CVX – 24/7 Wall St.

Posts for Ticker ‘CVX’

Ida: The Hurricaneless Hurricane (OIH, USO, OIL, MUR, MRO, RDS, CVX, XOM)

Oil and gas companies have closed or winding down many US Gulf operations ahead of a very late in the year Hurricane Ida. The weekend reports had this one dissipating then the reports early this morning had this making landfall as a tropical storm with [a possibility of it being hurricane. This morning Ida became a tropical storm again at the National Hurricane Center. In order to not have to out-guess ahead of time which companies will be least or most impacted had this been a full hurricane at the time it met rigs and the coast, we looked at the Oil Services HOLDRs (NYSE: OIH), the United States Oil (NYSE: USO) ETF and the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (NYSE: OIL) reactions based upon the supply data. While the infrastructure is now not as likely to be hit as hard and while a tropical storm is far less of a threat than a hurricane, NYMEX WTI Crude is actually still up $1.78 at $79.21 as of 10:13 AM EST.
Read More »

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 10:27 am in Commodities, Oil & Gas, CVX, MRO, MUR, OIH, oil, RDS, USO, XOM

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.

24/7 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:

Posted on: October 27, 2009 – 5:31 am in Corporate Governance, Research, Uncategorized, BK, BSX, BX, CEG, CEPH, CS, CVX, DOW, FISV, GE, HOLX, KLAC, MO, NDAQ, PNC, TCK.B, WFC, WMT, WU

4 More DJIA Stocks To Report Earnings (VZ, XOM, PG, CVX)

Last week marked what was the crest of third quarter earnings season for 2009, yet there is still a flood of earnings reports coming out this next week. We have four more DJIA components set to report earnings this week, and that should make for 25 of the 30 DJIA components after the week is out. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ), ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG), and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) will all be on deck for earnings.

We have included Thomson Reuters consensus data for earnings and revenue estimates and added color on each where applicable along with recent share performance metrics.
Read More »

Posted on: October 25, 2009 – 7:20 am in Calendar, Earnings, Oil & Gas, CVX, PG, VZ, XOM

The 100 Hardest Working Brands In The World

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 »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 5:06 pm in Research, Uncategorized, AAPL, AET, ALL, AM, AVP, AXP, BA, BBBY, BDK, BGP, BKS, BMY, CAJ, CAL, CL, COF, CPB, CVS, CVX, DAI, DD, DELL, DIS, DLM, EBAY, EK, EL, F, FDX, FUJIY, GE, GIS, GOOG, GPS, GR, GT, HD, HMC, HNZ, HOG, HRB, HRL, HSY, IBM, JCP, JNJ, K, KFT, KO, KSS, L, LIZ, LOW, LZB, MAR, MAT, MCD, MOT, MS, MSFT, NKE, NSANY, NYT, ODP, PBI, PBY, PEP, PG, PZZA, RAD, RL, RSH, S, SBUX, SCHW, SHW, SKS, SLE, SNE, SPLS, SUN, T, TBL, TGT, TIF, TM, TSN, TUP, TXN, UPS, VZ, WAG, WEN, WHR, WMT, XOM, XRX, YHOO

Media Digest (10/9/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: Chinese investors are holding a large amount of gold.

Reuters: Bernanke sees tighter policies as the economy improves.

Reuters: The Congressional Oversight Panel says that the US plan to help homeowners with mortgages is not enough.

Reuters: The FDIC questioned a review of Citigroup (NYSE:C) management. Read More »

Posted on: October 9, 2009 – 3:54 am in Press Digest, BA, BAC, BKS, BRK, C, CVX, FNM, FRE, GE, GKS, GS, IBM, INTC, JPM, MAR, MON, MSFT, NVDA, NWS, WYNN

ConocoPhillips Gets More Shareholder-Friendly (COP, XOM, CVX)

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) is trying to further adopt shareholder-friendly strategies with a higher payout and lower expenses. With as much as this stock has lagged some peers until recently, that should be of little surprise. It was back in early March when we listed ConocoPhillips as one our picks in the energy sector which might double from their lows. Shares were around $37 at the time and we noted that they would have to hit $68 for that double to hold true. And now shares are up close to $49 and look as though that they want to challenge the $50 mark.

