Posts for Ticker ‘MO’

The Twenty Companies That Wall St. Can Trust The Least

Wall St. likes financial statements that give it deep insights into a company’s operations, especially its liabilities. It likes boards that make sure shareholders get as complete a picture as possible of a firm’s balance sheet and details of its P&L, cash-flow, and other critical financial measurements.

bear24/7 Wall St. asked Audit Integrity to put together a list of companies traded on US exchanges with market caps of more than $3 billion that do particularly poorly in the areas  of corporate governance, detailed disclosure of high-risk events including M&A and restructurings, revenue and expense recognition, and asset and liability valuation.

Based on the Audit Integrity model, 24/7 created a list of the twenty companies that Wall St. can trust the least.  Among the companies that the analysis flagged are Altria (NYSE:MO), Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS), GE (NYSE:GE), Blackstone (NYSE:BX), Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT),  Wells Fargo (NYSE:WMT), and Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW)

The list:

Read More »

Posted on: October 27, 2009 – 5:31 am in Corporate Governance, Research, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

7 More DJIA Stocks on Earnings Deck (BA, MMM, AXP, T, MCD, MRK, MSFT, MO, HON)

NYSE Floor ImageWe have already run the 5 of the 30 DJIA components that reported earnings this morning.  But we still have 7 more of the 30 DJIA components reporting during the rest of this week alone.   The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA), 3M Company (NYSE: MMM), American Express Company (NYSE: AXP), AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T), McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK), and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) are all on the earnings docket this week.   We also have earnings from Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) and from Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON), both of which are ex-DJIA components that many traders and investors still think of as Blue Chips.

We have created detailed earnings previews for each stock with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters, as well as earnings data and color for what to watch out for where applicable.  Also included is how much each stock has rallied since June 30 and since the March 9 close that all traders mark as the low index closing date and the end of the death-spiral bear market we were in earlier this year.
Read More »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 11:38 am in Calendar, Earnings, , , , , , , , ,

Stocks That Missed the Rally (ABT, MO, AWK, BKC, ENER, GENZ, KR, ORB, WMT, LEAP, PCS)

Here we are going into yet another earnings season.  We saw Monday how the market has rallied significantly from the March lows and the major indexes are even up in positive territory for the 2009 calendar.  The DJIA is up 51% from its absolute lows of March, and the S&P 500 has rallied more than 61% from its absolute lows in March.  If you look at the December 31, 2008 closing bell levels, the DJIA is now up about 12.75% and the S&P 500 is now up more than 19% year-to-date.

But almost as always, there are still some key very large and/or very active stocks which have not recovered anywhere close to the same amounts with the overall stock markets.  Some of these lagging stocks are Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO), American Water Works Company, Inc. (NYSE: AWK), Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC), Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER), Genzyme Corp. (NASDAQ: GENZ), Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), Orbital Sciences Corp. (NYSE: ORB) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).  Two similar situation stocks that are Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) and MetroPCS Communications Inc. (NYSE: PCS).  We wanted to explore the forward values and relative performance, and the consensus estimates based upon Thomson Reuters data.  Only two of these stocks have market capitalization rates under $1 billion, and almost all are very actively traded and well known in their sectors.
Read More »

Posted on: October 12, 2009 – 5:03 pm in Biotech, Charts, Consumer Goods, Defensive Stocks, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Retail, Utilities, Value Investing, Water, , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (ALL, MO, AIG, AXL, DSCO, GRMN)

These are this Friday’s top day trader alert stocks.  We have more color and more detail on price and volume analysis linked through to each at VSInvestor.com:

AllState Corp. (NYSE: ALL) is holding up better than we would have expected considering a Goldman Sachs downgrade to Sell.

Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO) had unbelievable options trading yesterday, although it appears to be a dividend capture trade… over 1 million SEPT-2009 contracts were traded yesterday on that basis.

American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG) is holding up rather well considering the downgrade.  We have color on price channels and trading patterns on this one because of how sketchy this stock is.

American Axle (NYSE: AXL) is soaring by 17% on an upgrade, a rather tall task for a research call.

Discovery Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: DSCO) is up about 50% on an FDA review date.

