24/7 Wall St. » MMR

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, FSLR, VLO, TIF, C, CMA, GS, JNJ, MMR, GWW, YHOO, SYK, STX, URI, SRSL, ENOC, LEE)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 20:07:31 +0000

Markets opened higher this morning and by late-morning equities were trading down about 1.5% across the board, where they have mostly remained for the rest of the day. An upbeat auction on short-term Spanish bonds and several positive earnings reports this morning led the market higher. China reported a sharp decline in foreign direct investment, but the impact on European and US markets was negligible. The US dollar index fell today, now down -0.11% at 79.467. The GSCI commodity index is down about -0.03% at 675.59, with most commodities gaining on the falling dollar. WTI crude oil closed up 1.2% at $104.20/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.06% at $118.61/barrel. Gold settled up 0.01% today, at $1,651.10/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 194 points to 13,115.54 (1.50%), the NASDAQ rose more than 54 points (1.82%) to 3,042.82, and the S&P 500 rose 1.55% or more than 21 points to 1,390.78.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) started as a ‘strong buy’ with a target price of $800 at Raymond James; First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) cut to ‘hold’ at Goldman Sachs; Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) reiterated as ‘outperform’ with a target price of $37 at Credit Suisse; Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) started as ‘neutral’ at Macquarie; and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reiterated as ‘outperform’ with a target price of $48 at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Comerica Inc. (NYSE: CMA) is up 3.6% at $31.98; Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is down about -1% at $116.59; Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) is up 0.30% at $64.17; McMoRan Exploration Inc. (NYSE: MMR) is up 4% at $9.07; and W.W. Grainger Inc. (NYSE: GWW) is up 0.01% at $215.80;

After markets close today, we’ll hear from Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Stryker Corp. (NYSE: SYK), Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX), and United Rentals Inc. (NYSE: URI).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

SRS Labs Inc. (NASDAQ: SRSL) is up almost 37% at 9.38. The audio and voice technology company is being acquired by DTS for about $134 million.

EnerNOC Inc. (NASDAQ: ENOC) is up nearly 17% at $7.61. The smart metering company has a contract to provide natural gas metering services for 4,000 non-residential buildings in Brooklyn and Queens, New York.

Lee Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: LEE) is down -12% at $1.15. The newspaper publisher posted a wider loss in its second fiscal quarter.

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

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers’ Association purchase applications
10.30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AAPL, C, CMA, ENOC, FSLR, GS, GWW, JNJ, LEE, MMR, SRSL, STX, SYK, TIF, URI, VLO, YHOO

McMoRan Options Volume Highlights Woes (MMR)

Administrator — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:57:29 +0000

McMoRan Exploration Co. (NYSE: MMR) is seeing almost a 100% above-normal trading volume in its shares today, but the real news is in the stock options trading volume today. The headlines were a bit misleading

The WSJ noted in its “movers” section that it “hasn’t been able to clear the blockage in the C section of drilling at the Wilcox play in the Gulf of Mexico, so it will remove tubing and clear residual draining fluid as part of an effort to provide access to all 200 net feet of the shallow-water location.” The problems with this well have knocked out about one-fourth of the share value in recent weeks.

The company’s press release noted. “Technical completion has been achieved successfully and work is ongoing to establish commercial production from the well.” By the company’s count, this well will be in the commercialization stage soon.

While the stock is down 3.9% at $9.34 and while the 4.7 million shares compares to an average of almost 2.8 million shares in a day, it is the options which really stand out:

Over 5,200 of the APRIL-2012 $10 Calls have traded against an open interest of 9.239 contracts;
Over 1,000 of the $11 and $12 Calls in April have traded in each contract;
Over 14,000 of the April $10 Puts have traded against an open interest of 47,634 contracts;
Over 5,300 of the $11 April Puts have traded against an open interest of 12,704 contracts.

Trading remains elevated even out in the May-2012 options, and there have been over 10,200 of the $10 Puts due in May against a prior open interest of 5,615 contracts for that same strike and month.

After having hit a low of $8.89 earlier this morning, the 52-week trading range is $8.25 to $19.26.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Commodities, Oil & Gas, Options Tagged: MMR

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (FDX, BHP, INTC, TSLA, PNRA, MMR, AMTD, WFC, C, CHKP, KUTV, CNVO, VQ, RRD, CCL)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:09:27 +0000

The markets opened higher this morning and all three major indexes have managed to hold onto most of their gains of the early morning. The S&P 500 index topped 1,300 for the first time since last summer, but hasn’t been able to remain at that level. The US dollar is trading weaker against the euro, but stronger against both the British pound and the Japanese yen. The dollar index is down a bit more than -0.5% at 81.071. Energy companies have done well today, even though natural gas prices have fallen below $2.50/thousand cubic feet. WTI crude oil is up nearly 2% at $100.62/barrel, while Brent crude is up only fractionally at $111.38/barrel. Gold is up more than 1% at $1,650.70.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 60 points to 12,482.22 (0.48%), the NASDAQ rose more than 17 points (0.64%) to 2,728.08, and the S&P 500 rose 0.35% or nearly 5 points to 1,293.66.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) cut to ‘hold’ at Jefferies; BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) started as ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs; Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) cut to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan; Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) raised to ‘buy’ at Wunderlich; and Panera Bread Co. (NASDAQ: PNRA) raised to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley.

