24/7 Wall St. » HOG

Media Digest (10/31/2011) Reuters, WSJ, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:08:43 +0000

Japan acts to lower the yen before the upcoming G20 meeting. (Reuters)

Beacon Power (NASDAQ: BCON), backed by U.S. funds, goes bankrupt. (Reuters)

Young and well-educated Greeks begin to leave the country. (Reuters)

Panasonic (NYSE: PC) cuts its annual earnings forecast. (Reuters)

MF Global’s (NYSE: MF) holding company may go bankrupt, with some assets sold to Interactive Brokers Group (NASDAQ: IBKR). (Reuters)

Many EU-based businesses have cut earnings forecasts as trouble in the region hurts the economy. (WSJ)

The U.S. may not sell more AIG (NYSE: AIG) stock until the share price rises. (WSJ)

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) will not charge debit card fees similar to Bank of America’s (NYSE: BAC). (WSJ)

Gamestop (NYSE: GME) to sell PCs. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has a new product to compete with Groupon. (WSJ)

Natural gas shale drilling in Pennsylvania prompts fight over who owns rights and land. (WSJ)

Sentier Research reports that American’s do not feel the recession is over. (WSJ)

Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) increases marketing messages to women. (WSJ)

Porsche posts strong earnings. (WSJ)

Aol (NYSE: AOL) wants to catch the balance of mobile portal products creators. (WSJ)

Honeywell (NYSE: HON) throws off substantial cash but is unlikely to add new employees. (WSJ)

Federal Reserve members are at odds about whether the central bank should do more to help the economy. (WSJ)

Cable companies continue to block use of web TV. (WSJ)

Nebraska may try to block the construction of a huge pipeline that would run from Canada to the southern U.S. (WSJ)

Large corporations to lobby the G20 for more unity on economic issues. (FT)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will begin to use Xbox Kinect to deliver more than game services. New software may create medical devices. (FT)

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he can set budget cuts to balance Italy’s books and that new elections are not necessary. (Bloomberg)

Honda’s (NYSE: HMC) numbers miss forecasts and it eliminates earnings estimates. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AIG, AOL, BAC, BCON, GME, GOOG, HMC, HOG, HON, IBKR, MF, MSFT, PC, WFC

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (BAC, CHTR, HAL, EP, KO, IBM, JNJ, STT, APEI, BMI, CROX, HALO, HOG, HGSI, USU)

Administrator — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 20:08:25 +0000

Today was a day of red that went to a day of green. Earnings were at first a disappointment, and producer price index came out far hotter at +0.8% on the headline number before the +0.2% reading if you back out food and energy prices from the producer prices. The market rallied with financial stocks from the start of the day and the market losses suddenly became gains. Homebuilders also looked a bit less-pessimistic in their latest survey. The big news came from a report out of England that France and Germany have supposedly agreed to increase the European Financial Stability Fund to up to $2 billion ahead of the Sunday meeting, although this seems to be a stretch based upon Europe’s slowness to act so far.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up triple digits with a gain of 178 points to 11,575.46, the NASDAQ rose more than 42 (1.6%) to 2,657.43, and the S&P 500 rose 2% or 24 points to 1,225.28. Today’s top analyst upgrade and downgrade calls were numerous and included Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR), Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL), and more than a dozen other companies.

There has been a turnaround from the indicated loss in Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) after its earnings showed that book value managed to actually grow and the stock was up almost 10% at $6.63 late in the session.

Some food for thought… Now the MLP and pipeline sector may look cheap on the heels of the El Paso Corporation (NYSE: EP) buyout.

As far as the other big earnings report reactions today (prices within 20 minutes of the closing bell): The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) was down 0.3% at $66.79; International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM) was a huge drag on teh DJIA with shares still down 4.5% at $178.30; Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was up 1.2% at $64.54; State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) was up 9% at $36.97.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

American Public Education Inc. (NASDAQ: APEI) lost more than 20% of its value to $30.05 after the American Military University will see far lower tuition assistance from the U.S. Marine Corps.

