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The Week’s Market Winners: Ebay, Nike, And More

247wallst — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 11:10:41 +0000

Visa gained over 14% during the week on news that “the Federal Reserve would increase its proposed cap on interchange fees charged to by large banks to merchants to process debit card purchases from 12 cents to 21 cents per transaction,” according to TheStreet.com Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY), owner of PayPal, rallied as well.

First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) was higher by 13.5% “after the U.S. government said three of the company’s solar generation projects in California could qualify for up to $4.5 billion in conditional federal loan guarantees,” MarketWatch reports.

Nike (NYSE: NKE) rose on higher than expected earnings

Douglas A. McIntyre
S&P 500 TOP 10 LISTS

BIGGEST STOCK PRICE GAINERS

FOR WEEK, MONTH (JUNE) AND YEAR-TO-DATE AS OF JUNE 30

S&P 500 WEEK TOP 10 (24 JUN – 30 JUN)	Ticker	Weekly Price Change (%)	Close Price 30Jun11	Close Price 24Jun11	Market Cap ($Mil)
Visa, Inc.	V	14.8	84.26	73.37	52745.0
eBay Inc.	EBAY	13.8	32.27	28.35	36951.2
First Solar, Inc.	FSLR	13.5	132.27	116.56	10238.5
FMC Technologies, Inc.	FTI	12.6	44.79	39.77	9704.4
National Oilwell Varco, Inc.	NOV	11.6	78.21	70.10	29606.9
Halliburton Company	HAL	11.2	51.00	45.87	42447.5
Nike Inc.	NKE	10.8	89.98	81.18	38067.9
AK Steel Holding Corporation	AKS	10.8	15.76	14.22	1580.0
Valero Energy Corp.	VLO	10.3	25.57	23.18	13782.9
United States Steel Corp.	X	10.1	46.04	41.82	5989.4
Source: Capital IQ

Filed under: Research Tagged: AKS, EBAY, FSLR, FTI, HAL, NKE, NOV, V, VLO, X

Natural Gas Prices Expected to Rise, But Value Is Not in the Commodity (UNG, FCG, SGY, COG, HK, SWN, SD, XOP, WTI, EQT, PXJ, BHI, NBR, HAL, FTI, DO)

Administrator — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:38:36 +0000

Late Wednesday night, natural gas prices inexplicably dropped by about 8% on the NYMEX, well after the exchange had closed for the day. It took only a few seconds for the price to bounce back up, but the experience — a “mini-flash crash” perhaps — is so far unexplained.

Natural gas prices at the Henry Hub have been rising, coming within a hair’s breadth of $5.00/million BTUs, a level last seen in August 2010. The low prices have slowed the growth in onshore drilling for natural gas in the US, at the same time that it is encouraging some utilities to look at natural gas as a fuel for baseload power generation.

The abundant supplies of US natural gas available throughout the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or ‘fracking’ or ‘fracing’, has swept the industry, leading to massive amounts of new gas discoveries and production, as well as to lower prices. The industry needs prices to rise to around $7-$8/million BTUs in order for it to make a decent profit, but with prices stuck below $5, that day appears to be well into the future.

Investing in natural gas purely as a commodity play is best left to experienced traders. There are, of course, other ways. Four funds we’ll look at here are United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE: UNG), First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index Fund (NYSE: FCG), SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production (NYSE: XOP), and PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services Fund (NYSE: PXJ).

United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE: UNG) invests in near-month natural gas NYMEX futures contracts. In the past 52-weeks, the fund has lost more than -25% of its NAV, but with $1.9 billion in assets it is the largest natural gas fund available. Because it invests only in near-month contracts, UNG must roll-over its contracts every month, in effect selling its about-to-expire position and purchasing new contracts for the following month. In a contango market, where future-month contract prices exceed near-month contract prices, such a strategy loses money every month. Thus, even when natural gas prices rise, UNG can lose money because the future contract price will rise at least as quickly as the current price.

Why own such a thing? Primarily as a hedge against inflation and almost no correlation with equity prices. Pretty small beer, all things considered. UNG is trading at $11.93 at about mid-day, within a 52-week range of $10.02-$17.68.

The First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index Fund (NYSE: FCG) tries to replicate the ISE-Revere Natural Gas Index by investing at least 90% of its funds in the common stock of that index’s companies. The fund’s top five holdings are Stone Energy Corp. (NYSE: SGY), Petrohawk Energy Corp. (NYSE: HK), Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (NYSE: COG), Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE: SWN), and SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD). These five comprise 18.95% of the fund’s holdings. The fund’s assets total $586 million and it is trading today at $21.19, within a 52-week range of $14.39-$23.75. In the past year, the fund has gained more than 30%.

