Posts for Ticker ‘HRB’

The Hardest Working Brands for 2009: The Year Of The Dog

A look at the “hardest working” major brands for 2009 shows that a number of them belong to companies which have done poorly and, in at least one case, may file Chapter 11. This is due to the definition of a hard-working brand, which is based on the ratio of its value to the market capitalization of its parent company.

CoreBrand reviewed the top 100 hardest working brands for the final quarter of 2009.  Their researchers point out that “the food industry moves to the top of the list, reflecting the economy and the general improvement of consumer staples businesses. Hershey’s (HSY), Campbell Soup (CPB), and Kellogg (K) make it into the top 5.” On the other hand “troubled industries like financial services and auto manufacturers have seen dramatic decline.”

Harley-Davidson (HOG) is in the top 10 among the hardest working brands. Before rumors of a buy-out, the motorcycle firm’s stock languished at $25, down from $42 less than two years ago. Harley’s stock trades for a low 1.2 times sales. Also near the top of the list is crippled book retailer Barnes & Noble (BKS), which trades for .3 times sales. Blockbuster (BBI) is in the top 25, with a ratio of .1x sales. The firm said in its 10-K that it is at risk for filing Chapter 11.

Read More »

Posted on: March 17, 2010 – 3:46 pm in Research, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Unusual Suspects (HRB, TIVO, AAPL, AMLN, LLY, ALKS, PCX, BCE, MBT, QCOM, ZANE)

This week’s list of UNUSUAL SUSPECTS for stocks to watch is actually much different from what we have seen in other reports.  Earnings season is finally over, so we only have two earnings we gave previews and color in for H&R Block Inc. (NYSE: HRB) and Tivo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO).  Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has two trading issues to watch out for this week and beyond.  Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMLN) has a significant binary FDA event that will be important for Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE: LLY) and Alkermes, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALKS).  Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) is one to watch for either M&A or at least for business improvements, or for profit taking.  We have a Barron’s trifecta in telecom in BCE, Inc. (NYSE: BCE), Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (NYSE: MBT), and QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM).  Zanett, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZANE) is the new micro-cap penny stock for traders to watch, at least until the next one comes along.

We have details on each with added color, opinion, possible price reaction, and related news and background data.

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Posted on: March 7, 2010 – 10:13 am in Banking, Biotech, Calendar, Earnings, Editor's Picks, HI/LOW, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Rumors, Technology Companies, Telecom, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (BHP, DFG, FITB, GNTX, HRB, INTU, POT, RTP, RVBD, STI)

These are this Monday’s top ten analyst calls from Wall Street for upgrades, downgrades, and initiations:

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Delphi Financial (NYSE: DFG) Started as Outperform at KBW.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Rochdale.
Gentex (NASDAQ: GNTX) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Started as Buy at Genuity.
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE: RTP) Started as Neutral at HSBC.
Riverbed Technology (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
SunTrust Banks, Inc. (NYSE: STI) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Rochdale.

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JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 26, 2009

Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 8:14 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

The 100 Hardest Working Brands In The World

hersheyThere are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.

24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed  by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)

Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.

24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?

Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”.  Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless.  How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business.  Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.

24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?

Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets.  A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value.  If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.

The list: Read More »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 5:06 pm in Research, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

H&R Block Chairman Aggressively Acquires Shares (HRB)

Richard Breeden has disclosed in an SEC Filing that he has aggressively bought shares of H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) this week. From the dates of March 18 to March 20, Breeden purchased roughly 2.435 million shares at various prices of $18.84 to $20.76.  Prior to this SEC Filing, Breeden and his affiliated entities owned 6 million shares of common stock.  The direct reported holdings are now carried as 8.435 million shares.

Richard C. Breeden was elected a director of H&R Block in September 2007 and was then elected as Chairman of the board in November 2007.  He is also a former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is a highly noted position for a public company.  He is the managing member of Breeden Capital Partners LLC, managing member and Chairman & CEO of Breeden Capital Management LLC and the Key Principal of Breeden Partners (Cayman) Ltd.  Breeden Capital Partners LLC is in turn the general partner of Breeden Partners L.P. and Breeden Partners (California) L.P.  Due to SEC rules he is deemed to be the beneficial owner of all of the common stock owned by these entities.  These entities have been an active investor in H&R Block.

On March 17, 2008, H&R Block announced that it was selling its OPTION ONE mortgage servicing business to Wilbur Ross, and the company already got earnings behind it earlier this month.  This was the stock that Jim Cramer recently featured as his stock play to win on taxes this year because of Breeden’s involvement and because of selling Option One.  Shares are up 1.3% today at $20.59 and have traded as high as $20.94.  The 52-week trading range for the last year has been $16.89 to $24.02, but shares have also traded as high as $30.00 over the last five years.

