24/7 Wall St. » RY

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (LULU, CLF, DPZ, WNR, SINA, GES, BIG, ZUMZ, RY, BNS, YRCWD, WDC, RIMM, THC, JASO)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:12:02 +0000

Stocks got off to a good start this morning following the Labor Department’s report on non-farm payrolls, up slightly less than expected at 120,000 new jobs, and an unexpected drop in US unemployment from 9% to 8.6%. Also supporting prices this morning was news that the European Central Bank would lend 100-200 million euros to the IMF to hand out to debtor nations in the Eurozone. Gains peaked in the early morning and have remained up only modestly since about noon. The dollar strengthened against both the euro and the yen, keeping gains for both crude oil and gold at under 1%. Crude oil is trading at $100.83/barrel and gold is trading at $1,747.10/ounce just before today’s close.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down less than 1 point to 12,019.42 (-0.01%), the NASDAQ rose less than 1 point (0.03%) to 2,626.93, and the S&P 500 fell 0.02% or less than 1 point to 1,244.28. Folks, that’s flat!

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) raised to ‘buy’ at KeyBanc. Other ratings action Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: CLF) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) started as ‘hold’ at KeyBanc; Western Refining Inc. (NYSE: WNR) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Sina Corp. (NASDAQ: SINA) raised to ‘buy’ at Deutsche Bank; and Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) cut to ‘neutral’ at Citigroup.

Here are today’s big post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading:
Big Lots, Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is down -8.6%% at $36.34; Zumiez Inc. (NASDAQ: ZUMZ) is up 23.9% at $28.95; Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) is up 3.4% at $47.82; and Bank of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS) is down -3.1% at $48.08.

Several other standouts from today are as follows…

YRC Worldwide Inc. (NASDAQ: YRCWD) is up 29.7% at $12.61. The freight hauler concluded a 1-for-300 reverse split that drove the share price to $9 from $0.03.

Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) is up about 7% at $31.30. The computer disk drive maker announced that it was resuming operations at one of its flooded Thai plants and raised its revenue estimate for the current quarter. More details here.

Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is down about -9.6% at $16.79. The smartphone and tablet maker announced an inventory writedown of $485 million for unsold PlayBook tablets and said that full-year earnings would be lower. Detailed coverage here.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) is down more than -10% at $4.20. The health care facilities operator likely is suffering from a lowered target price from BMO Capital Markets with rating of ‘market perform’.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is down nearly -7% at $1.74. The solar PV maker is likely giving back gains made over the past two days. The was little reason for the gain in the first place, so that investors are taking it back should be no surprise.

Stay tuned for Monday. We have noted a speech due from Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans and short-term Treasury bill auctions in the morning. Here are other noteworthy events scheduled for Monday (all times Eastern):

10:00 a.m. – Census Bureau factory orders report
10:00 a.m. – Industrial Supply Management non-manufacturing index

Have a great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: BIG, BNS, CLF, DPZ, GES, JASO, LULU, RIMM, RY, SINA, THC, WDC, WNR, YRCWD, ZUMZ

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMZN, ADSK, ASTE, BIDU, BLK, CIM, MRGE, PBY, RHI, RY, SKS, UTI, Z)

Administrator — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 12:20:37 +0000

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

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Maintained Buy with $255 target at BofA/ML.
Autodesk Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Astec Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTE) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) Reinstated as Buy with $216 price target at BofA/ML.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) lowered target to $3.15 at BofA/ML.
Merge Healthcare (NASDAQ: MRGE) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Pep Boys-Manny, Moe & Jack Inc. (NYSE: PBY) Maintained Buy but cut target to $13 at Argus.
Robert Half International Inc. (NYSE: RHI) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Saks, Inc. (NYSE: SKS) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Skullcandy Inc. (NASDAQ: SKUL) Started as Buy with $22 target at BofA/ML; Started as BUy at KeyBanc.
Universal Technical Institute Inc. (NYSE: UTI) Reiterated Buy and $20 target at Argus.
Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADSK, AMZN, ASTE, BIDU, BLK, CIM, MRGE, PBY, RHI, RY, SKS, UTI, Z

Real Banks With Real Dividends! (JPM, MTB, VLY, NYB, HCBK, PBCT, FNFG, AF, NWBI, CFR, UBSI, FMER, PRK, TRMK, HBHC, FNB, BOH, RY, BNS, BMO, CM)

Administrator — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 15:28:18 +0000

Most investors today believe that none of the banks are paying high-yielding dividends any longer. While it is true that J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is going to reinstate its dividend as soon as it is allowed to by regulators, its paltry 0.4% dividend yield just doesn’t entice income buyers today. There is also a risk that regulators or politicians will opt to keep the heat on money-center banks to keep reserves aside or to make more loans to businesses rather than using cash to buyback stock or juice up the dividend.