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) may not be anywhere close to the old highs, but an analyst upgrade is helping it get close to challenging 52-week highs.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for top day trader alerts, top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 11, 2009

Posted on: September 11, 2009 – 9:03 am in After-Hours Activity, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , ,

Defensive Stocks Offering No Haven (WMT, PEP, KO, TAP, KFT, CAG, CPB, HRL, MCD, MO, VGR, RAI, PG, CL, MRK, JNJ, NVO)

Burning Money PicWasn’t it just last week that we were up eight days in a row on the DJIA?  And now we have a sell-the-news reaction to the recent growth numbers.  Maybe it is because we ran too far too fast and because we started pricing in robust growth rather than muted growth.  But generally when equities have stayed hot and then start to sell off in profit taking or in case things got too heated, you at least see a migration into some of the defensive stocks.  That is not the case.  In our normal 16 Defensive Go-To Stocks, only ONE was up.  If you throw in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) as the ultimate defensive stock like we usually do, then you have only TWO of 17 trading up on the day….

PEPSICO INC (NYSE: PEP) $56.1805.. Down $0.4895; -0.86%
COCA COLA CO (NYSE: KO) $48.58.. Down $0.19; -0.39%
MOLSON COORS CO. (NYSE: TAP) $47.01.. Down $0.37; -0.78%
KRAFT FOODS INC. (NYSE: KFT) $28.08..  Down $0.27; -0.95%
CONAGRA FOOD INC. (NYSE: CAG) $20.13.. Down $0.40; -1.95%
CAMPBELL SOUP CO. (NYSE: CPB) $30.86.. Down $0.50; -1.59%
HORMEL FOODS CORP. (NYSE: HRL) $37.00..    Up 0.05; +0.14%
MCDONALDS CORP. (NYSE: MCD) $55.72.. Down $0.51; -0.92%
ALTRIA GROUP INC. (NYSE: MO) $18.13.. Down $0.16; -0.83%
VECTOR GROUP LTD. (NYSE: VGR) $15.71.. Down $0.07; -0.44%
REYNOLDS AMERICAN (NYSE: RAI) $45.17.. Down $0.54; -1.18%
PROCTER GAMBLE CO. (NYSE: PG) $53.05.. Down $1.06; -1.96%
COLGATE PALMOLIVE (NYSE: CL) $71.82.. Down $0.89; -1.21%
MERCK CO INC. (NYSE: MRK) $31.79.. Down $0.64; -1.97%
JOHNSON & JOHNSON (NYSE: JNJ) $59.88.. Down $0.56; -0.92%
NOVO NORDISK (NYSE: NVO) $60.024.. Down $0.986; -1.62%

Oddly enough, Wal-Mart is the ONLY one of the DJIA 30 components trading higher this afternoon.

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 1, 2009

Posted on: September 1, 2009 – 2:31 pm in Defensive Stocks, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Can Altria Raise Dividend Indefinitely? (MO, PM, RAI, LO)

Stop Smoking SignSome companies are unmatched on the rate at which they pay out their dividends.  Former DJIA component Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) definitely falls into that category, as do many tobacco sector peers.  Today came the announcement that it is increasing its quarterly dividend by over 6% to $0.34 per share of common stock per quarter.  The prior quarterly dividend rate was $0.32 per quarter.  At an annualized rate of $1.36 per share and with shares at $18.15, this generates a yield right at 7.5% per year.  The risk-free yield of the comparable Treasury is about 0.44% and the average yield of all S&P 500 stocks is roughly 1.88%.  What we are curious about is how long through time Altria can keep paying dividend rates of this magnitude.
Read More »

Posted on: August 27, 2009 – 2:26 pm in Dividend, Tobacco, , , ,

Tracking The Value Of The World’s Major Brands

apple
Several companies run annual brand valuations. It is a good business for advertising and marketing firms to be viewed as experts on brands. Brand values are based on the cash flow they create, and there are a number of ways to measure that. The mathematical parts of the formulas are relatively easy. The part that is hard, because it requires skilled forecasting, is what the reputation and value of a brand is likely to be three or four years from the date the values are set. It would have been hard half a decade ago to predict that AIG (AIG), the brand of the world’s largest insurance company, would be virtually worthless today, or that Facebook would be an extremely valuable brand. There is both art and science to determining the future of brands. Read More »

Posted on: August 12, 2009 – 3:21 pm in Accounting, Banking, China, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Goods, Editor's Picks, Financial Stocks, Hardware, PC Companies, Research, Software, Telecom, Tobacco, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Earnings Previews for 11 of 30 DJIA Components This Week (CAT, DD, MRK, KO, PFE, BA, MMM, AXP, T, MCD, MSFT, MO)

This week will mark the first crest of earnings season as we have 11 of the 30 DJIA components reporting earnings this week alone.  On Tuesday, we have earnings from Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), DuPont (NYSE: DD), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO).  On Wednesday, we have Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) on deck.  On Thursday, we have 3M Company (NYSE: MMM), AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T), McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) and Microsoft Corp. (NYSE: MSFT).  Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO), a fairly recent DJIA-booted also reports Wednesday.  We have detailed earnings estimates and additional preview data below:
Read More »