Jon C. Ogg
March 20, 2008

Posted on: March 20, 2008 – 11:47 am in Activist Investor, Financial Stocks, Insider Activity,

Pre-Market Stock News (December 11, 2007)

Below is a snapshot of the individual company news affecting share prices being watched by 247WallSt.com:

  • Amtech Systems (NASDAQ: ASYS) shares up 3% after it announced receipt of a $3.9 million solar order for diffusion processing systems from an existing solar cell customer based in Taiwan.
  • Boeing (NYSE: BA) has an update for the progress on its 787 Dreamliner today.
  • Celanese (NYSE: CE) guided up slightly for 2007 and in-line for 2008, guidance upped to 2010 as well.
  • ChinaEdu Corporation (NASDAQ: CEDU) priced its 6.82 million ADR IPO at $10.00 per share.
  • Citigroup (NYSE: C) cuts size of SIV by $15 Billion.
  • Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) introduced new tablet PC with touchscreen.
  • General Electric (NYSE: GE) set to give outlook meeting this afternoon with guidance.
  • Genesis Micro (NASDAQ: GNSS) shares up over 50% after being acquired by STMicroelectronics for $8.65 per share.
  • H&R Block (NYSE: HRB) shares trading down about 8% after posting loss for quarter.
  • IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI) is allowing users to dump their searches stored by the search engine in a bout to win over customers via privacy.
  • Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) won a tier 1 pact from a European automotive integrator.
  • Medarex (NASDAQ: MEDX) shares trading down almost 20% after saying its BMY partnered Ipilimumab failed to meet endpoints for its metastatic melanoma treatment.
  • MultiMedia Games (NASDAQ: MGAM) $0.02 EPS vs $0.01 est.
  • PCTEL (NASDAQ: PCTI) selling its mobility solutions unit to Smith Micro for $59.7 million.
  • Smith Micro (NASDAQ: SMSI) traded up 12% after announcing it was acquiring PCTEL’s mobility solutions group for $59.7 million.
  • Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) traded up almost 5% after raising its mid-point of guidance to above consensus.
  • UBS (NYSE: UBS) shares trading down 3% after it wrote-down another $10 Billion in value of mortgage backed assets and sold a 10% stake to investors from Singapore and the Middle East.
  • Valero (NYSE: VLO) may sell some more refinery assets.
  • Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM) shares trading down 9% after it cut its dividend, announced lay-offs, and will exit sub-prime operations.

Jon C. Ogg
December 11, 2007

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

Posted on: December 11, 2007 – 8:17 am in Pre-Market Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Short Selling: Warren Buffett Holdings (June 2007)

BRK/A, BNI, KO, PG, WMT, USG, AXP, WFC, MCO, JNJ, COP, UNP, USB, MTB, ASD, NSC, WLP, UNH, IR, HRB

It is always interesting to see how Wall Street bets with or against Warren Buffett’s stock holdings.  These are among the most recent holdings of the great Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A-NYSE) and you’ll be able to see how there was more of an increase in short selling in the Buffett holdings.  Keep in mind that by now many of these will no longer be current holdings because these public company holdings change from quarter to quarter, and for that matter there will be newer holdings that are not included in here.

Company        (TICKER)        JUNE     MAY    CHANGE
Burlington Northern (BNI)     6.24M    6.19M    +0.7%
Procter & Gamble (PG)         19.35M   14.2M    +36%   
American Express (AXP)       23.5M     21.6M    +8.9%
Wells Fargo (WFC)                 51.8M    35.9M    +44%
Moody’s (MCO)                          18M      17.5M    +3.3%
ConocoPhillips (COP)           21.38M  17.37M  +23%
Union Pacific (UNP)                4.5M       4.4M      +1.9%
Anheuser-Busch (BUD)         9.81M     6.79M    +44%
US Bancorp (USB)                  35.4M     25.2M    +40%
Wellpoint (WLP)                       5.62M     5.3M       +5.7%       
UnitedHealth (UNH)                9.7M      8.94M      +8.5%   
Ingersoll-Rand (IR)                 5.11M    3.31M       +54%
H&R Block (HRB)                    20.3M    23.3M       -12.7%
Coca-Cola (KO)                      20.19M   27.8M       -27%
Wal-Mart (WMT)                        37.1M    38.1M       -2.5%
USG (USG)                              14.97M   16.05M      -6.7%
SunTrust Banks (STI)             7.42M      7.94M       -6.5%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)    15.37M    16.1M       -4.8%
M&T Bank (MTB)                      1.69M      1.93M       -12.7%
American Standard (ASD)      5.15M     7.46M       -30%   
Norfolk Southern (NSC)          4.7M       5.47M       -14%

As a reminder, last night Jim Cramer reviewed some of the Buffett holdings as well with an opinion about piggybacking on each of these.  Here is the critique Cramer gave for stock tickers UNP, USB, MTB, ASD, NSC, WLP, UNH, IR, HRB  and here is the critique he gave for stock tickers BNI, KO, PG, WMT, USG, AXP, WFC, MCO, JNJ, COP.

