24/7 Wall St. » TTM

America’s Shrinking Corporate Giants

247wallst — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:48:06 +0000

It is rare for one of America’s largest companies to lose a third or more of its sales in a brief time. When it happens, it is usually either because of market or economic forces, or because of a designed refocusing. 24/7 Wall St. identified the eight largest American companies whose revenue fell the most in the past five years and analyzed the reasons behind the drops.

Read America’s Ten Shrinking Corporate Giants

Large companies can lose a significant amount of their revenues because they get into a great deal of financial trouble. A company may lose part of its customer base quickly because of economic forces, or it may be part of a financial catastrophe. As a result, the company’s revenue declines, and it begins to post large losses. In cases like these, companies often are forced to sell divisions to fund their survival. Alternatively, companies may close some of their operations that drain capital. General Motors and Citigroup are good examples of this category. Each moved from relative prosperity to difficulty in a very short period.

The other reason large companies shrink quickly is by design. The management of a corporation created by merger or acquisition activity may find that some of its pieces no longer fit together. One division may grow at a much higher or slower rate compared to others. Also, the way the stock market values one part of a large corporation may change because it is in a category Wall Street no longer favors. That, in turn, becomes a burden on the stock price of the entire enterprise. Telecom hardware company Motorola Solutions and media giant Time Warner fall into this category. Each is smaller than it was five years ago because it spun out a major business.

24/7 Wall St. used Capital IQ to screen the largest companies in America based on total revenue in 2006. We then screened for those that had the largest drops in total revenue between 2006 and 2010. Most of the eight companies on this list lost a third of their total revenue over the period, and some lost more than half. The list is ranked by total revenue loss from greatest to least.

This is 24/7 Wall St.’s list of America’s Shrinking Corporate Giants

Filed under: Special Report Tagged: AIG, AOL, BAC, F, GM, GOOG, GS, HD, KFT, MET, MMI, MSI, PM, PRU, TTM

The BRIC Cheer: Stimulus Coming To India (EPI, PIN, IFN, IIF, INFY, TTM, IBN, SLT)

Administrator — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:22:37 +0000

India could finally be starting to turn itself around. Now that the nation is no longer so ultra-concerned about inflation tearing apart its population, the country is aiming for some stimulus measures. The FT has reported that the nation is launching a $35 billion public sector investment program. The aim is to boost infrastructure spending as well as to purchase energy even from foreign firms. Of the $35 billion, some $7 billion was earmarked for energy in coal, natural gas, and oil.

As far as how this is impacting closed-end funds and ETFs, the moves are below and the 52-week ranges have been offered so that investors can see just how much pain has been there in the last year:

WisdomTree India Earnings (NYSE: EPI) is up 0.9% at $17.93 and the 52-week trading range is $15.44 to $25.58.

PowerShares India (NYSE: PIN) is up 0.8% at $18.30 and the 52-week range is $15.96 to $24.59.

India Fund, Inc. (NYSE: IFN) is up 0.4% at $21.46 and the 52-week trading range is $18.61 to $33.99.

Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund, Inc. (NYSE: IIF) is up 0.7% at $15.75 and the 52-week trading range is $13.59 to $24.57.

These are no ETFs nor closed-end funds but there are some key ARDs to watch:

Infosys Limited (NASDAQ: INFY) was recently butchered on its earnings and revenue warnings and shares are only up marginally at $52.00 versus a 52-week range of $46.12 to $74.52.

Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM) is up 2.2% at $21.18 versus a 52-week range of $14.33 to $29.06.

ICICI Bank Limited (NYSE: IBN) is up only 0.25% at $30.95 against a 52-week range of $24.14 to $51.50.

Sterlite Industries (India) Limited (NYSE: SLT), which operates as a non-ferrous metals and mining company, is up 1% at $8.67 versus a 52-week range of $6.64 to $16.60.

$35 billion might not sound like much when you consider the U.S.-sized stimulus packages and when you consider that India has almost 1.2 billion people versus about 310 million in the U.S. The 2010 GDP on a purchasing power parity was put at about $4.06 trillion and that comes to only about $3,500 in GDP per capita.

