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August’s New Massive Stock Buybacks… Over $30 Billion (LOW, CVS, CELG, COV, INTU, DISCA, HRS, LMT, RSG, LOW, ABC, MXIM, ANR, AVT, JAH, LUV, STJ, ECL, IPG, FRX, ACE, CLF, CTSH, KBR, NWL, VRX, AKAM, AOL, DLB, URBN, ACM, CHTR, MYGN, PFG, HSIC)

Administrator — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:00:52 +0000

The pace of stock buyback announcements in the month of August was almost unbelievable. The pace was stronger at the start of the month when earnings were still coming in droves, but the number of newly announced buyback plans and the extended or expanded buyback plans remained high throughout the entire month. Many companies announce share buybacks and never spend much on the actual plan. Today, these companies are by and large actually living up to their promises. These are The August Buyback Kings….

We would normally group these alphabetically, but not today. We grouped these in order of size and then we used an alphabetic order when it came to the same size of a buyback announcement. The first group is the billions of dollars.

We then grouped the stocks by size again from the under $1 billion down to $500 million, and then we grouped the buybacks of under $500 million down to $200 million. Usually we would cut the list off at buybacks of the $100 million and higher but the list was already too big so we cut the Buyback Kings off at $200 million for August. Lastly, we have a chart at the very end tallying it all up…. Some $28.7 billion for just the $200 million and higher in new or expanded buyback announcements. There were literally dozens of other buybacks that were closer to the $100 million mark and many more that were less than that.

The $1 billion and higher alone which were announced in August were as follows: Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW); CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS); Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

Filed under: Dividend, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks Tagged: ABC, ACE, ACM, AKAM, ANR, AOL, AVT, CELG, CHTR, CLF, COV, CSCO, CTSH, CVS, CVX, DISCA, DLB, ECL, FRX, HRS, INTU, IPG, JAH, KBR, LMT, LOW, LUV, MXIM, MYGN, NWL, NWSA, PFG, RSG, STJ, URBN, VRX, XOM

The 25 Companies Spending Billions On Buybacks (ACE, AKAM, ABC, AOL, AVT, CBOE, CHTR, CSCO, COV, DISCA, DLB, XOM, CVX, HRS, HUN, JASO, JAH, NWSA, RDC, LUV, STJ, BSX, MSI, V, HPQ)

Administrator — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:56:25 +0000

It is no secret that the market volatility has many investors rattled. What is very counter-intuitive is that many companies are continuing with most or all of their investor friendly plans regardless of the market. That means keeping balance sheets strong, but it also means buying back stock and paying out dividends. In fact, some companies have signaled that they just do not believe the current mayhem will turn into a new 2008 or 2009 situation.

The fresh buybacks we have featured are only the big buybacks which are large in size or large in percentages of the market capitalization of the underlying companies. The best buyback announcements in August have come from the following: Ace Ltd. (NYSE: ACE); Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC); AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL); Avnet Inc. (NYSE: AVT); CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE); Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR); Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO); Covidien plc (NYSE: COV); Discovery Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: DISCA); Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: DLB); Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM); Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX); Harris Corporation (NYSE: HRS); Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN); JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO); Jarden Corporation (NYSE: JAH); News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA); Rowan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: RDC); Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV); and St. Jude Medical Inc. (NYSE: STJ).

We also saw some large and interesting buybacks in the last week of July from the likes of Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX); Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI); Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V); and Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ).

The companies are using their balance sheets to take advantage of distressed situations. Ultimately, this could even signal M&A opportunities arising. As a reminder, companies are not under any obligation to spend a single dollar to repurchase stocks. These buybacks actually look real, and many have a solid history of buying back shares. Who needs activist investors when you see these billions and billions being made available to purchase stock.

Here are the companies buying billions in their own stock.

Filed under: Accounting, Activist Investor, Business Services, Compensation, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Economy, Editor's Picks, Insider Activity, Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity, Shareholder Issues, Value Investing Tagged: ABC, ACE, AKAM, AOL, AVT, BSX, CBOE, CHTR, COV, CSCO, CVX, DISCA, DLB, HPQ, HRS, HUN, JAH, JASO, LUV, MSI, NWSA, RDC, STJ, V, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABC, CAM, CE, CVX, EMC, FII, OII, RSH, RTN, O, SKH, SUNH, VHS, VE, VOD)

Administrator — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:06:32 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Monday morning.

