Posts for Ticker ‘FLR’

Transportation Companies Expect Huge Stimulus Windfall

New research indicates that transportation companies will benefit the most from the government’s huge stimulus investment in infrastructure. According to a new ChangeWave survey of 313 people who work for companies involved with infrastructure projects done between September 29 and October 5,  alternative energy will be that other sector that will do well because of federal investment in new products.

Fifty-six percent of those surveyed believe that
transportation infrastructure will see the largest benefit and 43% picked alternative energy projects. The poll also noted that water infrastructure has experienced the largest increase since the previous survey in March — jumping 10 points to 21%. Read More »

Top Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ADBE, BCS, STV, FPL, FLR, GME, PCLN, TOL, TSN, TROW)

These are this Wednesday’s top 10 analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls:

Adobe Systems NASDAQ: ADBE) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Barclays plc (NYSE: BCS) Cut to Hold at RBS.
China Digital TV (NYSE: STV) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
FPL Group (NYSE: FPL) Raised to Buy at Citi.
Fluor (NYSE: FLR) Raised to Hold at Citi.
GameStop (NYSE: GME) Removed from Convition Buy List at Goldman Sachs (still Buy rated).
Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
T. Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week to be notified of key merger news, key analyst calls, top early morning day trader alerts, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Media Digest 11/10/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Markets hit their 2009 highs.

Reuters:   Dodd is set to unveil his financial reform bill which calls for merging many bank regulators.

Reuters:   Kraft’s (NYSE:KFT) bid for Cadbury turned hostile.

Reuters:   A survey of economists predicted strong GDP growth in 2010. Read More »

Top Analyst Upgrades (AGN, CHU, ENDP, FLR, GD, LMT, MDZ, NETL, NUVA, SGR)

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

Allergan (AGN) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
China Unicom (CHU) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Endo Pharmaceuticals (ENDP) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Fluor (FLR) Started as Outperform at Baird.
General Dynamics (GD) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Lockheed Martin (LMT) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
MDS Inc. (MDZ) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
NetLogic (NETL) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Nuvasive (NUVA) Raised to Buy at Needham.
Shaw Group (SGR) Started as Outperform at Baird.

JON C. OGG

T. Boone Pickens & BP Updated Stock Holdings (ANR, APC, COG, CHK, CNX, DVN, FLR, FWLT, HAL, MEE, OXY, STR, SLB, SU, RIG, WFT)

Pickens PicThis morning we got to see the new equity holdings of T. Boone Pickens, via his BP Capital Management, L.P.,  as of March 31, 2009.  Some of the higher stakes look to be in Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK), Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN), Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE: SU), and Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG).  Here is the full list of holdings for Pickens’ BP Capital with the implied value as of the reporting dat of March 31:

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BBT, EXPD, FLR, JEC, JCG, NOK, SIAL, VMED)

Money_stack_picThese are some of the top upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts this Friday morning:

  • BB&T (BBT) Raised to Market Perform at KBW.
  • Expeditors International (EXPD) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  • Fluor (FLR) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • Jacobs Engineering (JEC) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • J. Crew (JCG) Raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.
  • Nokia (NOK) Raised to Hold from Sell at Societe Gednerale.
  • Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
  • Virgin Media (VMED) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
January 23, 2009

Fluor: A Strong Balance Sheet Is a Good Thing (FLR, STO, XOM, JEC, FWLT, KBR)

When everyone else is ducking for cover, it often pays to stick your neck out. That seems to be what Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) is doing with the announcement of a new business that it is calling Fluor Offshore Solutions. Fluor has been in the offshore business for decades, but is more well-known for its onshore engineering and construction business.  Where it gets interesting is how it is stacking up against peers.

Read More »

AmTech’s Favorite Defense & Infrastructure Fundamental Picks (FLR, LMT)

Amtech_logo_3There is an interesting report from research team over at American Technology Research called "Our Best Dozen Fundamental Picks" as earnings season is upon us.   The research firm noted that investors already expect a disaster in the earnings reports and the current business climate isn’t as bad as what investors are expecting.  While the firm believes that many companies will guide expectations lower or will be very cautious, this is their list of companies it expects to outperform peers.  We have included some very brief commentary from AmTech in its calls, and the two of their picks from large cap traditional companies are Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) and Lockheed Martin Corporation (NYSE: LMT).

