Reuters: Solvay sold its drug unit to Abbott (ABT) foe $6.6 billion.
Reuters: Kraft (KFT) will launch a hostile bid for Cadbury.
Reuters: The World Bank said not to take the dollar’s role in the global economy for granted.
Reuters: Crucell got a $302 million investment from J&J (JNJ) Read More
Reuters: The sell-off in Chinese stocks may be overdone based on earnings.
Reuters: A report blamed the SEC for not doing its job investigating Madoff.
Reuters: The Fed says the risks to the American economy have dropped.
Reuters: A Pfizer (PFE) whistleblower made more than $51 million. Read More
Reuters: A bubble may be forming in the corporate bond market.
Reuters: Wall St. firms have made $1 billion on the break up of AIG (AIG). Morgan Stanley(MS), Goldman Sachs (GS), JP Morgan (JPM) and Blackstone (BX) could get large fees.
Reuters: A judge would not approve an SEC settlement with Bank of America (BAC) Read More
These are some of the top analyst downgrades we are seeing early this Monday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
October 20, 2008
These are some of the key downgrades or negative calls we are seeing from analysts this Friday morning with more than two hours to the open:
Jon C. Ogg
August 1, 2008
These are far from all of the lows, but these are many highlighted stocks that traders will care about. The prices for today are based on the last hour of trading and prior ranges rather than the closing prices for this Friday.
AAR Corp. (NYSE: AIR) hit a new low today on no direct news from a 52-week range of $22.06 to $39.42. Shares were down over 7% late in the day at $20.91. Hmm.. products, services, and maintenance to the airlines. Go figure.
Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings, Inc (NYSE: AVR) down to a new low despite an upgrade by Broadpoint Capital. Ethanol stocks have dipped this month after a report that corn-supplies will be tight this year. Hit a new low of $4.22 late in the day from a 52-week range of $4.39 to $20.85.
Cheniere Energy Inc. (AMEX: LNG) down today on a downgrade by Lehman Brothers yesterday, despite announcements that its LNG terminal in Louisiana will begin to receive shipments on August 12. Shares down over $2.00 to new low of $16.17 off a 52-week range of $18.40 to $43.50. This huge drop almost seems counterintuitive with sub-projects coming online and with energy prices in the stratosphere, but that downgrade from Lehman yesterday is ruling the roost.
Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) down to lowest points since 2004. Thursday, a Bernstein analyst estimated that third-quarter earnings could be lower than previously expected. Shares hit as low as $55.16 earlier today on a 52-week range of $55.37 to $69.36. Maybe the public realized how bad bleach is for the water supply.
Cintas Corp. (NASDAQ: CTAS) dropped to a new low after a downgrade by Lehman Brothers. Shares hit a new low of $27.35 before recovering late in the day on a 52-week range of $27.41 to $41.04. Uniform sales… what gets cut as employees get fired and as businesses trim expenses? Oh yeah, uniforms.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) fell along with the market today with the other computer companies. They just happened to hit a new low. They dropped to $18.44 on a 52-week range of $18.53 to $ 30.77. The good news is that late in the day shares were back above the prior low. The bad news is that nothing is going its direction.
Ixia (NASDAQ: XXIA) taking a hit from downgrades by JMP Securities and Ferris Baker Watts. They also cut their own guidance for first quarter estimates. It hit a new low of $6.30 off a 52-week range of $6.51 to $10.70.
LodgeNet Interactive Corporation (NASDAQ: LNET) down to a new low of $5.70 today. Apparently good hospitality isn’t enough keep the shareholders comfortable. The 52-week range is $5.90 to $38.11. As people cut back, maybe those in-hotel movies are easier to cut spending on.
Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: MNST) hit a new low today with a 52-week range of $23.00 to $50.28. It shouldn’t be out of a job anytime soon but if it is, it will know where to look. Shares down almost 4% at $22.20 late in the day.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. (NASDAQ: PNCL) taking a hit in the wake of Frontier Airlines bankruptcy scare. Hit a new low of $8.22 on a 52-week range of $8.43 to $20.34. Stock edged back above that $8.50 level in last 20 minutes today.
Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. (NASDAQ: SSCC) dipped to a new low off a 52-week range of $6.65 to $14.08. Shares were at $6.35 in the last 20 minutes today, down almost 8%. paperboard and packaging… what gets cut when stuff stops selling stores? Oh yeah, the packaging.
Jon C. Ogg
April 11, 2008
It is only a matter of time before some big American companies sue the banks and brokerages that ran the auction-rate markets. Their case will be that, in a market which has operated since 1985. the financial firms presented the paper as cash-equivalents. Getting in and out of the instruments was easy, and took, at the most, a few days.
The banks walked on the market when its was clear that their balance sheets had been torn to pieces. In the auction-rate world they would take any imbalances in an auction onto their books and clear out the securities at the next round of bidding. They acted, in essence, like specialists at the NYSE do. They kept the market orderly.
Now, some large companies, especially in the tech sector, are facing write-offs because they took the paper on their balance sheets and treated it as cash. Auditors are looked at those securities and saying that, because they illiquid, they should be written down. That, in turn, hits their P&Ls.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Monster (MNST) has $357 million of auction-rate securities on its books. Troubled tech firm Palm (PALM) has almost $75 million. For some of these companies, the figure may be a large part of their cash positions. Funding deficits or capex may become a major challenge.
The tech companies are only the beginning. It is safe to say that scores of public companies have auction-rate paper. It was an easy way to get higher yields than with government paper and allowed for almost instant access to capital.
As is almost always true in corporate America, someone is at fault, or, at least must be blamed in public. The banks and brokerages who ran the auction-rate market are clearly the target. And, perhaps they should be, especially if they represented that the market they created and ran was something that it was not.
Douglas A. McIntyre
As a reminder, the 52-week low list is where many fund managers and traders go looking for opportunities. Sometimes the baby is thrown out with the bathwater, and sometimes they throw out the whole house and family with it.
Jon C. Ogg
March 19, 2008
Below are the ten analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on in pre-market trading this Wednesday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
March 19, 2008
These are not all of the pre-market research calls during a busy earnings morning, but these are the top calls that 247WallSt.com is looking at:
Jon C. Ogg
January 31, 2008
The first Friday of every month is one of the key economic readings for the economy, and that comes in the form of the monthly unemployment report and non-farm payrolls creation. Tomorrow we will get the reading for December 2007. As the US economy is hovering in limbo between a slowdown or a recession, you can imagine traders are looking for a glimpse of any data they can get their hands on ahead of this number. Sometimes traders follow the Monster Employment Index, and sometimes not.
Those looking for additional softness in jobs on Friday have one more piece of ammo for their argument. The Monster Employment Index declined in December by 14 points to 169, which is the worst reading since 168 in January 2007 and 167 in December 2006. The index has shown a historic seasonal slowdown every December since its creation in 2004 followed by a rapid expansion in the following months. The problem is that 2004 to 2006 were expanding economies, and the economy isn’t in as good of shape this time.
When you read the summary comments it will seem even worse: Lower demand for office and administration workers in December suggests slower corporate expansion may lie ahead; Unusual drop in demand for sales opportunities indicates retailers are still cautious about hiring amid an uncertain holiday shopping season; Online demand within the financial sector remains muted; Government and healthcare are still key areas of strength; nearly all of the 20 industries and 23 occupational categories tracked by the Index registered lower online job availability compared to the previous month; Online job availability declined in all 9 U.S. Census Bureau regions in December with California, Florida, and Arizona having the sharpest declines; office and administrative support and also sales jobs posted sharp declines, indicating a cautious hiring after an uncertain holiday environment.
Approximately half of the decline is attributed to seasonality as employers naturally scale back their hiring activities during the final month of the year. Only two industries didn’t report drops, although they were unchanged from November: public administration (with military); Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting.
Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST) of course uses its job boards as it is the largest, but it also uses online job boards for a real-time review of millions of opportunities from other job boards and corporate career sites. The seasonality is always something one can point to as cause, but this is one piece of data that sure points toward weak jobs numbers measured by the private sector regardless of what the government data says on Friday (particularly since their computers seem to never get it right).
The Challenger report on December job cuts is out at 7:30 A.M. EST, the ADP December employment report is at 8:15 A.M. EST and the Labor Department’s weekly jobless claims is at 8:30 A.M. EST. After the worst stock market drop for a new year’s opening day in decades, this weak reading might get more attention than in the past.
Jon C. Ogg
January 3, 2008
These are not the only impact analyst calls, but these are the top research calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on pre-market this Thursday:
Jon C. Ogg
December 20, 2007
This is not necessarily a full list of all the buyback announcements, but this is a partial list. Today’s buyback announcements and updates are first, and yesterday’s are listed at the end.
Tech Data (NASDAQ:TECD) announced a $100 million buyback plan, versus a $2.1 Billion market cap. The company’s share repurchases will be made on the open market, through block trades or otherwise. The amount of shares purchased and the timing of the purchases will be based on working capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors, including alternative investment opportunities. The company intends to hold the repurchased shares in treasury for general corporate purposes, including issuance under employee equity compensation plans.
Republic Airways Holdings (NASDAQ:RJET), announced (as part of its $100 million Existing buyback plan) that it has agreed to purchase 2,000,000 shares of its Common Stock from WexAir LLC, the company’s former majority stockholder, at a price of $19.20 per share, for total consideration of $38,400,000. RJET stock closed at $19.06 today.
P&F Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFIN) announced that its Board of Directors has extended the time it may purchase shares of Class A Common Stock under its share repurchase program by an additional year to September 30, 2008. The Company is authorized to purchase up to 150,000 shares remaining pursuant to such share repurchase program.
iMergent, Inc. (AMEX:IIG), after its earnings, increased its stock repurchase program from $20 Million to $70 Million over the next 5 years.
Noven Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVN) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program authorizing the company to repurchase up to $25 million of the company’s common stock. The repurchase program is effective immediately.
YESTERDAY’S SHARE BUYBACK ANNOUNCEMENTS
Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ:MNST) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved an increase to its share repurchase program. It is now authorized to purchase an additional $250 million of its shares of common stock in the open market or otherwise from time to time over a 12 month period, as conditions warrant. This new authorization follows the existing $100 million share repurchase program, which has now been substantially utilized.
Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC) on Monday announced new guidance 2007 EPS of $4.15 to $4.30 per share. Exelon’s original operating earnings guidance range was $4.00 to $4.30. AND that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program for up to $1.25 billion of its outstanding common stock. Exelon expects to complete the share repurchase program within the next six months.
If you would like to delve further into share buybacks we have covered you can see a partial index of what we have covered.
Jon C. Ogg
September 5, 2007
ABY raised to Neutral at UBS.
AMD raised to neutral at Credit Suisse.
AG raised to neutral at Credit Suisse.
AEO raised to Outperform at Cowen.
BLOG started as Outperform at Wachovia.
DVA raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
EXEL cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
FCSX raised to BUy at B of A.
HOKU raised to Mkt Perform at Piper Jaffray.
HSII cut to Sell at UBS.
INFA started as Outperform at CIBC.
KFN cut to Sell at UBS.
KOP cut to Hold at Jefferies.
KPN cut to Hold at Citigroup.
KSU raised to Buy at UBS.
MNST cut to Neutral at UBS.
MXIM started as Outperform at RBC Capital.
OII started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
OTE cut to Peer Perform at Bear Stearns.
PCG raised to Overweight at Lehman.
RDS/A raised to Buy at UBS.
RHI cut to Neutral at UBS.
