Posts for Ticker ‘BBT’

Very Mixed Analyst Calls in Financial Stocks (GS, MS, BBT, CMA, FITB, PNC, PRSP, STI, WFC)

We are seeing a very mixed picture among the analyst calls this morning over banks and financial stocks.  We are seeing some very positive “BUY” calls and we are also seeing some new “SELL” calls.

Goldman Sachs (GS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Morgan Stanley (MS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
BB&T (BBT) Started as Sell at UBS.
Comerica (CMA) Started as Sell at UBS
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) Started as Sell at UBS.
PNC Financial (PNC) Started as Sell at UBS.
Prosperity Bancshares (PRSP) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
SunTrust (STI) Started as Sell at UBS.
Wells Fargo (WFC) Started as Sell at UBS.

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JON C. OGG

October 8, 2009

Posted on: October 8, 2009 – 7:30 am in Analyst Calls, Banking, Brokerage Firms, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (BBT, AA, CENX, GENT, ENS, HPQ, CERS, AAPL)

These are this Wednesday’s top day trader and active stock alerts.  We have more detailed data on volume and price analysis with links through to VSInvestor.com on each stock:

BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) was down about 1% after its secondary offering after S&P weighting changes.

Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA) is down about 4% after an analyst downgrade from Goldman Sachs.

Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) is getting clipped by more than 6% this morning after yesterday’s gains.

Gentium S.p.A (NASDAQ: GENT) is surging on mixed Phase III treatment trial of Defibrotide for severe veno-occlusive disease.

EnerSys (NYSE: ENS) is indicated much lower on an insider-backer share sale of 3.2 million shares to Goldman Sachs.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) is down after earnings, and we made some support calculations for key levels to watch in the coming days if the weakness persists here.

Cerus Corporation (NASDAQ: CERS) is seeing a huge surge on news that Swissmedic has approved the use of platelet components treated with Cerus’ INTERCEPT Blood System.

This volume took place late yesterday, but we started seeing elevated put and call options trading in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).  This could have been H-P related or it could have merely been options rolling trades from August to September ahead of Friday’s expiration.  So far AAPL shares are down less than 1% at $162.75 on only 100,000 shares.

-The 24/7 Wall Street Team

Posted on: August 19, 2009 – 9:05 am in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (MT, BBT, EVVV, GHL, WFR, NZ, PBR, SY, STI)

Money Stack ImageThese are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen early this Friday morning with more than two hours until the market opens for trading:

Arcelor Mittal (MT) Raised to Hold at Citigroup.
BB&T Corp. (BBT) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
ev3 Inc. (EVVV) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Greenhill (GHL) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
MEMC Electronics (WFR) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Netezza (NZ) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Petrobras Brasileiro (PBR) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Sybase (SY) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
SunTrust (STI) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: July 10, 2009 – 6:24 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 6/17/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Obama proposed sweeping reform for financial industry.

Reuters:    A number of large banks repaid TARP. (JPM)(GS)(BBT)(COP)(STT)(AXP)(USB)

Reuters:   Consumer prices show inflation is in check.

Reuters:   China could still be a big buyer of US debt.

Reuters:   NYSE will create a derivatives clearing house. Read More »

Posted on: June 18, 2009 – 3:07 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

S&P Looking For More Bank Losses (WFC, CMA, USB, BBT, RF, COF, FITB, HBAN, SNV, WTNY, FAS)

burning-money-picStandard & Poor’s may still have at least some relevance in its debt ratings.  This morning we saw a wave of downgrades at banks by the debt ratings agency on systematic-risk and non-systematic risk.   We tried to shorten this up to the most concise report in rating groups as this is hitting many of the bank stocks pretty hard this morning. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), Comerica (NYSE: CMA), USBancorp (NYSE: USB), BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB), Huntington Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ: HBAN), Synovus Financial Corp. (NYSE: SNV) and Whitney Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: WTNY) were all in the wave of S&P downgrades.  This news has the extremely volatile Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) triple leverage financial sector ETF down 7% at $8.60.
Read More »

Posted on: June 17, 2009 – 11:40 am in Analyst Calls, Banking, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Short Interest In Banks Plunges

bankThe short interest in most large banks fell very sharply for the period ending May 29, an indication that traders believe that TARP repayments and ongoing strong earnings mean the fate of American financial firms will continue to improve.