Read More »

Fluor Adds Wind To Its Pocket (FLR, SI, RDS.A)

Fluor Corporation (NYSE:FLR) won a contract from Scottish & Southern Energy to construct a 500 MW wind farm, the world’s largest, off the coast of Suffolk in the UK. Fluor will book the $1.8 billion contract in the second quarter of 2008. On Monday, Fluor reported a 63% jump in earnings and revenue growth of 32%, boosting the stock price by nearly $25.00 yesterday. This single project is equal to nearly a third of the company’s reported new business in the first quarter of 2008. Fluor’s stock is off $1.46 in pre-open trading.  On any other day besides after a huge earnings move, this contract would have likely moved the stock differently.

The Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm will generate enough electricity to power more than 415,000 homes, approximately the entire demand from Suffolk. Each of the 140 turbines will generate 3.6 MW. A division of Siemens (NYSE:SI) will supply the turbines. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2009, and the project is expected to be completed in 2011.

Earlier this month, Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) withdrew from an 1 GW wind farm project located in the Thames estuary that would have generated enough power to supply one-quarter of the homes in London. Shell’s move was interpreted as a significant blow to the British government’s eventual goal of 33 GW of offshore wind capacity, which would provide electricity to every home in the country. Today’s announcement by Fluor takes some of the sting out of that ill-wind.

Paul Ausick
May 14, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (CN, CHU, DISH, FLR, IPCM, MDR, MFA, PLD, SKS, WRE)

These are not the only calls impacting stocks, but these are the top ten individual calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on:

  • China Netcom (NYSE: CN) downgraded to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • China Unicom (NYSE: CHU) raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • DISH Network (NASDAQ: DISH) raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Fluor (NYSE: FLR) raised to Buy at Citigroup.
  • IPC The Hospitalist (NASDAQ: IPCM) started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • McDermott (NYSE: MDR) raised to Buy at Citigroup.
  • MFA Mortgage (NYSE: MFA) downgraded to Market Perform at KBW.
  • ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) raised to Top Pick at RBC Capital Markets.
  • Saks (NYSE: SKS) downgraded to Neutral at Banc of America.
  • Washington REIT (NYSE: WRE) started as Outperform at RBC Capital.

Jon C. Ogg
March 6, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (CMG, FLR, MSO, MU, SNH, SSS, VIA.B, WTW, WFMI)

These are not the only calls out there from analysts, but these are the top analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is looking at this Friday morning:

  • Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) raised to Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
  • Fluor (NYSE: FLR) raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Martha Stewart (NYSE: MSO) started as Outperform at RBC Capital.
  • Micron Tech (NYSE: MU) initiated as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • Senior Housing (NYSE: SNH) raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Sovereign Self Storage (NYSE: SSS) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Viacom (NYSE: VIA.B) raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Weight Watchers (NYSE: WTW) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) downgraded to Underweight at Lehman.

Jon C. Ogg
February 15, 2008

As Media Touts Nuclear Power, Time To Review Nuclear & Uranium Stocks (CCJ, USU, SGE, FLR, GE, URRE, USEG, URZ, CAU, MOS, CF, NLR)

It seems like the media is touting and flaunting more and more for a return of nuclear energy.  This may or may not happen as the applications are again for "Next Year" and it is with no surprise that it’s becoming the topic of much labor in Mexico pronounced "Man-ya-na" (sorry no N~ without changing languages).    You can also see where spot Uranium prices have come down significantly from the pre-summer ramp and summer highs.  TradeTech’s Uranium site shows its price chart for Uranium and The Ux Consulting Company shows much of the same.  But with $80.00 per barrel of oil and T. Boone Pickens calling for even higher oil prices you never know just how long the "call for nuclear power" will take to resurface from the investment community.  Nuclear power is getting more media coverage again. 