Posted on: July 20, 2009 – 11:39 am in Earnings, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Between Patents And The FDA, Big Tobacco Smokes (MO)(RIA)(STSI)

tobaccoBig tobacco got over yet another big news hurdle yesterday after a U.S. District Court sided with Reynolds American (RAI) in its long-running patent tussle with Star Scientific (STSI), this on the heels of new FDA regulations passed by Congress last week. Read More »

Posted on: June 17, 2009 – 7:45 am in Law, Tobacco, , ,

The Tobacconist’s Lament: The Government’s Campaign Against Cigarettes And Fast Food

tobaccoCongress has finally come within a day or two of finalizing a bill the will have the FDA regulate the tobacco industry. The markets of cigarettes, cigars, and chew have avoided the government’s boot heel for decades. The only challenge to the sector’s phenomenal cash flow has been a string of liability suits accusing firms like Altria (MO) of knowingly selling carcinogens to the general population which dodging the health hazards of smoking. The industry has, in general, gotten off lightly in the court system. Read More »

Posted on: June 12, 2009 – 3:42 am in Tobacco,

Media Digest 6/10/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters: The Supreme Court delays  Chrysler deal.

Reuters:   The cleared ten banks to repay TARP include JPMorgan (JPM), Goldmand Sachs (GS), American Express (AXP), Cpaital One(COF), State Street (STT), BBT (BBT), Morgan Stanley (MS), and US Bancorp (USB).

Reuters:   Senate Democrats revealed healthcare bill.

Reuters:   New York Times (NYT) will not close the Boston Globe Read More »

Posted on: June 10, 2009 – 3:02 am in Autos, Banking, Biotech, Brokerage Firms, Compensation, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Economy, Financial Stocks, Management Change, Oil & Gas, Press Digest, Private Equity, Turnarounds, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Defensive Stocks Refuse To Participate In Rally (PEP, KO, TAP, KFT, CAG, CPB, HRL, MCD, MO, PG, CL, MRK, JNJ)

Investors flock to defensive stocks in times of trouble and and when they worry, assuming they look to stay in the market when they are worried.  But if the trend here continues, this may be one of the worst times for defensive stocks compared to the overall market.  Our universe of 13 large-cap go-to defensive stocks looks awful in relative performance and it looks like only 1 stock of the 13 has actually outperformed the overall market.

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), ConAgra Foods, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), and Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) have performed close to the overall markets, but that is almost it.  Forget about Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) as that has been the worst of the lot.  Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) and The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) are up double digits from recent lows, but are way behind the market index readings.  Even the high and mighty McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) has greatly underperformed.
Read More »

Posted on: May 7, 2009 – 5:31 am in Defensive Stocks, HI/LOW, Index, Technical Analysis, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Defensive Stocks Hammered Too (PEP, KO, TAP, KFT, CPB, HRL, MCD, MO, RAI, PG, CL, MRK, JNJ)

burning-money-pic4It’s another rough trading day in the stock market.  It is bad enough that the DJIA is down over 3% to decade lows and under 7,000… But even almost all of the defensive stocks are down today.  Many of these have been absolutely bashed in recent days and weeks as you will see compared to their 52-week highs.

Symbol   Last          Change              52WK-HI
PEP    $47.13    (-$1.01; -2.10%)   $75.25
KO      $39.96    (-$0.89; -2.18%)   $61.90
TAP    $35.84    (+$0.61; +1.73%) $59.51
KFT    $22.31    (-$0.47; -2.06%)   $34.97
CAG    $14.93    (-$0.15; -0.99%)   $24.87
CPB    $26.51    (-$0.26; -0.97%)   $40.85
HRL    $31.60    (-$0.23; -0.72%)   $42.77
MCD    $52.55    (+$0.30; +0.57%)  $67.00
MO      $15.31    (-$0.13; -$0.84%)  N/A “PM”
VGR    $11.74    (-$0.67; -5.38%)   $19.45
RAI    $33.57    (-$0.01; -0.03%)   $65.01
PG       $47.40    (-$0.77; -1.60%)   $73.57
CL       $58.47    (-$1.71; -2.84%)   $80.49
MRK   $23.93    (-$0.27; -1.12%)   $45.73
JNJ    $48.39    (-$1.61; -3.22%)   $72.76
NVO   $46.51    (-$1.91; -3.94%)   $73.73

Jon C. Ogg
March 2, 2009

Posted on: March 2, 2009 – 2:15 pm in Defensive Stocks, HI/LOW, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ten Large American Companies That Won’t Cut Jobs

cammonopoly_wideweb__430x325014Layoffs at big companies are so common now that it is novel when a day goes by without Microsoft (MSFT), Caterpillar (CAT), or Macy’s (MC) letting thousands of people go.  There are a relatively small number of America’s largest companies which will almost certainly not have significant layoffs. One of them might close an office in Turkey, another could replace telephone operators with an automated system, but each is in a unique position that makes it highly unlikely for them to want or need to fire employees. Read More »

Posted on: February 20, 2009 – 5:08 am in Economy, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 1/30/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

NewspaperAccording to Reuters, Republican may keep fighting Obama on the stimulus package.

