31 – October – 2008 – 24/7 Wall St.

Daily Archives: October 31, 2008

Margin Calls Hit Execs Left & Right (AIV, BSX, CPE, CHK, DNR, LTM, PROV, PHM, SPA, STRL, WSM)

There are many C-Suite executive from Wall Street to main Street that didn’t exactly get their stock priorities right. Many company executives are getting margin calls and are being forced to liquidate their stocks. Some are for stocks in their own company, some are for stocks and general, and some are just forced to sell to meet margin calls for entirely different reasons unrelated to their companies. below is a partial list of margin call victims from this week:

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 8:06 pm in Insider Activity, AIV, BSX, CHK, CPE, DNR, LTM, PHM, PROV, SPA, STRL, WSM

Happy Halloween From 24/7 Wall St. (pic.)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!!!

It is after 6:00 PM and it is now the weekend, so for the lighter side of Wall Street we wanted to wish you a Happy Halloween. It is always important to be safe and responsible, but it’s important in these rough times to still have fun.

-the 24/7 Wall St. team

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 5:06 pm in Entertainment, Halloween

The 52-Week Low Club (CTV)(EK)(PWAV)(BARE)

Commscope (CTV) Downgraded by Baird. Drops to $14.55 from 52-week high of $56.50.

Eastman Kodak (EK) Weak forecast. Sells down to $8.94 from 52-week high of $29.08.

Powerwave (PWAV) Poor earnings and downgrade. The daily double. Plunges to $.78 from 52-week high of $5.52.

Bare Escentuals (BARE) Downgraded after missing earnings estimates.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 2:47 pm in HI/LOW, BARE, CTV, EK, PWAV

Similar Results, Different Outcomes (MDU, MEE)

There are two companies which have reported earnings where the reactions to the same sort of news were entirely different. Here are the reports at MDU Resources (NYSE:MDU) and Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE).

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 10:25 am in Commodities, Earnings, Utilities, MDU, MEE

The Burning Man Visits Ethanol (PEIX, AVR, VSE)

Ethanol stocks have been getting pounded since their IPOs and the sector has lost its luster. Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ:PEIX) was the exception for a while as it has Bill Gates as an investor ahead of the great ethanol boom. But share prices for Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings (NYSE:AVR) and VeraSun Energy Corp. (NYSE:VSE) have fallen so far from their IPO prices that if you looked at a chart without a time period attached you might assume you were looking at any dot-com flame-out from 2000 to 2002. The bloom was off the rose from the beginning.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 9:21 am in Alternative Energy, AVR, PEIX, VSE

Obama fear?

By John Tamny and Rob Arnott for FT Online

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 12.5 per cent on October 29, 1929. Many commentators at the time and later suggested that stocks had simply become overvalued; the subsequent crash a return to normalcy after an overdone equity rally.

Day Trader Alerts (RATE)(THOR)(PWAV)(GKK)

New day trading alerts from VSInvestor

A 33% run-up in Bankrate (RATE), for more details.

Thoratec (THOR) up 12%, details.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 9:06 am in Research, GKK, PWAV, RATE, THOR

Credit Suisse Dims Solar Expectations (JASO, SOL, STP)

Credit Suisse has come out today with a call against the solar sector from its Asian team. It is not downgrades, but the firm slashed its price targets to more in-line levels after these stocks have all sold off sharply

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 8:29 am in Alternative Energy, Analyst Calls, JASO, SOL, STP

Chevron Delivers, But Traders Look Out Of Gas (CVX)

Today we got earnings from oil giant Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX). The company posted earnings of $7.89 billion for the quarter, which translates to $3.85 per share. That is well above the same quarter results from 2007 where the company posted $3.72 billion, or $1.75 per share. It is also well above the analyst target of $3.25 EPS from First Call. There was also close to a 50% gain in revenue to $78.8 billion in revenues.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 8:09 am in Earnings, Oil & Gas, CVX

KBR: A Strictly Cash Business (KBR)

KBR Inc. (NYSE:KBR) reported third quarter earnings before the market opened today. The company posted EPS of $0.44 on revenue of $3 billion, virtually on target with analysts’ estimates of $0.43 EPS and revenue of $2.97 billion. Despite having earnings that were not a disappointment like so many other companies, that is not even the most interesting thing about KBR’s announcement.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 7:58 am in Earnings, Infrastructure, KBR

Chesapeake: When Hedging Pays Off (CHK)