Let’s assume for a moment that we forget about the discussions leading to delays that have been perpetual.  Let’s for get about the political side of nuclear power.  Lets forget about killing land under mountains where we’ll bury the stuff in Nevada.  And let’s forget about the potential environmental catastrophe that can result if something goes horribly wrong.

There are many stock plays in the U.S. alone that will be huge beneficiaries of this if even one nuclear power plant approval goes through.  If there is one, why not the full dozen of them.  Here is the lot of companies:

Shaw Group (NYSE:SGR) is perhaps the most vertical of the engineering and construction firms.  Fluor (NYSE:FLR) is also in there.  And we can’t leave out the monster General Electric (NYSE:GE) for new reactors, nuclear fuel, reactor services and performance services.

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) out of Canada is THE go-to behemoth in the stock market for Uranium miners and producers.  The much smaller company in the US is USEC (NYSE:USU), although its shares were hit exceptionally hard Friday after testing started.  Some more smaller and much more speculative stocks in the sector are Uranium Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:URRE), U.S. Energy Corp. (NASDAQ:USEG), Uranerz Energy Corp (AMEX:URZ), and even Canyon Resources Corporation (AMEX:CAU).  Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) and CF Industries (NYSE:CF) are stealth plays in the sector that can enrich uranium from phosphate, but you should know that prices have to be very high and have to be expected to remain very high for quite some time for those to be cost effective.

 

Read More »

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (September 14, 2007)

ANW started as Buy at Jefferies.
AVY cut to Neutral at RWBaird.
AXP cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch (indicated down 1% to 2%).
BOBJ cut to Neutral at First Albany.
CHD started as Neutral at UBS.
EGP started as Outperform atRWBaird.
ENER started as Buy at Jefferies.
ESLR started as Hold at Jefferies.
FLR cut to Hold at Citigroup.
FTI started as Buy at Jefferies.
IMCL Cut to Mkt Perform at FBR (shares down 3%).
BBEP raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
CLMS raised to Outperform at CRedit Suisse.
GGC raised to neutral at Credit Suisse.
INTC cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch (shares down almost 2%).
NKTR started as Neutral at B of A.
PALM raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
RIMM started as Outperform at BMO (maybe transition coverage, shares up 1%).
ROP cut to Mkt Perform at FBR.
TGI raised to Buy at B of A.
TPTX started as Strong Buy at JMP Securities.
UTX raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
VIP cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
WY raised to Buy at B of A.

Jon C. Ogg
September 14, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Pre-Market Stock News (August 16, 2007)

(AMGN) Amgen announced 12-14% layoffs and lowered guidance for 2007.
(ANX) ADVENTRX Pharma announces fast track designation granted by the FDA for CoFactor for treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer.
(AUXL) Auxilium Pharma receivef FDA clearance to resume clincal trials for XIAFLEX for the treatment of Dupuytren’s contracture.
(BAX) Baxter awarded pandemic advanced supply contract from Deptartment of Health.
(CFC) Countrywide Financial tapped an $11 Billion line of credit.
(CPHD) Cepheid entered into a 5 year agreement with Northrop Grumman for the purchase of anthrax test cartridges.
(CRM) Salesforce.com trading down 1% today after posting $0.03 EPS vs $0.01 est.
(EL) Estee Lauder $0.45 EPS vs $0.50 est.
(FCTR) First Charter to be acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp for $31.00 per share.
(FLO) Flowers Foods $0.24 EPS vs $0.23 est.
(FLR) Fluor won a contract from Toshiba International for engineering, procurement and construction-related services for two nuclear power plants.
(FTD) FTD Group $0.36 EPS vs $0.28 est.
(GGBM) GigaBeam received an order for four WiFiber links from a new partner that is establishing a metro ethernet network in Los Angeles.
(GRMN) Garmin noted as an immune growth stock in a crummy market.
(JCP) J.C.Penney $0.78 EPS vs $0.78 est.; sees Q3 $1.28 EPS vs $1.43 est.
(KFT) Kraft Foods is considering selling off its cereals unit according to WSJ.
(LMS) Lamson & Sessions enters into $27.00 merger and a $0.30 special dividend as it will become part of TNB-Thomas & Betts.
(MCO) Moody’s may be in trouble with Congress over failures to warn over CDO ratings and risk activities.
(MGPI) MGP Ingredients $0.10 EPS vs $0.14 est.
(NAPS) Napster in marketing pact with Maxfield’s MP3 player in Germany.
(NBF) Nova Biosource Fuels will acquire a biodiesel refinery in Iowa with a 10 million gallon per year capacity.
(QCOM) Qualcomm’s ex-CEO noted that the suits could cost the company over $2 Billion in revenues if all the terms stand.
(SPAR) Spartan Motors chassis unit received a $53 million subcontract order from BAE Systems.
(SUNW) Sun Micro in free download of StarOffice suite at the Google Pack site.
(TTWO) Take-Two Interactive has received a Wells Notice from the SEC.
(WFMI) Whole Foods announced it is extending its offer for Wild Oats.
(WW) Watson Wyatt $0.71 EPS vs $0.67 est.