Read More »

Posted on: June 10, 2009 – 5:46 am in Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 6/10/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters: The Supreme Court delays  Chrysler deal.

Reuters:   The cleared ten banks to repay TARP include JPMorgan (JPM), Goldmand Sachs (GS), American Express (AXP), Cpaital One(COF), State Street (STT), BBT (BBT), Morgan Stanley (MS), and US Bancorp (USB).

Reuters:   Senate Democrats revealed healthcare bill.

Reuters:   New York Times (NYT) will not close the Boston Globe Read More »

Posted on: June 10, 2009 – 3:02 am in Autos, Banking, Biotech, Brokerage Firms, Compensation, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Economy, Financial Stocks, Management Change, Oil & Gas, Press Digest, Private Equity, Turnarounds, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Getting Out From Under the TARP (AXP, BK, BBT, COF, GS, JPM, STT, USB)

Money Stack ImageThe Treasury is finally allowing some of the TARP recipient banks that posed the least systematic risk to begin repaying the Treasury’s preferred stock funds.  This will get these institutions out from under as much oversight from regulators, but more importantly it will take away the political-risk headlines and will reduce some of the importance over issues such as compensation and total loans.  This list is partial and please be advised that it may change.  We believe that these eight are among the ten banks which will be allowed to buy back the Treasury’s preferred shares:

  • American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP)
  • Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK)
  • BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT)
  • Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF)
  • Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS)
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM)
  • State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT)
  • USBancorp (NYSE: USB)

Read More »

Posted on: June 9, 2009 – 7:55 am in Banking, Financial Stocks, Regulation, , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (BBT, CMA, FEIC, GOOG, HBI, HD, LOW, NEM, PLT, ROP, TGT, TSCO, WMT)

These are top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research notes we have seen from Wall Street early this Wednesday morning:

BB&T (BBT) Raised to Market Perform at KBW.
Comerica (CMA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
FEI Co. (FEIC) Raised to Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.
Google (GOOG) Target Raised to $486 from $414 at Goldman Sachs.
Hanesbrands (HBI) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Home Depot (HD) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Lowe’s (LOW) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Newmont Mining (NEM) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Plantronics (PLT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Roper Industries (ROP) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Target (TGT) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Tractor Supply (TSCO) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Wal-Mart (WMT) Started as Outperform at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted on: June 3, 2009 – 6:43 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Should Banks Exiting TARP Still Pay Dividends to Government? (COF, USB, BK, BBT, STT, GS, MS, JPM, BAC)

Money Stack ImageIt is no secret that the banks that can pay the money back want out from under the Troubled Asset Relief Plan, or the TARP.  It is also no secret that the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the politicians have not agreed to any terms yet take the TARP monies back from the major money center and larger institutions.  Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), US Bancorp (NYSE: USB), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK), BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT), State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) are among the larger banks that have said they want to or that have been reported about wanting to pay back those TARP funds immediately.

Even the troubled Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) has had its CEO Ken Lewis say that he wants to pay back the TARP, although the stress tests showed the need for more capital and ‘B of A’ has been raising capital over the last ten days or so.  Where a large dilemma comes up is regarding future dividends and the warrants held by the U.S. government.  Uncle Sam gets paid dividends every quarter from these same institutions, and Uncle Sam also has a 10-year warrant in each of these institutions.  It is very possible that the government wants more than just two quarters of dividends for the capital it put up.
Read More »

Posted on: May 19, 2009 – 1:17 pm in Banking, Bonds, Dividend, Financial Stocks, Politics, Regulation, Secondary Offering, , , , , , , , ,

FAS/FAZ Dealing With Billions of Dollars of Securities Sales from Members (FAS, FAZ, BBT, COF, PFG, WFC, USB)

