Price damage to pork could be too much for hog producers to overcome. FBI investigating FRE losses. Financial Times says timing of GS bond issue raises questions. FSLR blows through consensus expectation; Jefferies rates Buy ($215 target), Kaufmann rates Sell ($85 target). ESRX target raised to $75 by Jefferies. Unemployment: Initial claims 631k, 9k less [...]
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This morning I saw the that Sun Trust / Robinson Humphrey upgraded Bob Evens and my first thought was “Why?”
Bob Evans isn’t bad, it’s just over-priced truckstop food, quality is consistant, flavors are never too spicy or anything like that, never more that a half mile from the highway or motel plaza, old people love [...]
DNDN data seen as meaningful; upgraded by Needham ($38 target) and Brean Murray ($35 target). MT to offer $3 billion in stock and co9nvertible notes. BAC shareholder vote too close to call, Lewis believed to likely still be in charge, chairman and CEO positions may be split. Government could possibly fire BAC or C CEOs [...]
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“No person shall be held to answer tor a capital, or otnerwise iniamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due _.;….. _ process of law;, nor shall private property be taken for public..use, without just compe
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ARLP downgraded by Wachovia & Raymond James. KLIC misses, guides higher. New Zealand and Israel hit by swine flu. IBM raises dividend 10%, authorizes $3 billion stock buy back. LEAP initiated at Buy by Soleil, $48 target. Treasury deparment to force incentives on mortgage servicers, owners. FO guides higher, reaffirms guidance, cuts dividends from [...]
Airlines downgraded by UBS. Treasuries and infectious disease related stocks getting boost from swine flu fears; travel stocks, pork producers, meat processors being hurt by same. VZ beats. AAPL and VZ discuss iPhone deal. Citigroup downgrades Canadian rails. Jefferies cuts target for ACI to $19 from $30. WFC downgraded by Rochdale. Citigroup break up Nikko [...]
SPWRA downgraded by Merriman and Macquarie after missing; Credit Suisse cuts target to $20. London, Germany & France all trading up ~1% or so. XRX beats on net, revs in-line, guides lower. Nikkei closes down 1.6%. F beats on net and revs. HRB reports processing 3.1% fewer returns this year. Citigroup upgrades RIMM, target $100. [...]
Credit cards are pretty straight forwarded. When you open a revolving debt account, you agree to a lot of small print, if you didn’t read it, it is not the government’s problem.
If the card issuer cuts the cardholder’s limit or raised their interest rate, it is because the cardholder did something to trigger trigger the [...]
Initial unemployment claims on the mark, prior revised 3k higher, 4 week moving average down 3k, continuing claims up 1.5% to record 6.137m. AAPL a Buy at Citigroup, target $152, believes it “has the fundamentals to weather difficult macroeconomic environment”. AAPL downgraded by RBC, Morgan Keegan, & Collins Stewart. CS up on trading gains. FCX [...]
BA misses and lowers earnings guidance. T earnings in-line, revs miss. TROW beats, revs in-line. FSLR target raised to $150 by Citigroup. Godman upgrades F, downgrades IPI. ATI beats on net, misses on revs. FCX misses. FRE CFO found dead – suicide. COF misses, FBR says may need equity, Jefferies believes loss rate will hit [...]
FBR lowers 2009 & 2010 estimates for BAC, expect growth in net charge-offs until mid 2010. DNDN initiates phase 1 trial for D3263. AMTD net in-line; beats on revs. JEF beats on net and revs. ATI downgraded by Citigroup. NTRS makes money, misses on net and revs; stock getting hammered. Goldman upgrades WFT HAL [...]
Goldman upgrades DFS, downgrades COF. Oracle buying JAVA for $9.50 cash. Icahn wants an MGM debt for equity swap. Needham initiates LDK at Hold. C downgraded to Sell by Argus, expects continued credit losses and a loss of $2.00 per share for 2009; Goldman says C’s credit losses are growing at a rapid rate, maintains [...]