We wanted to take a look at “all those other banks” out there that might have avoided the trouble that the big money center banks got into. The screen pointed to M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB), Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY), New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYSE: NYB), Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK), People’s United Financial Inc. (NASDAQ: PBCT), First Niagara Financial Group (NASDAQ: FNFG), Astoria Financial Corporation (NYSE: AF), Northwest Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ: NWBI), Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. (NYSE: CFR), United Bankshares Inc. (NASDAQ: UBSI), FirstMerit Corporation (NASDAQ: FMER), Park National Corp. (NYSE: PRK), Trustmark Corporation (NASDAQ: TRMK), Hancock Holding Co. (NASDAQ: HBHC), F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE: FNB) and Bank of Hawaii Corporation (NYSE: BOH). In Canada there is Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), The Bank Of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS), Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM).It turns out that there are still many banks around the country that do pay higher dividends at above-market yields.

Our screen boiled down to a simple process. We took a 3.0% Yield hurdle because that is what was implied as a future yield by JPMorgan this week if you use forward earning projections. To avoid the micro-regional risks and to avoid the “so small no one cares if they fail” we also made a market cap hurdle of $1.0 billion. After this we took a look at forward earnings expectations and also looked in the past to see what happened to their common stock dividends during the Great Recession when bank failure risks were systematic.

M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) is based in Buffalo, NY and is the holding company for M&T Bank. As of a year ago it had 793 banking offices in New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as a branch in George Town, Cayman Islands. The company is in the process of acquiring another.

Share price of $89.85 compares to 52-week range of $72.03 to $96.15
Market Cap is $10.76 billion
Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $6.12 EPS and $3.77 billion in revenues
Dividend of $0.70/quarter generates a yield of 3.2%
Dividend history during recession was unchanged

Valley National Bancorp (NYSE: VLY) is the bank holding company for Valley National Bank and it had 197 full-service banking branches a year ago located throughout New Jersey and New York.

Share price of $13.51 compares to 52-week range of $12.33 to $16.19
Market Cap is $2.2 billion
Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $0.84 EPS and $550.98 million in revenues
Dividend of $0.18/quarter generates a yield of about 5.3%
Dividend history during recession was not effectively interrupted at all and it continued to pay a 5% stock dividend.

New York Community Bancorp Inc (NYSE: NYB) is the bank holding company for York Community Bank and New York Commercial Bank and as of a year ago it had 241 community bank branches and 35 commercial bank branches throughout New York.

Share price of $18.92 compares to 52-week range of $14.40 to $19.33
Market Cap is $8.24 billion
Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $1.33 EPS and $1.25 billion in revenues
Dividend of $0.25/quarter generates a yield of 5.4%
Dividend history during recession was unchanged at $0.25 per quarter since 2004.

Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) is the bank holding company for Hudson City Savings Bank and as of a year ago it had 95 branches located in 17 counties throughout the State of New Jersey.

Share price of $11.40 compares to 52-week range of $10.80 to $14.75
Market Cap is $5.6 billion
Thomson Reuters sees 2011 at $0.77 EPS and $966.6 million in revenues
Dividend of $0.15/quarter generates a yield of 5.3%
Dividend history during recession was actually raised during 2009 when others were eliminating or cutting the dividend. The dividend has been this rate since mid-2009.

Filed under: Banking, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Financial Stocks, Research Tagged: AF, BMO, BNS, BOH, CFR, CM, FMER, FNB, FNFG, HBHC, HCBK, JPM, MTB, NWBI, NYB, PBCT, PRK, RY, TRMK, UBSI, VLY

Bank & Finance M&A: The Canadians Are Coming (BMO, MI, BAC, C, JPM, WFC, RY, TD, BNS, CM)

Administrator — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:04:13 +0000

Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) is expanding in the U.S. The fourth largest bank in Canada is acquiring Marshall & Ilsley Corp. (NYSE: MI) for $4.1 billion in stock. The terms call for a swap of 0.1257 BMO shares per share of M & I, which comes to $7.75 before any effect on the stock.

BMO already owns Harris Bank and adding M & I will almost double the deposit base and expand its lending operations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Florida, and elsewhere.

BMO will also issue about C$800 million in equity before the deal closes next summer. As part of the deal, BMO will also repay some $1.7 billion of M & I’s TARP obligations.

Some will wonder if this will mark the start of land grab from stronger foreign banks that want a larger U.S. presence. Many have called for consolidation of the middle-tier banks. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) is out of the M&A game because it is over the 10% deposit ceiling, Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is divesting rather than acquiring, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) have already made their big land grabs.

