Posts for Ticker ‘GS’

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/20/2009) (GS)(JAVA)

Updated throughout the day.

GE (NYSE:GE) and Vivendi are at odds over the NBCU valuation  (FT)

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is taking advantage of the delay in the Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) deal to be bought by Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL)  (TheStreet)

The joint venture between Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) and BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) may lead to a merger. (various)

Ferrero may want to buy Cadbury’s gum and candy division.  (NYTimes)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) investors want the firm to cut down the size of bonuses to be paid at the end of the year (various)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 9:01 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Big Goldman Sachs (GS) Shareholders Fight Bonuses

A number of large Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) shareholders would like to see the firm’s profits in their pockets and not in the bank accounts of the Goldman partners.

The Wall Street Journal reports that many institutions that hold Goldman shares are upset that the firm’s EPS will  be down this year even though the investment bank will post record sales. A great deal of this drop is because Goldman issued 100 million shares to improve its balance sheet. Cutting compensation would rebuild EPS figures which should help drive up the value of the stock. Read More »

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 4:55 am in Banking, Compensation, ,

Media Digest 11/20/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   The Senate is near its first vote on healthcare.

Reuters:   Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) is betting on corporate spending for its recovery.

Reuters:   Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL showed that the worst is not over for media job cuts.

Reuters:   China cyber-spying against the US will probably grow. Read More »

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 3:56 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The More Focused, and More Opaque, Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A, BRK-B, BNI, UNP, NSC, GS, GE, TIF, HOG, WMT, COP, XOM, WFC, RSG, DOW, ETN, WBC, MCO, WLP, UNH, GSK, SNY, GCI, WPO)

This was an important week for investment guru and billionaire watchers to see which gurus were holding which stocks.  The full public equity holdings of Warren Buffett via Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) were particularly of note, particularly with those B shares under “BRK-B” soon to split and giving a chance for even the less astute ranks of Joe Public to own a piece of the Berkshire dream.  Obviously the huge change is via the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI) buyout.  As part of this deal, Buffett is exiting Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) and exiting Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) stakes of about $600 million and $100 million, respectively, to avoid duplication and internal competition.  The rail transport play now accounts for about one-quarter of the total Berkshire Hathaway entity upon closing. But the less obvious position in that Warren Buffett in 2009 has made it clear that there will be a simpler and probably less “stock-hound” version of Berkshire Hathaway ahead.

Buffett has gone higher up the food chain and is likely to be a creditor now inside or to large institutions.  We have seen this during the crisis.  Buffett negotiated a better deal for Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) than the US Government was able to get.  Buffett’s preferred stock in Goldman Sachs has a dividend of 10% and is callable at any time at a 10% premium; but Buffett also got warrants to purchase $5 billion of common stock with a strike price of $115.00 per share, exercisable for a five-year term (4 years now), and Buffett would effectively get to pocket $61 per share if he exercised those all today at the market (and with a $2.6 billion warrant profit alone).

The General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) stake was listed only as 7.77 million shares of common stock (about $125 million now), the same as it has been for quarters.  Yet last year Buffett came to the rescue with a $3 billion of perpetual preferred stock in a private offering with a dividend of 10% and warrants to purchase $3 billion of common stock.  The preferred is callable after 3-years (2 years now) at a 10% premium; the warrants have a strike price of $22.25 and are exercisable for a five-year term (4 years now).
Read More »

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:59 am in Activist Investor, Bonds, Buffett, Conglomerates, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Infrastructure, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Oil & Gas, Private Equity, Transports, Value Investing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/19/2009) (BA)(AMTD)(MWW)(NWSA)(AAPL)

Updated throughout the day.

Update 12.50 PM EST:  Boeing (NYSE:BA) could lose a $7.5 billion order for fighter planes to Brazil if the US Senate does not confirm Obama’s nominee to be ambassador to the South American country  (Bloomberg)

Update 11.08 AM EST:  TDAmeritrade (NASDAQ:AMTD) may be buying E*Trade  (NASDAQ:ETFC)  (Omaha World Herald)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) has lost a large number of its most talented people to hedge funds. (Bloomberg)

The Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) tablet PC launch date has been delayed until late 2010.  (Digitimes)

Monster.com (NASDAQ:MWW) may be taken over by News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) or Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)  (WSJ)

Blackstone’s (NYSE:BX) Pinnacle Brands may buy Birds Eye  (CNBC)

Sony (NYSE:SNE), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Nintendo are working on ways to keep market share as smart phones come after their market share.  (BusinessWeek)

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL is seeking to buy-out 2,500 employees as it is spun off by its parent. (various)

Citigroup (NYSE:C) may sell its auto lending group.  (NYPost)

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For more information on Citi, Microsoft, Sony, and Google check the 24/7 Wall St 500.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 8:45 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , ,

Risks in Geithner’s Call For More Lending

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner spoke this morning and has effectively called for banks which have received government bail-out funds to boost their lending activities.  Geithner noted that a lack of lending and strict limits to credit might act as a buffer against a continued recovery.

