Colgate Palmolive (NYSE:CL) is the next likely consumer products company that will get a takeover offer. There have been rumors recently that Reckitt Benckiser, based in the UK, might be the acquirer, but the firm does not have a large enough market cap.
Colgate has a $42 billion market cap. The company had $4 billion in revenue last quarter and $926 million in operating income. Colgate’s long-term debt is a modest $2.9 billion. 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
American Eagle Outfiters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) hit a yearly high of $18.08 after the clothing vendor announced that it had raised its 3Q09 EPS estimate to $0.24-$0.26 from $0.22-$0.25.
Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD) hit a yearly high of $48.19 after yesterday’s announcement that the company would be setting its theme park business to private equity firm Blackstone Group for $2.7 billion.
Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL) hit a yearly high of $79.03 after the company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.44 per common share, payable on the 13th of November to all those in possession of the shares as of October 26th.
3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS) hit s yearly high of %5.54 after yesterday’s annoumcement that the company had entered into contracts with the Republic of Korea Army and Republic of Korea Air Force to upgrade their local area networks.
Garrett W. McIntyre
These are this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, initiations, and positive research calls seen early from Wall Street:
American Axle (NYSE: AXL) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Brocade (NASDAQ: BRCD) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Emulex (NYSE: ELX) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Progressive (NYSE: PGR) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Qwest (NYSE: Q) Raised to Market-Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Schlumerberger (NYSE: SLB) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Textron (NYSE: TXT) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week if you wish to be notified by email when the top upgrades and downgrades are out, for top day trader alerts, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.
JON C. OGG
Wasn’t it just last week that we were up eight days in a row on the DJIA? And now we have a sell-the-news reaction to the recent growth numbers. Maybe it is because we ran too far too fast and because we started pricing in robust growth rather than muted growth. But generally when equities have stayed hot and then start to sell off in profit taking or in case things got too heated, you at least see a migration into some of the defensive stocks. That is not the case. In our normal 16 Defensive Go-To Stocks, only ONE was up. If you throw in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) as the ultimate defensive stock like we usually do, then you have only TWO of 17 trading up on the day….
PEPSICO INC (NYSE: PEP) $56.1805.. Down $0.4895; -0.86%
COCA COLA CO (NYSE: KO) $48.58.. Down $0.19; -0.39%
MOLSON COORS CO. (NYSE: TAP) $47.01.. Down $0.37; -0.78%
KRAFT FOODS INC. (NYSE: KFT) $28.08.. Down $0.27; -0.95%
CONAGRA FOOD INC. (NYSE: CAG) $20.13.. Down $0.40; -1.95%
CAMPBELL SOUP CO. (NYSE: CPB) $30.86.. Down $0.50; -1.59%
HORMEL FOODS CORP. (NYSE: HRL) $37.00.. Up 0.05; +0.14%
MCDONALDS CORP. (NYSE: MCD) $55.72.. Down $0.51; -0.92%
ALTRIA GROUP INC. (NYSE: MO) $18.13.. Down $0.16; -0.83%
VECTOR GROUP LTD. (NYSE: VGR) $15.71.. Down $0.07; -0.44%
REYNOLDS AMERICAN (NYSE: RAI) $45.17.. Down $0.54; -1.18%
PROCTER GAMBLE CO. (NYSE: PG) $53.05.. Down $1.06; -1.96%
COLGATE PALMOLIVE (NYSE: CL) $71.82.. Down $0.89; -1.21%
MERCK CO INC. (NYSE: MRK) $31.79.. Down $0.64; -1.97%
JOHNSON & JOHNSON (NYSE: JNJ) $59.88.. Down $0.56; -0.92%
NOVO NORDISK (NYSE: NVO) $60.024.. Down $0.986; -1.62%
Oddly enough, Wal-Mart is the ONLY one of the DJIA 30 components trading higher this afternoon.
JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 1, 2009
Who needs Advil when it is more expensive than aspirin and probably does no better at reducing pain? Who needs Starbucks (SBUX) when Maxwell House has just as much caffeine?
A new survey of purchasing data from 23,000 stores conducted by the Pointer Media Network shows that many shoppers are simply walking away from their favorite brands because they can’t afford them due to high prices during a recession. Read More
Word is out that the Dow Jones Indexes team is set to release the name of the replacement for General Motors (NYSE: GM) in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We have heard that the new candidate will be announced today and also heard that the change may be announced early Monday. We have a list of stocks we believe are the most likely candidates, and a list of exclusions for several reasons. Again, this pertains to replacing GM, so if there are a series of index changes then some of the others could make it in that we feel are not as likely. Because the index is price-weighted rather than market capitalization-weighted, some of the would-be hopeful stocks are probably not really under consideration as members of the DJIA.
Read More
The bets are on that General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) is done as far as the current stock is concerned. While it seems that the equity holders of today will keep 1% of the “New Co.,” this is far from fitting into parameters of being one of the thirty components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. We have speculated on this with other companies moving in and out, but we have compiled a list of companies which we think could be replacements. We have also listed some of the companies we think will not be included that many traders and investors might be hoping could be up for inclusion.
Read More
Investors flock to defensive stocks in times of trouble and and when they worry, assuming they look to stay in the market when they are worried. But if the trend here continues, this may be one of the worst times for defensive stocks compared to the overall market. Our universe of 13 large-cap go-to defensive stocks looks awful in relative performance and it looks like only 1 stock of the 13 has actually outperformed the overall market.
Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), and Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) have performed close to the overall markets, but that is almost it. Forget about Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) as that has been the worst of the lot. Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) are up double digits from recent lows, but are way behind the market index readings. Even the high and mighty McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) has greatly underperformed.
Read More
If consumer spending on inexpensive items is supposed to be a foreshadowing of an improving economy, better days are still a long way off.
Unilever, one of the largest consumer goods companies in the world, said its profit fell 45% to $973 million. The firm said that its results had been materially effected by people buying the least expensive, non-branded food and toiletry products that they can find. Read More
According to Reuters, lenders will object to the Chrysler Chapter 11 filing.
Reuters reports that Switzerland is asking US a court to halt a case against UBS (UBS).
Reuters reports that SMFG will buy Citiroup’s (C) Japan units for over $5.6 billion.
Reuters writes that Cuomo said that pension kickbacks are a national problem. Read More
It’s another rough trading day in the stock market. It is bad enough that the DJIA is down over 3% to decade lows and under 7,000… But even almost all of the defensive stocks are down today. Many of these have been absolutely bashed in recent days and weeks as you will see compared to their 52-week highs.
Symbol Last Change 52WK-HI
PEP $47.13 (-$1.01; -2.10%) $75.25
KO $39.96 (-$0.89; -2.18%) $61.90
TAP $35.84 (+$0.61; +1.73%) $59.51
KFT $22.31 (-$0.47; -2.06%) $34.97
CAG $14.93 (-$0.15; -0.99%) $24.87
CPB $26.51 (-$0.26; -0.97%) $40.85
HRL $31.60 (-$0.23; -0.72%) $42.77
MCD $52.55 (+$0.30; +0.57%) $67.00
MO $15.31 (-$0.13; -$0.84%) N/A “PM”
VGR $11.74 (-$0.67; -5.38%) $19.45
RAI $33.57 (-$0.01; -0.03%) $65.01
PG $47.40 (-$0.77; -1.60%) $73.57
CL $58.47 (-$1.71; -2.84%) $80.49
MRK $23.93 (-$0.27; -1.12%) $45.73
JNJ $48.39 (-$1.61; -3.22%) $72.76
NVO $46.51 (-$1.91; -3.94%) $73.73
Jon C. Ogg
March 2, 2009
Layoffs at big companies are so common now that it is novel when a day goes by without Microsoft (MSFT), Caterpillar (CAT), or Macy’s (MC) letting thousands of people go. There are a relatively small number of America’s largest companies which will almost certainly not have significant layoffs. One of them might close an office in Turkey, another could replace telephone operators with an automated system, but each is in a unique position that makes it highly unlikely for them to want or need to fire employees. Read More
There are an extremely small number of companies which are likely to do relatively well during the recession, either because they are the market share leaders in their industries by a wide margin, or they are in businesses which sell products and services which are a necessary part of everyday life.