Badger Meter Inc. (NYSE: BMI) was a loser even if it is supposed to be a water winner after missing earnings estimates. Shares were down 13% at $29.08 in the final minutes of the day.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ: CROX) was a disaster after an earnings warning that would not have been so bad had the stock not been up 100% from its 52-week lows before the report. The stock was down a massive 39% at $16.20 right before the close on more than 8-times normal volume of 25 million shares.

Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) was such a winner that it should be called “Master Chief” for its stock ticker. Its subcutaneous Herceptin trial met the study goals and the stock was up over 18% at $7.34 right before the close. This was not even a 52-week high.

Harley-Davidson Inc. (NYSE: HOG) was about 4% shy of sales targets in its earnings report and that had the stock down 7% to $34.56 right before the close. With a 52-week high of $46.88, it seemed a bit harsh of a reaction even with slightly lower margin guidance.

Human Genome Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ: HGSI) was up over 15% at $12.95 on reports that a $25.00 per share buyout could be headed its way. We gave a handicap on the odds of a deal happening.

USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) broke a major run higher today and still no news exists. The belief is that the loan approval from the DOE may get a better review now that solar loan fraud seems to be prevailing after Solyndra. Shares were down 4% at $2.10 right before the close. Still, this was a $1.30 stock just last Thursday.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. We have speeches to watch from Rosengren and Lockhart on the docket as well as a hearing about ETFs. Here are some economic releases due in the morning and throughout the day:

8:30 September CPI
8:30 Housing Starts
10:30 Weekly Oil Inventories
2:00 PM Beige Book

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Economy, The Day Tagged: APEI, BAC, BMI, CHTR, CROX, EP, HAL, HALO, HGSI, HOG, IBM, JNJ, KO, STT, USU

The 24/7 Wall St./Flame Index: The Companies With The Most Bad Press (7/19)

247wallst — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:58:41 +0000

Earnings dominated the press coverage of today’s shares. Novartis and Harley-Davidson released numbers

Icahn Enterprise was thumped after it made a bid for Clorox, which was rejected. Boeing was hit because large customer American may buy jets from rival Airbus.

Microsoft sold off, probably because of news that smartphone partner is in more trouble

The Flame Index started as a research tool in 2008 at the NY Innovation Design Lab (nyidlab). It was used as a general metric to evaluate companies and their risk in the media. Publicly traded Fortune 500 companies are used as a measure to calculate an overall market of negative news and the companies are ranked within that market

Rank	Company	Ticker	Score	Change in Rank	Comments
11	Alcatel Lucent	ALU	30.207	+209	Former employee charged with graft in Malaysia
23	Microsoft	MSFT	23.309	+176	Wireless partner Nokia in more trouble
24	Icahn Enterprises	IEP	23.063	+543	Market hates bid for Clorox
25	Novartis	NVS	22.934	+530	Earnings up, but generics loom
26	Boeing	BA	22.209	+542	May lose huge American Air deal.
32	PNC Financial Services Group	PNC	20.294	+482	In the middle of ugly robo-signing deal
33	Stanley Black & Decker	SWK	20.061	+466	Buys Sweden’s Niscayah Group
36	Entergy	ETR	19.944	+538	Fight over its Vermont Yankee nuclear plant may cause shutdown
39	Harley-Davidson	HOG	19.879	+632	Earnings remarkably strong
45	Tiffany & Co	TIF	19.219	+610	Oppenheimer raises price target to $100 from $80

Data and ranking provided by the Flame Index.

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: ALU, BA, ETR, HOG, IEP, MSFT, NVS, PNC, SWK, TIF

The Harley-Davidson Earnings Economic Indicator: All Is Well (HOG, F, GM)

Administrator — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 12:14:19 +0000

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) is not exactly a true economic indicator like you could claim against Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) or General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM). What is interesting though is that it is almost impossible to have a crummy economy and to have Harley-Davidson doing well. It turns out that there is some raised shipment guidance for 2011. What does this tell you about the underlying demand trends?

