Posts for Ticker ‘WHR’

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 »

Layoffs Spread Beyond Autos And Retail (NT)(HPQ)(DELL)(WHR)

UnemplyFor awhile, analysts had hoped that the biggest layoffs in the economy would be restricted to already troubled industries including retail, automotive, and airlines. At least companies in those sectors were losing money.

But, news out of places like Nortel (NT), Whirlpool (WHR), and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) indicate the prophylactic job cuts are being made in almost every industry.

Even Dell (DELL), which made over $700 million last quarter and has $8 million of cash on hand is talking about sharply lowering expenses.

Read More »

A Prairie Fire Of Layoffs (MOT)(LM)(AB)(GS)(TWX)(GCI)(YHOO)(GM)(AXP)(ERTS)(WHR)

Angrybear_2Many of the layoff announcements which came over the last several days were as unexpected as they were large. If a recession is measured by the rapidity and breadth of job losses across huge parts of the economy, the current downturn will be unusually vicious. Even highly profitable firms are resorting to firings relatively early in what is almost certain to be an extremely difficult cycle which could last for several quarters.

The cuts at Motorola (MOT) were expected. The handset division which the company planned to sell-off is so badly damaged that the firm cannot part with it. Revenue at the cell phone unit fell by 31% and only 25 million handsets were shipped, less than half of what was going out the door two years ago. Motorola has already been though two series of “downsizing”, and another 3,000 people were sent out the doors today.

Read More »

Durability Sinks Whirlpool (WHR)

95129cWhirlpool (WHR) does not have a company mascot like the Maytag Repairman. His marketing pitch is that Maytag products never need to be fixed. He is a man without work, which makes Maytag products without equal.

Whirlpool had some of the durability dust rub off on it, and that may have hurt earnings. The company reported modest operating income of $122 million in the third quarter compared with $196 million last year.

Read More »

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (DD, ELN, LOGI, MSFT, OMPI, PDLI, RRGB, RMG, WHR, XFML )

These are not all of the analyst calls moving stocks this morning, but these are the top ten individual analyst calls that 247WallSt.com is focusing on this morning:

  • DuPont (NYSE: DD) started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Elan (NYSE: ELN) started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
  • Logitec (NASDAQ: LOGI) started as Buy at Citigroup.
  • Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • Obagi Medical (NASDAQ: OMPI) raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
  • PDL BioPharma (NASDAQ: PDLI) cut to Equal-Weight at Lehman Brothers.
  • Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (NASDAQ: RRGB) raised to Overweight at JP Morgan.
  • RiskMetrics Group (NYSE: RMG) started as Outperform at Credit Suisse; started as Neutral at Banc of America.
  • Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) downgraded to Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • Xinhua Financial Media (NASDAQ: XFML) downgraded to Neutral at JP Morgan.

Jon C. Ogg
March 5, 2008

Backward & Forward, Cramer In 2007 To 2008

2007 was one volatile year and for now it appears that will be the norm for at least the start of 2008.  Everyone’s favorite market pundit or least liked pundit is obviously Jim Cramer.  If you love Cramer or can’t stand him it really doesn’t matter.  He signed a new multi-year deal with CNBC recently.  Here are some of his major calls this year that will still be referred to in 2008:

Here were Cramer’s TOP 9 STOCKS FOR 2007, with a call broken down for each one.  Borat would say HI FIVE on some and NOT SO NICE on others, as would be expected.  Cramer’s 14,582 year-end DJIA target…..Friday’s close was 13,365.87……although we did hit 14,279.96 on OCT11, 2007.  Cramer also gave a batch of price targets on most of theDJIA components:

Cramer’s Stock Picks FOR 5-YEARS OUT:

SOME LISTS: His list of recession proof stocks compared to ours.  We are updating our
Defensive Stocks For The First Half Of 2008" currently.  Cramer gave a huge list of companies he expects to benefit from the alternative energy traders (SGR, FWLT, BWA, OMG, FSLR, FTEK, WFR, TTEK, ZOLT, BP, SPWR, CY, CPST, ITRI)… Jim Cramer pondered which US companies China would want to acquire, about 3 months before sovereign funds started buying into US companies.  Cramer’s mortgage winners and losers…… Here were his MAJOR BULL MARKET STOCK PICKS(MHS, CVS, AGN, CELG, GENZ, CEPH, RIG, HAL, EMR, CAT, CMI, UTX, KO,PEP, CL, GS, SKS, VFC, UNP, CSX, BA), some of which are DJIAcomponents.  Cramer produced a "MUST OWN" list of stocks, many of whichare up significantly and some are down (WHR, BDK, ATI, BGC, HON, ASD, JCI, MDR, FWLT, CAT, TEX, DE, QCOM)