In order to generate more cash, the company cut its cap-ex budget for next year to about $11 billion for exploration and production and to replace reserves. It will also sell what is said to be about $10 billion in assets. To entice shareholders, it also lifted its quarterly dividend 6.4% to $0.50. This puts it above a 4% yield, which looks on the surface to be the highest of the major US-based integrated oil players such as Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM). It also marks what appears to be the 7th year in a row to boost its dividend.

Posted on: October 7, 2009 – 12:36 pm in Commodities, Dividend, Oil & Gas, Shareholder Issues, COP, CVX, XOM

Conoco Issues Cautious Update, While Exxon CEO Calls for More Taxes (COP, CVX, XOM)

Oil major ConocoPhillips Corp. (NYSE:COP) released its third quarter 2009 interim update this morning, and while the news was not altogether positive, the company’s share price is up nearly 2.5% in early trading on heavy volume. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) are not following suit, with both down less than 1%. Read More »

Posted on: October 2, 2009 – 12:00 pm in Oil & Gas, COP, CVX, XOM

Media Digest 10/1/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: Ken Lewis will step down as CEO of Bank of America (BAC)

Reuters: Cisco (CSCO) bought Tandbeg for $3 billion.

Reuters: The IMF raised forecasts for US GDP but warned on its growing debt.

Reuters: Turnaround experts say the collapse of CIT (CIT) would be a mess. Read More »

Posted on: October 1, 2009 – 4:08 am in Press Digest, AXP, BAC, CIT, CMCSA, CSCO, CVX, EW, GE, HMC, HSY, JAVA, JPM, MCO, MDT, NVDA, NVS, ORCL, WYNN

Another Increase in Crude Inventories (CVX, XOM, OIL, USO, CIT)

The US Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration has released its weekly status report on crude oil inventories, and once again they are higher, this time by 2.8 million barrels. Gasoline inventories are down 1.6 million barrels and distillate inventories are up by 300,000 barrels. All these figures put respective inventories above the upper bound of the five-year average for oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel.

It’s no surprise then that share prices for the petroleum companies are falling in the wake of the report. Chevron Corporation (CVX), which announced the retirement of chairman and CEO David O’Reilly and his replacement by vice-chairman John Watson, is trading down, as is Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM). For some unknown reason, the iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return Index ETN (OIL), and the US Oil Fund ETF (USO) are both up about 1%. Read More »

Posted on: September 30, 2009 – 1:07 pm in Oil & Gas, CIT, CVX, oil, USO, XOM

China Reaches Out Again For Crude Supply Domination

China has made aggressive investments in oil production facilities and fields in Venezuela, Brazil, and several places in the Middle East. Almost all its multi-billion dollar deals are aimed at locking up supply to accomodate its ravenous need for energy which fuels is rapidly expanding economy. Many of its recent transaction guarantee crude at market prices.

The most substantial China investment to date is a plan to buy one-sixth of the reserves of Nigeria which is a poor nation with abundant supplies of crude. Read More »

Posted on: September 29, 2009 – 5:05 am in Oil & Gas, CVX, XOM

Media Digest 9/14/2009

Reuters: Obama is trying to push Wall St. reform.

Reuters: German aid for Opel will go in part to Russia for operations there.

Reuters: A global poll shows support for stimulus packages.

Reuters: J&J (JNJ) is in talks to cut its $1.5 billion Elan investment. Read More »

Posted on: September 14, 2009 – 4:01 am in Press Digest, AAPL, AMR, BAC, CHL, CVX, DAL, EMC, GOOG, INTC, JNJ, KFT, TOL, UPS

M&A: America’s Top Companies Hold $335 Billion Cash (XOM, MSFT, JNJ, PG, BRK-A, IBM, T, AAPL, GOOG, CVX, CSCO, KO, INTC, ORCL, BAC, WFC, JPM, GE, PFE)

Now that we are out of the woods in the crash scenario, assuming this week is no ill omen, investors may want to know which of the big companies would start to deploy their billions and billions of dollars in cash for large mergers or strategic bolt-on acquisitions. In all of these companies, we are not taking the long-term or short-term debt obligations into account. This is merely the cash, cash equivalents, and the long-term investments listed on the books.

But as these are the biggest companies in the world with what should be credible balance sheets (in most cases anyhow), we are also including a second combined figure for “receivables and inventories” for a few of these companies to show what the firms could use for additional sources of capital…. These figures do not include untapped credit lines and shelf registrations which could amount to untold billions more. Because of this calculation, our figures may differ slightly from what companies have listed as cash and equivalents.