The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration and Production (NYSE: XOP) invests in equities of companies that explore for and produce oil and natural gas. The fund’s top five holdings are Cabot, W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: WTI), Petrohawk, EQT Corp. (NYSE: EQT), and Southwestern Energy. The fund’s assets total $908 million. The fund is trading at $56.55 today, within a 52-week range of $37.44-$65.76. Over the past year, the fund has gained about 42%.

The PowerShares Dynamic Oil & Gas Services Fund (NYSE: PXJ) tracks an equity index called the Dynamic Oil Services Intellidex. It invests at least 80% in common stock of oil and gas services companies, and may invest up to 90% of its assets in the Intellidex index companies. Its five largest holdings are Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI), Nabors Industries, Ltd. (NYSE: NBR), Halliburton Co. (NYSE: HAL), FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FTI), and Diamond Offshore Drilling, Inc. (NYSE: DO). The fund’s assets total about $247 million and it is trading today at $23.35, in a 52-week range of $13.98-$26.84. The fund has gained about 66% in the past year.

A reasonable conclusion from this quick survey is that investing in natural gas producers pays off nicely, but the real gains have come in the services sector. Holding natural gas futures has very limited appeal, but plenty of investors do it.

Growth in the services sector is likely to continue as drilling picks up both onshore in the US and offshore in the US Gulf of Mexico. As for the producers, Cabot, Stone, and Petrohawk are all involved in natural gas plays that produce significant amounts of liquids. And that’s where the money is, not in gas. Gas may become worth more over the next year or so, but the price differential between liquids and gas is never likely to close again.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Commodities, Oil & Gas Tagged: BHI, COG, DO, EQT, FCG, FTI, HAL, HK, NBR, PXJ, SD, SGY, SWN, UNG, WTI, XOP

Dividend Watch: FMC Technologies Coming Share Split (FTI, PBR)

Administrator — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:01:00 +0000

FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FTI) is soon to reflect what many investors consider the next best thing to a dividend: a stock split. It was about a month ago that the company approved a two-for-one stock split of the common stock in the form of a stock dividend. The cut-off date has already passed on a settlement basis and the payable date is March 31 with an ex-Date of April 1, 2011.

The split will increase its total shares outstanding from approximately 120 million shares to 240 million shares. The last split we saw was another 2 for 1 split back in late-2007. Stock splits in general on broader stocks have not exactly been as common and routine of late as we used to see in years past. Either share prices just aren’t hitting high enough share prices or the firms are watching many companies keep their larger share prices.

FMC offers technology solutions for the energy industry. The company has a new CEO and it recently announced a $125 million pact from Petroleo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR). Its own description shows that it “designs, manufactures and services technologically sophisticated systems and products such as subsea production and processing systems, surface wellhead systems, high pressure fluid control equipment, measurement solutions, and marine loading systems for the oil and gas industry.”

FMC actually pays no formal common dividend yet despite nearly ten years of being public and despite its $11.4 billion market cap. Thomson Reuters has estimates of $3.38 EPS for 2011 and $4.18 EPS for 2012. That being said, its forward P/E ratios are 28 for 2011 and almost 23 for 2012.

Shares are very close to all-time highs. At $94.75, its 52-week trading range is $46.16 to $97.35.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, Stock Splits Tagged: FTI

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AYR, ARBA, AFFY, AIPC, BIG, BVF, ETR, FTI, LNCR, NOV, RYAAY)

Administrator — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:35:18 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst calls with upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research notes:

Aircastle Ltd. (NYSE: AYR) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Affymax, Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
American Italian Pasta Co. (NASDAQ: AIPC) Cut to Neutral at Janney; Cut to Hold at BB&T Capital.
Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Biovail Corporation (NYSE: BVF) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FTI) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Lincare Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LNCR) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
National Oilwell Varco, Inc. (NYSE: NOV) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AFFY, AIPC, ARBA, AYR, BIG, BVF, ETR, FTI, LNCR, NOV, RYAAY

Goldman Sachs Mixes Calls in Oil and Utilities (RIG, PTEN, HAL, OIS, NBR, DO, FTI, WR, NRG, NVE)

247wallst — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:22:07 +0000

Goldman Sachs has made several key upgrades and downgrades this morning in the utility sector and in the oil patch. While the utility sector was raised to attractive, some of the other calls seem more mixed on the surface in the oil patch.