Wal-Mart (WMT) recently announced that its same store sales in January were up 2.1%, which was more than forecast. With the company’s huge network of stores and ability to strong arm suppliers, Wal-Mart offers shoppers good merchandise at prices which becomes more and more attractive as the downturn continues.
McDonald’s (MCD) says its same-store sales are holding up fairly well. Its “value meal” concept is likely to keep customers returning to its restaurants for plentiful and inexpensive food.
Colgate (CL) sales have also held up well as the recession has deepened. People are going to buy toothpaste and shampoo unless they are completely out of money.
Over the last year, shares of Colgate, Wal-Mart, and McDonald’s have significantly outperformed the DJIA.
The signals of a recovery will probably come from companies which are No. 2 or No.3 in their industries. It will be telling if they can begin to show even slightly improving trends operating in the shadow of larger competitors. The other area of corporate America worth watching is the sectors which have done substantially worse than most. That includes airlines, automobiles, and media companies.
Looking though a list of some of America’s largest companies to find firms which fit these descriptions, 24/7 Wall St. identified ten companies to watch for the signs of an economic recovery. A reasonable quarter or a slightly better-than-expected outlook from some of these companies should show that the recession is coming to a close.
According to Reuters, Republican may keep fighting Obama on the stimulus package.
Reuters reports that Roche dropped its bid on Genentech (DNA) to $42 billion.
Reuters writes that the Administration will release its plans to fix banks next week.
Reuters reports that NYS Attorney General Cuomo may try to get back $4 billion in Merrill Lynch bonuses.
Traders and investors alike look for defensive stocks with certainty of earnings in hard times like these. Tomorrow we will get earnings from Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), and the consumer products giant is definitely among those defensive companies. Its competitor Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL reported record results this morning. Investors want to know if the larger rival will be a repeat performance.
Today
24/7 Wall St.named its annual CEO of the Year James A. Skinner of McDonald’s (MCD). He was picked from a field of ten executives which we profiled over the last ten days.
Skinner was chosen on the basis of his company’s stock price and financial performance compared with others in its own industry group and all large companies traded on US markets. Only firms with market caps of more than $5 billion were considered. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed revenue growth, operating margins, balance sheets, return on assets, and return on equity.
24/7 Wall St. will name its annual CEO of the Year next week. The executive will be picked from a field of ten which we will profile this week
The CEOs are chosen on the basis of their company’s stock market and financial performances compared with their own industry groups and all large companies traded on US markets. Only firms with market caps of more than $5 billion were considered. 24/7 reviewed revenue growth, operating margins, balance sheets, return on assets, and return on equity.
Analysts assume third quarter earnings for the companies in the S&P 500 will be bad. But, looking at the number which is the average of all firms in the index is misleading. The market will be watching the numbers for and forecasts from nine companies. They are likley to drive the stock indexes up or down more than numbers from almost any other firms. They are, in essence, all that counts in determining how badly the recession is taking a toll on American business.
Ronald McDonald has just had a big meal and is picking his teeth.The stock market is telling him that McDonald’s (MCD) won’t be hurt by the recession. At $62, the shares of the largest fast-food chain are not down much from their 52-week high. Over the last three months, the Dow is off 7% and MCD is up almost 10%.
It does not matter that the fatty food the company sells will kill some customers before they make it to the exit. Where can people get a full meal for under $2?
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