Can all of this cash go for mergers? What about for dividends? No way. But a large portion of it could be used for mergers and buyouts under the right circumstances. We removed the companies which are either permanently out of the game of M&A or those which are temporarily out of it. But of the fourteen mega-caps (over $100 billion in market cap) which we did cover, you would be shocked at the cash balance these companies are sitting on without even considering the total cumulative effect of credit lines, inventories, receivables, and open shelf registrations. The first total cash figure comes to a whopping $335 billion. This number is far more if you count the companies with exceptions.

These major companies broken down by cash balance and what sort of merger these could consider are Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL). Even after a huge rally, $335 billion and then some could go a very long way.
Read More »

Posted on: September 2, 2009 – 5:05 pm in Buffett, Conglomerates, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Oil & Gas, Private Equity, Rumors, Stock Buybacks, Technology Companies, Value Investing, AAPL, BAC, BRK-A, CSCO, CVX, GE, GOOG, IBM, INTC, JNJ, JPM, KO, MSFT, ORCL, PFE, PG, T, WFC, XOM

Media Digest 9/1/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: Ebay (EBAY) will sell Skype to private investors.

Reuters: China’s manufacturing index gained.

Reuters: A late Labor Day will hurt August retail sales.

Reuters: A US judge ruled against AIG (AIG) in a dispute with its former CEO. Read More »

Posted on: September 1, 2009 – 3:57 am in Press Digest, AAPL, AIG, BA, BAC, BRCD, CVX, DELL, DIS, EBAY, ETFC, GOOG, LUV, MSFT, MVL, PTR, SNE, VIA, WMT, YHOO

Fidelity’s Top Portfolio Changes (BAC, WFC, GS, MS, JPM, AAPL, MSFT, CSCO, ORCL, XOM, CVX, PFE, ESRX, WYE, GE, SBUX)

Fidelity Management & Research Company, or FMR, was among the giants which released its quarterly holdings over the most recent days. While it is always interesting to see which holdings are the top holdings, most traders look at the big portfolio changes to try to gain insight into the minds of fund managers. We looked through the top holdings valued at $1 billion or more solely for the Fidelity Management & Research Company unit and we looked for positions where the position changed by more than 10% up or down by measure of share count rather than by the dollar amount.

There were some serious additions in Q2 in the financial sector to its portfolios. The tech sector saw some mixed changes, while the drug and consumer changes looked lower. There was a surprise cut in a key conglomerate and a huge add to one of the Battlestar Galactica coffee stocks.

Of the larger changes to its top holdings in financial stocks, FMR’s major large changes were all additional stakes being taken. WELLS FARGO & CO (NYSE: WFC) was listed as $6.05 billion via 249.45 million shares, a gain of roughly 36 million shares. J.P. MORGAN CHASE & CO INC. (NYSE: JPM) was worth $5.44 billion from a stake of almost 159.6 million shares, a gain of over 7.1 million shares. BANK OF AMERICA CORP. (NYSE: BAC) was listed as $4.17 billion via a stake of 315.9 million shares, but that is effectively a doubling in size of shares from its Q1 reporting. GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC. (NYSE: GS) was listed as a $3.44 billion stake via 23.35 million shares, a gain of roughly 7 million shares of stock. MORGAN STANLEY (NYSE: MS) was a stake worth some $2.5 billion via some 87.8 million shares, also more than double its previous shares listed.

APPLE INC. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is one of its top few holdings at $5.96 billion, and this was a gain of more than 10% to 4,59 million shares. MICROSOFT CORP. (NASDAQ: MSFT) was a huge gain by almost one-third of its stake to some 163 million shares of stock worth a reported $3.87 billion. ORACLE CORP. (NASDAQ: ORCL) was listed as being worth some $2.79 billion via 130.3 million shares, a gain of about 15.3 million shares. IBM (IBM) was worth $1.00 billion via 9.62 million shares, but this is after a drop of roughly 4.3 million shares.
Read More »

Posted on: August 17, 2009 – 4:58 pm in Banking, Drug companies, Financial Stocks, Insider Activity, Mutual Funds, Oil & Gas, Technology Companies, Telecom, Uncategorized, AAPL, BAC, CSCO, CVX, ESRX, GE, GS, JPM, MS, MSFT, ORCL, PFE, SBUX, WFC, WYE, XOM

Bracing For Energy Giants’ Earnings (COP, APA, XOM, FSLR, CVX)