Jon C. Ogg
August 16, 2007

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

Infrastructure Earnings Scorecard (MDR, FLR, FWLT, ACM)

If you have watched the infrastructure stock news this week, you will know most of these companies have beat earnings expectations and the industry isn’t seeing any major weakness ahead.

Fluor (NYSE:FLR) posted $1.05 EPS on $4.22 Billion in revenues, and estimates were $0.95 EPS and $3.8 Billion in revenues.  The power division and oil and gas projects were mostly credited.  Its shares were up about 3% yesterday in after-hours trading and that is in-line with pre-market indications on no volume so far.

McDermott International Inc. (NYSE:MDR) posted a profit thattripled, and it even split its stock 2 for 1.  The company posted $1.31 EPS and estimates were under $1.00, and revenues were $1.42 Billion versus $1.39 Billion expected.  Shares were up almost 3% in after-hours trading yesterday and are actually indicated up over 4% for the open.

AECOM Technology (NYSE:ACM), the company that is considered the bridge design and engineering contract winner, also is trading higher pre-market.  The company posted $0.26 EPS on $1.1 Billion in revenues, and estimates were $0.25 EPS and $1.07 Billion revenues.  Aecom shares are up more than 5% pre-market.

Foster Wheeler Ltd. (NASDAQ:FWLT) is actually indicated a bit lower this morning after its earnings report.  The company posted $1.41 EPS, above the $1.33 EPS estimate (actual net results were $0.99 on items).  But revenues were $1.19 Billion, compared to estimates of $1.2 Billion. That EPS number is before a increased reserve charge for a legacy power project. The global power group unit has its highest backlog in years and it expects high bookings in engineering and construction in the second half. Foster Wheeler shares are trading down 2% pre-market.

The market cap of these companies combined is more than $30 Billion.

Jon C. Ogg
August 8, 2007

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

Market Trades For Super-Bulls, Chicken-Bulls, and Outright Bears

Stock Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, RIMM, BA, UTX, ATI, RTP, RIO, FLR, SGR, PEP, KO, BUD, CAG, HNZ, CPB, HRL, K, GIS, KFT, MCD, MRK, PFE, ALO, PYX, HME, WTR, SNH, SRZ, PG, CL, MO, RAI, CLX, NVO, BRK/A, FLO, DLM, PSQ, DOG, SSO, SH, BIL, IEI, TLT, TLH

There is more than enough bantering back and forth out there about the week’s sell-off in reaction to long-term interest rates and the Bill Gross predictions for potentially higher rates longer-term.  So, if you are a super-bull then you’d want to use the leadership stocks to pile surplus cash into thinking the world didn’t really change.  If you are a chicken-bull (want to buy but not overly aggressive and still cautious) then you want to buy defensive stocks.  If you’re a bear, well at least you get the 5% interest.  We wanted to provide at least a partial list of the bull and bear go-to picks ahead of the weekend when many will be doing extra amounts of reading.