$35 billion matters, even if it is going to take more to jumpstart the economy after months and months of tightening and restive monetary measures as the nation fought inflation at the expense of growth.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: ADR, Economy, Emerging Markets, ETF, Infrastructure, International Markets, Mutual Funds Tagged: EPI, IBN, IFN, IIF, INFY, PIN, SLT, TTM

The Demise of Saab

247wallst — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:38:19 +0000

Saab is one of the major brands that will go under this year. Once owned by GM (NYSE: GM), it has not been able to find financial backers to take it forward. So, it will join Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Plymouth on the scrap heap.

It is not hard to see what happened to Saab. It was an up-market car without up-market features. Saabs did not have the reputation for hardiness that Volvos did. And, the Swedish car company, once part of the marker of jets, lost whatever chance it had to compete with more luxurious and superfast products from BMW and Mercedes.

Saab was not helped by the improved quality of U.S. cars, or GM and Chrysler’s return to health. Saab’s market share had already been hurt by the ascendance of the Japanese low-priced high-quality brands, especially Toyota (NYSE: TM), Honda (NYSE: HMC), and Nissan.

But Saab did not have to fail. It continued to have a respectable brand until recently. Jaguar and Range Rover had severe financial problems like Saab did. Those two car firms were lucky to find a buyer in India’s Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM). Saab did not make it in large part because no company with a strong balance sheet was willing to take a chance on the failing car manufacturer, especially when the global automotive markets are still relatively troubled.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Autos, General Tagged: GM, HMC, TM, TTM

As Korean & European Fears Calm, Only Some ADRs Soar (ALU, RYAAY, MPEL, PKX, SKM, AIB, TTM)

Administrator — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:37:27 +0000

Wednesday was a strong day for U.S. stocks as at least some fears are waning on overseas pressure. South Korea rallied as the skirmish between the two Koreas did not escalate and as trading partners urged a cooling off. Ireland appears closer to a bailout even if Portugal and the United Kingdom had demonstrations in the streets. Even a rating cut in Ireland failed to topple the apple cart, mostly as it is a day late and euro short… We wanted to take a look at some key ADR winners on the day to indicate levels after European markets had closed but right before the end of the trading day here in America. Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY), Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: MPEL), POSCO (NYSE: PKX), SK Telecom Co. Ltd. (NYSE: SKM), Allied Irish Banks, plc (NYSE: AIB), and Tata Motors Ltd. (NYSE: TTM) were the obvious winners shortly before the closing bell. We added some color in on each to see if there is more to come or if this is just another trading day.

Ryanair Holdings plc (NASDAQ: RYAAY) was obviously happy about austerity measures since corporate tax rates in Ireland are not being changed (at least so far). ADRs for the discount airliner were up 3% at $31.00 late in U.S. trading. Allied Irish Banks plc (NYSE: AIB) was a surprise winner today with shares higher by more than 16% at $1.04 late in U.S. trading.

POSCO (NYSE: PKX), the South Korean steel giant, was higher after the Koreans decided to not try to work toward an end of days outcome. The ADR was higher by 4.1% at $99.24 late in the trading day. SK Telecom Co. Ltd. (NYSE: SKM) was higher as well with ADRs up nearly 3% at $18.50 very late in the trading day.

Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) almost never seems to win anymore, yet here we showed a 4.3% gain to $2.90.

Melco Crown Entertainment Limited (NASDAQ: MPEL) got a breather as the Korean incident is not likely to slow Macau gambling. Shares were up a hair under 5% at $6.32 late in the day. Tata Motors Limited (NYSE: TTM) on high sales projections. The ADRs were up almost 10% at $35.70 late in the trading day.

Major markets are set to be open for trading Thursday while America is busy eating turkey for Thanksgiving.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: ADR, Emerging Markets, International Markets Tagged: AIB, ALU, MPEL, PKX, RYAAY, SKM, TTM

GM’s IPO Sets Stage for Other Autos (GM, F, TTM, HMC)

Administrator — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:03:18 +0000

Government Motors is now back to being General Motors (NYSE: GM). The taxpayer will start to recollect some of the bailout money, although shares would have to be far far higher for a full return of taxpayer bailout money. The US auto giant has priced its IPO and trading will begin shortly after the open this morning. After having raised the target range, GM shares priced 478,000,000 shares of common stock at $33.00 per share. There is also 71.1 million shares to cover overallotments for underwriters, which is likely considering the hype that built in the last two weeks ahead of the deal. GM is also selling 87,000,000 shares of Series B preferred stock at $50.00 per share and it gave underwriters an overallotment option of 13,000,000 more shares to cover overallotments if needed.

