"It was a soft quarter, reflective of the choppiness of the M.&A.
The stock hit a 52-week low last summer when the company preannounced a soft quarter.
One analyst said revenues were lower than his expectations and the results represented "another soft quarter".
While the company regularly talks down its future prospects, analysts said that this guidance was more conservative than usual, especially since it came after a soft quarter.
"It's been a very soft quarter," he says.
And you'll notice that 10 Dow components have preannounced softer quarters to date [Dec.
"We were operating in the softest fourth quarter in four or five years".
The Americans are no longer na? or pretenders in this great tournament, but they also missed a chance to advance in the softest quarter of the draw.
But then "the wind changed into a softer quarter; the clouds were carried off; the sun appeared; it was summer again".
"We need to see an uptick in demand, both in U.S. consumers and in Europe, and that is hard to see coming into the first quarter of the year, which is the seasonally softest quarter.