We have already seen earnings from Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) and BP Plc (NYSE: BP), and these figures are acting to keep a lid on oil stocks. There is, of course, the notion of commodity price changes each day, but a key idea here is just how much the CFTC review is going to act against speculators in the near future in the energy and commodity markets. ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA), ExxonMobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) are all on deck this week for earning. We have compiled basic expectations and technical data on what to watch for in these earnings.
Read More »

Posted on: July 28, 2009 – 12:55 pm in Alternative Energy, Earnings, Green Biz, Oil & Gas, APA, COP, CVX, FSLR, XOM

Media Digest 7/10/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters: Pandit bought time at Citigroup (C) with a management reshuffle.

Reuters: Obama’s healthcare and climate plans are running into resistance.

Reuters: AIG (AIG) will pay more executive bonuses in July.

Reuters: The new GM will exit Chapter 11 today. Read More »

Posted on: July 10, 2009 – 3:02 am in Alternative Energy, Autos, Banking, Corporate Governance, Earnings, Earnings Warning, Healthcare, Housing, Internet, Press Digest, AIG, AMZN, BRCM, C, CVX, ERIC, GOOG, JPM, MSFT, RTP, S, UBS, XOM

Top Analyst Upgrades (DOX, CVX, GS, ILMN, INTU, KBH, HOT, WU)

These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street early this Thursday morning:

Amdocs (DOX) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Chevron (CVX) Started as Buy at Societe Generale.
Goldman Sachs Group (GS) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill.
Illumina (ILMN) Raised to Buy at Auriga.
Intuit (INTU) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
KB Home (KBH) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Starwood Hotels (HOT) Raised to Market Perform at FBR.
Western Union (WU) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: July 9, 2009 – 6:43 am in Analyst Calls, CVX, DOX, GS, HOT, ILMN, INTU, KBH, WU

Tempering Expectations Ahead of Base Earnings (AA, CVX, SGR)

It is still too soon to be counting the last revisions for major technology companies reporting calendar Q2-2009 earnings season. But the trend set at the end of last week and being continued today is one of caution. The last earnings season had the bar set extremely low. But now investors seem to be demanding more than just hanging on to a notion of “not as bad” or “close enough to live with” for earnings reports. This seems to be the case this week for large base economy and infrastructure players such as Alcoa, Inc. (NYSE: AA), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), and even Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SGR).
Read More »

Posted on: July 6, 2009 – 12:46 pm in Earnings, Metals, Oil & Gas, AA, CVX, SGR

Media Digest 8/30/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

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 »

Posted on: June 30, 2009 – 3:03 am in Drug companies, Hardware, Healthcare, Medical, Mergers and Buy Outs, Oil & Gas, Press Digest, Wireless, AAPL, ABT, AIG, AMZN, BIIB, BRCM, CAL, CMCSA, CVC, CVX, DIS, JNJ, MCD, RTP, STT, TM, UAUA, XOM

At $70 Oil, Major Oil Stocks Still Look Cheap (COP, XOM, CVX, MUR, PBR, PTR, VLO)

We keep getting asked a single question from readers and from our own industry and professional contacts: Are Oil Stocks Cheap? There is a very simple answer in today’s markets: Oil stocks look very cheap (if oil is going to stay anywhere near $70.00). Some of these are our top picks and some are incidental, but the reviewed stocks are ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE: MUR), Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR), PetroChina Co. Ltd. (NYSE: PTR) and Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO). By our measure, some of these major integrated oil and exploration and production stocks are undervalued by 10% to 25%. Some may be even more undervalued than that in the large-cap and super-cap arenas.

Answering any question of whether a stock or any instrument is cheap does actually require a crystal ball that sees the future for it to be certain beyond a snapshot in time, but if oil stays around these levels then many of the major oil stocks still seem to have more room to run up. Dare we call this value investing? This is not a review of every single sector in the oil patch, as we are reviewing these stocks in groups.
Read More »

Posted on: June 12, 2009 – 5:15 am in ADR, Buffett, Emerging Markets, Oil & Gas, Value Investing, COP, CVX, MUR, PBR, PTR, VLO, XOM

Today’s top tickerspy Indexes
Home Furnishing R...	+14.1%
Ethanol and Biofu...	+5.1%
Electronics Retai...	+2.1%
Diabetes Stocks	+2.0%
Memory Chip Stock...	+2.0%

24/7 Wall St.