What will be more interesting than even the move in GM is how the other auto manufacturers move in response. Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) has become the darling of the U.S. as it is profitable and did not declare bankruptcy nor did it take a government bailout. S&P Equity Research just downgraded that issue yesterday after a mammoth move in the last two years. Ford still closed up yesterday at $16.68 and it is indicated up almost 1% more at $16.83 this morning. Its 52-week range is $8.40 to $17.42.

We would also watch Toyota Motor Co. (NYSE: TM) now that its major recall SNAFU seems to be farther and farther behind the company. The ADRS have never fully recovered. Shares are indicated up 2% this morning at $77.50 and the 52-week range is $67.56 to $91.97.

A last issue is in Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (NYSE: HMC). Its shares are indicated up nearly 3% this morning around $38.00, and that will mark a 52-week high if it holds. Its 52-week range is $28.33 to $37.23.

GM’s basics are here in the filing summary.

The underwriting group for GM is huge: Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi, Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs, RBC Capital Markets, Bradesco BBI, CIBC, COMMERZBANK, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, ICBC International, Itaú BBA, Lloyds TSB, CICC, Loop Capital Markets, Williams Capital Group, and Soleil Securities.

GM’s CFO has been giving a media update this morning and the company has confirmed that no dividend will paid for some time to the common stock holders. The company has to pay back Uncle Sam, it has to widdle down its mountain of debt, and it has to right its pension liabilities. Another issue to consider is that for the concessions that its workforce took it can expect the UAW workers to want some of the upside if the company keeps doing well and remains profitable as it has now become. This is being touted as one of the largest IPOs in history and as a giant success story. Just remember that it took a bankruptcy, a government bailout, and endless billions upon billions of dollars in investor losses for this “success story” to come to fruition.

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: Autos, Bankruptcy, IPOs Tagged: F, GM, HMC, TTM

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ADBE, BBT, BA, CLWR, FITB, ITRI, NFLX, NVAX, TTM, WBSN)

247wallst — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:05:25 +0000

These are this Tuesday morning’s top 10 analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls:

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) Started as Market Outperform at JMP Securities.
BB&T Corp. (NYSE: BBT) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Started as Underweight at HSBC.
Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) Raised to Neutral at UBS.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Itron Inc. (NASDAQ: ITRI) Started as Equal Weight at Barclays.
Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Novavax (NASDAQ: NVAX) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) Started as Buy at Lazard.

You can join our open email distribution list to receive daily emails with analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, market rumors, merger activity, IPOs and secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and guru activity and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert Tagged: ADBE, BA, BBT, CLWR, FITB, ITRI, NFLX, NVAX, TTM, WBSN

Can a $4,000 Car Help to Cure GM? (TTM)

247wallst — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:03:02 +0000

General Motors may be closer to getting into cars as cheap as some go-carts. A report over the weekend in the WSJ noted that GM plans to produce one of the compact cars for $4,000.00 in Asia. While few details are known, this follows a similar move back in early 2008. Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) began a sub-$3,000.00 car via the Tata Nano for close to $2,500.00, and this looks to be a continuation of that move.

This car probably won’t be on US highways. It sounds a lot like the car for many of the congested Asian markets that don’t need to worry how bad the driver and passengers fare in a 40 mile per hour head-on collision.

There is also the notion of emissions coming into play that would keep these cheap cars. If you pay $2,500.00 to $4,000.00 for a new car, regardless of which market you are in, how much is going to be spent on the emissions systems?

But there is a real question on these cars for auto makers to consider. How high are the margins on dirt cheap products? Even if these cars are made of recycled beer cans and plastic, there is only so much profit that can be nabbed per unit and the “make it up on volume” has to consider the size of able-bodies adult workers that actually have the need and space for a car regardless of price. For a comparison of just how cheap this really is compared to the US market, this is cheaper than most ATV’s and motorcycles.

There is a market for these cars in many of these emerging economies. They are called Tuk Tuks…..

