Posts for Ticker ‘BX’

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/19/2009) (BA)(AMTD)(MWW)(NWSA)(AAPL)

Updated throughout the day.

Update 12.50 PM EST:  Boeing (NYSE:BA) could lose a $7.5 billion order for fighter planes to Brazil if the US Senate does not confirm Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to the South American country  (Bloomberg)

Update 11.08 AM EST:  TDAmeritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) may be buying E*Trade  (NASDAQ:ETFC)  (Omaha World Herald)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has lost a large number of its most talented people to hedge funds. (Bloomberg)

The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet PC launch date has been delayed until late 2010.  (Digitimes)

Monster.com (NASDAQ:MWW) may be taken over by News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) or Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)  (WSJ)

Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) Pinnacle Brands may buy Birds Eye  (CNBC)

Sony (NYSE:SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Nintendo are working on ways to keep market share as smart phones come after their market share.  (BusinessWeek)

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL is seeking to buy-out 2,500 employees as it is spun off by its parent. (various)

Citigroup (NYSE:C) may sell its auto lending group.  (NYPost)

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

For more information on Citi, Microsoft, Sony, and Google check the 24/7 Wall St 500.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:45 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/19/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Senate Democrats unveiled their healthcare plan.

Reuters:   Hedge fund manage Griffin has rebounded from losses.

Reuters:   GM must pay its debt and become profitable before an IPO.

Reuters:   Kraft (NYSE:KFT) is still considered the front-runner to buy Cadbury. Read More »

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 4:04 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/11/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NY Times, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were acquited.

Reuters:   Zucker, NBCU’s current CEO, will head the company when Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) buys a majority of the company from GE (NYSE:GE).

Reuters:  Dodd’s super-bank regulator fights a uphil battle in Congress.

Reuters:   Fed officials see an uneven recovery. Read More »

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 4:09 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ADBE, ARIA, BX, CMO, CRL, GPS, RHT, RSH, VECO, VRSN)

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

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Ariad Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARIA) Raised to Overweight at JP Morgan.
Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Charles River Labs (CRL) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Gap Inc. (GPS) Cut to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Capstead Mortgage (NYSE: CMO) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

Jon C. Ogg
November 9, 2009

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 7:56 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/2/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Investors in the banking sector were disturbed by the CIT (NYSE:CIT) bankruptcy.

Reuters:   Summers will lead a high level meeting on the economy.

Reuters:   US companies are holding more cash.

Reuters:   The Fed is likely to keep interest rates flat due to economic uncertainty. Read More »

Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 4:54 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/31/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The US economy is stable but risks remain according to Geithner.

Reuters:   JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) raised concerns about Galleon in 2001.

Reuters:   As many as five million Americans have been infected with H1N1.

Reuters:   Sony (NYSE:SNE) posted a fourth straight quarterly loss. Read More »

Posted on: October 30, 2009 – 3:57 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , ,

Two IPOs On Deck (ADUS, VSI, BX)

Money ImageWe have two initial public offerings today.  We have a poor pricing from Addus HomeCare Corporation (NASDAQ: ADUS) and a solid pricing from a Blackstone interest in the Vitamin Shoppe Inc. (NYSE: VSI) IPO.

Addus HomeCare Corporation (NASDAQ: ADUS) is joining the realm of disappointing initial public offerings.  The home-based medical and social service company, which would seem to be a big growth segment ahead, priced its 5 million share IPO at $10.00 per share.  This is below the $11.00 to $12.00 range. Robert W. Baird and Oppenheimer & Co. were joint book-running managers, and Stephens Inc. was listed as the co-manager.

Vitamin Shoppe Inc. (NYSE: VSI) actually looks like it broke the poor IPO trend.  This company, which sells vitamins and supplements priced its 9.096 million share IPO at $17.00.  This one is ABOVE the $14.00 to $16.00 per share range in an IPO being brought public by J.P. Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, and Barclays.  The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) is a holder of this company.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 8:16 am in Healthcare, IPOs, Retail, , ,

Media Digest 10/28/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The Nielsen survey shows consumer confidence up in the US for the first time since 2007.

Reuters:   Obama’s financial reforms are advancing in Congress.

Reuters:   The pay czar said his authority should not be expanded.

