24/7 Wall St. » OWW

Blackstone Group Still Holds Many Large Stock Positions After IPOs (BX, BKU, FSL, GGP, NLSN, OWW, TMH, TRW)

Administrator — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 21:11:19 +0000

The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) may look like it has a huge portfolio of public stocks to many investors. While that is actually true, the bulk of this is due to its portfolio companies coming public and it being forced (or wanting to) hold on to a large number of shares. Its total value of public equities (and options) was listed as $5.98 billion as of September 30, 2011.

The larger positions worth $100 million or more are as follows:

BANKUNITED, INC. (NYSE: BKU) at $284.851 million for 13,721,131 shares.

FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR HOLDINGS, LTD. (NYSE: FSL) at $2.16 billion for 196,136,895 shares.

GENERAL GROWTH PROPERTIES INC. (NYSE: GGP) at $604.3 million for 49,942,980 shares.

NIELSEN HOLDINGS N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) at $1.436 billion for 55,095,361 shares.

ORBITZ WORLDWIDE INC. (NYSE: OWW) at $119.45 million for 55,046,598 shares.

TEAM HEALTH HOLDINGS, INC. (NYSE: TMH) at $583.01 million for 35,506,563 shares.

TRW AUTOMOTIVE HOLDINGS CORP. (NYSE: TRW) at $637.85 million for 19,488,416 shares.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Mutual Funds, Private Equity Tagged: BKU, BX, FSL, GGP, NLSN, OWW, TMH, TRW

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (FCX, CECO, CLX, COL, BSX, MDT, FICO, LAMR, OWW, KSWS, RIG, MDVN, SNSTA, SONO, DNDN, ANF, CLWR)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 20:05:46 +0000

Stock markets. Equity markets opened sharply higher this morning before falling into negative territory before the ISM and factory order reports were released. The ISM index came in lower than expected, but factory orders grew by 0.3%, slightly better than expected. New pressure on Greece to forgo its referendum on the EU bailout package helped push share prices up, as did strength in tech stocks. Crude oil is up nearly 1.5% and gold is up nearly 2%, while the dollar is down against both the euro and the British pound.

Closing bell. The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 207 points to 12,043.19 (1.75%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 58 points (2.2%) to 2,697.97, and the S&P 500 rose 1.87% or more than 23 points to 1,261.10.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades. There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX) started at ‘overweight’ at Barclays. Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO), Clorox Corp. (NYSE: CLX), and Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) were cut to ‘underperform’ at BofA/Merrill Lynch; and Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) and Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT) were started as ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse.

Market reacts to earnings. Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Fair Isaac Corp. (NYSE: FICO) is up about 25%, at $33.95; Lamar Advertising Co. (NASDAQ: LAMR) is up nearly 25%, at $26.18; Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: OWW) is up 40%, at $2.66; K-Swiss Inc. (NASDAQ: KSWS) is down more than -33%, at $3.09; and Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) is down about -13%, at $48.73.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

Medivation Inc. (NASDAQ: MDVN) is up 140%, at $39.74 after posting a new 52-week high of $40.15 earlier today. The company reported that an experimental prostate cancer drug reduced death risk by 37%.

Sonesta International Hotels Corp. (NASDAQ: SNSTA) is up nearly 41%, at $30.65 after posting a new 52-week high of $31.06. The company has agreed to be acquired for $31/share by an affiliate of Hospitality Properties Trust (NYSE: HPT).

SonoSite, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) is up about 29%, at 39.62 after posting a new 52-week high of $40 earlier today. Sonosite is reported to have hired Morgan Stanley to find a buyer for the company and talks are already in progress with potential buyers, including Samsung Electronics.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) is down more than -37%, at $6.53 after setting a new 52-week low of $6.52 earlier today. The company today reiterated its forecast for only modest sales of its Provenge anti-cancer drug.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) is down nearly -20%, at $59.51. The company reported slowing sales in Europe, a region where the company had pinned its hopes for growth.

Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) is down about -14%, at $1.75. The company is seeking additional financing and has been unable to get its largest customer and majority shareholder Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to commit to the financing.

