Haas, a maker of materials used in paints and electronics, fell 6.3 percent to 44.33 euros in German composite trading. Midland, Michigan-based Dow Chemical declined 2 percent to the equivalent of $18.96.

The joint venture was a key part of Dow Chemical Chief Executive Officer Andrew Liveris’s plan to reduce the company’s reliance on commodity products and gain access to lower-cost petroleum, used to make chemicals. Dow now might face a cash shortfall to complete the purchase of Philadelphia-based Rohm & Haas it agreed to in July, analysts said.

Now analysts think the deal won’t be done because Dow can’t secure that kind of cash, especially in the current operating environment. The deal had been heavily criticized in Kuwait as being too risky.

Rohm and Haas issued a statement saying the deal isn’t dead just yet. Dow will be scrambling for find the financing in future days.

“American Express expects to issue and sell to the Treasury preferred stock of approximately 3.39 billion dollars and warrants to purchase shares of common stock for up to 15 percent of that amount,” the company said.

The deal represents very low cost capital to American Express. The preferred shares will pay a return of 5% for the first five years. Last month American Express was granted the right to become a commercial bank.

Standard & Poor’s cut American Express’ long-term debt rating last week and at least three equity analysts this month have recommended selling the shares as higher unemployment and a decline in consumer spending threaten earnings.

Card issuers, along with securities firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., insurers like Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and commercial lender CIT Group Inc., sought status as bank holding companies to tap the government’s $700 billion financial industry rescue package. CIT said today its request for $2.33 billion won preliminary approval from the U.S.

American Express customers will be expected to continue to pay their bills while the company converts to bank status.

The numbers were much worse than most analysts expected.

Either way, the results were substantially worse than what analysts were anticipating. Consensus estimates were for a loss of $298 million, or 34 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Just a month ago, analysts were widely expecting Morgan Stanley to report a narrow profit for the quarter. But they steadily lowered their earnings expectations for the firm given the ongoing volatility in the financial markets.

The quarter was almost universally bad for the company who lost across almost every segment they operated in. It’s also a bad year for Morgan Stanley employees, who will see their bonus pool halved.

Right now Morgan Stanley is looking to add deposits to its’ array of financial resources, because traditional sources have dried up. Yesterday rival Goldman Sachs announced a $2.1 billion quarterly loss. The tough times for Wall Street firms continues.