Money Stack ImageThe triple leverage ETF’s, the Direxion Financial Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: FAS) and Direxion Financial Bear 3X Shares (NYSE: FAZ), are perhaps the most volatile of all financial-stock ETF’s.  This morning they are getting to deal with a wave of secondary offerings and capital offerings from constituent member banks and financial firms.  These ETF’s are reacting to major “raising cash” filings and offerings from BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT), Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF), Principal Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: PFG), Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), and US Bancorp (NYSE: USB).
Read More »

Posted on: May 11, 2009 – 8:50 am in Banking, Dividend, ETF, Financial Stocks, Secondary Offering, , , , , , ,

Stress Test Results, Bank by Bank (AXP, BBT, BAC, COF, C, FITB, GS, JPM, KEY, MET, MS, PNC, RF, STT, STI, USB, WFC)

Finally, the stress tests are out for the US banking and financial institutions.  Of the banks, 10 of 19 banks need a combined $74 billion of equity.The good news is that a few companies were given essentially a clean bill of health, such as American Express Company (AXP), BB&T Corp. (BBT), Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BK), Capital One Financial Corp. (COF), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), MetLife, Inc. (MET), State Street Corp. (STT), and USBancorp (USB).

We have broken these down in a single unified and summarized report that shows each bank or financial institution along with an estimated market cap to show what the capital requirements are as far as what each bank will need to raise versus what shareholders already have at stake.   We summarized the list below, and be advised that the tier 1 capital is the total tier 1 capital rather than the Tier 1 Common Capital.  Also be advised that the SCAP BUFFER is the term used for the capital needed to be raised, and that is inclusive of capital raised and from infusions.
Read More »

Posted on: May 7, 2009 – 4:59 pm in Banking, Financial Stocks, Regulation, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Early Bird Analyst Calls (BBBY, BBT, FHN, LCAPA, OIIM, RF, STI, UHS)

These are some of the early bird analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen on Wall Street this Thursday morning ahead of the long weekend:

Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) Cut to Neutral at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
BB&T (NYSE: BBT) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
First Horizon National (NYSE: FHN) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Liberty Media Capital (NASDAQ: LCAPA) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
O2 Micro (NASDAQ: OIIM) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Regions Financial (NYSE: RF) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
SunTrust (NYSE: STI) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Universal Health (NYSE: UHS) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted on: April 9, 2009 – 6:19 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BBT, EXPD, FLR, JEC, JCG, NOK, SIAL, VMED)

Money_stack_picThese are some of the top upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Friday morning:

  • BB&T (BBT) Raised to Market Perform at KBW.
  • Expeditors International (EXPD) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  • Fluor (FLR) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • Jacobs Engineering (JEC) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • J. Crew (JCG) Raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.
  • Nokia (NOK) Raised to Hold from Sell at Societe Gednerale.
  • Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Virgin Media (VMED) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
January 23, 2009

Posted on: January 23, 2009 – 7:55 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

Early Bird Analyst Downgrades (BBT, CB, TRAK, FFIV, HTZ, JNPR, NYB, NYX, SVVS, PCU)

These are some of the analyst downgrades and negative calls coming from Wall Street this Wednesday morning:

  • BB&T (BBT) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
  • Chubb (CB) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • DealerTrack (TRAK) Cut To Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • F5 Networks (FFIV) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
  • Hertz (HTZ) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Juniper Networks (JNPR) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
  • New York Community Bancorp (NYB) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
  • NYSE Euronext (NYX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • SAVVIS (SVVS) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
  • Southern Copper (PCU) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.

Jon C. Ogg
September 24, 2008

Posted on: September 24, 2008 – 6:21 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Financial Downgrades (BAC, BBT, CLMS, CMA, FITB, BEN, STI, VLY)

There were more downgrades in financial stocks, but these were the larger names that saw estimates or ratings cut by analysts this morning:

  • Bank of America (BAC) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
  • BB&T (BBT) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
  • Calamos Asset Management (CLMS) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Comerica (CMA) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
  • Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
  • Franklin Resources (BEN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Suntrust Banks (STI) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
  • Valley National Bancorp (VLY) Cut to Underperform at KBW.