The Obama administration is trying to come up with new ways to turn the credit back on for small businesses.  It is no wonder that Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) launched its initiative this morning.  The firm’s public relations and financial relations campaign is a $500 million 10,000 Small Businesses initiative aimed at fostering small business growth and job-creation for up to 10,000 small businesses.  The company plans to offer business education, mentorships, business networks, and capital.

Geithner noted that banks need “to be working with us, not against recovery.”  He also noted that it was taxpayers saving the banks rather than their great intelligence and efforts that has led to the return of bank earnings, and he said banks have some responsibility and are obliged to assist in the recovery of communities.  But, Geithner also defended banking sector earnings.  It has been noted how lending standards have tightened month after month.  Where this gets interesting though is in evaluating credit risks and interpolating that data for risks ahead.

Read More »

Posted on: November 18, 2009 – 12:16 pm in Banking, Economy, Financial Stocks, Politics, Regulation,

Media Digest 11/18/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Thain regrets nothing he did at Merrill Lynch and during its merger with Bank of America (NYSE:BAC).

Reuters:   Trump put his support to the bondholders of his casino business.

FT:   A Chinese court ruled against Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) in an intellectual property case. Read More »

Posted on: November 18, 2009 – 4:07 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Soros Fund Holdings

Yesterday Soros Fund Management Filed a 13-F outlining the fund’s long portfolio as of September 30th, 2009.  The total value of the holdings reported in the filing is $6,198,089.  Twenty holdings represented roughly 50% of the value.  Soros Fund Management is a hedge fund management company that invests primarily based on macroeconomic analysis.  It should be noted that the fund’s equity portfolio likely contains significant short positions, which are not reported in 13-F filings.  Some of the positions in the filing may be in place as hedges or part of a multi-part trade, rather than a directional bet.  With that in mind, a glance at this firm’s major holdings provides clues to its macroeconomic outlook.  

Total stakes in Petroleo Brasileo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR) represent 9.23% of the value of the positions reported in the filing, with just over 13 million shares held.  This is down from by 2.3 million from the fund’s last filing. Read More »

Posted on: November 17, 2009 – 10:52 am in Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Did NY Fed Cost Taxpayers Billions?

There are two sides to every story, and sometimes three, four or five. An audit by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program claims that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York allowed banks to get 100% of the value of complicated financial instruments that they had insured with AIG (NYSE:AIG). The transactions involved over $60 billion. The full report was issued today.

The inspector general Neil M. Barofsky claims that the Fed “refused to use its considerable leverage” to force major banks to make concessions on the money they were owed as part of their relationships with AIG. Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) was among the firms that benefited from the Fed’s action while Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) actually offered to take less than 100 cents on a dollar for its insurance claims and was turned down.

Read more….

Posted on: November 17, 2009 – 5:36 am in Regulation, , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/16/2009) (DVN)(NVDA)(C)(AAPL)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 12.43 PM EST:  Apple may hire its own video game developers to create iPhone and iPod products  (Apple Insider)

Updated 11.57 AM EST:  Devon Energy (NYSE:DVN) may sell its international operations to interests in China  (NYT)

Central banks will be net purchasers of gold for the first time in decades  (CNBC)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) wants to expand it wealth management operation (Investment News and Business Insider)

Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) has started to complain about Intel’s (NYSE:INTC) just as the world’s largest chip company settled antitrust issues with AMD (NYSE:AMD)

Intel plans to release powerful new notebook chips in January. (Digitimes)

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) will launch a Zune music and movies brand outside the US to try to challenge Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the mobile content business.  (FT)

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) is trying to buy the 50% of management firm Cazenove Group that it does not already own for $1.7 billion.  (Bloomberg)

Citigroup (NYSE:C) has rejected Terra Firma Capital’s offer to restructure EMI Group. (WSJ).

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 8:46 am in Rumors, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

Paulson Takes Huge Stake In Citigoup, Dumps Goldman

Money ImageJohn Paulson is rather notorious, and wealthy, for how much he picked up by shorting financial stocks on the way down.  But the financial world found out in August that Paulson & Co. had bought up many key financial and banking stocks.  Paulson & Co. Inc. is out with a 13-F filing after the close showing he is still in many key financial stocks.

The famed hedge fund manager took a massive stake in Citigroup and sold his entire interest in Goldman Sachs

  • Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was listed as 159,794,229 shares, down from 167,990,464 shares.
  • Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) was static as a stake of 17,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is listed as 300,000,000 (three-hundred million) of common stock.
  • Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) was static as a 5,000,000 share stake.
  • First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE: FHN) was 7.11 million, up from a stake of 3,000,000 shares in August.
  • JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was down to 2,000,000 shares, down from an August stake of 7,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE: MI) was static at 12,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • People’s United Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT) was static at 2,750,000 shares of common stock.
  • Regions Financial Corp. (NYSE: RF) was static at 35,000,000 shares of common stock.
  • SunTrust Bank Inc. (NYSE: STI) was static at 1,500,000 shares of common stock.