The motorcycle-maker reported earnings from continuing operations in the second quarter rose almost 37% to $190.6 million. That generated $0.81 EPS as retail sales of new motorcycles rose 7.5% in the U.S. and rose 5.6% worldwide in the second quarter. Revenues rose to $1.339 billion. Thomson Reuters was only looking for $0.71 EPS and $1.26 billion in sales.

Dealers sales rose 7.5% to 53,599 new motorcycles in the U.S.; and it shipped 66,815 Harley-Davidson motorcycles to dealers and distributors worldwide during the quarter versus 59,046 motorcycles shipped in the year ago period. Here is the most important data… The company raised its 2011 shipment forecast to between 228,000 and 235,000 new bikes to dealers and distributors worldwide. This is still an expected gain of 8% to 12% versus 2010.

With the exception of police and the occasional required use from other enterprises, the real question becomes the economy versus ‘willing’ disposable capital. Motorcycles are generally considered a luxury item now and customers are not going to increase orders if they are continually more and more uncertain.

Harley-Davidson even noted that Financial Services showed operating income of $82.0 million versus $60.8 million a year earlier, which it said was “largely the result of continued improvement in credit performance.”

When you see a report like this you have to wonder just how bad things really are out there. It is easy to push out a new car order from Ford or GM, and cars can be kept indefinitely. Most motorcycle orders are not exactly “mandatory” purchases. If the economy is strong enough to support 8% to 12% shipment growth it is not likely that it is just so dealers can hold on to more inventories.

Shares are up 5% pre-market at $43.50 and the 52-week trading range is $23.27 to $44.04.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Autos, Earnings, Economy, Transports Tagged: F, GM, HOG

The Week’s Largest Market Losers

247wallst — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:54:23 +0000

Iron Mountain’s proxy fight with Elliott Management continued, as the company added an Elliott board member and said it may sell its digital assets.

Harley fell on weak earnings.

Gilead posted atrocious earnings.

S&P 500 WEEK: BOTTOM 10 (15 APR – 21 APR)	Ticker	Weekly Price Change (%)	Close Price 21Apr11	Close Price 15Apr11	Market Cap ($Mil)
Iron Mountain Inc	IRM	-7.9	31.79	34.53	6364.2
Gilead Sciences Inc	GILD	-6.3	39.06	41.70	30973.4
Harley-Davidson Inc.	HOG	-5.9	38.16	40.55	8972.6
KeyCorp	KEY	-5.3	8.35	8.82	7347.2
DeVry Inc	DV	-5.1	49.29	51.93	3412.9
Tyco International Ltd	TYC	-5.0	49.12	51.70	23270.7
First Horizon National Corp	FHN	-4.8	10.35	10.87	2727.4
Xerox Corp	XRX	-4.8	10.22	10.73	14302.3
Big Lots Inc	BIG	-4.7	41.49	43.53	3119.6
Fifth Third Bancorp	FITB	-4.6	13.16	13.80	12078.1

Filed under: Research Tagged: GILD, HOG, IRM

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (CECO, CHKP, CHL, CSCO, CVI, DELL, FITB, GNW, GOOG, HOG, HCA, MPEL, NEM, PCLN, TM, URBN)

Administrator — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:43:25 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Friday morning.

Career Education Corporation (NASDAQ: CECO) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
China Mobile Limited (NYSE: CHL) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Cut to Hold with $19 target at Auriga.
CVR Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CVI) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday call).
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) noted as Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Cut to Hold at Citigroup; Maintained Buy at Gabelli; Maintained Outperform but cut target to $700 at Credit Suisse.
Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
HCA Holdings, inc. (NYSE: HCA) Started as Buy at Gleacher & Co.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (NASDAQ: MPEL) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) maintained Neutral but raised target to $70 at BofA/ML.
Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) noted as Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) Started as Equal-weight at Barclays.
Urban Outfitters Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.

