Posts for Ticker ‘SUN’

The 100 Hardest Working Brands In The World

hersheyThere are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.

24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed  by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)

Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.

24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?

Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”.  Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless.  How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business.  Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.

24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?

Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets.  A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value.  If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.

The list: Read More »

Unusual Options Trading Patterns (SUN, VLO, TSO, FTO, GE, GOOG, IBM, PFE, WYE)

We are starting to see some elevated options trading that appeared on the unusual volume screens.  Many of these are pre-earnings trading and some are on other expectations.  We have more detailed data on each over at VSinvestor.com with links on each stock individually:

OptionsHawk.com pointed out to us that there was a huge increase in refiners options trading in Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN), Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO), Frontier Oil Corp. (NYSE: FTO) and in Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO).

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is starting to see some elevated options trading as well ahead of tomorrow’s earnings.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is seeing increased options trading ahead of earnings, which was actually more active on a fully leveraged basis than the stock was.

International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is seeing increased options trading ahead of earnings.

Pfzer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) is seeing elevated stock trading on the Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) closing due to indexers like the S&P 500 and Russell adding shares, and we are seeing it in the call options as well.

As a reminder, OCT-2009 options expiration date is tomorrow, and all “out of the money” with an October expiration will expire with a value of ZERO.

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JON C. OGG
OCTOBER 15, 2009

Refiners’ Second Take: Valero’s Risk of Irreparable Harm (VLO, MRO, HES, TSO, SUN, TOT, VSUNQ)

Refinery ImageValero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) may have caused some irreparable harm to itself and to shareholders this week.  Losing money is just not something that the investing public was ready to stomach.  Dumping news of a large secondary offering right on top of projecting a loss was no different than pouring salt and peroxide on your kid’s cut hand when he wasn’t looking.  This has added pressure on other refiners such as Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO), Hess Corporation (NYSE: HES), Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO), and Sunoco Inc. (NYSE: SUN).  Valero has always had what always looked like a dirt cheap price to earnings ratio, and now you know why.  This may have put some serious future questions on the sector, even if much of this news is company-specific.
Read More »

Sunoco and Holly, Tulsa Refinery Hot Potato (SUN, HOC)

refinery-image4Sunoco, Inc. (NYSE: SUN) has signed a definitive agreement with a subsidiary of Holly Corporation (NYSE: HOC) to sell Holly its 85,000 barrel/day refinery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for $65 million. The sale includes the refinery’s crude oil inventory, which will be priced at market value on the day the deal closes. Sunoco expects the deal to close on June 1st.
Read More »

Top 10 Early Bird Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (COGT, PSUN, RMD, NCTY, SAFM, UTHR, ARB, CS, CTRP, SUN)

Money_stack_picThese are ten of the early bird analyst upgrades and downgrades we are seeing from Wall Street this Wednesday morning:

  • Cogent Inc. (COGT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
  • Pacific Sunwear (PSUN) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
  • ResMed (RMD) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • The9 Ltd. (NCTY) Raised to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.
  • Sanderson Farms (SAFM) Raised to neutral from Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • United Therapeutics (UTHR) Raised to Neutral from Sell at Piper Jaffray.
  • Arbitron (ARB) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Credit Suisse (CS) Cut to Sell from Neutral at UBS.
  • CTrip.com (CTRP) Cut to Sell from Buy at Citigroup; price target cut to $30.40 at Credit Suisse.
  • Sunoco (SUN) Cut to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
November 19, 2008

Frontier Oil, Refiner Earnings Lagging Peers (FTO, SUN, WNR, VLO)

Oil_refinery_image_2Frontier Oil (NYSE:FTO) released its third quarter earnings yesterday, and the news was not good. EPS was $0.70, down from $1.28 a year ago, and below analysts’ estimates of $0.73. Revenues rose to $2.2 billion, up 58% from a year ago.

Unlike Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) or Western Refining (NYSE:WNR), Frontier didnot say anything about trying to sell any assets. Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) appears to have recently signaled that the worst is behind too.

