3 Half-Full or Half-Empty Battles BP Is Still Fighting

NEW YORK (TheStreet) --BP is doing many things right in trying to put the Macondo oil spill behind it, but some of the decisions made by the company continue to send mixed signals to investors. Three examples from Tuesday's fourth-quarter earnings report show that for each step forward taken by BP, there seems to be room for the market to interpret it as a step backward. BP Increases Dividend, but Not Enough? BP is increasing its quarterly dividend to 8 cents from 7 cents, a 14% increase. A dividend increase was one of the catalysts that investors were looking for ahead of the earnings report. BP came through, but was the dividend increase short of investor expectations? "The dividend raise may not have been as much as some people were thinking it would be," said Raymond James analyst Stacy Hudson. BP reports a solid fourth quarter, but continues to send the market mixed signals in key areas of concern for investors. ... Click to view a price quote on BP. Click to research the Energy industry.

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