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

Douglas A. McIntyre — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:04:06 +0000

Reuters: 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.

Reuters: A Congressional committee approved rules for over-the-counter derivatives.

Reuters: Wasserstein’s death will result in a $186 million payment for restricted stock.

Reuters: Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) will devote a smaller part of revenue to compensation to help quiet critics.

Reuters: The Fed’s Fisher said rates would stay low and inflation is not a risk.

WSJ: Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) will push Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) book initiative by offering $10 online deals.

WSJ: The US is resisting a merger between Live Nation (NYSE:LYV) and TicketMaster (NASDAQ:TKTM)

WSJ: The loss widened at Sony Ericsson (NYSE:SNE) (NASDAQ:ERIC)

WSJ: Construction may rebound in 2010.

WSJ: The Consumer Product Safety Commission will ask China to pay for some of the repairs to home using drywall made in the country.

WSJ: AMD (NYSE:AMD) posted a small-than-expected loss and Nokia (NYSE:NOK) results were hit by write-offs.

WSJ: China will probably not support sanctions on Iran.

WSJ: AIG (NYSE:AIG) will post a loss on the sale of its Taiwan unit.

WSJ: Profits at Schwab (NASDAQ:SCHW) fell.

WSJ: Profit margin that measures interest income on a bank’s assets was bad at Citigroup (NYSE:C).

WSJ: Gap (NYSE:GPS) will open a store in China.

NYT: Airlines are increasing fares for holiday travel.

NYT: Some analysts do not see the improvement in earnings at IBM and Google as a sign of a tech turnaround.

NYT: Federal jobs programs are missing many states that need them most.

NYT: Ad revenue at McClatchy (NYSE:MNI) declined.

FT: The Treasury stopped short of saying China manipulates its currency

Bloomberg: LBOs are making a comeback cutting financing costs for Blackstone (NYSE:BX).

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Media, Press Digest Tagged: AIG, AMD, AMZN, BAC, BX, CPS, ERIC, GOOG, GS, IBM, LYV, MNI, NOK, SCHW, SNE, TKTM, WMT

Media Digest 6/11/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:55:22 +0000

According to Reuters, volume sales are now the key to success for Apple’s (AAPL) new iPhone.

Reuters reports that the head of Merrill Lynch (MER) supports ongoing regulatory access to data from brokerages and believes the system needs further reform.

Reuters writes that Corporate Express will support an improved buy-out offer from Staples (SPLS).

Reuters writes that Toyota (TM) will start lithium ion-battery output next year.

Reuters reports that Chrysler may cut output due to a downturn in truck sales.

Reuters writes that Lehman (LEH) may raise capital from Korea.

MarketWatch writes that China’s imports of crude oil rose almost 13% in the period from January to May.

The Wall Street Journal writes that inflation is heating up around the world.

The Wall Street Journal reports that if Carl Icahn buys Yahoo! (YHOO) it would trigger a huge severance plan for employees.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the IEA said the global oil demand would fall but that supply was becoming harder to find.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the USDA has cut its forecast for the US corn crop by over 3%.

The Wall Street Journal writes that the FCC is still pushing free web access for many Americans.

The Wall Street Journal writes that the CEO of Merrill Lynch believes that brokers should be able to borrow from the Fed on different terms than banks do.

The Wall Street Journal writes that GAP (GPS) will start to combine its brands in single stores to save money.

The New York Times writes that concerns about the economy are shifting to inflation.

The New York Times reports that broadcaster have done extremely well with ad sales for this year.

The FT writes that several banks including Merrill Lynch and Citigroup (C) could face $10 billion due to the falling ratings of the monoline insurers like Ambac (ABK) and MBIA (MBI).

Bloomberg reports that Cbina exports grew 28% in May.

Douglas A. Mcintyre

Earlybird Analyst Calls (June 18, 2007)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 06:23:00 +0000

ADP started as Sector Perform at CIBC.
ANDW cut to Neutral at B of A.
ASN cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
CKFR raised to Outperform at CIBC.
CPS cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
EFD cut to Sell at Citigroup.
ENCY cut to Underperform at Rodman & Renshaw.
FCS raised to Outperform at RWBaird.
FIS started as Outperform at CIBC.
FISV raised to Sector Perform at CIBC.
GME raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
GPN started as Sector Perform at CIBC.
KDN raised to Buy at KeyBanc/McDonald.
KYPH cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
NATI raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
TEK raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
WDC cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
June 18, 2007

Earlybird Analyst Calls (June 11, 2007)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:19:51 +0000

AGP raised to Hold at Jefferies.
ARAY started as Underperform at CIBC.
BE cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
BF/a raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
BOT cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CAVM started as Buy at Deutsche bank.
CPS raised to Outperform at JMP Securities.
HRB raised to Buy at UBS.
JNJ raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
KFS raised to Outperform at CIBC.
MKTX cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
NKE raised to Overweight at HSBC.
NFLX cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
RKT raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
UST raised to Buy at UBS.
VAR raised to Outperform at CIBC.
VRUS started as Buy at UBS.
WB raised to Outperform at FBR.
WDC raised to Buy at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
June 11, 2007

Big List of Private Equity Targets in Financial Services

Douglas A. McIntyre — Thu, 31 May 2007 09:32:00 +0000

There is a recent boutique research report from earlier in the week showing a list of potential private equity targets from a specialty brokerage firm that I was very positive on from even before its IPO: Keefe Bruyette & Woods (KBW). The truth is that this company is probably only behind Goldman Sachs (GS) as far as its knowledge of what is going on in the North American financial services sector, and the argument is that KBW is considered the number one firm as far as independent coverage of the financial services sector. It is too bad the company did not get this out at the end of last year to include many other names that have been gobbled up, but it really feels as though every firm is ‘cramming for finals’ in the M&A world with the private equity superstars.

PROCESSING: Fidelity National Information Services (FIS); FairIsaac (FIC); ChoicePoint (CPS). On a side note, Total SystemsSolutions (TSS) is Jim Cramer’s pick in the sub-sector. RATINGS: Moody’s (MCO). INSURANCE BROKERS (P&C): Marsh and McClennan (MMC), AON Corp. (AOC). INSURANCE: AFLAC (AFL), Conseco (CNO), and American Safety (ASI). MONEY MANAGEMENT: Legg Mason (LM), Janus Capital (JNS), Waddell & Reed (WDR), Federated Investors (FII), National Financial (NFP). LOANS, STUDENT LOAN: Nelnet (NNI).

We have our own list of targets in this financial services sector for our newsletter subscribers. Some of these companies make sense, and there are many others elsewhere in overlapping segments in financial services that may actually make more sense.

Jon C. Ogg
May 31, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.