Reuters: UBS (NYSE:UBS) will put in a new US chief.
Reuters: Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) says “dark pools” help investors.
Reuters: The US is welcoming the rise of the yuan.
Retuers: Nelson Peltz’s board seat at Legg Mason (NYSE:LM) may not signal change. Read More
There are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.
24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)
Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.
24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?
Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”. Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless. How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business. Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.
24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?
Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets. A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value. If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.
The list: Read More
These are this Wednesday’s early upgrades and positive research calls which we have seen out of Wall Street firms this morning:
AMR Corp. (AMR) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Answers Corp. (ANSW) Raised to Buy at Canaccord.
Barrick Gold (ABX) Raised to Overweight at JP Morgan.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Continental Airlines (CAL) Raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Computer Sciences (CSC) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
EMC Corp. (EMC) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Goldcorp (GG) Raised to Overweight at JP Morgan.
Harley-Davidson (HOG) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
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.
JON C. OGG
October 14, 2009
Southwest Air (NYSE:LUV) once again proved why it is the most admired carrier in America. Over 83% of its flights arrived on time in August, the latest month measured by US Department of Transportation.
Northwest, probably still working through an integration with its new owner Delta (NYSE:DAL) posted the worst record for arrivals among big carriers with 74% of its flights getting where they were going. Delta did almost as poorly with a figure below 79%. Read More
Try to balance the conventional wisdom about airline stocks. Audit Integrity has AMR (AMR) and Continental (CAL) on its list of large American companies most likely to go bankrupt. UBS upgraded several carriers to “buy” from “neutral”, and that has shares in AMR, Continental, US Air (LCC), United (UAUA), and Alaska Air (ALK) trading up sharply. United is trading up almost 6% to $9.34.
The UBS issued the upgrades because the carriers have shown that they can raise capital and because ticket prices may have stopped falling. Some of the airlines carry so much debt that bringing in money may be critical to their survivals. Read More
Audit Integrity, a research firm, has come out with a list of the large American companies which are most likely to go bankrupt in the next year. The data behind the figures seem valid, but some of the companies on the list which include CBS (CBS), Sprint (S), AMD (AMD), and Sirius XM (SIRi) seem improbable candidates.
The corporate communications staffs of these companies and their outside public relation firms will tell their managements to keep quiet and not react. A reaction, they will argue, just makes it look like Audit Integrity knows what it is doing and that there is some validity to their analysis. Audit Integrity is probably counting on that. It will get a lot of exposure for the study and little ,if any, legitimate criticism.
Audit Integrity says its research services support risk management practices that help investors, insurers and others lower risk and improve performance with objective ratings and reports.
These are this Wednesday morning’s top analyst upgrades and positive research calls that we have seen from Wall Street:
Aetna (AET) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Amazon.com (AMZN) Raised to Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch.
America Movil (AMX) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Continental (CAL) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Electronic Arts (ERTS) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Fortune Brands (FO) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
FPIC Insurance (FPIC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Humana (HUM) STarted as Buy at Collins-Stewart.
Marriott Hotels (MAR) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Starwood Hotels (HOT) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.
JON C. OGG
The global airline industry, still staggering from huge losses and bankruptcies late last year caused by oil prices that moved over $140 a barrel, is not doing much better in 2009. Low passenger traffic is the chief culprit, but crude at $70 after a sharp dip early in the year puts on significant addition pressure.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its new forecast for worldwide airline losses this year and it moved up $2 billion to $11 billion. “The bottom line of this crisis – with combined 2008-9 losses at US$27.8 billion – is larger than the impact of 9/11,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Read More
By Robert Herbst
After losing over $5 billion last year, the airline industry is now on course to lose a similar amount for 2009. This projected loss comes after the airlines will spend over $13 billion less for fuel compared to 2008.
Losing money for the old legacy carriers is nothing new. But this year, even low cost Southwest (LUV), after 35 consecutive years of profits, is expected to lose money. Of significance for how serious the revenue problems are for the industry, Southwest’s load factor will be the highest in the airline’s history.
If you’ve taken a flight or read a newspaper lately, you’re probably aware the airline industry has serious problems from customer service to record financial losses. Read More
Faced with higher fuel prices and falling passenger traffic, the airline industry is ailing. There are concerns that some carriers will go bankrupt if the situation does not improve by the holiday season which usually is a heavy travel period.
The International Air Transport Association is seeing a tiny up-tick in travel trends. Read More
Reuters: Wal-Mart (WMT) will report results with Wall St. looking for sales growth.
Reuters: US home foreclosures set a record in July.
Reuters: Citigroup (C) hired outsiders to help with a management review.
Reuters: The former head of AIG (AIG) has offered $115 million to settle a suit. Read More
Reuters: A tech alliance between China and Taiwas is hurting Korea.
Reuters: Spple (AAPL) easily beat forecasts.
Reuters: CIT (CIT) still faces a number of financial challenges.
Reuters: Yahoo!’s (YHOO) outlook was below expectations.
Reuters: Bernanke says unemployment could hurt the recovery. Read More
AMR 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.
Read More
These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen this Thursday. There are going to be fewer and fewer research notes from now to what is most likely Tuesday morning as Friday is a holiday and Monday is being taken off by so many investment and research personnel.
Jon C. Ogg
July 1, 2009
Reuters: Cybercrime is spreading fast on Facebook.
Reuters: GM will seek to sell most of its assets to a new company.
Reuters: Madoff got 150 years in prison.
Reuters: AIG (AIG) shareholders will elect new directors.
Reuters: GM is close to a deal to sell Opel.
Reuters: A jury returned a $1.7 billion drug verdict against Abbot (ABT). Read More
Reuters: The US outlined new financial market reforms.
Reuters: Obama lobbied MDs on his new healthcare package.
Reuters: Russia hosted the first BRIC summit.
Reuters: B of A’s (BAC) BlackRock (BLK) stake is more appealing.
Reuters: Samsung and Nokia (NOK) are pushing into smartphones. (MOT)(AAPL)(RIMM). Read More
Reuters: Baclays (BCS) sold BCI to Blackrock (BLK) for $13.3 billion
Reuters: WHO declared a flu epidemic
Reuters: Congress bash Fed, Treasury, and B of A (BAC) on Merrill
Reuters: US is near tighter control of tobacco by FDA.
Reuters: New research shows mortgage delinquencies have bottomed
Reuters: World Bank sees a steeper global economy contraction. Read More
All of the fuel-hedging, layoffs, capacity and route-cutting the airline industry did last year in an attempt to offset the rising price of fuel has gone for nothing. Delta (DAL) announced today that it would need to make more significant reductions in available seats and the process would cost many more people their jobs.
The first week of May, crude moved around just over $50. Today it traded just above $69, a 38% increase over that period. Airline stocks have reacted badly to the news. No wonder, the International Air Transport Association recently said that the global airline industry would lose $9 billion this year.
Airlines stocks are on their way to becoming what they were a year ago. Read More
The International Air Transport Association has doubled its estimates for global airline industry losses compared to its figure of three months ago. That presages another round of carrier bankruptcies similar to these in the early part of the decade.
Reuters reports that the IATA expects the red ink at the world’s airlines to hit $9 billion this year. The main culprit is the same as it was last year–rising fuel costs. That is now married to a sharp drop in traffic. Read More
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