Reuters:   Obama’s “too big to fail” bill would curb bailouts. Read More »

Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 3:59 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Twenty Companies That Wall St. Can Trust The Least

Wall St. likes financial statements that give it deep insights into a company’s operations, especially its liabilities. It likes boards that make sure shareholders get as complete a picture as possible of a firm’s balance sheet and details of its P&L, cash-flow, and other critical financial measurements.

bear24/7 Wall St. asked Audit Integrity to put together a list of companies traded on US exchanges with market caps of more than $3 billion that do particularly poorly in the areas  of corporate governance, detailed disclosure of high-risk events including M&A and restructurings, revenue and expense recognition, and asset and liability valuation.

Based on the Audit Integrity model, 24/7 created a list of the twenty companies that Wall St. can trust the least.  Among the companies that the analysis flagged are Altria (NYSE:MO), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), GE (NYSE:GE), Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT),  Wells Fargo (NYSE:WMT), and Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW)

The list:

Read More »

Posted on: October 27, 2009 – 5:31 am in Corporate Governance, Research, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/26/2009) (ATVI)(BP)(BX)(NFLX)(BAC)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 10.53 AM EST  Activision-Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) “Guitar Hero 5″ is selling poorly.  (Barron’s)

Update 9.47 AM EST:  BP’s (NYSE:BP) new chairman will make significant changes to the oil company’s board.  (Time of London)

Debt levels at US banks are above those of The Great Depression. (FTAlphaville).

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) may be planning an IPO of its European theme-park operator Merlin Entertainments next year.  (The Deal)

Hollywood studios may push for a bigger share of Netflix revenue (NASDAQ:NFLX) (CNET).

The terms of Bank of America’s (NYSE:BAC) payback of federal funds may set bank values for the market (TheStreet).

OPEC will raise output if oil hits $100  (CNBC).

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 9:15 am in Rumors, , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/19/2009) (YHOO)(POT)(SYMC)(CME)(AAPL)

Updated throughout the day        

Updated  3.34 PM EST:  Consensus figures for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) earnings may be significantly too high (Barron’s)

Updated 1.14 PM EST:  The whisper number for Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) is $1.47 EPS compared to the Wall St. consensus of $1.42  (WhisperNumber)

 Update  11.34 AM EST:  Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) is substantially increasing the amount of original content it will run on its websites. (CNET)

Update 11.37 AM EST:   GE (NYSE:GE) and Vivendi are $500 million apart on their valuation of Vivendi’s 20% of NBCU (WSJ)

newspaperKraft (NYSE:KFT) will increase its bid for Cadbury from 745 pence to 850 to 900 pence per share before a UK government deadline on November 3  (Reuters)

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) is having trouble raising money for its new $20 billion fund (NYPost).

US authorities are close to filing a number of other insider trading charges against hedge funds  (NYTimes).

The CME (NYSE:CME) may buy the CBOE  of $5 billion. (Crain’s Chicago Business)

PC makers may have over-built based on higher anticipated sales from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7  (Barron’s)

Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) says that tens of millions of US PCs have scam security software  (Reuters)

Potash (NYSE:POT) could benefit from rising corn prices. (BusinessWeek)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone sales may disappoint investors when the company reports earnings (Fortune)

China’s GDP growth rate will be above 8% this year.  (Forbes)

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates each morning on analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s and secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 19, 2009 – 9:01 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/19/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   US corporations are concerned about the weakness of the dollar.

Reuters:   Bernanke says that global imbalances in trade and cash flows must be addressed.

Reuters:   Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) is attacking new markets with huge price cuts. Read More »

Posted on: October 19, 2009 – 4:03 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

IPO Market Showing Concern (MG, TLCR, BSBR, EM, CLNY, RA, FIG, ARI, VITC, ECHO, CPC, GAME, SNDA, CYOU, SOHU, CPIX, OMER, BX)

bull-and-bear-image2It was just in August that practically every single initial public offering was trading above its IPO price.  The market had rallied significantly, and still rallied after that to just this week have a 10,000 handle on the DJIA.  Investors started warming to more risk-based capital, and investment bankers were finally able to get deals done.  Even waves and waves of secondary offerings were able to be absorbed merely by brokers being able to tell clients they could buy stock at an implied discount to the average price over the few days before.  But suddenly, the IPO market has turned out some real dogs with fleas.