Read More »

Refiners Getting Well, But For How Long? (SUN, WNR)

Oil_refinery_image_2Crude oil refiners Sunoco (NYSE:SUN) and Western Refining (NYSE:WNR) reported earnings this morning before the market opened.  Sunoco posted diluted EPS of $4.70 on revenues $16.109 billion. Western reported diluted EPS of $1.61 on revenues of $3.165 billion. Analysts had estimated Sunoco’s EPS at $0.81 on revenues of $12.55 billion and Western’s EPS at $1.21. There are no estimates on Western’s third quarter revenues, but in the year-ago quarter, revenues reached $2.23 billion.

Read More »

Top Analyst Downgrades (BBY, KO, EBAY, GILD, IGT, MAC, SUN, TSO, VRTU)

These are not all of the Downgrades or negative analyst calls seen this morning but these are some of the top calls seen this Friday morning:

  • Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Cut to Outperform from Top Pick at RBC Capital.
  • Coca Cola (NYSE: KO) removed from Goldman Sachs Conviction Buy List.
  • EBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) Cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman Sachs.
  • Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) Cut to Hold from Buy at Jefferies.
  • International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) Cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup; Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
  • Macerich (NYSE: MAC) Cut To Neutral From Buy By Goldman Sachs
  • Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) and Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) Cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Bernstein.
  • Virtusa (NASDAQ: VRTU) Cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
July 18, 2008

Oil & Gas Upgrades & Downgrades on Wall Street (HES, SUN, TSO, MRO, VLO, BRY, SWN)

We’ve seen several analyst calls on Wall Street this morning out of the oil patch, and here are some of the key calls:

  • Hess (NYSE: HES), Sunoco (NYSE: SUN), and Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) were all started as "HOLD" ratings at Citigroup.
  • Marathon Oil (NYSE: MRO) and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) were started with "BUY" ratings at Citigroup.
  • Berry Petroleum (NYSE: BRY) was started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
  • SW Energy (NYSE: SWN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
May 30, 2008

The 52-Week Low Club (PSS)(SUN)(THO)

Collective Brands (PSS) An unfavorable verdict in a lawsuit with Adidas.Drops to $9.14 from 52-week high of $37.20

Sunoco  (SUN) Analyst downgrade. Down to $43.88 from 52-week high of $80.40.

Thor Industries (THO) Bad quarter, new CFO. Drops to $25.18 from 52-week high of $52.31.

DSP Group (DSPG) Falls on week quarter. Down to $8.97 from 52-week high of $22.30.

Franklin Bank  (FBTX) Company drops out of S&P Small Cap index. Drops to $.83 from 52-week high of $17.

Douglas A McIntyre

The 52-Week Low Club (GIL)(ENR)(SUN)(TRID)(TUNE)(UNH)

Gildan Activewear (GIL) Company cuts guidance. Drops to $23.75 from 52-week high of $46.47.

Energizer (ENR) Profit falls almost 9%. Sells off to $71.25 from 52-week high of $119.60.

Sunoco (SUN) Broker downgrade. Falls to $45.85 from 52-week high of $86.40.

Unitedhealth Group (UNH) Healthcare down as sector. Off to $32.94 from 52-week high of $59.46.

Trident Microsystems (TRID) Poor quarterly outlook. Sells down to $4.18 from 52-week high of $21.80.

Microtune Inc (TUNE) Revenue miss and broker downgrade. Drops to $3.20 from 52-week high of $6.88.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (July 23, 2007)

AFL raised to Overweight at Lehman.
AMGN raised to Hold at Citigroup.
ASBC cut to Underweight at Lehman.
BUD raised to Hold at Citigroup.
CKR started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
EMN raised to Buy at Citigroup.
EOG cut to Sell at Citigroup.
FPL raised to Outperform at Baird.
FTO started as Neutral at UBS.
GAP cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
HBC raised to Overweight at Lehman.
IMAX raised to Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
KWK cut to Sell at Citigroup.
NVT raised to Buy at UBS.
PGN raised to Outperform at Baird.
PNY raised to Outperform at Baird.
SUN started as Neutral at UBS.
TAC cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
TSO started as Neutral at UBS.
VLO started as Buy at UBS.
VMSI cut to Sector Perform at CIBC.
WNR started as Reduce at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
July 23, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.