CHK curtails production of some gas wells. ISRG suspends previous guidance, says service revenue should grow ~35% but Oppenheimer sees no supporting evidence. Ichan wants MGM to file bankruptcy. MAT misses on net and revs. Asia & Europe both trade up overnight. Fitch downgrades LNC debt. US video game sales fell 17% in March; GMS [...]
FBR pessimistic on consumer credit & card issuers. Sandler O’Neill downgrades COF & AXP. MA down $6. JPM beats on net and revs despite sizable credit card losses. Jamie Dimon: No need to raise capital, we have the ability to pay back TARP funds tomorrow. Jefferies cuts estimates for NYX, lowers target to $20. NYX [...]
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PG raises dividend 10% to 44 cents a quarter. CF determined to acquire AGU for $35 + 1 CF share per AGU share. VIP – Moscow postpones Telenor decision. “Cash for clunkers” as written would see little success. DNDN – FDA may request additional confirmatory trial before approval of Provenge. GS downgraded by JPM and [...]
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FNM chief tapped to head gov rescue plan. SEC to review whether BAC broke the law with MER bonuses. Overnight, Hang Seng up 5%, Nikkei down 1%. YHOO MSFT partnership would be mutually beneficial. FBR & CS raise targets for GS after positive Q1 results. ISRG upgraded at Lazard. Chain store sales down 0.4% YoY [...]
10:26 DNDN Dendreon: IMPACT results described as positive, but see no data and too much potential for this to be spin of unimpressive data – Brean Murray (20.80 +13.45)Brean Murray says DNDN issued a release indicating that the final results from its Phase 3 IMPACT trial were positive, but has shared no data and [...]
UAE group bidding $21 for TXT. WFC expected to report record earnings. AAPL supposedly paces order for 100 million 8gb flash modules; being sued over touch screen. Bank of England Governor considering forcing separation of investment banking from retail banking; holds rates at 0.5%. South Korea keeps rate at 2%. Barclays sells iShares for $4.4b. [...]
US to bail out life insurance companies. CVX could face billion dollar bill for damage to Equadorian jungles. Chinese exports down significantly in March. CTX & PHM merging. Asia down ~3% over night. Europe down a percent. GRMN downgraded, target cut to $20. Mortgage applications up 4.4%. FDO net and revs in-line; guides higher. JOSB [...]
Europe down ~1%. Asia mixed, no major movement. ED downgraded. SPWRA ests and tgt lowered – contract with XCEL to build 17MW solar power plant in Colorado. AXP upgraded by Citi. MEE initiated at Buy with $24 tgt. Chain store sales up 0.6% – ICSC/GoldmanSachs; up 0.4% – Redbook. Software stocks upgraded by RBC. RBC [...]
GS may sell shares to pay back government loan. Calyon initiates BAC JPM PNC CMA WFC at underperform; BBT KEY STI USB FITB at sell. Toxic asset plan application deadline extended to April 24. Work continues on short-sale rule re-institution. SLM to return 2000 jobs to US. LNC to be stressed as debt comes due. [...]
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Asia up minimally, Europe mixed. SIA says chip sales have declined MoM and YoY – positively effecting solar as poli-Si prices have fallen 15-20%. FBR: Benefits from FASB changes overstated. JPM downgrades MON. ESLR initiated at sell. IBM $9.95 a share for JAVA. Office vacancies hit 15.2%. Pres of Brasil supports alternative to US$. JPM [...]
Unbelievable. “Too big to fail” means everyone else is on the hook.
This is so wrong.
If something is “too big to fail”, them we seriously need to take a look at anti-trust legislation. “Too big to fail” is in no way competitive. “Too big to fail” can not exist in a free market.
I like Fauquier Banshares (FBSS) below $15, it only has an ADV of 1000 shares so be careful bidding. Lloyds Banking Group plc (LYG) at $7.25 is a good buy. My target for both is $25-$28 range.