Mistra Group (NYSE: MG) priced its offering at $12.50 on October 7.  While it traded as low as $12.17, it has escaped the hangman’s file of ‘busted deals’ as it is now a $13.51 stock.  The one thing that may have helped was that it priced under an initial range of $14 to $16 per share.  Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: TLCR) also went into the busted category temporarily after hitting a low of $18.01 after a $19.00 pricing.  Fortunately, it is up at $19.97 so is also now out of the hangman’s eyes.  Still, an 8% gain and a 5% gain in this market might leave some investors feeling lonely.  Banco Santander Brasil S.A. (NYSE: BSBR) was a very large IPO of over 500 million shares at an implied $13.40, and this one got out of the “busted IPO” dungeon on Thursday and closed at $13.51 on Friday.  Before Thursday it had spent its 6 prior trading sessions as a busted IPO.

Emdeon Inc. (NYSE: EM) had traded above $18.00 briefly after its IPO priced at $15.50 in August. But now the healthcare revenue and payment cycle management solutions provider, which is supposed to be a healthcare winner ahead, closed down at $15.35 on Friday  and had been slightly lower during the week.  This was effectively a re-IPO as Emdeon had been public before after General Atlantic Partners acquired it and it also received an investment from Hellman & Friedman. It also has ties to James Clark, the Netscape founder and was part of Healtheon.

Read More »

Posted on: October 17, 2009 – 8:45 am in ADR, Biotech, Business Services, China, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, IPOs, Mergers and Buy Outs, Private Equity, REIT, Secondary Offering, Trading Alert, Value Investing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/16/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and IBM (NYSE:IBM) posted strong results.

Reuters:   Bank of America’s (NYSE:BAC) Lewis will skip 2009 pay.

Reuters:   Japan Airlines says bankruptcy is an option to solving its problems.

Reuters:   Soros says US economy will drag on world growth. Read More »

Posted on: October 16, 2009 – 4:04 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 10/14/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Aggressive trading in gold in China may be pushing the price of the metal up.

Reuters:   Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) CEO says the worst of the crisis is over.

Reuters:   The House has begun to create a financial regulation bill. Read More »

Posted on: October 14, 2009 – 4:03 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

KKR Finally Goes Public

bearKKR wanted to follow Blackstone (BX) into the public markets, but the recession and credit crisis ruined that dream. Blackstone’s shares were so badly beaten down that the KKR partners may be glad that they missed their window.

But, now KKR will have publicly traded shares which may give its major owners some liquidity. The private equity firm sneaked its shares out the back door by beginning to trade on the Amsterdam exchange. It got there by a merger with its European arm, K.P.E. Read More »

Posted on: October 1, 2009 – 6:08 am in IPOs,

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMAG, AAPL, BX, JBLU, LAZ, RSH, SF, TLB, TIF, XRX, YHOO)

Bull and Bear ImageThese are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street early this Thursday morning:

AMAG Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMAG) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Raised to Outperform at JMP Securities.
The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) Raised to Conviction Buy at Goldman Sachs.
JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Lazard (NYSE: LAZ) Raised to Conviction Buy at Goldman Sachs.
RadioShack (NYSE: RSH) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Stifel Financial (NYSE: SF) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Talbots (NYSE: TLB) was upgraded to Buy at Citi and raised to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) Raised to Buy at Brean Murray.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 10, 2009 – 8:49 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 8/14/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The Chinese are learning the problem of easy access to credit cards.

Reuters:   The US recovery is still slow while France and Germany are rebounding.

Reuters:   UBS (UBS) clients in America may face criminal charges.

Reuters:   Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) defended its valuation of derivatives. Read More »

Posted on: August 14, 2009 – 4:08 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Blackstone (BX) Chief Makes $702 Million

GeithnerThe thoughts of restricting the pay packages of the CEOs of public companies may be in the air, but new data on chief executive compensation show that boards of directors are not taking any of it seriously.

Stephen Schwarzman, head of financial firm Blackstone (BX), made over $702 million in 2008 based on data from The Corporate Library. Read More »

Posted on: August 13, 2009 – 5:54 pm in Compensation, Corporate Governance, Editor's Picks, , , , , , , , , ,

Blackstone Brings in Byron Wien, Wants To Sell Debt (BX)

Blackstone LogoThe Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) had a fairly busy day.  It seems that reports of the death of private equity may have been exaggerated.  The company had two key announcements today: it brought on renowned economist and strategist Byron Wien and it said it was raising cash via a  debt offering.
Read More »

Posted on: August 12, 2009 – 4:25 pm in Analyst Calls, Bonds, Management Change, Private Equity,