RIMM cut to Peeer Perform at Bear Stearns.
SMOD cut to Hold at Citigroup.
SPR started as Overweight at Lehman.
TEF cut to Hold at Citigroup.
TMA raised to Outperform at FBR.
TYC raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
TYPE started as Buy at B of A.
TYPE started as Buy at Jefferies.
WEC raised to Overweight at Lehman.
Jon C. Ogg
September 4, 2007
Newspapers companies have hoped against hope that the rapid fall of their print advertising would level out or at least decelerate. But, for the large companies like Gannett (GCI) and The New York Times (NYT), the hope continues to go unrealized.
New numbers from the Newspaper Association of America show that online advertising at newspapers moved up 19% in the second quarter of the year and hit $796 million. This was of little help as "Total advertising expenditures at newspaper companies were $11.3 billion for the second quarter of 2007, an 8.6 percent decrease from the same period a year earlier. Spending for print ads in newspapers totaled $10.5 billion, down 10.2 percent versus the same period a year earlier.", according to the NAA
Key classified ad categories including real estate, automotive, and jobs fell by 20% as the business moved to only classified sites from Craiglist to Realtor.com to Monster (MNST).
And, the industry has no solutions.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Yahoo! (YHOO) has announced that its head of sales is out. That part of the company will be combined with a business development unit and run by a new chief. It does mean that YHOO has lost its two most visible sales executives, the ones with the greatest ties to Madison Avenue, wherever that may be. Having this kind of turmoil among the people who bring in the money doesn’t sound wise.
But, no matter. Yahoo! has already lost the war for getting rapid growth from its current businesses. Display ad growth is slowing across the industry and Yahoo!’s improvement there is almost at a standstill. The company’s new Panama project, which was build to take market share from Google’s text ad business, has not show that it can push back the tide of a stagnant topline.
Yahoo! does have e-commerce and licensing businesses, but it is not in a lead position in any of these. Its jobs site is fairly large. The company has modest shopping and travel businesses, but they are not at a scale where they can pull the company out of the mud.
All of this means that, withing reason, it does not matter who runs the revenue operations at YHOO. The company does not have the tools it needs to restart growth.
M&A is almost certainly Yahoo!’s only way out. It is risky. With its stock so low, the portal company will have to give up a large part of its equity to get anything good. It will probably have to gamble that the social network business can eventually bring in a lot of revenue. Facebook is now the No.17 site in the US in terms of traffic. Yahoo! could makes some buys in vertical markets, perhaps pick up Monster (MNST) or CNET (CNET).
But, this is all old news. Yahoo!’s future strategy is endlessly debated.
In the meantime, the company is not doing anything.
Douglas A. McIntyre
According to Reuters, several Asian banks disclosed that they had exposure to US sub-prime mortgages.
Reuters writes that Monster (MNST) took five days to disclose the theft of personal data on 1.3 million job seekers.
The Wall Street Journal writes that shares of NYSE Euronext (NYX) are off 23% this year despite record trading volume.
The Wall Street Journal writes that a court cleared the Whole Foods (WFMI) deal to buy Wild Oats (OATS).
The Wall Street Journal writes that Home Depot (HD) will probably take less than announced for its home supply division as the buyers battle with lenders over terms.
The New York Times writes that earnings at Gap (GPS) rose on cost cutting.
The FT says that the head of Ford (F) called on the government to do more to stimulate economic growth, a sign that current conditions are hurting car maker.s
Douglas A. McIntyre
Monster (MNST), the big online jobs firm, had a 20% increase in revenue in Q2 to $331 million. Net income fell due to costs of a stock options investigation and severance costs.
The company also said it plans to cut 800 people. 15% of its staff.
Monster’s forecast was mixed: The total revenue outlook for the balance of 2007 assumes that the rate of revenue growth in the third quarter will continue at approximately the same rate as in the second quarter, offset by planned reductions in certain interstitial ads and the elimination of "work-at-home" job postings, with a higher revenue growth rate in the fourth quarter.