AmerisourceBergen Corporation (NYSE: ABC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Celanese Corporation (NYSE: CE) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) Reiterated Buy and Raised Target to $125 at Argus.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Federated Investors, Inc. (NYSE: FII) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Oceaneering International Inc. (NYSE: OII) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
RadioShack Corporation (NYSE: RSH) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
Realty Income Corporation (NYSE: O) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Sun Healthcare Group Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNH) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan; Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Vanguard Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: VHS) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo; Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Veolia Environment (NYSE: VE) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) Raised to Buy at UBS.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, CAM, CE, CVX, EMC, FII, O, OII, RSH, RTN, SKH, SUNH, VE, VHS, VOD

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABC, BA, CEDC, XOM, FSLR, FWLT, GS, JPM, LVS, LM, PCS, MYL, ODP, OPEN, RBA, SNY, SNDA, SIRI, SRDX, VCLK)

Administrator — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:22:58 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday morning.

AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE: ABC) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $50 at Argus.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $94 at Credit Suisse.
Central European Distribution Corp. (NASDAQ: CEDC) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse; Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) Reiterated Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Foster Wheeler AG (NASDAQ: FWLT) Reiterated Buy at Gabelli.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Started as Buy at UBS.
J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Started as Buy at UBS.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) Maintained Outperform at Credit Suisse; Maintained Buy at Gabelli.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $22 at Argus.
Mylan, Inc. (NYSE: MYL) Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Office Depot, Inc. (NYSE: ODP) Cautious as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Incorporated (NYSE: RBA) Cut to Underperform at BofA/ML.
Sanofi-Aventis (NYSE: SNY) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: SNDA) Raised to Hold at S&P Equity Research (lathe Tuesday).
SIRIUS XM Radio inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) Maintained Buy with private market value of $2.85 at Gabelli.
SurModics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRDX) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
ValueClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) Raised to Buy at Jefferies; Raised to Buy at Needham.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, BA, CEDC, FSLR, FWLT, GS, JPM, LM, LVS, MYL, ODP, OPEN, PCS, RBA, SIRI, SNDA, SNY, SRDX, VCLK, XOM

Reports of the Death of TV Networks Are Exaggerated

247wallst — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:50:12 +0000

Media companies and investors are treating the broadcast television businesses as if they had the plague. There are rumors that Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) wants to dump ABC and that General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is ready to oust NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker. What gets lost in the all the media hoopla about the future of broadcast television is that its future is not entirely bleak.

First, a reality check — anyone who invests in media stocks solely because of a broadcast network is nuts. The floundering NBC television network is too small to make much of an impact on GE and on Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) once the acquisition of NBC Universal is completed. Broadcast TV, including “American Idol’s” home Fox Television Network, produced a tiny operating profit of $40 million for News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) in the first quarter. The numbers are similarly puny for the Disney business that includes ABC ($123 million) and CBS Inc.’s (NYSE: CBS) Entertainment Division ($134.5 million), which includes the CBS television network.

So the question becomes if the business is so bad, why bother. The answer is simple — there is plenty of upside. In this age of fractured audiences, broadcast television is still the easiest way to reach a mass audience in the desirable 18-49 demographic. Here are some recent ratings for top shows: “American Idol”-8.8 million viewers; “Lost”: The finale-7.67 million viewers;”The Big Bang Theory” 7.25 million viewers and “Grey’s Anatomy” -7.14 million. Cable hits such as “WWE Raw” and “SpongeBob Squarepants” have viewership of about 5 million and 4 million. The audience for cable news shows is even smaller. Number 1 rated Fox News Channel is seen daily by about 1.3 million people every day.

Then there’s YouTube and Hulu. The wildly popular Google video site will need to strike deals with content providers if it ever hopes to make a profit. That will mean charging users at some point. Hulu, which is owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and the Walt Disney Co., generated more than $100 million in revenue from advertising, according to the Los Angeles Times. Keep in mind that Hulu has not begun charging users though that’s only a matter of time.

Although network television advertising spending fell 9.9 percent in the fourth quarter, there are signs that it is rebounding in 2010 as the economy rebounds. Of course, cable is doing better and many challenges remain. Nonetheless, the business is far from being ready for the scrap heap. Broadcast networks will survive, in one form or another, for years to come.

Jonathan Berr

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Filed under: Media, TV Tagged: ABC, CBS, DIS, Fox, GE, NBC, TV

Network TV Ad Sales Stronger Than Expected (CBS, NWS, DIS, GE)

247wallst — Fri, 28 May 2010 14:58:34 +0000

The broadcast TV networks’ dog-and-pony show known as the “upfront market” has gotten off to a good start this year. Advertisers get to see the coming season’s new TV shows and then mull over whether or not to buy advertising time on the shows. They have already indicated that they plan to increase spending this year, and the networks are expecting to see more ads pre-sold this year and at higher rates.

CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS), parent of CBS-TV, and Fox Broadcasting, owned by News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) have the best ratings among 18-49 year-olds, the sweet spot for prime-time TV advertising. ABC-TV, owned by Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) and NBC-TV, owned by General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), have both slipped among that demographic group.

Kantar Media, a division of WPP plc, is an ad-tracking firm that noted an increase in advertising spending of 5.1% in the first quarter of 2010, the first gain since 2008 and the largest gain since 2005. TV advertising rose 10.5% in the first quarter and Kantar expects that level of growth to continue in the second quarter.

Ad dollars are expected to increase from auto makers and telecommunications companies especially. According to Kantar, the auto industry increased its ad spending by 18.6% in the first quarter, and the telecom companies increased spending by 10.6%.

Auto makers will undoubtedly be pushing incentives, better mileage figures, and for those which have them, hybrid and hybrid electric vehicles. Telecom companies will continue to battle over subscribers.

The advertisers are counting on an improved economy to generate the viewers it needs to make their spending pay off. To advertisers, today’s report from the US Commerce Department that income growth is rising faster than spending means there are discretionary dollars out there just waiting to be spent.

Advertising rates at CBS are projected to rise by 8-9%. Fox and ABC could see a jump of 6%, while NBC rates likely to rise by 5%. Part of the reason for the rise is that the networks have spent heavily on new scripted programs, which are more expensive to produce than the reality shows, but which also help attract new advertisers and, if the shows catch on with viewers, have a long and healthy life. Think “M*A*S*H” and “Friends”. CBS is trying to hit that target with a re-make of that old favorite “Hawaii Five-0″.

A Credit Suisse analyst expects this year’s upfront to bring in some $8 billion, up 20% from last year. Higher rates and, presumably, better programming could make this a really good year for broadcasters. Book ‘em Dan-o.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Media Tagged: ABC, CBS, DIS, GE, NBC, NWS

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ABC, ASML, CAH, CVS, ESRX, INTC, MRVL, MHS, SOLF, TXN)

247wallst — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:12:35 +0000

These are this Thursday’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls:

AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC) Started as Buy at UBS.
ASML (NASDAQ: ASML) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.
Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) Started as Buy at UBS.
CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) Started as Buy at UBS.
Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) Started as Buy at UBS.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.
Marvell Technology Group (NASDAQ: MRVL) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.
MedcoHealth Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MHS) Started as Buy at UBS.
Solarfun (NASDAQ: SOLF) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Cut to Neutral at B of A Merrill Lynch.

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JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls, Healthcare, Pre-Market Activity, Technology Companies, Trading Alert Tagged: ABC, ASML, CAH, CVS, ESRX, INTC, MHS, MRVL, SOLF, TXN

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ABC, BWA, DRYS, FIS, ITW, JPM, MHP, NOK, SOHU, ZUMZ)

247wallst — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:48:38 +0000

There are not so many brokerage calls this morning for it being earnings season, but these are the top 10 analyst calls of upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street we have seen early this Friday morning:

AmerisourceBergen (ABC) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Borg Warner (BWA) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
DryShips (DRYS) Raised to Outperfom at Oppenheimer.
Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) Raised to Outperfom at Oppenheimer.
Illinois Tool (ITW) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Cut to In-Line at Foxx-Pitt.
McGraw-Hill (MHP) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Nokia (NOK) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Sohu.com (SOHU) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Zumiez (ZUMZ) Raised to Buy at KeyBanc.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, BWA, DRYS, FIS, ITW, JPM, MHP, NOK, SOHU, ZUMZ

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (ABC, DLTR, ECL, MOT, PRSP)

247wallst — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:42:38 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst upgrades we have seen this Thursday morning with more than two hours until the market opens:

AmerisourceBergen (ABC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Dollar Tree (DLTR) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Ecolab (ECL) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Motorola (MOT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Prosperity Bancshares (PRSP) Raised to Buy at SunTrust.

Jon C. Ogg
January 15, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, DLTR, ECL, MOT, PRSP

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (ABC, BRCM, COH, DNA, IILG, LXK, NUAN, STLD, TLAB)

247wallst — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:02:50 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market upgrades from Wall Street analysts this Wednesday morning:

AmerisourceBergen (ABC) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Broadcom (BRCM) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Coach (COH) Raised to Buy at Lazard.
Genentech (DNA) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Interval Leisure Group (IILG) Started as Outperform at FBR.
Lexmark (LXK) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Nuance (NUAN) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Steel Dynamics (STLD) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Tellabs (TLAB) Raised to Hold at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
October 22, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ABC, BRCM, COH, DNA, IILG, LXK, NUAN, STLD, TLAB