Jon C. Ogg
September 10, 2008

Posted on: September 10, 2008 – 6:33 am in Analyst Calls, Banking, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (AAUK, ACI, BBT, CETV, FCL, JKHY, MEE, WCG)

These are some of the top upgrades or positive calls we are seeing from analysts this Thursday morning:

  • Anglo American (AAUK) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P (late Weds. call).
  • Arch Coal (ACI) Raised to Buy at UBS.
  • BB&T Corp. (BBT) Raised to Buy at S&P.
  • Central European Media (CETV) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
  • Foundation Coal (FCL) Raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Jack Henry (JKHY) Cut to Hold at Needham; Cut to Neutral at D.A. Davidson.
  • Massee Energy (MEE) Raised to Buy at UBS.
  • WellCare Group (WCG) Started as Buy at B of A.

Jon C. Ogg
August 21, 2008

Posted on: August 21, 2008 – 6:36 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , ,

Baird on Banks (BAC, BBT, CMA, FITB, KEY, MI, MTB, PNC, STI, USB, WB, WFC)

ROBERT W.BAIRD has initiated mostly cautious coverage on Banks and Financials this morning.  Most are Neutral rated, although there are a few Outperform ratings in the coverage group. Here are the initiations.

NEUTRAL ratings initiated on:

  • Bank of America (BAC),
  • BB&T (BBT),
  • Fifth Third (FITB)
  • Keycorp (KEY),
  • Marshall & Isley (MI),
  • SunTrust (STI),
  • US Bancorp (USB),
  • Wachovia (WB),
  • and Wells Fargo (WFC).

OUTPERFORM ratings initiated on:

  • Comerica (CMA),
  • M&T Bank (MTB),
  • and PNC Bank (PNC).

Jon C. Ogg
January 8, 2008

Posted on: January 8, 2008 – 8:28 am in Analyst Calls, Banking, , , , , , , , , , , ,

52-Week Low Club: Transport, Semiconductors & Financials (January 2, 2008)

Truckers led the drop after a fake $100 oil print and after a YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) acquisition write-down, pulling down Arkansas Best (NASDAQ: ABFS) and others.  With no surprise, airlines followed suit with Airtrain (AAI), AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL), Delta (NYSE: DAL), FedEx (FDX), Jetblue (NASDAQ:JBLU), Mesa Air (NASDAQ: MESA), Northwest Air (NYSE: NWA), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV), US Air (NYSE: LCC).

Chip and tech stocks on 52-week lows: AMAT, AMD, ADTN, ARRS, ATML, BBND, CHRT, FCS, FEIC, IDTI, IM, KLAC, KLIC, LRCX, LSCC, LSI, MCRL, MRVL, MU, NSM, STM, TER, XLNX

Financial Giants on 52-Week lows: BAC, BBT, BSC, CYN, DFG, EFX, FIC, FITB, FHN, MCO, NCC, PNSN, SNV, SBP, WFC, ZION.

We kept the REIT’s and the usual suspects in retail off the list that have been here day in and day out (although many hit new 52-week lows).  Here is the huge list of others 52-week lows:

  • Automatic Data (ADP), Cardinal Health (CAH), Career Education (CECO), Diebold (NYSE: DBD), EchoStar (DISH), Superior Offshore (DEEP), Dow Chemical (DOW), Eastman Kodak (EK), Emmis (EMMS), Ford (F), Fortune Brands (FO), General Motors (GM), Hasbro (HAS), Helen of Troy (HELE), Interpublic (IPG), Mattel (MAT), McClatchy (MNI), Media General (MEG), Nortel Networks (NT), Owens Corning (OC), Paychex (OPAYX), PHH Corp. (PHH), Playboy (PLA), Radio Shack (RSH), Rite Aid (RAD), Sherwin Williams (SHW), Sprint Nextel (S), Starbucks (SBUX), Starwood Hotels (HOT), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Symantec (SYMC), Travelzoo (TZOO), VF Corp (VFC), Warner Music Group (WMG), Waste Management (WMI), Weight Watchers (WTW), Wendy’s (WEN)

Imagine how large this list would have been if retailers and REIT’s were included.
Jon C. Ogg
January 2, 2008

Posted on: January 2, 2008 – 4:23 pm in HI/LOW, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,