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

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CECO, CHKP, CHL, CSCO, CVI, DELL, FITB, GNW, GOOG, HCA, HOG, MPEL, NEM, PCLN, TM, URBN

Week’s Biggest Market Losers (FSLR)(MON)(HOG)

247wallst — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:34:27 +0000

First Solar (NASDAQ: FLSR) fell 7% on concerns that the US government’s financial support of renewable energy will falter. The federal government’s move toward austerity makes it likely that this threat to earnings and sales will worsen.

Shares in mega-ag company Monsanto (NYSE: MON) dropped about 7% after announcing poor earnings.

Shares in Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) fell 7% as concerns about the safety of its fleet of over 100 737s increased. Southwest did the right thing to take them out of service after one tore open on a flight from Phoenix over a week ago, but has paid a price for good corporate citizenship.

News of a larger-than-expected inventory of oil pushed down shares in Peabody Energy (NYSE: BTU)

Harley Davidson (NYSE: HOG) moved lower on rumors that its March sales were poor. Sales going forward will be probably be hurt because of the increased price of gas.

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) sold down, possibly because rival McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) announced it will add 50,000 workers–a sign of its sales strength.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Alternative Energy, Earnings, Green Biz Tagged: BTU, FSLR, HOG, LUV, MON, YUM

Facebook’s Valuation Warning: When Yahoo! Was Worth More Than Intel, Verizon, And Pepsi

247wallst — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:02:56 +0000

Are investors forgetting the lessons of the dot-com bust of the 1990s?It would seem to be the case.

Just like in the Clinton administration, companies with uncertain prospects are attracting insanely high valuations. What else could explain the $25 billion market capitalization of Groupon, the online coupon service that went in business in November 2008 which now reportedly has a revenue run rate of about $2 billion? The 1,500-person company is worth to investors almost as much as FedEx Corp. , which incorporated in 1971, employs more than 285,000 workers and generated $34.7 billion in revenue last year. Maybe it’s because Groupon reportedly had the audacity to turn down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google Inc.

Who knows? That’s the point with tech investing, or any other types of investing, no one really knows what the future holds. Who would have thought back in 1999 that Microsoft Corp. would no longer be the world’s most valuable company in 2011? The software maker’s market share tells the story. In 1999, Microsoft was the most valuable company on earth, valued at $583 billion. The Redmond, Washington company is worth $212.58 billion today. Interestingly, Exxon Mobil Corp., currently the most valuable company, is worth $411.17 billion, less than what Microsoft was worth at the height of its value.

Other names from the dot-com bust either got swallowed up by larger rivals like Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), worth $116 billion in 1999, or have only a fractions of their former market capitalizations like Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), worth $113 billion at that time. In 2009, Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) acquired Sun Micro for $7.4 billion. Yahoo is now worth about $21 billion.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) came out of the dot-com bust worth a measly $17 billion and now is valued at $311.94 billion, thanks to the spectacular success of the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Not bad for a company dismissed as a niche player back in the day.

Today’s Internet hero can be tomorrow’s zero (Friendster and MySpace) in the click of a mouse. 24/7 Wall St. decided to show the phenomena in the following chart.

Biggest U.S. Companies By Market Cap (24/7 Wall St. Real Time 500 3/21/11, 1999 Data Courtesy Capital IQ in bold.)

Private Market Values of Today’s Hottest Companies

Facebook — $75 billion (compares to Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) — $74.3 billion)
Groupon — $25 billion (compares with FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) — $28.4 billion.)
Twitter — $8 billion (compares with Limited Brands Inc. (NYSE: LTD) – $10.8 billion.)
Zynga — $9 billion ( compares to Harley-Davidson C0. (NYSE: HOG) — $9.6 billion)