Stay tuned for Friday. The G-20 summit opened today and will continue meeting tomorrow and over the weekend. Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) releases its October report on US online job demand. We have noted the following event (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Non-farm payroll data for October

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Market Close Tagged: ANF, BSX, CECO, CLWR, CLX, COL, DNDN, FCX, FICO, KSWS, LAMR, MDT, MDVN, OWW, RIG, SNSTA, SONO

Top Debt & Credit Rating Agency Actions (UTX, GR, GM, LSTZA, LSTZB, LCAPA, LCAPB, BRK-A, BRK-B, CAG, OWW, WWWW, CMI)

247wallst — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:43:21 +0000

Today’s ratings actions are led-off by Moody’s affirmation of its ‘A2′ senior unsecured and ‘Prime-1′ short-term ratings on United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX). The affirmation follows United’s announced acquisition of Goodrich Corp. (NYSE: GR) for $18.4 billion in cash. Moody’s noted the complementary nature of the deal and United’s historically strong “fiscal conservatism” as support for the ratings affirmation. Moody’s also noted that it was placing Goodrich’s ‘Baa2′ senior unsecured rating under review for a possible upgrade. Standard & Poor’s also put Goodrich on CreditWatch with positive implications.

Other rating actions were announced for General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM), Liberty Media LLC, Lubrizol Corp., now wholly-owned by Berkshire-Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A; BRK-B), ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG), Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW), Web.com Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW), and Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI)

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) is having its ‘Ba2′ corporate family rating and its ‘Baa3′ secured credit facility ratings reviewed for possible upgrade at Moody’s. The company’s new union contract and its improved operating and financial performance are the drivers of the review. Global economic uncertainty and the cyclic nature of the automaking business are the agency’s biggest concern. Also today, S&P assigned ‘AAA’ ratings to $500 million in asset-backed notes for Ally Bank. The funds are primarily intended to finance purchases of new cars from GM and Chrysler.

Liberty Media LLC and its Liberty Starz Group (NASDAQ: LSTZA; LSTZB) and Liberty Capital Group (NASDAQ: LCAPA; LCAPB) have received a ratings downgrade from Moody’s on senior unsecured bonds from ‘B1′ to ‘B3′ and the probability of default rating was downgraded from ‘Ba3′ to ‘B1′. The downgrades follow a court ruling that allows Liberty Media to split-off certain assets. The agency noted that 18% of Liberty Media’s revenues and 37% its enterprise value are being removed, which “disproportionately and negatively affect Liberty Media’s bondholders.”

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A; BRK-B) subsidiary Lubrizol Corp. received a ratings upgrade from Moody’s following its acquistion by Warren Buffett’s company. The agency raised Lubrizol’s debt ratings from ‘Baa1′ to ‘Aa2′ with a stable outlook. There’s no substitute for having access to really deep pockets, or as Moody’s says, Berkshire-Hathaway “now guarantees Lubrizol’s public debt.”

ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) has had its ‘BBB’ corporate credit and its ‘A-2′ short-term and commercial paper rating, among others, re-affirmed by S&P following ConAgra’s decision to give up its attempts to acquire Ralcorp Holdings Inc. (NYSE: RAH). All the company’s ratings have been removed from CreditWatch and the ratings outlook has been declared stable.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW) has had its ‘B’ corporate credit rating put on CreditWatch with negative implications by S&P. The agency downgraded debt for Travelport Holdings Ltd. yesterday, which together with The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) owns 55% of Orbitz.

Web.com Group Inc. (NASDAQ: WWWW) received a preliminary rating of ‘B’ with a stable outlook from S&P on its corporate credit.

Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) received a corporate credit upgrade from ‘BBB+’ to ‘A’ from S&P. Cummins is an engine and parts maker and has been performing above expectations for the past three quarters. Analysts have raised EPS estimates for the current quarter by 10%.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General Tagged: BRK-A, BRK-B, CAG, CMI, GM, GR, LCAPA, LCAPB, LSTZA, LSTZB, OWW, UTX, WWWW

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMD, BAM, GENZ, KGC, NTAP, NVDA, OWW, PAAS, SLE, SFLY, SWK, HOT)

Administrator — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:39:53 +0000

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

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) Reiterated Buy and $12 price target at Gleacher & Co.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. (NYSE: BAM) Started as Outperform with $38 target at Credit Suisse.
Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) Cut to Hold at TD.
NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity; Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray; Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: OWW) Cut to Underweight at Piper Jaffray.
Pan American Silver Corp. (NASDAQ: PAAS) Cut to Hold at TD.
Sara Lee Corporation (NYSE: SLE) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) Cut to Neutral at Zacks.
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (NYSE: SWK) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: HOT) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $74 at Argus.