Predictably, as prices for crude oil and natural gas have fallen over the past two months or so, commodity hedges that were once underwater have popped to the surface again. Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE:CHK) offered a prime example in its third quarter report issued after the market closed yesterday.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 7:51 am in Earnings, Oil & Gas, CHK

Early Bird Analyst Upgrades (RATE, BBY, GOL, HIW, IPCS, JAH, PPO)

These are some of the early upgrades and positive calls we are seeing from Wall Street research analysts this Friday morning with about two and a half hours until the open:

Bankrate (RATE) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Best Buy (BBY) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
GOL Linhas (GOL) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Highwoods (HIW) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
iPCS (IPCS) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Jarden (JAH) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Polypore International (PPO) Raised to Outperform at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
October 31, 2008

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 6:04 am in Analyst Calls, BBY, GOL, HIW, IPCS, JAH, PPO, RATE

Early Bird Analyst Downgrades (DO, ESV, HBC, MORN, PPO, PWAV, RDC, TDW, TROW)

These are some of the early analyst downgrades we are seeing from Wall Street this Friday morning with about two and a half hours until the open:

Diamond Offshore (DO) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Ensco (ESV) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
HSBC (HBC) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Morningstar (MORN) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Polypore International (PPO) Cut to Hold at BB&T.
Powerwave (PWAV) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Rowan Companies (RDC) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Tidewater (TDW) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
T. Rowe Price (TROW) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
October 31, 2008

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 6:00 am in Analyst Calls, DO, ESV, HBC, MORN, PPO, PWAV, RDC, TDW, TROW

The Economy Crumbles Even Video Games Go To Hell

In a recession, people are supposed to be able to buy soap, hamburgers, beer, and video games. This downturn may be worse than most. Electronic Arts (ERTS), posted a net loss of $310 million and said it would lay-off 6% of its workers.

It is stunning to imagine that the maker of iconic games like "Madden NFL" and "Spore" could be doing poorly, but consumer spending may be worse than even the federal government numbers show.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 5:27 am in Video Games, ERTS, F, GM, PG, T

Barclays (BCS) Shows Why Taxpayer Bailouts Are Junk

Barclays (BCS) turned down cash from the UK government. Unlike most large US banks, it did not want to trade independence for money. Companies such as Goldman Sachs (GS), JP Morgan (JPM), and Citigroup (C) will now have the Treasury looking through their underwear drawers for excessive executive compensation, accounting practices, and ski trips.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 5:08 am in Banking, BAC, BCS, C, JPM, NCC, WB, WFC

The Justice Department Kicks Yahoo! To The Curb

Google (GOOG) got Yahoo! (YHOO) into talks about a partnership as a cruel joke. It gave the portal company hope that it can increase its revenue though a joint sales venture, then made a secret call to The Justice Department to say the arrangement was a monopoly.

It probably would not have made a huge amount of money for the world’s largest search firm. For Yahoo!, it looked like the last life boat an the ship. Once gone, it was a swim to shore, no matter how long that distance might be.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 4:47 am in Internet, GOOG, MSFT, YHOO

GM (GM) Rolls Snake Eyes

So much for the plan that GM (GM) would get loot from the Federal Reserve to buy Chrysler. Sources say that the administration will no not put cash into an auto rescue deal. That is a slap at Michigan congressmen and the governor of that state, all of whom wrote form letters to Bernanke and Paulson asking for help. Perhaps, if they had not all used the same signature, it would have looked better.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 4:22 am in Mergers and Buy Outs, GM, TM

Media Digest 10/21/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

According to Reuters, the economy contracted in the third quarter as consumer spending dropped sharply.

Reuters writes that Fidelity Magellan Fund bought shares in big banks in September including Bank of America (BAC) and JP Morgan (JPM).

Reuters reports that a merger between GM (GM) and Chrysler may die because the administration will not provide funding.

Posted on: October 31, 2008 – 2:48 am in Press Digest, AIG, BAC, BCS, ERTS, F, GM, GOOG, GSK, JAVA, JPM, S, TM, YHOO

Asia Markets 10/31/2008 (HBC)(LFC)

Markets in Asia fell sharply.

The Nikkei dropped 5% to 8,577.

The Hang Seng fell 5.2% to 13,586. HSBC (HBC) and China Life (LFC) both dropped sharply.

The Shanghai Composite was down 2% to 1,729.

Data from Reuters.