While Wall St. might not be excited about the company’s near-term issues, Monster is still growing at an impressive rate. And, that business is coming from newspapers. And, that means that, over time, investors dollars will come Monster’s way.
Douglas A. McIntyre
MONDAY, JULY 30, 2007
ABN AMRO (ABN)
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC)
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
Cameco (CCJ)
FPL Group (FPL)
HSBC Holdings (HBC)
Humana (HUM)
Monster Worldwide (MNST)
Overstock.com (OSTK)
RadioShack Corp. (RSH)
Simon Property (SPG)
Statoil (STO)
Sun Microsystems (SUNW)
Principal Financial Group (PFG)
Tyson Foods (TSN)
Verizon (VZ)
Wm Wrigley (WWY)
TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2007
Alcan (AL)
American Capital Strategies (ACAS)
American Electric Power (AEP)
Aon Corporation (AOC)
Automatic Data Processing (ADP)
Aventine Renewable Energy (AVR)
Avon Products (AVP)
Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (BWLD)
CBS Corp. (CBS)
Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)
Coach, Inc. (COH)
Companhia Vale do Rio Doce-CVRD (RIO)
Crown Castle International (CCI)
CryoLife, Inc. (CRY)
Denny’s Corp. (DENN)
DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA)
Encore Acquisition Company (EAC)
FEI Company (FEIC)
First Solar (FSLR)
Fresh Del Monte (FDP)
Gartner (IT)
General Cable Corp. (BGC)
General Motors (GM)
Headwaters Inc. (HW)
IAC/Interactive (IACI)
ImClone Systems (IMCL)
IndyMac Bancorp (IMB)
Liz Claiborne (LIZ)
Marathon Oil (MRO)
MetLife Inc. (MET)
NAVTEQ Corp. (NVT)
NCR Corp. (NCR)
Nicor Inc. (GAS)
Northwest Airlines (NWA)
NYMEX Holdings (NMX)
PMI Group (PMI)
RealNetworks (RNWK)
RenaissanceRe Holdings (RNR)
Ruth’s Chris Steak House (RUTH)
SiRF Tech (SIRF)
Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI)
St. Joe Company (JOE)
Trimble Navigation (TRMB)
Tupperware Brands (TUP)
Turbochef (OVEN)
Under Armour (UA)
Valero Energy (VLO)
Vornado Realty Trust (VNO)
Waste Industries (WWIN)
Waste Management (WMI)
Watts Water Tech (WTS)
WebMD Health (WBMD)
Whole Foods Market (WFMI)
We will be following up with many of these individually over the weekend and early in the week with full earnings previews. Have a great weekend.
-The 24/7 Wall St., LLC team
According to Reuters, Bernanke believes that subprime losses could hit $100 billion.
Reuters writes that GM (GM) closed the gap between itself and Toyota (TM) for total unit sales in Q2.
Reuters writes that Microsoft’s (MSFT) rose on improved profits from it Office division.
Reuters reports that Google’s (GOOG) net fell short of estimates.
The Wall Street Journal writes that banks raising $40 billion in buy-out debt for Chrysler and Alliance Boot has having to improve terms.
The Wall Street Journal wirtes that AMD’s (AMD) revenue rose in the most currently reported quarter.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a shareholder suit alleges that Monsters (MNST) founder was involved in back-dating options.
The Wall Street Journal also reports that Verizon Wireless has licensed Broadcom’s (BRCM) patents as a way around import prohibitions involving Qualcomm (QCOM) chips which violate its rivals patents.
The Wall Street Journal reports that heart procedures using stents have dropped sharply since January.
The New York Times writes that earnings fell at McClatchy (MNI) and Dow Jones (DJ).
FT reports that Viacom’s (VIA) controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone is pushing his daughter out as heir apparent.
Barron’s reports that Hearst has sold more shares in Local.com (LOCM).
Douglas A. McIntyre
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