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: AMD, BAM, GENZ, HOT, KGC, NTAP, NVDA, OWW, PAAS, SFLY, SLE, SWK

Terror Alerts and Travel Stocks (PCLN, EXPE, OWW, TZOO, MMYT, UTA, OEH, CCL, UAL, FAA)

Administrator — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:04:52 +0000

Online travel sites have been on fire and a trend of airline consolidation mergers has been very good to the travel and leisure sector in transportation. But what happens when United States citizens hear about a travel advisory with heightened terror alerts for U.S. citizens traveling to Europe, or traveling to anywhere else that is a common destination? We are taking a look at sector leaders and the reactions seen in priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN), Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW), Travelzoo Inc. (NASDAQ: TZOO), MakeMyTrip Limited (NASDAQ: MMYT), Universal Travel Group (NYSE: UTA), Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. (NYSE: OEH), Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL), and United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL).

priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) is down almost 2.5% to $329.45, Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is down about 2.3% at $27.10, and Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW) is down 3% to $6.18. The smaller destination is Travelzoo Inc. (NASDAQ: TZOO) and its shares were down almost as much as 5% at $25.20 today.

MakeMyTrip Limited (NASDAQ: MMYT), a hot IPO of late, is also seeing a 2.7% slide and shares are down at $37.57. This is an Indian travel agency that started out as a destination site for travel options in India. India is far from the E.U., but the Mumbai terror attacks have left the minds of very few.

Universal Travel Group (NYSE: UTA) has already had a very tough year as shares of the travel service provider offering air ticketing and hotel booking services have fallen from over $16.00 to under $5.00 and its shares are down 1% to $4.74.

Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. (NYSE: OEH) is well-known for its luxury hotels, train and cruises, and shares are down 4.8% at $10.56 versus a 52-week range of $6.80 to $15.54.

Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) was noted in our E.U. ties piece with its latest annual report noting, “Our European brands represent 33% of our total capacity at November 30, 2009, and we expect them to increase to 37% of our total capacity by 2012, assuming no new acquisitions, transfers or withdrawals are announced other than as previously discussed.” Carnival shares are down only 1.2% at $37.93 today versus a 52-week trading range of $28.71 to $44.21.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) is the new combined Continental-United merger stock and it has many daily flights to and from Europe from major US cities. Its shares are down only 1.3% at $24.38. The Guggenheim Airline ETF (NYSE: FAA), formerly the Claymore/NYSE Arca Airline ETF, is down 2.06% at $37.05 versus a 52-week range of $21.98 to $38.14; and it does have international carriers in its weighting.

Of course, terror alerts do far less damage than actual terror attacks. However, they give travelers the right to change their travel plans often without paying any of the normal penalty or fees travelers pay for making any last-minute changes to their itineraries.

JON C.OGG

Filed under: ADR, Airlines, Entertainment, Luxury, Politics Tagged: CCL, EXPE, FAA, MMYT, OEH, OWW, PCLN, TZOO, UAL, UTA

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/21/2009) (TWX)(AAPL)(BKS)

247wallst — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:16:38 +0000

Updated throughout the day.

Updated at 1.11 PM EST: Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) will sell First Republic for $1 billion. (The Deal)

Updated 1.05 PM EST: Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) may be teaming up with record labels to launch a music service (Reuters)

Updated 1.00 PM EST: Credit Suisse says Orbitz (NYSE:OWW) may be a takeover target (Barron’s)

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) knew about Merrill Lynch losses as early as November. (Bloomberg)

The new Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) e-reader will run the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android OS (Ars Technica).

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will soon release Mac OS X 10.6.2 (MacRumors)

Congressional officials want to talk to three banking officials in Massachusetts before continuing to pursue their investigation of the Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) buy-out of Merrill Lynch (The Boston Globe)

Small online financial sites may soon be more valuable than Fortune Magazine (NYSE:TWX) (The Deal)

The housing market may have bottomed (CNBC)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Rumors Tagged: AAPL, BA, BAC, BKS, GOOG, OWW, TWX

Top Analyst Upgrades (CSIQ, EXPE, FCX, JNPR, K, LNC, OWW, TLEO, THS)

247wallst — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:42:48 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive research calls which we have seen from Wall Street early this Thursday morning:

