Fourth Quarter | featured news

Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s controversial comments on “biblical” marriage last summer and the uproar that followed didn’t dampen the Atlanta company’s annual sales. The fast food giant, the nation’s second-largest chicken chain, ended 2012 with $4.6 billion in sales — up 14 percent from $4.1 billion a year earlier. The company also opened 96 news stores, four more than the year before.

Hershey's fourth-quarter profit rose 5.4% as the candy maker posted higher revenue and saw strength in all of its categories.

Facebook Inc doubled its mobile advertising from the previous quarter as the world's No. 1 social network expanded its business aggressively onto handheld devices.

After only selling 3.06 million units of the Wii U console through December 2012, Nintendo is cutting its sales projections for FY 2013 by 17 percent.

Facebook has faced a few controversies in the past few months, including controversies over privacy policies on its own site and on its photo-sharing site, Instagram. Still, the company has bolstered investor confidence with a series of moves that seem to lay the groundwork for Facebook to make more advertising dollars, particularly in the all-important mobile space.

Fiat SpA, the Italian automaker that controls Chrysler LLC, saw fourth quarter earnings more than double thanks to strong North American sales that more than compensated for a weak performance in Europe.

Amazon.com Inc shares hit a record on Tuesday after it reported better-than-expected quarterly profit, fueled by the growth of higher-margin businesses during the fiercely competitive holiday quarter.

Harley-Davidson is more than just an iconic American brand. It is also a surprisingly good reflection of the forces shaping the U.S. economy as a whole. The motorcycle company reported its fourth quarter earnings Tuesday, and the details show a firm that is as typically American as the roaring sound of a hog on the highway.

Toy maker Hasbro says its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of weaker-than-expected demand over the holidays.

The bottom is falling out of economic forecasters' expectations for U.S. economic growth in the final months of 2012. And if some of the more bearish estimates prove accurate, it will be the weakest rate of growth since the start of 2011.