We had also noted back in October how Conseco, Inc. (NYSE: CNO) had scored a Paulson investment.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) was NOT in the new filing compared to the August filing where he listed 2,000,000 shares of common stock in the August filing.  State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) was NOT in the filing versus a stake of 700,000 shares of common stock in August.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 5:50 pm in Activist Investor, Banking, Financial Stocks, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/13/2009) (PALM)(INTC)(AMD)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 10.30 AM EST: PALM (NASDAQ:PALM) shares are up on speculation that Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) or Nokia (NYSE:NOK) will buy the faltering handset firm (VSInvestor)

Former Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) CEO and New Jersey governor Jon Corzine said he has not talked to Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) about running the firm. (The Deal)

Some former bank CEOs are considering bidding for failed banks at FDIC auctions.  (WSJ)

Now that it has settled a legal dispute against AMD (NYSE:AMD), Intel’s (NASDAQ:INTC) biggest challenge is competition from ARM Holdings  (BusinessWeek)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 9:00 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Corzine as Bank of America CEO? (GS, BAC)

B of A LogoJon Corzine recently lost the gubernatorial race in New Jersey.  He is also a very wealthy Wall Streeter that is a former disciple of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS).  He is also a democrat that is very friendly with the Obama administration.   And now the strange rumor mill is getting stranger….

Charlie Gasparino on CNBC just threw out the idea that Corzine could potentially be in the running for the CEO role at Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) as the replacement for Ken Lewis….. after he touted his book again.  Gasparino noted that he asked Bank of America about this and the ‘rumor’ was not denied but was given a ‘no comment’ answer which Gasparino expanded upon.

In this new world under the ‘new normal’ it seems that anything is possible.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 10:28 am in Banking, Financial Stocks, Management Change, Politics, Rumors, Turnarounds, ,

Media Digest 11/12/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   China is the key stop on Obama’s tour of Asia.

Reuters:   South Korea’s businesses may start to feel more pressure from China competitors..

Reuters:   Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) bought 3Com (NYSE:COM) for $3.1 billion.

Reuters:   Lou Dobbs left CNN (NYSE:TWX) Read More »

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 4:00 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/11/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NY Times, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were acquited.

Reuters:   Zucker, NBCU’s current CEO, will head the company when Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) buys a majority of the company from GE (NYSE:GE).

Reuters:  Dodd’s super-bank regulator fights a uphil battle in Congress.

Reuters:   Fed officials see an uneven recovery. Read More »

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 4:09 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Goldman Sachs Is Doing “God’s Work

biotechBy Douglas A. McIntyre

Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs (GS) has put an unusual spin on the bank’s activities. He says his firm is doing “God’s work.” This may seem like an audacious statement coming from a man whose company has been harshly criticized for planning to give many of its employees multi-million pay packages just a bit more than a year after the collapse of the credit markets.

Read more….

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 5:42 am in Compensation,

Media Digest 11/9/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Hurricane Ida is heading toward Gulf oil fields.

Reuters:   Kraft (NYSE:KFT) will make its bid for Cadbury.

Reuters:   GE (NYSE:GE) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have agreed to an NBCU valuation.

Reuters:   The IMF is considering an insurance levy on banks. Read More »

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 4:03 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wall St. Bonuses Will Rise 40%

GeithnerThere has been plenty of evidence that firms like Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) have had such huge profits that their bonus payouts may be at all-time highs.

The federal government has systematically begun to control bank pay packages. The Treasury “pay czar” is effectively controlling compensation at companies which still owe TARP money. The Fed is pressuring other large financial firms to tie pay to risk.

None of those efforts seems to be working well because bankers are ignoring the signals from Washington. Read More »

Posted on: November 5, 2009 – 5:27 am in Compensation,

Media Digest 10/5/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) returned to a profit.

Reuters:   The Fed will keep rates near zero for an extended period.

Reuters:   Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) beat forecasts.

Reuters:   Gold is near $1,100. Read More »

Posted on: November 5, 2009 – 3:58 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/4/2009) (JAVA)(ORCL)(TWX)

icahnUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 10.30 AM EST:  Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) believes that EU authorities may try to block its buy-out of Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA)  (FT)

Updated 10:26 AM EST: Apollo Management is buying debt swap instruments to increase is control of Harrah’s. (NYPost)

The CEOs of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) met pay czar Feinberg before he announced pay cut plans  (Bloomberg)

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Time, Inc publishing division will lay off 500 people  (various).

Senator Chris Dodd will propose merging all four bank regulatory agencies (various).

Cisco’s (NASDAQ:CSCO) earnings outlook is likely to be poor  (TheStreet)

Warren Buffett may join Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) in bidding for Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) tax credits.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 9:12 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,