Transocean (NYSE: RIG) was one of the few real upgrades as shares were raised to Buy from Neutral. Patterson-UTI (NASDAQ: PTEN) and Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) were cut to Neutral, while Oil States International (NYSE: OIS) was cut to Sell. Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) was cut to Sell from Neutral. Diamond Offshore (NYSE: DO) and FMC Technologies (NYSE: FTI) were both upgraded, but only to Neutral from Sell.

Westar Energy (NYSE: WR) and NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) were both raised to Buy, while NV Energy (NYSE: NVE) was cut to Neutral.

Jon C. Ogg
June 25, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls, Oil & Gas, Utilities Tagged: DO, FTI, HAL, NBR, NRG, NVE, OIS, PTEN, RIG, WR

Top Analyst Upgrades (FINL, FTI, FL, BEN, GS, KEY, NDAQ, NOK, NRG, VIP)

247wallst — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:18:10 +0000

These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street firms early this Thursday morning with more than two hours until the market opens:

Finish Line (FINL) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
FMC Technologies (FTI) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Foot Locker (FL) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Franklin Resources (BEN) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Goldman Sachs (GS) Raised to Outperform at Bernstein.
KeyCorp (KEY) Raised to TopPick at RBC.
NASDAQ (NDAQ) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Nokia (NOK) Started as Outperform at Baird.
NRG Energy (NRG) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Vimpel Communications (VIP) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BEN, FINL, FL, FTI, GS, KEY, NDAQ, NOK, NRG, VIP

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (AXP, AXYS, BJ, CAVM, ERTS, ERIC, FLIR, FTI, GE, HTLD, KNX, NKE, SINA)

247wallst — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:10:55 +0000

These are the top downgrades or negative calls we have seen this Wednesday morning from Wall Street analysts:

American Express (AXP) Started as Sell at Banc of America; Started as Sell at Citigroup.
Axsys Technologies (AXYS) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Cavium Networks (CAVM) Cut to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Electronic Arts (ERTS) was downgraded at Citigroup, Banc of America, and piper Jaffray.
Ericsson (ERIC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
FLIR Systems (FLIR) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
FMC Tech (FTI) Cut to Sell at UBS.
General Electric (GE) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Heartlan Express (HTLD) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Knight Transportation (KNX) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Nike (NKE) Cut to Neutral at Banc of America.
Sina (SINA) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.

Jon C. Ogg
December 10, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AXP, AXYS, BJ, CAVM, ERIC, ERTS, FLIR, FTI, GE, HTLD, KNX, NKE, SINA

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CIM, CCE, KMB, KSS, WFC, AMAT, FTI, SSYS)

247wallst — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:18:34 +0000

It is looking pretty light so far from analyst coverage this Monday morning. Here are some of the top individual stock calls we have seen this morning from Wall Street analysts:

Chimera Investment (NYSE: CIM) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) Raised to Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
FMC Technologies (NYSE: FTI) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) Cut to Market Perform at William Blair.

Here was a sector downgrade this morning from Deutsche Bank on the solar stocks.

Jon C. Ogg
November 10, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, CCE, CIM, FTI, KMB, KSS, SSYS, WFC

Goldman Sachs on Canadian Oil Drilling (BJS, HAL, WFT, CAM, SII, FTI)

247wallst — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 06:57:20 +0000

Goldman Sachs issued its first of a 3-part conference call covering the Canadian market, and it noted that the stimulation outlook is improving. Its preference in the first of three notes is for oil service stocks with a higher exposure to gas in the near-term. It favors BJ Services (NYSE: BJS), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), and Weatherford (NYSE: WFT) over more oil-dominant related names like Cameron International Corporation (NYSE: CAM), Smith International Inc. (NYSE: SII), and FMC Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: FTI).

Most of the upside here is due to a limited new drilling activity in North America in the second half of 2008 and into 2009, which is combined with significantly higher natural gas prices. It also notes that oil drillers will be dependent upon new rig additions.

Jon C. Ogg
March 18, 2008

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AHO, BKUNA, CHRT, FTI, HANS, MU, SIGM, UBS, X, WYE)

247wallst — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 07:12:23 +0000

These are not the only analyst calls today, but these are the top ten analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is looking at in early pre-market trading:

Ahold (NYSE: AHO) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
BankUnited Financial (NASDAQ: BKUNA) downgraded to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Chartered Semiconductor (NASDAQ: CHRT) raised to Neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
FMC Tech (NYSE: FTI) downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Micron Tech (NYSE: MU) raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Sigma Designs (NASDAQ: SIGM) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Robert W. Baird.
UBS (NYSE: UBS) downgraded to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
US Steel (NYSE: X) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.

Jon C. Ogg
February 19, 2008