24/7 Wall St. » HBI

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (BAC, CHK, SAM, ERJ, PAA, GE, MCD, KMB, ALK, ALTR, COF, HBI, SNDK, KEY, AEP, CP, CTIC, RCL, PCX, RVBD, RMBS)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:05:19 +0000

Markets opened higher this morning although a decline in tech stocks weighed on the Nasdaq, leaving the index with only a small gain going into the last hour of trading. Energy stocks boosted the Dow and the S&P. Asian and European markets were higher today, except in Japan, where tech stocks held the market down. The IMF’s attempts to build its Eurozone firewall fund to around $400 million are meeting with mixed success, with the failure of the BRIC countries to jump on board (our coverage here). The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.46% at 79.193. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 672.63, with most commodities gaining on the falling dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 0.8% at $103.05/barrel, and Brent crude trades up 0.54% at $118.64/barrel. Gold settled up 0.01% today, at $1,642.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 65 points to 13,029.19 (0.5%), the NASDAQ fell more than 7 points (-0.24%) to 3.000.45, and the S&P 500 rose 0.12% or nearly 2 points to 1,378.53.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) cut to ‘sell’ at Credit Agricole; Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) cut to ‘market perform’ at Wells Fargo; Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) started as ‘neutral’ at UBS; Embraer SA (NYSE: ERJ) cut to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; and Plains All American Pipeline L.P. (NYSE: PAA) started as ‘overweight’ at Barclays.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is up 1.4% at $19.41 (more coverage here); McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) is up 0.7% at $95.90 (more coverage here); Kimberly-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) is up 1.6% at $76.50 after posting a new 52-week intraday high of $77.09 (more coverage here); Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) is down -0.4% at $34.55; Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) is down -8.1% at $35.38; Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) is up 0.05% at $53.96; Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) is up 11.7% at $30.09 (more coverage here); Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) is down -12.2% at $35.55 (more coverage here); KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) is down -0.06% at $7.87; American Electric Power Co. Inc. (NYSE: AEP) is up 1.1% at $38.29; Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (NYSE: CP) is up 0.8% at $77.08 (more coverage here); Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CTIC) is flat at $1.16; and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (NYSE: RCL) is down -7.8% at $26.61.

We have a preview of next week’s big earnings reports here.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is down -8% at $6.19. The coal miner announced another mine closure today, along with a lowered production estimate. Patriot is scheduled to report earnings after markets close today.

Riverbed Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) is down -28.6% at $19.89. The network equipment maker missed earnings expectations. More coverage here.

Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) is down -12% at $4.92. The dhip maker missed EPS estimates today and offered a lower-than-expected forecast.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

11:30 a.m. – 3- and 6- month bill auction

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Earnings, HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEP, ALK, ALTR, BAC, CHK, COF, CP, CTIC, ERJ, GE, HBI, KEY, KMB, MCD, PAA, PCX, RCL, RMBS, RVBD, SAM, SNDK

Underwear and the Price of Cotton (HBI, UA, MFB)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:07:39 +0000

Last April, cotton prices had climbed to around $2.10/pound as drought in Texas threatened to play havoc on the crop. The March price this year was $0.995/pound and the today’s price is around $0.90/pound. Yet underwear maker Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) said in its earnings report today that high cotton prices held down the company’s profits in the first quarter.

Compared with cotton prices of under $0.50/pound in March 2009, today’s prices are indeed higher, but after the price spike that got started in the fall of 2010, it seems that Hanesbrands, makers of Hanes, Playtex, and Champion brands, would have figured out how to control its commodity costs. Competitors Under Armour Inc. (NYSE: UA) and Maidenform Brands Inc. (NYSE: MFB) should be facing the same issues, but Under Armour reported better-than-expected earnings this morning and Maidenform, which posted a loss in its fourth quarter, at least has not blamed cotton prices for its woes.

Hanesbrands did say that the worst of the cotton inflation was behind it and that the firm has locked in cotton costs through December. The remaining question is at what price did the firm lock-in its cotton prices? The trend for pricing is to continue falling, and Hanesbrands could have made the wrong call here.