This leaves that Canadians as the most likely consolidators in the U.S. Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD), The Bank Of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS), and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) are all candidates to acquire companies here. Picking their targets is from a pool of many weak and many recovering financial companies large and small alike. Chances are that these Canadian banks are looking at their treasury balances to see how much they can reasonably spend.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: ADR, Banking, Currency, Mergers and Buy Outs Tagged: BAC, BMO, BNS, C, CM, JPM, MI, RY, TD, WFC

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (CM, CTB, EIX, FMCN, GT, HD, JNS, LM, LOW, OPEN, PAYX, RY, UA, WAG)

Administrator — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 13:10:12 +0000

These are some of this Thursday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM) Raised to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Edison International (NYSE: EIX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ: FMCN) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Janus Capital Group (NYSE: JNS) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Legg Mason Inc. (NYSE: LM) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Lowe’s Companies Inc. (NYSE: LOW) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
OpenTable, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPEN) Started as Perform at Oppenheimer.
Paychex Inc. (NASDAQ: PAYX) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Raised to Buy at UBS.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: CM, CTB, EIX, FMCN, GT, HD, JNS, LM, LOW, OPEN, PAYX, RY, UA, WAG

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ANF, APD, AMZN, ACGL, BWLD, CSCO, GLW, ELN, ERJ, HES, JEC, LEAP, MOT, OGE, RY, SD, WBD)

Administrator — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:02:40 +0000

These are some of this Monday’s key analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) Added to Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) Reiterated Buy and raised target to $105 at Jefferies.
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Reiterated Neutral but Raised Target to $165 at Credit Suisse.
Arch Capital Group (NASDAQ: ACGL) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Raised to Strong Buy at Raymond James.
Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) Reiterated Buy with $24 target at BofA/ML.
Elan Corp. plc (NYSE: ELN) Raised to Buy at UBS.
EMBRAER (NYSE: ERJ) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES) Raised to Market Weight and $80 target at Credit Suisse.
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE: JEC) Raised to Buy at Canaccord.
Leap Wireless International Inc. (NASDAQ: LEAP) Cut to Hold at Auriga.
Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) Reiterated Buy at BofA/ML.
OGE Energy Corporation (NYSE: OGE) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) Cut to Market Perform at KBW.
Sandridge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) Raised to Buy at Stifel Nicolaus.
Wimm-Bill-Dan (NYSE: WBD) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ACGL, AMZN, ANF, APD, BWLD, CSCO, ELN, ERJ, GLW, HES, JEC, LEAP, MOT, OGE, RY, SD, WBD

Canadian Banks Begin Hiking Rates; U.S. Far Behind? (TD, RY, CM, BMO, BNS, JPM, BAC, C)

Administrator — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:12:55 +0000

The Bank of Canada this morning announced a hike for the overnight rate by 0.25%. The new overnight rate is still only 0.75%. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1.00% and the deposit rate is 0.50%. Canada’s official statement started out, ” The global economic recovery is proceeding but is not yet self-sustaining.” While Fed governors have signaled a long slow process for rate hikes in America, any additional notions that come in against the global and/or U.S. double-dip recession might have traders wondering just how far off interest rate hikes are going to be here in the land of Uncle Sam.

After noon EST we have already seen corresponding bank hikes on prime interest rates from Canadian majors. Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD), and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM)
have all announced that they have raised their prime lending rates by 0.25% up to 2.75% effective July 21, 2010.

Just as you see in the U.S., when one or two major banks raise rates, they all raise rates. We have yet to see official prime rate hikes from Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO) and The Bank Of Nova Scotia (NYSE: BNS), but those hikes cannot be far behind.

If and when the rate hikes do finally come to the United States, you will see immediate prime rate hikes from the likes of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) and other money-center banks.

The Bank of Canada also noted that a greater emphasis on balance sheet repair by households, banks, and governments in a number of advanced economies is expected to temper the pace of global growth on the Bank’s outlook in its April Monetary Policy Report. The report further stated, “In the United States, private demand is picking up but remains uneven.”

The Bank expects the economic recovery in Canada to be more gradual than it had projected in its April report, with growth of 3.5% in 2010, 2.9% in 2011, and 2.2% in 2012. The rate hike was also noted as being consistent in achieving the 2.0% inflation target.

We have seen rate hikes from South Korea, India, Australia, and Malaysia. With Canada now in the rate hike game, the U.S. is likely not too far behind if it can avoid that double-dip recession. Canada is viewed by many international investors as having a different economy that is more tied to commodity prices than just to services like we are in the U.S. Their inflation and pressures are often different from what we have in the U.S. Still, Canada is the largest U.S. trading partner. These economies are not as independent of each other as many think.

Our survey is about to end for when rate hikes will come. Tell us what you think:

JON C. OGG

Filed under: ADR, Banking, Bonds, Economy, Financial Stocks Tagged: BAC, BMO, BNS, C, CM, JPM, RY, TD

Ten Canadian Companies With Management Compensation Issues

247wallst — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:32:57 +0000

The Corporate Library’s latest annual review of corporate governance at TSX 60 companies in Canada turned up eleven which present high or very high concerns with regard to CEO compensation:

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC)
EnCana Corporation (NYSE:ECA)
TransCanada Corporation (NYSE:TRP)
Canadian National Railway Company (NYSE:CNI)
BCE Inc.   (NYSE:BCI)
Royal Bank of Canada   (NYSE:RY)
Thomson Reuters Corporation (NYSE:TRI)
Husky Energy Inc.
Shoppers Drug Mart Corporation
Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.   (NYSE:POT)
Rogers Communications Inc. (NYSE:RCI)

US companies aren’t the only ones with pay issues.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in Compensation Tagged: BCI, CNI, ECA, KGC, POT, RCI, RY, TRI, TRP