Satyam Computer (SAY) Plans to buy another company send stock diving. Drops to $5.05 from 52-week high of $29.84.
KKR Financial (KFN) Plans to replace CEO on top of poor performance. Drops to $.60 from 52-week high of $16.78.
Zix (ZIXI) No news, just a bad day. Falls to $1.11 from 52-week high of $5.30.
Douglas A. McIntyre
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has reconfirmed its December 2 earnings outlook of $0.50 to $0.52 EPS excluding charges and $0.36 to $0.42 including charges); it still sees full-year 2008 earnings of $1.78 to $1.84 EPS from $185 billion in revenue.
But here is where this gets interesting. GE is eliminating its policy of issuing quarterly guidance and will now provide a framework for annual operating earnings. It will also continue to run the Consumer & Industrial segment as part of its portfolio.
The FOMC voted, and the Fed Funds Rate has now been given a TARGET RANGE of 0% to 0.25%.
The Discount Rate was cut 0.75% and is now at 0.50%.
Some of the statements are as follows:
Turning coal into natural gas is not brand-new technology, but it is rarely done because natural gas is, or has been, relatively cheap. Not as cheap as coal, but cleaner to burn for electricity generation.
ConocoPhillips Corporation (NYSE:COP) and Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE:BTU) plan to build a "mine-mouth" coal gasification plant in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The companies have filed for an air permit, which is the latest in a number of steps that need to be completed before construction begins.
Cimarex Energy Company is one of those mid-cap energy stocks that is well-liked by institutional investors. Nearly 90% of the company’s stock is held by institutional investors. In good times, that’s good. In bad times, those investors might need the cash themselves. That appears to be what’s happened today.
In another sign that the recession is deepening, the average employee at Goldman Sachs (GS) will make only $363,654 a drop of 45% from last year. In other words, that would still pay the salaries of ten school teachers. Goldman personnel made that money even though the firm lost $60 billion in market cap.
According to Bloomberg, "Expenses for compensation and benefits fell 46 percent to $10.9 billion from a record $20.2 billion in 2007, the New York- based company said in a statement today. That provides an average $363,654 for each of the firm’s 30,067 employees, down from $661,490 for each of the 30,522 people employed last year."
It’s hard to be poor
Douglas A. McIntyre
Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (NYSE: SAY) is seeing its stock crushed this morning after the company’s board of directors approved acquisitions of infrastructure development companies Maytas Infra Ltd. and Maytas Properties Ltd. What is interesting is that this acquisition of the two Maytas was being sold as a view to remove the risk from its core business of software and IT-outsourcing services. The purchase price is roughly $1.6 billion, and technically these are majority stakes being taken.
If you have been wondering if OPEC was going to cut production due to prices, the answer is a resounding "YES." It has been about as telegraphed as the sun coming up from the east tomorrow. But we now have an idea about what lies ahead.
Bad news doesn’t surprise anyone any more, especially in the bio-refining business. Shareholder value in ethanol companies has all but evaporated. Now, we get news of a biodiesel plant going on the auction block.
A company called Mid-Atlantic Biodiesel Company, LLC, is being forced to auction its five million gallon/year refinery, which went into operation in 2006. The plant only produced B100 (100% biodiesel), and only did so for about six months. Then the cost of feedstock caught up with Mid-Atlantic, and the company closed its doors. Now, according to the auctioneer’s web site, the plant will go under the gavel on January 22, 2009, in a "lender ordered collateral sale."
The recession has touched almost everything in the world from employment, to prices, to GDP growth to housing. Even China is seeing its economy slow. In the US, this downturn may be the worst in eight decades.
One thing that hard times do is cut energy consumption. OPEC may have to reduce production by two million barrels a day, about 5% of the cartel’s shipments.Car sales are off as are airline trips. That pushes fuel prices down. Use of home heating oil is also likely to drop. As factories shut down or move to shorter hours, energy use will slump across most of the industrial sector.
Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the long-term senior debt ratings of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) to A1 from Aa3, excluding FDIC-guaranteed debt. The Aa3 deposit ratings of Goldman Sachs’ banking subsidiaries and all of its Prime-1 short-term ratings were affirmed. The outlook remains negative.
There have been several research calls in the potash, agriculture, and fertilizer sector this morning which have pushed stocks higher. Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU), Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS), Terra Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRA), Intrepid Potash, Inc. (NYSE: IPI), Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (NYSE: POT), and CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF) are all trading higher.
Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) may finally be catching another break after so much trouble. The Chinese internet search leader has been raised to the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs this morning with a 6-month price target of $145.00. Its prior rating was a "neutral" rating, but the data may be more interesting than the call itself.
Consumer prices dropped so much in November that goods and services are almost free. Energy prices were down 17%, lead by the falling price of gas.
The Consumer Price Index dropped 1.7% after falling 1% the previous month. People who keep track of such things say that this has not happened in two consecutive months since 1947. The five decades between disasters is hardly comforting.
But, is it a disaster?
Imagine a wide loss being considered a win. That is partly the case at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) This morning. The former "Golden Slacks" posted a loss of $4.97 EPS for the quarter and its revenue came in negative at -$1.58 billion now that the broker (or bank holding company) took many marks that it had not previously taken.
These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street this Tuesday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
December 16, 2008
These are some of the key analyst downgrades and negative calls we have seen this Tuesday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
December 16, 2008
The car czar is a joke, a way to get a few billion dollars to GM (GM) and Chrysler while they move their companies in better shape for Chapter 11 filings.
The two car companies are not likely to get what they want from the UAW, suppliers, and creditors without some kind of fight. Who wants to walk away with the smallest piece of the pie?
Despite all the capital the Treasury has put into large US banks, their stocks may be about to make new multi-year lows.
While the housing market is still hurting their derivative holdings, consumer credit and corporate lending troubles may just be beginning.
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