But today, Hanesbrands is standing in the tall cotton, up 11.2% at $29.96 in a 52-week range of $21.74-$33.36.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Commodities, Consumer Goods, Earnings Tagged: HBI, MFB, UA

Top Analyst Upgrades (BBT, CMA, FEIC, GOOG, HBI, HD, LOW, NEM, PLT, ROP, TGT, TSCO, WMT)

247wallst — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:43:05 +0000

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

BB&T (BBT) Raised to Market Perform at KBW.
Comerica (CMA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
FEI Co. (FEIC) Raised to Buy at Janney Montgomery Scott.
Google (GOOG) Target Raised to $486 from $414 at Goldman Sachs.
Hanesbrands (HBI) Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Home Depot (HD) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Lowe’s (LOW) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Newmont Mining (NEM) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Plantronics (PLT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Roper Industries (ROP) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Target (TGT) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Tractor Supply (TSCO) Started as Outperform at Baird.
Wal-Mart (WMT) Started as Outperform at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BBT, CMA, FEIC, GOOG, HBI, HD, LOW, NEM, PLT, ROP, TGT, TSCO, WMT

The 52-Week Low Club (CQB)(HBI)(ODP)(AIG)

247wallst — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:26:12 +0000

American International Group (AIG) Needs more government funding. Down to $.38 from 52-week high of $52.25.

Office Depot (ODP) Posts a loss for the last quarter. Plunges to $1.02 from 52-week high of $14.39.

Hanesbrands (HBI) May not hit profit goal for thie year. Drops to $5.14 from 52-week high of $37.73.

Chiquita Brands (CQB) Posted big loss last week and still falling. Sells off to $4.89 FROM 52-week high of $25.77.

Douglas A. McIntrye

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: AIG, CQB, HBI, ODP

Hanesbrands: Hecho en Asia (HBI)

247wallst — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:16:56 +0000

Apparently labor costs throughout Latin America are getting too pricey, if you can believe it. Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE: HBI) is updating its "consolidation and globalization cost-reduction strategy." While this includes increasing production in Asia, it is ditching many Latin American facilities and workers. The company plans to have closed nine plants in five countries by the end of Summer in 2009. Approximately 8,100 jobs will be lost.

By the end of 2008 alone, the company expects to have substantially closed seven plants throughout Latin America and the U.S.:

a sewing plant in El Salvador, affecting 2,600 employees;
a sewing plant in Honduras, affecting 1,250 employees;
a sewing plant in Costa Rica, affecting 1,250 employees;
two yarn plants, a knit-fabric textile plant and an inventory storage warehouse in the United States, affecting 745 employees.

By next summer it expects to have closed a sewing plant in Mexico,affecting 1,650 employees; and expects to have closed its last largeknit-fabric textile plant in the United States, affecting 600 employees.

The restructuring and related charges for these actions includingseverance and contract termination costs, accelerated depreciation offixed assets, and inventory write-offs are expected to come to about$76 million. Approximately two-thirds of these charges are expected tobe incurred in the third quarter of 2008. That will take the tally toapproximately $204 million of the $250 million in restructuring chargesthe company expected to incur in the three years following the spin-off.

This isn’t an entire exodus out of Central America. It has reachedplanned fabric production levels at textile facilities in the DominicanRepublic and El Salvador, with further expansion planned in CentralAmerica. Most of the sewing production from the Central Americanplants that will close is being moved to Hanesbrands’ new Asianfacilities. It has opened or acquired four sewing plants in the pasttwo years, with two in Thailand and two in Vietnam, and the companyexpects to increase its workforce in Asia from 4,000 today to 6,000 bythe end of 2008.

Companies take criticism locally for job cuts, that much is sure. Theinterests of businesses and of Wall Street (shareholders) often differfrom those of employees. That has been proven time after time.

Shares are up almost 0.5% at $23.98 on last look and its 52-week trading range is $21.38 to $37.73.

Jon C. Ogg
September 24, 2008

Posted in Apparel, Labor & Unions Tagged: HBI

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BSX, CCMP, DAL, ESV, HBI, JNPR, NE, RVBD, TER, VIA)

247wallst — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:32:40 +0000

These are some of the top analyst Upgrades and positive calls we are seeing early this Friday morning:

Boston Scientific (BSX) Started as Outperform at Piper Jaffray.
Cabot Micro (CCMP) Raised to Outperform at JPMorgan.
Delta Airlines (DAL) Raised to Buy at Merrill Lynch.
Ensco (ESV) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Hanesbrands (HBI) started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Juniper Networks (JNPR) Raised to Outperform at FBR; Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Noble (NE) Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Riverbed Tech (RVBD) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Teradyne (TER) Raised to Overweight at Lehman.
Viacom (VIA) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
July 25, 2008