Jon C. Ogg
August 17, 2009

Posted in Autos, China, Emerging Markets Tagged: TTM

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BCSI, CSCO, CAL, DAL, DYN, HA, MTL, SRE, LUV, TTM)

247wallst — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:31:01 +0000

These are the top pre-market analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen this Thursday. There are going to be fewer and fewer research notes from now to what is most likely Tuesday morning as Friday is a holiday and Monday is being taken off by so many investment and research personnel.

Blue Coat Systems (BCSI) Started as Buy ar Auriga.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Continental Airlines (CAL) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Delta Airlines (DAL) Started as Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Dynegy (DYN) Cut to Sell at Deutsche Bank.
Hawaiian Airlines (HA) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Mechel Steel (MTL) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Sempra (SRE) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Southwest Airlines (LUV) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Tata Motors (TTM) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Jon C. Ogg
July 1, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: BCSI, CAL, CSCO, DAL, DYN, HA, LUV, MTL, SRE, TTM

India Election Winners By ETF & Shares (PIN, EPI, IIF, IFN, INP, INFY, IBN, REDF, SAY, SLT, TTM, WIT)

247wallst — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:19:05 +0000

It is rare that you see an election have this large of an impact, but the Indian stock market surged on the new election results. The Congress Party won a decisive victory in India and this sent Indian stocks up 17% on average. The move was so large that the Bombay Stock Exchange had to close after already seeing one halt. This had a huge impact on stocks, which you can see reflected in the share prices in the high pre-market indications of the major ETF’s, closed-end funds, and active ADR’s listed below.

ETF’s and closed end fund gainers representing India are as follows:

PowerShares India (NYSE: PIN) up 15% at $17.00 at 9:07
WisdomTree India Earnings (NYSE: EPI) up 23% at $17.20 at 9:07
Morgan Stanley India Investment Fund, Inc. (NYSE: IIF) up 17% at $18.85 at 9:07
India Fund, Inc. (NYSE: IFN) up 20% at $25.93 at 9:07
iPath MSCI India Index ETN (NYSE: INP) up 23% at $48.75 at 9:08

The key Indian ADR shares are as follows:

Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) up 13% at $36.35 at 9:09
ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN) up 31% at $23.39 at 9:09
Rediff.com India Ltd. (NASDAQ: REDF) up 32% at $3.30 at 9:09
Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY) up 13% at $2.05 at 9:09
Sterlite Industries (NYSE: SLT) up 19% at $10.98 at 9:10
Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) up 13% at $8.59 at 9:10
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) up 9% at $11.65 at 9:10

This election is expected to allow the government to have a greater degree of flexibility to boost economic reform and growth. The prior communist parties had not been favorable for issues such as insurance, privatizations, and pensions.

JON C. OGG

Posted in ADR, Emerging Markets, ETF, Index, Mutual Funds, Politics, Trading Alert Tagged: EPI, IBN, IFN, IIF, INFY, INP, PIN, REDF, SAY SLT, TTM, WIT

Indian ADR’s Unphased By Terror Attacks (INFY, IBN, REDF, SAY, SLT, TTM, WIT)

247wallst — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:17:19 +0000

Fresh attacks that appear to be targeted against foreigners in Mumbai, India have failed to thwart a market rally today even in Indian stocks. Reports have foreigners being taken hostage at premiere hotels frequented by the wealthy and by business travelers and some 60 deaths have been reported. Interestingly enough, this has also failed to take out the wind of the Indian ETF’s and Indian ADR’s which are actively traded here in the US. Stock Moves in ADR’s:

Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: INFY) up 6.3% at $24.61
ICICI Bank (NYSE: IBN) down 2.7% at $13.26 (had been up before)
Rediff.com India Ltd. (NASDAQ: REDF) up 5.6% at $2.06
Satyam Computer Services (NYSE: SAY) up over 3% at $12.78
Sterlite Industries (NYSE: SLT) up 7% at $4.80
Tata Motors (NYSE: TTM) down 2.3% at $4.59 (was down most of day)
Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) up 4.3% at $7.48

We also added in an after-report list to the ETF’s and closed-end funds we track to show a broad interest as well.

Jon C. Ogg
November 26, 2008

Posted in ADR, Emerging Markets Tagged: IBN, INFY, REDF, SAY, SLT, TTM, WIT