Canadian Solar (CSIQ) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Expedia (EXPE) Started as Buy at Soleil.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Juniper Networks (JNPR) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Kellogg (K) Started as Outperform at RBC.
Lincoln National (LNC) Raised to Buy at UBS.
Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) Started as Buy at Soleil.
Taleo (TLEO) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Treehouse Foods (THS) Started as Outperform at William Blair.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: CSIQ, EXPE, FCX, JNPR, K, LNC, OWW, THS, TLEO

Priceline Soars, Expedia Lands In Hudson River (PCLN, EXPE, OWW)

247wallst — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:31:24 +0000

It seems that the insatiable growth in online travel bookings might have reached the point that the crumbling economy has caught up to it. It seems that the name your own or bid your own prices at Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) is still a winner as times get tougher and travel sources might be more likely to give tickets and bookings away for cheaper discounts. But shares of Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) are taking a pounding this morning after the online travel service reported earnings with a writedown that is nothing short of staggering.

Expedia took a $2.76 billion write-down to its goodwill. The company even amended one of its credit agreements so it wouldn’t be in violation of provisions, which would have kicked in at about half of that most recent write-down levels. And to top it off, it is seeing weaker demand for its hotel bookings and flight bookings. Expedia’s loss was at -$9.60 EPS after the writedown. Excluding the items, Expedia would have posted earnings of $0.22 EPS. This is down from $0.32 EPS before and under the $0.24 estimates from Thomson Reuters. Revenue was off more than 6% to $620.8 million, also under estimates of about $631 million. The gross bookings are down about 11% here with the hit coming in both hotels and in airline tickets.

The winner here is Priceline.com Inc. (NASAQ: PCLN) with its quarterly earnings up 1% to $0.73 EPS. Excluding items, the company posted earnings at $1.29 EPS on a 21% revenue jump to $406 million. Thomson Reuters had estimates at $1.05 EPS on $377.8 million in revenue. Its quarterly bookings were up 31%, and even after currency impact the international side was up 28%. Its earnings forecast is also running well at $0.85 to $0.95 EPS on a 5% to 10% revenue gain. Consensus estimates are $0.81 EPS.

The reactions to the news this morning are almost entirely inverse. Priceline is up 15% at $79.61 before the open, and its 52-week range is $45.15 to $144.34. Expedia shares are down over 10% (but had been worse) at $7.65 before the open, and its 52-week range is $6.00 to $25.50.

Orbitz Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: OWW) has a very similar model to Expedia, and it is set to report earnings next week on February 24.

Jon C. Ogg
February 19, 2009

Posted in Airlines, Earnings, Entertainment, Internet, Luxury, Trading Alert Tagged: EXPE, OWW, PCLN

Top 10 Early Bird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BBBY, BTI, PAG, VRTX, MT, STD, CRXL, FMCN, MR, OWW)

247wallst — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:06:37 +0000

These are the ten early bird analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen early this morning with two and a half hours until the market opens:

Bed Bath & Beyond Raised (BBBY) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Goldman Sachs.
British American Tobacco (BTI) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Penske Automotive (PAG) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Started as Buy at piper Jaffray.
Arcelor Mittal (MT) Cut to Sell from Buy at5 Citigroup.
Banco Santander (STD) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Crucell (CRXL) Cut to Hold at ING.
Focus Media (FMCN) Downgraded at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs (likely others as well).
Mindray Medical International (MR) Downgraded at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs.
Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
November 12, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BBBY, BTI, CRXL, FMCN, MR, MT, OWW, PAG, STD, VRTX

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (SAM, CLWR, BAGL, JEF, MVSN, NSR, OWW, TS, WB, YRCW)

247wallst — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:36:57 +0000

These are ten of the analyst calls we are focusing on this Thursday morning in pre-market trading:

Boston Beer Co. (NYSE: SAM) cut to Neutral at HSBC Securities.
Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Einstein Noah (NASDAQ: BAGL) raised to Buy at Piper Jaffray.
Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) cut to Neutral at Wachovia.
Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Neustar (NYSE: NSR) cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Orbitz (NYSE: OWW) cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
Tenaris (NYSE: TS) cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Wachovia (NYSE: WB) raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
YRC Worldwide (NASDAQ: YRCW) cut to Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.

Jon C. Ogg
May 8, 2008