Cramer spent lots of time on International stocks that most US investors might not cover on their own.  He made a big call on Mercadolibre (MELI) (also BIDU, GOOG) with some emphasis on buying immediately, right before it made a huge run up.  Cramer’s Hidden Video Game Investment Perfect World (PWRD, ATVI, ERTS, VIA) was one he said could run more than 50% for 2008.  Cramer made 5 TOP CHINESE PICKS (CEO, CHL, SSW, FMCN, BIDU, GMR).  We’ll see in 2008 if any of his Canadian OIL TRUSTS get acquired in 2008 (BTE, CNE, PGH, PVX, PWE, AAV, GDI).  Cramer also went over his top picks from Europe for American investors (TOT, SI, ABB, PHG, BF)

ON TECHNOLOGY:  Cramer’s NEW HORSEMEN OF TECH…. will the list change in 2008???  Did Cramer Say $1,000.00 on Google, Or Is It $600.00? That was in May 2007.  Cramer Gave Monster Price targets to Baidu.com (BIDU, GOOG).. will these targets change in 2008? Cramer was very positive on all the GPS stocks,although we’d expect that Cramer will change his tune in 2008 now thatthe holiday madness is behind us (GRMN, UA, CROX, NVT, TRMB, SIRF).

Would it be fair not to include the Barron’s attack on Cramer from summer for those of you that criticize his every word?

ON WARREN BUFFETT…. Cramer noted that BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT in Canada may be the next Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK/A) NYSE: BAM). Cramer reviewed 10 Warren Buffett stocks for analysis and then reviewed 10 More Warren Buffett stocks:

Will his buyout of ALCOA (AA) prediction come true in 2008??? Cramer gave a list of stocks that had bought back so much stock that they might be taking themselves private.

Join our free email distribution list for other Cramer calls or for updates we send out regarding IPO’s, spin-offs, restructuring, reorganization, activist investors and more.

Happy New Years from the 247WallSt.com team!

Jon C. Ogg
December 31, 2007

Pre-Market Stock News (July 20, 2007)

(ACOR) Acorda COO resigned to pursue other interests.
(AMD) Advanced Micro Devices traded up 4% after revenues were ahead of plan on processor sales.
(AUY) Yamana Gold makes business combination offer for Meridian Gold.
(BVF) Biovail received a non-approval letter from the U.S. FDA for its NDA for BVF-033.
(C) Citigroup $1.24 EPS vs $1.13 estimate, Revenues $25.6 Billion vs. $24.88B est.
(CAT) Caterpillar $1.24 EPS vs $1.49 estimate.
(ERIC) Ericsson ADR’s trading down over 4% after earnings rose 12% overseas.
(MSFT) Microsoft traded down almost 1% after meeting expectations.
(OWW) Orbitz IPO priced 34 million shares at $15.00.
(GOOG) Google traded down 7% after missing EPS on higher expenses.
(PRSP) Prosperity Bancshares $0.52 EPS vs $0.52 estimate.
(RHHBY) Roche profit rose 24% overseas; named new chief for diagnostics unit.
(SLB) Schlumberger $1.02 EPS vs $0.95 estimate.
(SNDK) SanDisk trading up over 4% after beating earnings.
(SNTS) Santarus announces achievement of $5 million milestone payment under license agreement wit Schering-Plough.
(SON) Sonoco $0.56 EPS vs $0.59 estimate.
(WB) Wachovia $1.23 EPS vs $1.22 estimate.
(WHR) Whirlpool $2.00 EPS vs $1.83 estimate.

Jon C. Ogg
July 20, 2007

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

Cramer’s ‘Must Own’ List

Stock Tickers: WHR, BDK, ATI, BGC, HON, ASD, JCI, MDR, FWLT, CAT, TEX, DE, QCOM

On tonight’s MAD MONEY on CNBC Jim Cramer addressed the opportunity created by the big down day.  He thinks some stocks are so loved that hedge funds and mutual funds just keep buying.  These funds can’t buy what they want all at once any longer, so they just keep buying and then the smaller funds jump on board.  The other change is that the companies are shrinking because of buybacks.  On days like today they sold off and that’s an opportunity for you to buy.  The floats on these are small enough that they almost trade like small cap stocks.  He has a dozen of these stocks:

Whirlpool (WHR), Black & Decker (BDK), Allegheny Tech (ATI), General Cable (BGC), Honeywell (HON), American Standard (ASD), Johnson Controls (JCI), McDermott (MDR), Foster Wheeler (FWLT), Caterpillar (CAT) and Terex (TEX), and Deere (DE).

This follows up on yesterday’s feature by Cramer where he sort of touted this as a scam on Wall Street in Qualcomm (QCOM).

Jon C. Ogg
May 10, 2007

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