FYI: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) $17 billion 1999

1. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) $583 billion 1999
2. Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) $411.17 billion
3. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) $311.94 billion
4. Intel Corp. $275 billion (NASDAQ: INTC) 1999
5. America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL) $251 billion 1999
6. Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) $212.58 billion
7. Chevron Corp. (NASDAQ: CVX) $210.62 billion
8. General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) $209.40 billion
9. Nokia Corp. $197 billion (NYSE: NOK) 1999
10. International Business Machine Corp. (NYSE:IBM) $192.53 billion
11. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.B) $191.39 billion
12. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) $184.76 billion
13. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) $181.61 billion
14. Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) $185.42 billion
15. Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) $171.88 billion
16. Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) $167.66 billion
17. AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) $167.47 billion
18. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) $161.03 billion
19. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) $160.30 billion
20. Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) $159.4 billion
21. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) $145.77 billion
22. Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) $141.44 billion
23. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) $128.72 billion
24. Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE:SLB) $121.35 billion
25. Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) $116 billion 1999
26. Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM) $113.43 billion
27. Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) $113 billion 1999
28. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) $111.24 billion
29. ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) $111.08 billion
30. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) $103.03 billion
31. PepsiCo. Inc. (NYSE:PEP) $101.82 billion
32. Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) $99.83 billion
33. Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) $96.3 billion
34. Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NASDAQ:HPQ) $90.42 billion
35. Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) $86.98 billion
36. Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) $88.42 billion
37. Broadcom Communications Ltd. (NASDAQ:BCOM) $88.81 billion
38. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) $83.66 billion
39. Occidental Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:OXY) $81.89 billion
40. Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) $79.44 billion
41. McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) $76.9 billion
42. Toronto-Dominion (NYSE:TD) $75.36 billion
43. Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) $74.25 billion
44. United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) $75.07 billion
45. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) $74.3 billion
46. United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE: UPS) $72.21 billion
47. Suncor Energy Inc. (NYSE:SU) $71.41 billion.
48. Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) $68.46 billion
49. Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) $67.36 billion
50. 3M Co. (NYSE:MMM) $64.89 billion

Jonathan Berr

Filed under: General, Research Tagged: AAPL, AMZN, FDX, HOG, INTC, LTD, ORCL, PEP, VZ, YHOO

Ten Huge Global Brands The Chinese May Buy

247wallst — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 03:56:36 +0000

“We will encourage the best firms to acquire or build up overseas operations and to license or acquire famous global brands in order to obtain international recognition and improve the image and competitiveness of Chinese products.”–Commerce Minister Chen Deming March 7, Fourth Session of the 11th National People’s Congress in Beijing

“China’s demand for high-end products is currently the second largest in the world, and it will surpass Japan’s in four years”–Xinhua News.

“Consumption of high-end products in China rose 23 percent in 2010. The number of Chinese people shopping for luxury goods overseas increased 30 percent.”–Commerce Minister Chen Deming

It is rare that the Chinese government makes it intentions for overseas business expansion as clear as it did when the head of its Commerce Department said the central government would support the acquisition of major brands by local companies. China has built a large public investor market for its own corporations though IPOs of some of the nation’s huge firms like China Mobile and oil giant CNOOC. One of the reasons China has allowed these public listings is probably to encourage them to use their stocks as currency for M&A activity. Beyond that the People’s Republic has stockpile of capital to fund expansion of its largest companies. China has over $2 trillion in foreign currencies. The nation’s GDP continues to grow at 8%China has had almost no success it expanding it own brands so that they can be used to market products and services overseas. “The Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Brands 2010” study lists a number with parent companies based in China. China Mobile is ranked as the 8th most valuable brand worldwide at $52.6 billion. The company has 300 million wireless customers, but is unknown by consumers outside China. The People’s Republic is not home to any brands with the global recognition of ones like Coke, Google. Marlboro, Apple, McDonald’s, HP, or Wal-Mart. All of these brands sell their products or services in China, and for some the People’s Republic is the critical market for future growth.

China’s plan is simple. It is easier to buy a brand which has a value based on years or decades of exposure than to build one, which has risk and could take a very long period of time. It is tempting to create a list of corporations with valuable brands which might be bought with Chinese government support by choosing companies like IBM, Disney, Colgate, or Intel. But, these corporations operate with large profits, have strong balance sheets, significant global market shares, and large market capitalizations. There is no reason for the boards of these firms to consider selling them. There is no reason for the US government to entertain their sales.

