Posts related to ‘Transports’

The More Focused, and More Opaque, Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B, BNI, UNP, NSC, GS, GE, TIF, HOG, WMT, COP, XOM, WFC, RSG, DOW, ETN, WBC, MCO, WLP, UNH, GSK, SNY, GCI, WPO)

This was an important week for investment guru and billionaire watchers to see which gurus were holding which stocks.  The full public equity holdings of Warren Buffett via Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) were particularly of note, particularly with those B shares under “BRK-B” soon to split and giving a chance for even the less astute ranks of Joe Public to own a piece of the Berkshire dream.  Obviously the huge change is via the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) buyout.  As part of this deal, Buffett is exiting Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) and exiting Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) stakes of about $600 million and $100 million, respectively, to avoid duplication and internal competition.  The rail transport play now accounts for about one-quarter of the total Berkshire Hathaway entity upon closing. But the less obvious position in that Warren Buffett in 2009 has made it clear that there will be a simpler and probably less “stock-hound” version of Berkshire Hathaway ahead.

Buffett has gone higher up the food chain and is likely to be a creditor now inside or to large institutions.  We have seen this during the crisis.  Buffett negotiated a better deal for Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) than the US Government was able to get.  Buffett’s preferred stock in Goldman Sachs has a dividend of 10% and is callable at any time at a 10% premium; but Buffett also got warrants to purchase $5 billion of common stock with a strike price of $115.00 per share, exercisable for a five-year term (4 years now), and Buffett would effectively get to pocket $61 per share if he exercised those all today at the market (and with a $2.6 billion warrant profit alone).

The General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) stake was listed only as 7.77 million shares of common stock (about $125 million now), the same as it has been for quarters.  Yet last year Buffett came to the rescue with a $3 billion of perpetual preferred stock in a private offering with a dividend of 10% and warrants to purchase $3 billion of common stock.  The preferred is callable after 3-years (2 years now) at a 10% premium; the warrants have a strike price of $22.25 and are exercisable for a five-year term (4 years now).
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Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:59 am in Activist Investor, Bonds, Buffett, Conglomerates, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Infrastructure, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Oil & Gas, Private Equity, Transports, Value Investing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DryShips Goes For Capital Raise, Again (DRYS)

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) just hexed its investors who were hoping to see the stock keep running over the $7.00 hurdle.  The company just announced that it has commenced a public offering of $300 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes.  The company listed the use of proceeds as being for vessel acquisitions, working capital, and other general corporate purposes.  These are under an existing shelf, but the offering method here may sour some investors who recently bought stock.
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Posted on: November 17, 2009 – 4:25 pm in ADR, Secondary Offering, Transports,

Dry Bulk Shipping Stocks Rally

Tickerspy’s Dry Bulk Shipping Stock Index (*DBULK) rose 5.1% today, beating the S&P 500 by 1.3.%.  Dry shipping stocks were given a boost by upgrades today.  Deutsche Bank upgraded Genco (NYSE: GNK), Euroseas Ltd (NASDAQ: ESEA), and Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ: EGLE) today.  All three made major moves today.

Over half of the dry shipping stocks in the Tickerspy index has risen over 100% off of their 52-week lows.  The industry was placed in serious jeopardy as global trade entered a state of decline during the credit crunch.  Shipping rates fell dramatically as recently as this summer, but have been on the rise in recent months.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 4:39 pm in Transports, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

52-Week High Club (FDX, LNY, MRK, GOOG)

FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) over 3% to a yearly high of $84.92.  Barron’s reported that the package delivery company may rise as high as $100 dollars according to a survey of investors and analysts.

Landry’s Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: LNY) rose over 20% to a yearly high of $20.23.  After last week’s buyout proposal from the company’s chief executive Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital has reported a stake in the company and has divulged its opposition to the buyout offer.

Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) rose over 2.5% to a yearly high of $34.35.  The company’s Human Health President Keneth Frazier told CNBC that it would not pull Vytorin and Zetia, the company’s cholesterol medications, off of the market.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) rose close to 1% to a yearly high of $576.99.  The TechCruch blog put out a piece on Sunday reporting that Google had hired Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) former director of new business development.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 4:02 pm in Food, Pharmaceuticals, Technology Companies, Transports, , , , ,

Another “Stock to Double” Gets Acquired (ITWO, JDAS)

i2 Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: ITWO) is a supply chain management company which has been a takeout stock before.  Turns out that is again.  In a complicated transaction, JDA Software Group Inc. (NASDAQ: JDAS) will pay some $34 million all said and done in a deal that values the company at $18.00.  This was also an unlikely transportation stock, despite it being a software play, which we picked earlier as one which could double.  It has doubled and then some.

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Posted on: November 5, 2009 – 1:04 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Software, Transports, ,

Buffett Makes His Whale of an Acquisition (BRK-A, BRK-B, BNI, UNP)

BuffettImage gates foundationWe always knew that Warren Buffett loved the railroad stocks.  We also had for years heard Buffett talk about the prospects of a “whale of a deal” in large acquisitions. And now this morning he is showing just how much.  Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) is acquiring Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (NYSE: BNI).  The terms call for $100.00 per share in cash and stock, well above the $76.07 closing bell price yesterday.  Buffett already had a huge stake of 76.77 million shares, so he is buying the 77.4% stake he does not already own.  It turns out that Warren is finally doing his whale of a deal.  The transaction is valued at about $44 billion, if you include $10 billion of outstanding BNI debt.  That makes this the largest transaction in Berkshire Hathaway history.