September 17, 2009Personally I thought the idea of people paying to use coin counting machines was insane. But I was wrong. They put those Coinstar (CSTR) machines in and the people came. There were lines at the supermarket to use it. I couldn’t believe it. But that was then. The “change” must have run out. I haven’t seen one of those machines used in some time. Coinstar does have other machines and an investment in Red Box, but the easy money days of counting change appear to be over.
Costco (COST) saw decreased sales this quarter and missed their numbers, but the real reason I may downgrade — they are starting a trial at two NYC area stores to accept food stamps. Costco, because it charges a membership fee, is like an oasis in the urban jungle. If they start accepting food stamps, it will make it no different than any other large city retailer, think Target or K-Mart.
Mr. Gioia points to the Costco on Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, Queens, in his district. First opened in 1996, the store is within walking distance for nearly 30,000 residents of three public housing projects: the Queensbridge, Ravenswood and Astoria Homes. “Why Doesn’t Costco Accept Food Stamps?”New York Times, November 11, 2008.
How could anyone not want to shop with them? One of Costco’s reason for never applying to sell food stamps is the $50 yearly fee. Considering the government uses debit cards for the food stamp program so that recipients aren’t shamed, they will probably cover the cost of the membership.
May 28, 2009With the advent of commodity based ETFs and their growth in popularity, gold now has the opportunity to be treated in the same manner as a tech stock.
Investment in gold is nearing 50% of all gold consumption, and one third of that is ETFs. The price of gold has been kind to ETFs. And ETFs have been kind to the price of gold. Investors invest in ETFs as the price of gold climbs. With gold showing recent weakness, I believe that we will begin to see investors “profit take” thus forcing ETFs to divest ….. divest …. liquidate ….. cash markets will have to absorb this inventory.
The skew on the puts currently reflects anticipation of increasing implied volatility. If the spot price continues breaking through levels of support look for an increase in implied volatility in gold ETF put options across all months.
March 4, 2009Just buy it. UBSI @ $15.32
CEO said forget the TARP funds.
CEO is a West Virginian who just bought more stock than he makes in a year.
Long 9 Sep Corn @ 377¼
vs.
Short 4 Sep Beans @ 860¾
Long 5 MS @ $20.00
Short 1 GS @ $80.00
Taken off now results in a net of $23.25 in the cash register. Cha-ching.
Price Target: $220
Position closed March 5, 2009: $220.00
January 7, 2009It’s always time to buy something, but what (is it time to buy now)?
Here’s what I like:
Genuine Parts Company (GPC) $37.35 – - 39¢ quarterly dividend
Equitable Resources Inc. (EQT) $32.20 – - 22¢ quarterly dividend
Olin Corp. (OLN) $16.95 – - 20¢ quarterly dividend
And here’s one I love:
BP Plc. (BP) $45.25 – - 84¢ quarterly dividend (this is almost a 7.5% dividend folks)
All have healthy dividends, strong stable balance sheets, and room for growth.
December 30, 2008Morgan Stanley: $16.00
Goldman Sachs: $73.00
The spread we bought for a credit of $3.25 is now at $7.00
November 10, 2008Long 5 shares of Morgan Stanley(MS) @ $26.25
vs.
Short 1 share of Goldman Sachs(GS) @ $134.50
Net cost: – $3.25
Can’t sell stock? Buy a deep put or sell a deep call for the GS leg.
Coca-Cola (KO) – Sell ($53.39)
Chesapeke Energy (CHK) – Buy ($38.57)
Alliance Resource Partners (ARLP) – Buy ($33.57)
Joy Global (JOYG) – Buy ($51.55)
Goldman Sachs (GS) – Sell ($108.00)
Morgan Stanley (MS) – Buy ($22.55)
Fifth Third (FITB) – Buy ($15.96)
I have my own research methods. Don’t ask.
September 19, 2008