Earnings reports since markets closed last Friday have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: McMoRan Exploration Co. (NYSE: MMR) is up 4.55% at $13.32; TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: AMTD) is down -1.72% at $16.02; Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is up 0.67% at $29.81; Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is down nearly -8% at $28.29; and Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) is up nearly 8% at $54.93.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Ku6 Media Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: KUTV) is up nearly 154% at $3.50. The Chinese online video company has signed an agreement with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) to offer international viewers a Chinese video channel on YouTube.

Convio Inc. (NASDAQ: CNVO) is up nearly 48% at $15.89, after setting a new 52-week high earlier. The provider of software to non-profit organizations has agreed to be acquired by Blackbaud Inc. (NASDAQ: BLKB) for $16/share, or about $312 million.

Venoco Inc. (NYSE: VQ) is up nearly 31% at $10.05. The independent oil and gas company is being taken private by its CEO. We have more coverage here.

R.R. Donnelly & Sons Co. (NYSE: RRD) is down nearly -16% at $12.12 after posting a new 52-week low of $12.08 earlier. The business services company said revenues for 2011 are going to be lower than expected.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) is down nearly -14% at $29.57. The cruise ship operator is sinking following the disaster off the Italian coast that has left 11 dead and 29 missing. We have more coverage here.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Federal Reserve Bank governor Daniel Tarullo is giving a speech. We have the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association mortgage applications
8:30 a.m. – Producer price index
9:15 a.m. – Federal Reserve report on industrial production
10:00 a.m. – Housing market index

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close, The Day Tagged: AMTD, BHP, C, CCL, CHKP, CNVO, FDX, INTC, KUTV, MMR, PNRA, RRD, TSLA, VQ, WFC

McMoran Jumps on Unexpected Profit (MMR, XOM, CVX, HES)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:29:18 +0000

Independent oil & gas firm McMoran Exploration Co. (NYSE: MMR) posted an unexpected profit today, leading other energy firms like Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX), and Hess Corp. (NYSE: HES) higher.

McMoran posted EPS of $0.19, compared with an consensus estimate for an EPS loss of -$0.13. The company attributes the good performance to its deep-drilling techniques in the Gulf of Mexico, which have allowed it to boost production substantially higher than previous expectations. Production is expected to average 130 million cubic feet of gas equivalent/day in 2012, with first quarter production at 155 million cubic feet/day. The number should rise in the second half of the year following production testing of a major well.

McMoran’s shares are up nearly 5% at $13.29 in a 52-week range of $8.25-$19.26.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: CVX, HES, MMR, XOM

52-Week High Club (AA, CVX, MMR, EXXI, SNI)

247wallst — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:00:20 +0000

Aluminum Corp. of China Limited (NYSE: ACH) rose over 5.7% to a yearly high of $34.27 after the company rose alumina prices for the second time in a week. Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) rose over 3.4% to a yearly high of $17.60 ahead of the their earnings report this evening.

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) rosve over 2% to a yearly high of $81.09 after the Citigroup upgraded the energy producer on the grounds of an increasingly bullish oil outlook.

McMorRan Exploration Co. (NYSE: MMR) and Energy XXI Ltd. (NASDAQ: EXXI) both surged to 52-week highs after announcing they have made one of the biggest oil and gas discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico. They rose 53.2% and 38.7% respectively.

Scripps Networks Interactive Inc. (NYSE: SNI) rose over 5.1% to a yearly high of $46.01 after the owner of cable-television networks was upgraded by analysts at UBS.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted in Earnings, Media, Metals, Oil & Gas Tagged: AA, ACH, CVX, EXXI, MMR, SNI

McMoRan Does Not Strike Paydirt (MMR)

247wallst — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:14:48 +0000

McMoRan Exploration Co. (NYSE:MMR) reported first quarter 2009 numbers this morning. The news was not good — an EPS loss of -$0.90, more than double analysts’ estimates of -$0.43, and down from EPS of $0.46 in the year ago quarter. Revenues came in at $97.38 million, below the $111.32 million analysts expected . In the same quarter a year ago, McMoRan posted revenues of $295.48 million, better than three times this quarters’ revenues.

The company posted a loss of $59.5 million including an impairment charge of $39 million on some of the company’s fields, and $16.2 million on two drilling projects that came up empty.

The company appears to be pinning its hopes on deep and ultra-deep prospects in the Gulf of Mexico. That’s fine, but pulling hydrocarbons to the surface from more than 15,000 feet below the sea floor is not exactly well-understood or cheap.

