The financial year of 2008 is over for GE (GE) and investors are still debating whether the company will be able to both pay its dividend and keep its "Aaa" credit rating. Most of the concerns about the conglomerate focus on its financial unit.
GE was a $38 stock a year ago, and it now trades at $12. The fact that the firm is going through a recession should force GE to reconsider most of its cost structures.
NOVA Chemicals (NCX) Ratings cut pushes shares down to $1.28 compard to a 52-week high of $32.46.
Regions Financial (RF) Still falling after analyst downgrades. Falls to $2.67 from 52-week high of $25.84.
International Paper (IP) Cut by Goldman Sachs. Drops to $7.87 from 52-week high of $33.77.
Hasbro (HAS) May be reaction to bad earnings at Mattel (MAT) HAS off to $21.68 from 52-week high of $41.68.
A D C Telecommunications (ADCT) Bad outlook. Big earnings charge. Drops to $3.20 from 52-week high of $17.45.
Huntington Bancshares (HBAN) Dragged down by banking sector. Hits $1.93, down from 52-week high of $14.13.
Douglas A. McIntyre
SanDisk reported Q4 net loss of $1.86 billion, or $8.25 a share, compared with a net profit of $106 million, or $.45, in the same period a year ago.. Revenue was $863.9 million, down from $1.25 billion.
SNDK results included $1.91 billion in one-time expenses, including $1.02 billion for a combined pre-tax goodwill and intangible asset impairment charge. That made the adjusted net loss $1.65 a share. Analysts had expected Sandisk to post a net loss of $.60 a share, on revenue of $766.7 million, according to a consensus estimate by Thomson Reuters
Douglas A. McIntyre
Macy’s (M) will cut 7,000 workers, about 4% of its work force. The company says it will also slash its dividend.
Macy’s same-store sales were off 4% in December. Many analysts believe that retailers which aim at middle class buyers will have an especially hard year. Some estimates put the total number of retail locations that will close in the US in the first half of this year at 72,000.
Macy’s has over 850 stores and 182,000 employees.
The massive power in the newest of low-cost PC’s is killing the computer companies PC’s are becoming about the same as refrigerators and toasters. And now the $10 laptop is on the verge of being launched in India. We have read about this for well about two years, and it almost seems too good to be true….
Should companies such as Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) be shivering? What about Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) where one cheap version of Windows or a student version of MS Office costs multiples of this? What about the premium computers sold by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).
Eight O’Clock Coffee 100% Colombian at $6.28 per pound ranked number one in Consumer Reports’ tests of 19 ground coffees, besting Folgers, Maxwell House, and Starbucks— America’s best-selling ground coffees.
The independent testing firm reported "Starbucks Coffee Colombia Medium, $11.53 per pound, didn’t even place among the top regular coffees and trailed among decafs. While the Regular rated `Good,’ testers noted it had flaws such as burnt and bitter flavors; though milk and sugar may help," according to the firm’s press release on the results. Complete results will appear in the March issue of Consumer Reports
This is not the only time Starbucks has been victimized by Consumer Reports’. In a 2007 test, McDonald’s (MCD) coffee was found to be better tasting than Starbucks.
Either the coffee made by Starbucks is truly awful or it relationship with Consumer Reports’ is especially unfriendly.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Covering U.S. and global economic data is not exactly the most optimistic of topics today. The good news is that some of the bad news is not as bad it could be. Today’s additional data is from the Institute of Supply Managements, or ISM), on manufacturing and then from construction spending for December.
Level 3 (LVLT) has been dogged by $6.4 billion in debt from M&A activity and virtually non-existent operating income.
The tough credit environment is catching up to the firm.
LVLT has $700 million in debt due over the next several quarters. Odds are that money can’t be refinanced.
The 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) announced this morning that it was launching a new Renewable Energy Division. The division includes two business, Energy Generation and Energy Management. The Energy Generation business focuses on 3M products that "help reduce the cost of renewable energy." The Energy Management business will concentrate on window film products that reduce the amount of heat and ultraviolet light that penetrate plain building and auto glass.
After the market closed on Friday, Cliffs Natural Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CLF) announced that it was closing its Pinnacle Mine in West Virginia for the month of February. About 360 employees "will be affected." The closure will chop 85,000 tons of production from projected 2009 totals.
Houston-based Waterborne Energy Inc. has long kept a close watch on liquified natural gas (LNG) and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) industries. The company monitors shipping movement around the world, and this morning the company reports that LNG imports to the US will increase 28% for the quarter ending February 2009.
JPMorgan Chase’s (NYSE: JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon is clearly a smart guy, but he may also be a smart liar. On CNBC, and other media, Dimon said that the accusations against the banks that they aren’t making loans are unfounded. Dimon said they lent out $100 billion in new credit in the fourth quarter.
Dimon is giving the impression to the market that JPMorgan hasn’t slowed down lending. How can this be? It just doesn’t make sense.
JPMorgan is now technically three companies combined: JP Morgan Chase, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual.
Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX) is a stock which investors and traders may have never heard of, but it is one of the true cult stocks out there. The company announced that it has found the HMS Victory, a ship which sunk in 1744.
As you would imagine, personal income and spending are coming into negative territory. Incomes are still holding up relatively well, assuming you didn’t get laid off, and spending is continuing to soften. The good news in personal savings is actually bad for the economy.
Is the Barbie doll going the way of the Raphus cucullatus (Dodo Bird)? Mattel (MAT) posted awful sales for the last quarter.
The toy company said revenue fell 11% to $1.94 billion from $2.19 billion, based on a 6% in the U.S. and a 20% decline internationally. Mattel reported quarterly profit fell to $176.4 million, $.49, from $328.5 million in the same period a year ago.
It isn’t good news when people can’t afford cheap toys for their kids.
Douglas A. McIntyre
John Tamny RealClearMarkets
Since the U.S. ran its first budget deficit, there have been arguments over the economic implications. The more austere among us have suggested we’re living on borrowed money that will eventually cripple us as a nation, while the more optimistic have noted that, so long as foreigners are willing to fund our profligacy at low rates, there’s nothing wrong with borrowing.
In defense of the optimists, over the last 50 years, investors have hardly blinked with regard to nominally high spending by our minders in Washington. Indeed, as much as the federal deficits in the ’70s and ’80s spooked some, relative to the size of our economy, they were minuscule.
These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing this Monday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
February 2, 2009
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades and negative calls we have seen on Wall Street this morning:
Jon C. Ogg
February 2, 2009
Toyota (TM) has cut its production forecasts for 2009 for the third time. That is hardly good news for Ford (F) and GM (GM) which rely on a balance of foreign and domestic sales as they work toward operating break-even.
According to MarketWatch, the latest cut "would be Toyota’s third downward revision to its sales outlook for this fiscal year, and the new forecast would be down more than 100,000 units from the prior projection of 7.54 million units announced in late December. Toyota had originally forecast 9.06 million units in May."
Douglas A. McIntyre
Most experts who follow Apple (AAPL) and the consumer electronics industry do not think that Jobs & Co. will use any of its large group of patents to prevent the release of a new product by Palm (PALM).
Palm is weak, financially and in terms of popular products. It demise probably does not need a push from its competitors.
But, Apple may apply a little bit of pressure anyway.
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