8:30AM Vail, Stewart Enterprise and AM Castle reported rising profit.
Stewart Enterprises Inc, (STEIE: chart), funeral services and cemetery operator, reported Q1 earnings of 8 cents a share, swinging from a loss of $1.33 a share a year-ago. Adjusted income for Q1 in 2006 and 2005 would have been 9 cents a share and 8 cents a share, respectively. In Q1 the company announced sales increased 3% to $126.6 million.

Vail Resorts (MTN: chart) reported Q2 earnings of $1.12 a share, up from 89 cents a share in the year-earlier period. If not for certain one-time items, earnings would have increased to $1.15 a share from last year''s 90 cents a share, beating analysts’ expectations for earnings of 94 cents a share. Revenue advanced 8.8%, as a 15% increase in mountain revenue and 23% growth in real estate revenue helped offset a 25% decline in lodging revenue. The company added it set a stock repurchase program of up to 3 million shares of common stock.

AM Castle & Co, (CAS: chart), specialty metals and plastics distributor, reported that Q4 profit more than tripled to 39 cents a share, from 12 cents in the year-ago period. Sales for Q4 advanced to $227.3 million from $197.8 million in the same quarter last year.

Westar Energy Inc., (WR: chart), electric utility, reported that Q4 profit totaled 8 cents per share, down 92% from $1.03 per basic share, a year ago, as the company recorded a large charge against year-ago results that benefited from a gain. Q4 incorporated a 49 cent per share charge to reverse gains connected with fuel supply contracts for its generating units. Q4 last year was lifted by a gain of 84 cents per share from discontinued operations. If not for some items, the company earned 3 cents per basic share. Sales rose 15%, helped by cooler weather and higher wholesale power prices.

Computer Horizons Corp, (CHRZ: chart), computer services company, reported that Q4 net loss grew to $39.5 million, or $1.24 a share, from $24.3 million due to a 2.7% decline in. Q4 loss incorporated special charges of $36.6 million connected with restructuring and losses on the sale of investments. The company added that it is set to report modest profitability in Q1 of 2006 in the wake of its restructure.

8:00AM Asian markets gained across the region. New Zealand reached a record high.
Asian-Pacific benchmarks ended higher Monday, boosted by a strong Friday rally on Wall Street and stronger dollar with technology and industrial shares in focus. The Nikkei led gainers, rising 1.5% to 16,361.51 on improved confidence in the economic recovery, despite GDP data showing slightly disappointing figures. Nissan Motor, Toyota Motor and Nomura Holdings stood out among advancers. South Korean Kospi surged to 1.4%, supported by strong automobile and bank stocks. Shanghai Composite rose 1.1% on property stocks and gains in cement companies. Australian All Ordinaries soared 1.3%, lifted by corporate data and strength in overseas markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.6%, although concerns over interest-rate hikes weighed. Stocks in New Zealand hit a record high of 0.8% to 3516.99.

European markets advanced at mid-day dealings as merger-and-acquisition news and speculations sent stocks higher. The German DAX 30 climbed 0.7%, boosted by drug maker Schering which rocketed 23% on a takeover bid by a rival company Merck. The French CAC 40 gained 0.4%, while London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.5%, supported by 22% gain in London Stock Exchange on speculations that U.S. exchanges may start a bidding war for it.