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Company Winners & Losers Expected From Hurricane Irene (ALL, TRV, CB, BRK-A, DUK, D, ETR, AWK, VZ, HD, LOW, URI, PPG, BECN, IBI, BGG, GNRC, CRD-B, CLH, NYX, NDAQ)

Administrator — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:24:57 +0000

Will Hurricane Irene cost the United States $10 billion? $15 billion? Or even more? It really depends upon whom you speak with on this front. The expected damage count is growing now that the hurricane path looks far more definite since it is closer and closer to landfall. One thing is almost certain… The damage is expected to be big and it is going to hit areas of the country which usually are not as badly affected by summer weather. This will be one weekend to remember on the Eastern Seaboard. We have pulled some economic data and put together some of the likely winners and losers as far as companies are concerned from this storm and its aftermath.

UBS has issued a brief report that hurricanes tend to have little impact on GDP and on Federal Reserve policy, but one notion that they do influence is employment. The observation is that companies in hurricane areas tend to push out their new hiring decisions by about a month.

We wanted to take a look at just some of the companies in each sector that would win and lose from the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. You can imagine that insurance companies are going to be hit by damage claims, but what about power, water, and telecom? And imagine the construction and rebuilding business. And the building supplies and service providers.

Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) and The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) have exposure in the areas around North Carolina. That is where the landfall is expected first. Perhaps more worrisome is the upper Eastern Seaboard where Hurricane Irene is expected to strafe this weekend. The Chubb Corporation (NYSE: CB) has exposure in New York and on north throughout southern New England, as does Allstate and Travelers. Chubb noted on its site, “Hurricane Irene Alert: Chubb is helping its customers prepare for the storm.” Allstate also has a claim and preparedness site.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) is also likely not immune as Mr. Buffett has joked in the past that he was lucky enough to avoid hurricanes for two straight years.

Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK) spoke on CNBC this morning saying that while they do expect damage that they have their staff ready to go to assist in the region. Power lines and power equipments tend to not do well in floods, 100 mile an hour wind, lightning, and with flying debris. Dominion Resources Inc. (NYSE: D) saw a brief outage at a nuclear plant this week due to the earthquake, but it has already said that its Virginia and North Caroline units are preparing for the aftermath. Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) has the often controversial Indian Point nuclear power plant located about 35 miles the middle of Manhattan.

This could have an impact on American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK) as well, even though this company is very diversified throughout parts of America. The New Jersey based water utility has operations at risk in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is also diversified all over the United States, particularly on wireless. That being said, it has real land line and phone line exposure throughout much of the projected areas in New York and the Northeast as the former Bell Atlantic.

Filed under: Economy, Housing, Infrastructure, Retail, Utilities Tagged: ALL, AWK, BECN, BGG, BRK-A, CB, CLH, CRD-B, D, DUK, ETR, GNRC, HD, IBI, LOW, NDAQ, NYX, PPG, TRV, URI, VZ

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BECN, BRNC, CIEN, LLY, ENER, FPL, Q, VRSN)

247wallst — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 06:12:14 +0000

These are not all of the analyst upgrades or positive calls, but these are some of the calls we are seeing with a possible impact on shares early Monday morning:

Beacon Roofing (BECN) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Bronco Drilling (BRNC) Raised to Outperform at Jefferies.
Ciena (CIEN) Raies to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Eli Lilly (LLY) Raised to Neutral at HSBC.
Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) Raised to Buy at UBS.
FPL Group (FPL) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Qwest (Q) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
VeriSign (VRSN) Raised to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
August 11, 2008

The Business Day In Global Warming (GE, UPS, LDK, ITRI, BECN, ENER, COMV)

247wallst — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 14:43:57 +0000

General Electric (NYSE:GE) announced a $750 million order to supply six advanced technology, Frame 9FB gas turbine-generators and associated services to EDF (Électricité de France) for the utility’s electrical power production facilities in France and elsewhere in Europe.

UPS (NYSE:UPS) is adding 306 alternative fuel vehicles to its “green fleet” by placing an order for 167 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) delivery trucks while taking delivery of 139 new propane delivery trucks in North America. Additionally, the company has launched an initiative to use biodiesel fuel in its ground support vehicles at the UPS Worldport® air hub in Louisville. Maybe BROWN really can be GREEN.