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Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 7:45 am in Buffett, Mergers and Buy Outs, Transports, , , ,

More Airline Layoffs (LCC, AMR)

Jobless Line PicIf you are often in major airports, it is frankly hard to see how the airline carriers still have pressure compared to six to twelve months ago.  The airports and planes are full to the point that when making reservations there are either only middle seats available or you have to get your seat when you get to the airport.  But this is also because airlines have cut down their capacity.  And with lower capacity comes lower servicing needs.  And less servicing creates more opportunities for airlines to fire workers.  That is what we are seeing from AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) and from US Airways (NYSE: LCC).
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Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 2:07 pm in Labor & Unions, Transports, ,

The DryShips Earnings Anchor (DRYS)

DryShip ImageDryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) posted what some may take as mixed earnings despite the stock’s reaction in the after-hours session.  The headline figure looked disappointing at first with a report of $35.6 million net profit, or $0.12 in basic and diluted earnings on an EPS basis.  But the company noted that a loss of $39.3 million took earnings down by $0.15 per share tied to the valuation of interest rate swaps.  DryShips would have reported earnings at $74.9 million, or $0.27 EPS, outside of that.  The combined revenues from drilling and drybulk operations was down nearly $100 million from a year ago to $228.2 million.  Thomson Reuters had estimates pegged at $0.20 EPS and $215.55 million in revenues.
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Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 4:53 pm in ADR, Earnings, Transports,

DryShips Earnings on Deck (DRYS)

DryShip ImageDryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is set to report earnings this afternoon.  Calling this one the more volatile stocks in a volatile space would be redundant at a minimum.  While we are cautious in about estimates, Thomson Reuters has a consensus estimates of $0.20 EPS on $210.65 million in revenues for its Q3 period.  And for the Q4 period, those estimates are $0.20 EPS and $215.55 million in revenues.  The real issue at hand will come from the individual metrics.
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Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 1:16 pm in Cult Stock, Earnings, Transports,

RailAmerica Comes Public, Again (RA, FIG)

Broken Money Merger ImagePrivate equity firms keep exiting their old buyouts when they can.  This morning we have an initial public offering from RailAmerica, Inc. (NYSE: RA) for some 22,000,000 shares of common stock.  This is being brought public by Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG).  This deal is listed as a 10,500,000 primary shares of common stock being sold, as well as 11,500,000 secondary shares of common stock by the RR Acquisition Holding LLC wholly-owned entity under private equity funds managed by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC.
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Posted on: October 13, 2009 – 9:54 am in IPOs, Private Equity, Transports, ,

52-Week High Club

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) hit a yearly high of $97.33 as options traders place bets in anticipation of positive earnings.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) hit a yearly high of $28.58 as Citigroup gives the company a buy rating in anticipation of the declaration of a dividend or stock buy backs in 2010.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (NYSE: MJN) hit a yearly high of $43.68 as rumors of a takeover circulated.  The shares promptly dropped as the rumored purchaser, Danone SA, denied the reports.

Thor Industries (NYSE: THO) hit a yearly high of $30.64 as it reported that its 4Q profits had quadrupled.  

Valassis Communications (NYSE: VCI) hit a yearly high of $25.25, boosted by positive news coming out of Gannett.

Walgreen Company (NYSE: WAG) hit a yearly high of $37.53 after the company’s earnings beat analysts estimates.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: September 29, 2009 – 4:12 pm in Analyst Calls, Dividend, Food, Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Stock Buybacks, Transports, , , , , ,

The Unusual Suspects (GT, CTB, S, DT, LOPE, BBY, ORCL, PALM, GLD, CSX, UNP, RGR)

bull-and-bear-image2We have a whole host of stocks and sectors to watch throughout this coming week.  We have Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) to watch on some tariff news.  Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will likely be a key mover on Monday on potential merger reports.  Grand Canyon Education Inc. (NASDAQ: LOPE) is supposed to have a secondary offering early this week.  Earnings are coming from Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) and others.  $1,000.00 gold is going to be key for the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD).  CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), and Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. (NYSE: RGR) are all likely suspects to watch for catch-up trading based on news outside of those companies.  More details are provided on each of these.  Stay tuned this week.
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Posted on: September 13, 2009 – 12:27 pm in Autos, Calendar, Commodities, Earnings, Editor's Picks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Politics, Regulation, Rumors, Secondary Offering, Short Interest, The Week, Trading Alert, Transports, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Transports Seeing Mixed Show on FedEx Guidance Hike (FDX, UPS, UNP, CSX, YRCW, NSC, KSU, BNI, JBHT, CNW, LSTR)