24/7 Wall St. identified ten companies or brands that might be sold. These are, for the most part, firms with strong brands but long records of poor financial performance. The sales, earnings, and share prices of several are still in steep decline. Other companies on the list are private and their equity and debt holders might be tempted to sell them at large premiums as a way to “exit” their investments with a significant return.

The public companies on the 24/7 Wall St. list of The Huge Global Brands China May Buy come from reviews of sales, the portions of sales which are outside the US, stock performance compared to the S&P 500 over the last five years, and data from Brandz and Interbrand about the value of each company’s brand. If a brand value for one of the companies on the list was not available, we looked at a comparable one. Our assumption is that Chinese firms with the proper financial resources could increase the sales and value of these brands by several means. The most immediate way to do this is to increase their presences in the world’s most populous nation. The final criteria to be selected for list is that the companies cannot be in “strategic” businesses like defence equipment or enterprise software. American regulators and politicians have already shown that they will not approve transactions in these sectors.

Read on for The 24/7 Wall St. Huge Global Brands China May Buy

Filed under: General Tagged: AAPL, DIS, EBAY, EK, GM, GOOG, HOG, HPQ, KO, MCD, MSFT, RIMM, TM, WMT, XRX

Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Latest Stock Holdings ‘H to R’ (BRK-B, IR, JNJ, KFT, LOW, MCO, NRG, NLC, NKE, PG, HOG, HD, RSG, IRM)

Administrator — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 21:39:13 +0000

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B, BRK-A) has shown its latest holdings as of the close on September 30, 2010 and the changes continue be much more extreme than in prior quarters. These are Buffett’s most recent holdings, even though some may have changed slightly since the end of March. These have been broken down into 3 groups of ‘A to G’ and ‘H to R’ and ‘S to Z’ so it is more concise and clear to see the path of changes etc. Here are Warren Buffett’s holdings and accompanying notes for the group ‘H to R.’

Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR) 636,600 shares, WAY DOWN YET AGAIN… was over 5.6 million before and was 7.78 million over a year ago.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is a HIGHER POSITION listed as over 42.62 million shares; that is another increase in J&J even though well under the 62 million at the peak.
Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) is 105.21 million, SAME AS BEFORE after having been cut and down from the 138+ million before he was critical of the Cadbury deal.
Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW) 6.5 million shares, SAME AS BEFORE.
M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) is 5.363 million, SAME AS BEFORE after having been cut before then.
Moody’s Corp. (NYSE: MCO) is a LOWER POSITION AGAIN at 28.87+ million shares; down from 30.783 million before after several prior decreased positions.
Nalco Holding (NYSE: NLC) 6,142,300 shares; DOWN FROM PRIOR 9.15 million shares.
Nestle ADR is 3.4 million shares, SAME AS BEFORE.
Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) is a DECREASED POSITION of 3,642,929 shares; down from 7.641 million.
Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is an DECREASED POSITION at over 76.7 million shares; versus just over 78 million the quarter before. That is still well under the peak in recent times of 96.3 million shares.

Harley-Davidson, Inc. (NYSE: HOG) is not listed but was a not common stock so is not included in these filings; Buffett still likely holds the preferred shares and warrants.

Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) HAS BEEEN ELIMINATED; previous holdings showed 2.757 million.

Republic Services Inc. (NYSE: RSG) HAS BEEN ELIMINATED after having been 10.827 million.

NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) HAS BEEN ELIMINATED as it was 6 million shares before.

Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) had been increasing in the prior quarters but IT IS GONE and not listed as a holding any longer versus 8 million before.

BUFFETT HOLDINGS A to G

BUFFETT HOLDINGS S to Z

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, key analyst calls, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Activist Investor, Buffett, Conglomerates Tagged: BRK-B, HD, HOG, IR, IRM, JNJ, KFT, LOW, MCO, NKE, NLC, NRG, PG, RSG