Aggressive Bullish Picks

IF this was just an unwarranted sell-off that came because of a rate spook and if Mr. Gross is wrong, then you go hard and fast into what has been working before.  Aerospace, Infrastructure, Metals & Mining, very selective Tech.  So out of selective tech the two most obvious names are Apple (AAPL) and either Google (GOOG) or Research-in-Motion (RIMM).  In Aerospace the go-to names are Boeing (BA) and United Tech (UTX).  In metals its Allegheny Tech (ATI), Rio Tinto (RTP), and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce ‘CVRD’ (RIO).  In infrastructure the go-to names are Fluor (FLR), Shaw Group (SGR).  This week Jim Cramer gave his New Four Horsemen of Technology and booted the old ones.

Defensive Stock Plays For Chicken-Bull

Because this sell-off is for a different reason, we have eliminated the power companies because of the tie being so geared toward higher rates.  We’ve also pulled out the debt collection companies because they ran so much after the last sub-prime scare.  Here was the first line of 20 defensive stocks back in February from the mini-Asian meltdown and here was the list of second-line defensive names.   This still leaves plenty of options, and we added in a few more.

First Line Defensive Stocks: Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Anheuser-Busch (BUD), ConAgra (CAG), Heinz (HNZ), Campbell Soup (CPB), Hormel (HRL), Kellogg (K), General Mills (GIS), Kraft (KFT), McDonalds (MCD), Merck (MRK), Pfizer (PFE), P & G (PG), Colgate-Polmolive (CL), Altria (MO), Reynolds American (RAI), and Clorox (CLX).

Second-Line Defensive Stocks:  Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/a), Flowers Foods (FLO), Del Monte Foods (DLM), Novo Nordisk (NVO), Alpharma (ALO), Playtex (PYX), Home Properties (HME), Aqua America (WTR), and Senior Housing (SNH), Sunrise Senior Living (SRZ).

The Bearish Trades

If you are still bearish or are completely bearish, then you’ve got Treasuries and all of the inverse ETF funds.  Some of the negative market ETF trades that move invesrely are the SHORT QQQ PROSHARES (PSQ), SHORT DOW30 PROSHARES (DOG), ULTRA S&P500 PROSHARES (SSO), SHORT S&P500 PROSHARES (SH), and more.  For short-term rate ETF’s you have the fairly new STREETTRACKS SERIES TRUST Lehman 1-3 MO T-BILL (BIL).  The more liquid interest rate ETF’s that actually trade are the iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treas Bond (TLT), iShares Lehman 10-20 Year Treas Bond (TLH), iShares Lehman 3-7 Year T-Note (IEI), and more.

As a reminder, defensive stocks still tend to get hit when the market gets so bad that they throw out the baby with the bath water, but they usually start to fall less and less and are usually the first stocks that traders commit money to at the turns.  Defensive doesn’t mean immune.  Also, all of these are merely part of a partial list and the list could have easily been 3-times the size.   

Jon C. Ogg
June 8, 2007

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

Cramer’s Sell Block (May 10, 2007)

On tonight’s Sell Block on CNBC’s MAD MONEY, Jim Cramer reviewed many of his picks you need to sell:

He said the CEO of Syntax-Brillian (BRLC) is one he doesn’t trust and he’s against the stock right now.  If you read my own commentary regularly then this may sound familiar after I said they can’t be trusted.

HealthSouth (HLS) is one where Cramer is no longer on the fence and you have to sell it.  The debt credit spreads are bad.

Because of the potential backlash on drug stocks, he wants to take the 16% gain on Novo Nordisk (NVO).

He wants to stick with McDermott (MDR) at $75, Foster Wheeler (FWLT) sell at $100, Fluor (FLR) at $115.

Dynegy (DYN) is being run well and he doesn’t think it needs to go down.

Cisco Sytems (CSCO) is one he liked repeatedly and he thought it would go up and it didn’t; But Cramer said he is not going negative and he is saying to not sell it.  He would be a buyer if you haven’t bought.  As a reminder this was Cramer’s #3 Top Growth Pick for 2007.

Jon C. Ogg
May 10, 2007

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