FedEx Logo PicWe just noticed over at our volume spike alert service that FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) was already challenging 150% of its average volume and was triple volume what it normally has traded by this time of the morning. This was really ramping up rival United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE: UPS) with a 4% gain, and was taking up lesser players in the space as well.  But interestingly enough, this is not doing anything to boost the trading volume in railroad stocks. Railroad giants like Union Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP) and CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) are even lower on the day.  YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCW) is up significantly, and most truckers are up in sympathy.
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Posted on: September 11, 2009 – 11:33 am in Consumer Goods, Trading Alert, Transports, , , , , , , , , , ,

Boeing Suppliers Not Chasing Boeing News (BA, SPR, BEAV, HON, COL, LMIA, TIE, PCP, GE, ETN, PH, BW)

Boeing 787 ImageThis morning’s news out of Being Co. (NYSE: BA) about the 787 Dreamliner setting a maiden flight date before the end of this year and scheduling preliminary deliveries into Q4-2010 is really getting the love put back into Boeing shares.  In mid-morning trading the stock is actually up over 7% or $3.50 at $51.32 and it has already seen its average daily volume surpassed.  But where this gets interesting is that so many of the key Boeing suppliers for the 787 Dreamliner are trading down.  Precision Castparts (NYSE:PCP) and Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE:SPR) are both up significantly with the news and Rockwell Collins (NYSE:COL) is up, but the rest of the lot is either up marginally or is trading lower with the overall market.

Posted on: August 27, 2009 – 11:15 am in Aerospace, Trading Alert, Transports, , , , , , , , , , , ,

AMR Sets Low Bar For Airline Sector Earnings (AMR, CAL, LUV)

Airplane ImageAMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) has some pretty disappointing figures, at least until you compare them to analyst expectations.  AMR posted earnings of -$1.39 on a net basis and -$1.14 EPS on a non-GAAP basis as its second quarter traffic fell by 16%.  Revenues was $4.98 billion.  Thomson Reuters listed the non-GAAP consensus as -$1.28 EPS on $4.9 billion in revenue.  This report has likely set the bar very low for Continental Airlines, Inc. (NYSE: CAL) and Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) ahead of their earnings.
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Posted on: July 15, 2009 – 8:23 am in Airlines, Earnings, Transports, , ,

CSX Rises, But Shows Why Warren Buffett Is Worried on Rails (CSX, BNI, NSC, UNP, BRK-A)

Buffett ImageCSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX) is showing exactly why Warren Buffett has been so pessimistic lately. Q2 2009 earnings were $308 million or $0.78 EPS.  This is down from $385 million, or $0.93 EPS, a year ago.  If you exclude discontinued operations related to the Greenbrier Resort, the earnings on a comparable basis were $0.72 EPS compared to $0.95 a year ago. While this is not as bad as some expected, there is a continued erosion as CSX said railroad freight volume is expected to fall by double-digit percentage rates in Q3.  The only comfort is that the target is set lower than the 21% decline seen in Q2.  As Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) are huge railroad investors (but not in CSX), and as he uses this rail freight traffic as a leading indicator, this has an impact on Buffett’s other railroad stocks of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI), Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC), and Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP).
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Posted on: July 14, 2009 – 9:07 am in Buffett, Earnings, Transports, , , , ,

DryShips Plays Acquirer (DRYS)

DryShip ImageDryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is making an acquisition.  The marine transporter for drybulk cargoes and off-shore contract drilling services will acquire the remaining 25% of the stake in Primelead Shareholders.  Primelead will become a wholly owned subsidiary of DryShips, and this will get the company more exposure into the oil business.  The soon-to-be unit’s prime assets are two owned and operational ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs.
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Posted on: July 9, 2009 – 3:20 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Transports,

Tesla Scores Major DOE Loan

Tesla S ImageTesla Motors is getting a solid backer above and beyond any investment: Uncle Sam.  The company announced that it has received approval for about $465 million in low-interest loans, from none other than the US Department of Energy, to accelerate the production of affordable, fuel-efficient electric vehicles.
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Posted on: June 23, 2009 – 9:50 am in Autos, Green Biz, IPOs, Politics, Transports

Boeing Burning Money With Another 787 Dreamliner Delay (BA)

Burning Money PicBoeing Co. (NYSE: BA) has announced yet another delay to the 787 Dreamliner.  The aerospace giant has announced that first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will be postponed due to a need to reinforce an area within the side-of-body section of the aircraft.  This does appear to be an event that will cause rescheduling for deliveries as well. First flight and first delivery will be rescheduled following the final determination of the required modification and testing plan.
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Posted on: June 23, 2009 – 8:19 am in Aerospace, Transports,

One Teekay Raising Cash For The Other Teekay (TNK, TK)

money-stack-imageTeekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) now plans to sell 7,000,000 shares of common stock in a public secondary offering.  This is a bit of an unusual offering as the company expects to use the funds to acquire a 2003-built Suezmax tanker (the Ashkini Spirit) from Teekay Corporation (NYSE: TK) for $57 million and it plans to repay a portion of its outstanding debt under its revolving credit facility.
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Posted on: June 18, 2009 – 3:33 pm in Oil & Gas, Secondary Offering, Transports, ,