LDK Solar’s (NYSE:LDK) woes in China over its reporting on inventories continues…..down another 25% today. Lazard Capital Markets’ Sanjay Shrestha lowered his price target on Energy Conversion Devices (NASDAQ:ENER) from $44.00 down to $40.00 (current was $26.50); and increased his Buy rating target on Otron (NASDAQ:ITRI) from $95 to $115, and reiterated the Buy rating and $37 target on Comverge (NASDAQ:COMV).

FROST & SULLIVAN: "Hydrogen Economy: Hype or Potential Reality?"

Late last week, Beacon Power Corporation (NASDAQ: BCON) was notified bythe U.S. Department of Energy that the Company was one of sixteenselected from 143 company applications to submit a full application fora DOE program that would provide loan guarantees to commercial lendersfor up to 80% of the project debt needed to finance the construction ofits first 20-megawatt flywheel frequency regulation plant.

Last Week’s "The Business Day in Global Warming"
T. Boone Pickens oil magnate still bullish;
Goldman Sachs September Energy Super-Spike raised $135/barrel and $4.50/gallon.

If you wish to set an RSS feed to our daily "The Business Day in GlobalWarming" and other news we cover from time to time in alternativeenergy, you can set it the following URL:
http://www.247wallst.com/alternative_energy/index.html

As a reminder, whether you prefer the term "Global Warming" or "ClimateChange" is not the issue as far as 24/7 Wall St. covers it. Greenbusiness has become big business, and this affects many publiccompanies today.

Jon C. Ogg
October 8, 2007

Many Housing Stocks Still Hitting Lows (CTX, DHI, KBH, LEN, RYL, MHO, BECN, BLDR, MAS, XHB)

247wallst — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 11:45:15 +0000

Stock Tickers: CTX, DHI, KBH, LEN, RYL, MHO, BECN, BLDR, MAS, XHB

After a mid-day review of 52-week lows, there was one obvious group that makes this list now more frequently than it does not: HOMEBUILDERS. Related companies are also on the list of usual suspects as well.

**denotes hit intraday 52-week lows but may be above now

Centex (CTX)             $25.88; prior low $26.03
DR Horton (DHI)       $13.58; prior low $13.61
KB Home (KBH)       $26.43; prior low $26.55
**Lennar (LEN)       $25.61; 25.50 prior low (today low $25.34)
**Ryland (RYL)          $25.19; prior low 24.92 (today low $24.90)
**M I Homes (MHO) $14.82; prior low 414.81 (today low $14.65)

Those with related activities that saw intra-day lows under the prior 52-week low ar as follows: Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN), Builders Firstsource (BLDR), and Masco (MAS).

About the only good news is that the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (AMEX:XHB) shares are actually UP on the day now with the broader markets. XHB shares are up 0.8% at $22.81, and its 52-week range is $22.59 to $40.03. This ETF is being led by some of the large suppliers that serve the industry rather than by the homebuilder components themselves. Toll Brothers (TOL) and Pulte Homes (PHM) are actually up on the day.

Jon C. Ogg
September 11, 2007

Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. SPECIAL SITUATION INVESTING NEWSLETTER; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

The 52-Week Low Club

247wallst — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:21:41 +0000

Thornburg Mortgage Asset (TMA) Mortgage company and real estate investment trust gets downgraded by S&P. Falls to $13.81 from 52-week high of $28.40.

Pope & Talbot (POP) Forest products company has big Q2 loss and freezes hiring. Down to $.45 from 52-week high of $8.44.

Tribune Company (TRB) Tough time to do a newspaper LBO. Share price shows it. Down ot $25.57 from 52-week high of $33.99.

SCO Group (SCOX) Lost copyright battle over key Unix operating system to Novell (NOVL). Drops to $.35 from 52-week high of $3.11.

Movie Gallery (MOVI) No. 2 movie rental chain has too much debt. May not make it. Shares off to $.26 from 52-week high of $5.29.

Beacon Roofing Supply (BECN) Company hurt by residential building. Down to $11.98 from 52-week high of $23.58.

Douglas A. McIntyre