McMoRan is also still feeling the effects of the 2008 hurricane season, and production totaled 198 million cubic feet equivalent/day in the quarter, off nearly 100 million cubic feet/day compared with the year-ago quarter. Production for the current quarter is expected to fall to 180 million cubic feet equivalent/day. The company expects to produce an average of 215 million cubic feet equivalent/day for the whole of 2009. In order for that to happen, third-party facilities and pipelines need to be restored to pre-hurricane capabilities. That will happen, of course, but timing is everything.

McMoRan shares are down nearly 15% in pre-market trading. The 52-week range is $3.14-$35.52, and the current price is $5.03/share.

Paul Ausick
April 20, 2009

Posted in Earnings, Oil & Gas Tagged: MMR

McMoran: Exploration Isn’t Paying Off (MMR)

247wallst — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:37:02 +0000

McMoran Exploration Company (NYSE:MMR) reported full-year 2008 and fourth quarter results yesterday, and it definitely wasn’t pretty. The company’s full-year EPS was -$3.79, and for the fourth quarter the EPS loss totaled -$4.39.

McMoran can’t even blame mark-to-market accounting for the loss. Thecompany had a cash gain of $8.7 million and a non-cash gain of $43.2million in the fourth quarter on its derivative contracts.

The company is still suffering from the effects of the 2008 Gulfhurricanes, which caused production to be cut nearly in half. Thecompany sees near-normal production rates by mid-2009.

McMoran reported $93.5 million in cash and total debt of $375 million,which it says is a reduction of $426 million from one year ago.

Shares opened about $0.30 lower this morning and have continued to fallin early trading, now down about $0.60, or 7%. The 52-week low is$7.39/share, so that’s within range today.

Paul Ausick
January 22, 2009

Posted in Earnings, Oil & Gas Tagged: MMR

Interim Reports Mixed for Oil Companies (APC, MMR, CVX)

247wallst — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:58:00 +0000

Energy companies are focusing on just a couple of things as they head into earnings season. First is debt and financing; second is production, especially for those companies who suffered from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Anadarko (NYSE:APC) and McMoRan (NYSE:MMR) have shown key updates and Chevron (NYSE:CVX) is on deck to do so.

Anadarko, which plans to release earnings November 4th,reported today that it has completed a $600 million share buyback andretired about $650 million in floating-rate notes. The company’s CFOnoted that Anadarko had about $1.9 billion in cash at the end ofSeptember. That’s about triple its cash it had as of the end of the Junequarter. Putting cash under the mattress has moved Anadarko’s shareprice up about 2% in early trading today.

McMoRan, a much smaller company than Anadarko, was hit hardby Hurricane Ike. The company lost about 3% of production at about 2%of reserves. That’s not the problem. Downstream of McMoRan’s platformsare third-party pipelines and processing plants that have not come backonline following the storms. The company is producing less than 50% ofthe gas it did before the storms, about 140 million cubicfeet/day.

The company expects production to increase in the fourth quarter,but reach only about 180 million cubic feet/day.Original estimates totaled 290 million cubic feet/day. McMoRan alsoestimates that it will take a charge of approximately $150 million forstorm damage and future abandonment costs. It also has $160 million incash and a revolving credit facility for $450 million, all of which isavailable. The company plans to report earnings on October 20th.

McMoRan’s share price is up a little more than 2% this morning, afterfalling sharply at market open. The uptick is probably due to the Fedannouncement on its plans to purchase commercial paper. The stock wasoff nearly a buck at one point this morning.

Chevron is announcing its interim results Thursday after themarket closes. The company has not said anything about storm damage or lostproduction, and it has sold all its fuel marketing business in WestAfrica and Nigeria. At the end of the June quarter, Chevron had morethan $8 billion in cash and less than $6 billion in long-term debt. Forthe third quarter, its cash flow is likely to be down because crudeprices are down, but refining margins should be better than lastquarter for the same reason.

Paul Ausick
October 7, 2008

Posted in Oil & Gas Tagged: APC, CVX, MMR

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (BIG, CSH, CS, ERIC, GT, MRVL, MMR, MNTA, NTRS, PCZ)

247wallst — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:33:55 +0000

These are ten of the top analyst calls we see affecting shares in pre-market indications this Monday morning:

Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) Raised to Overweight from Neutral at JPMorgan.
Cash America (NYSE: CSH) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) Raised to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) raised to Neutral from to Sell at Goldman Sachs; downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Banc of America.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE: GT) cut to Neutral at JP Morgan.
Marvell Tech (NASDAQ: MRVL) raised to Outperform at FBR (stock indicated +2%).
McMoRan Exploration (NYSE: MMR) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) Cut to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Petro-Canada (NYSE: PCZ) raised to Outperform at CINC World Markets.

Jon C. Ogg
April 28, 2008