 

Jon C. Ogg
June 22, 2007

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

Posted on: June 22, 2007 – 9:12 am in Buffett, Conglomerates, Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cramer Reviews 10 More Warren Buffett Stock Picks

Stock Tickers: BRK/A, UNP, USB, MTB, ASD, NSC, WLP, UNH, IR, HRB

On CNBC’s Mad Money tonight, Jim Cramer reviewed stock picks from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A) to what is good in there and what isn’t.  He already gave 10 other picks earlier, and here is his second list of reviews for Buffet’s picks:

Union Pacific (UNP)…Cramer loves it, even after the run he thinks the rail company can make you money.

US Bancorp (USB)….Cramer thinks it’s a serious buy for the high-yield and the balance sheet.

M&T Bank (MTB)….Cramer likes financials, but he doesn’t like this one because of the subprime contagion when you can buy a better bank now.

American Standard (ASD)….Cramer likes it because the break-up could yield $15 upside.

Norfolk Southern (NSC)….Cramer likes this rail pick too, although probably as third of the rail stocks.

Wellpoint (WLP)…Cramer thinks it is the best healthcare  cost containment in the sector and he likes it.

UnitedHealth (UNH)….Cramer owns it and thinks it WAS a best of breed and now the cheapest in the group.

Ingersoll-Rand (IR)….Cramer said its buyback was great and it’s the best of its kind.

H&R Block (HRB)….Cramer said it deserves to go lower and he doesn’t know what Buffett was thinking because of the problems inside it.

Jon C. Ogg
June 21, 2007

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

Posted on: June 21, 2007 – 5:35 pm in Buffett, Cramer, , , , , , , , , ,

Earlybird Analyst Calls (June 11, 2007)

AGP raised to Hold at Jefferies.
ARAY started as Underperform at CIBC.
BE cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
BF/a raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
BOT cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
CAVM started as Buy at Deutsche bank.
CPS raised to Outperform at JMP Securities.
HRB raised to Buy at UBS.
JNJ raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
KFS raised to Outperform at CIBC.
MKTX cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
NKE raised to Overweight at HSBC.
NFLX cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
RKT raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
UST raised to Buy at UBS.
VAR raised to Outperform at CIBC.
VRUS started as Buy at UBS.
WB raised to Outperform at FBR.
WDC raised to Buy at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
June 11, 2007

Posted on: June 11, 2007 – 6:19 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Warren Buffett Rides More Railroads (BNI, NSC, UNP), Plus Other Holdings

This is an edited version of the first story to run an expanded list. 

Last month we all found out that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway decided to take a ride on the Reading by investing in Burlington Northern (BNI-NYSE).  He also said that he had invested in two others, and now we know the holdings out of today’s larger filing.  Here are the positions noted in the filing.

Here is a full list out of the SEC FILING:

Here are the rail positions: Burlington Northern (BNI), Norfolk Southern (NSC), Union Pacific (UNP).

American Express (AXP), American Standard (ASD), Ameriprise, Anheuser Busch (BUD), H&R Block (HRB),  Coca Cola (KO), Comdisco, ConocoPhillips (COP), Costco (COST), First Data (FDC), Gannett (GCI), General Electric (GE), Home Depot (HD), Ingersoll Rand (IR), Iron Mountain (IRM), J&J (JNJ), Lowe’s (LOW), M&T Bank (MTB), Moody’s (MCO), Nike (NKE),  PetroChina (PTR), Pier 1 Imports (PIR), P&G (PG),  Sanofi Aventis (SNY), Servicemaster (SVM), Sun Trust Banks (STI), Torchmark, Tyco International (TYC), US Bancorp (USB), USG Corp (USG), United Parcel Service (UPS), United Health group (UNH), Wal-Mart (WMT), Washington Post (WPO), Wells Fargo (WFC), Wellpoint (WLP), Wesco, Western Union (WU)

Jon C. Ogg
May 15, 2007

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

Posted on: May 15, 2007 – 3:49 pm in Conglomerates, SEC, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,