Reuters reports that Roche dropped its bid on Genentech (DNA) to $42 billion.

Reuters writes that the Administration will release its plans to fix banks next week.

Reuters reports that NYS Attorney General Cuomo may try to get back $4 billion in Merrill Lynch bonuses.

Read More »

Posted on: January 30, 2009 – 4:01 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Major Companies Realize Futility of Stock Buybacks (MO, MMM, T, EK, T, PHG)

Burning_money_pic_3More and more companies are either suspending or killing their share repurchases and stock buyback plans.  Some are doing it to conserve cash in a much harder operating environment.  But many companies have figured out that shrinking their floats by a marginal amount does little to support their stocks.  We have given some detailed data below on the "no more buybacks" status of Altria Group Inc. (NYSE: MO),  3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: EK), AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T), and Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG).

Read More »

Posted on: January 29, 2009 – 11:05 am in Labor & Unions, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks, , , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (MO, BBY, CFL, CEPH, GILD, LMT, TNDM, NOC, TLAB, MTN)

Money_stack_pic_2These are the top pre-market upgrades and positive analyst calls we have seen from Wall Street this Monday morning:

  • Altria (NYSE: MO) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
  • Brink’s Home Security (NYSE: CFL) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • Cephalon (NASDAQ: CEPH) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Gilead (NASDAQ: GILD) Started as Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
  • Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) Started as Buy at Societe Generale.
  • Neutral Tandem (NASDAQ: TNDM) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
  • Northrup Grumman (NYSE: NOC) Started as Buy at Societe Generale.
  • Tellabs (NASDAQ: TLAB) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
  • Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) Raised to Outperform at Wachovia.

Jon C. Ogg
December 15, 2008

Posted on: December 15, 2008 – 7:52 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Evidence of Corporate Debt Issues Stabilizing (T, DUK, PCG, MO, TWC, BA)

Money_stack_picWe have been tracking the developments in corporate bond spreads and the lack of liquidity for new capital.  Over the last ten days or so we have witnessed several corporate bond offerings of size by household companies which most investors would deem as "survivors" if history is any use.  We tracked issuance releases by AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), Pacific Gas & Electric (NYSE: PCG), Altria (NYSE: MO), and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC).

Read More »

Posted on: November 18, 2008 – 11:51 am in Bonds, Economy, Secondary Offering, , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (MO, STZ, LVS, LYV, RF, AXP, CMS, DELL, SOLR, TIBX)

These are the top ten early bird upgrades and downgrades we have seen this Thursday morning with about two hours until the open:

  • Altria (MO) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Banc of America.
  • Constellation Brands (STZ) Raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Las Vegas Sands (LVS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Banc of America.
  • Live Nation (LYV) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research.
  • Regions Financial (RF) Raised to Buy at Ladenburg Thalman.
  • American Express (AXP) Started as Underperform at Jefferies.
  • Comerica (CMA) Cutto Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • Dell (DELL) added to Goldman Sachs Conviction Sell List.
  • GT Solar (SOLR) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
  • TIBCO Software (TIBX) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
November 13, 2008

Posted on: November 13, 2008 – 7:40 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Ten Things To Do To Save Yourself In a Market Meltdown (AAPL)(GOOG)(SIRI)(MCD)(INTC)

AngrybearJim Cramer wants people to sell all of their stocks. Even though the market may keep falling, that might not be a practical solution for everyone. There are several things investors can do to at least partially save themselves from a falling market and get in position if stocks move up again.

1. Sell your dogs. No matter how much an investor loves a stock, firms in the second or third tier of their industries are going to get hurt more. They will get hit by both a falling market and a recession. Some good examples are AMD (AMD), which runs a distant second to Intel (INTC). Yahoo! (YHOO), which is well behind Google (GOOG) in search is another company which will find the going especially tough. Palm (PALM) runs behind Apple (AAPL) and RIM (RIMM) in the smart phone industry. In an awful market, being in second place means being in last place.

Read More »

Posted on: October 8, 2008 – 10:14 am in Defensive Stocks, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,