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Whale Watching: Paulson & Co. Speared By Banks & Gold (BAC, COF, C, JPM, WFC, XL, NYX, GLD, TEVA, FDO, MGM, HPQ, AMCX, CEPH, COV, CVS, MYL)

Administrator — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 23:37:49 +0000

Paulson & Co. Inc. is another hedge fund group that investors use for Whale Watching, although this last quarter was not exactly kind to Mr. Paulson’s billions… The current 13F report shows total September 30, 2011 of $20.68 billion. While still huge, that is down from $29.057 billion just a quarter before. The biggest changes appear to be in the financial stocks and banks, as well as in gold. We have outlined come of the key changes of those and others below, including some new positions taken.

BANK STAKE GAINS: Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) was listed as a larger position at 64.3+ million shares, higher by almost 4 million shares. Keep in mind that there are also positions in warrants due 2018 and 2019 in the position at BofA. Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) was raised slightly to 22,200,000 shares worth $879.7 million, but the old stake of 21,100,000 shares worth $1.09 billion.

BANK STAKES LOWERED OR ELIMINATED (partial): Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was a much lower stake at 25.1 million shares worth $643 million versus a stake of 33.5 million shares worth some $1.395 billion a quarter earlier. J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) was not even listed as a position, yet it was about 4.7 million shares at the June 30 report ( but there is still a warrant position). Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) is a lower position of 23,847,900 shares worth $575 million versus the prior position of 33,600,000 shares worth $942 million. XL Group plc (NYSE: XL) was lowered as well to 23.675 million shares worth $445 million versus his previous larger position of 28.23 million shares worth $620 million. NYSE Euronext, Inc. (NYSE: NYX) was dropped from the positions entirely after being listed as 3 million shares a quarter before.

PAULSON’s OTHER LOWERED POSITIONS (partial): SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) was cut by more than one-third down to 20,273,540 shares (now worth $3.2 billion) versus 31,500,000 shares worth nearly $4.6 billion previously. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NASDAQ: TEVA) was cut by more than half to 1,976,900 shares worth $73.5 million from 4.18 million shares worth $201 million. The stakes in FAMILY DOLLAR STORES INC. (NYSE: FDO) and the stake in MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL (NYSE: MGM) were also lowered by Paulson. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) was lowered to 15.2 million shares worth $340 million from 23.5 million shares worth $855 million a quarter earlier.

PAULSON’s NEW POSTIONS: AMC Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: AMCX) is a new position of 5,000,000 shares worth $159 million, making Paulson a zombie fan for The Walking Dead. Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) is a new position of 3,684,000 shares worth some $297 million. Covidien PLC (NYSE: COV) is a new position of 2,000,000 shares with some $88.2 million. CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS) was another new position of 2,500,000 shares worth almost $84 million.

Mylan, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYL) was a higher stake of 24,896,500 shares worth $423 million versus 14,940,000 shares worth $368 million previously.

Fortunately for Mr. Paulson, the markets have recovered handily since the end of September and the start of October.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Activist Investor, Banking, Mutual Funds Tagged: AMCX, BAC, C, CEPH, COF, COV, CVS, FDO, GLD, HPQ, JPM, MGM, MYL, NYX, TEVA, WFC, XL

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AA, BRK-B, CCL, CPRT, DD, XOM, GSIC, HCBK, MAR, OI, DGX, TRV, TNK, UTI, WAG, XL)

Administrator — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:22:57 +0000

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

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-B) named as Bull of the Day with Outperform rating at Zacks.
Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) Reiterated Hold at Argus.
Copart, Inc. (NASDAQ: CPRT) Started as Buy at BofA/ML.
DuPont (NYSE: DD) Reiterated Buy and raised $62 target at BofA/ML.
Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) Reiterated Buy with $100 target at Argus.
GSI Commerce, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSIC) removed from coverage at BofA/ML.
Hudson City Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: HCBK) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
Marriott International (NYSE: MAR) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Owens-Illinois, Inc. (NYSE: OI) Raised to Outperform with $36 target at Credit Suisse.
Quest Diagnostics Inc. (NYSE: DGX) Raised to Outperform with $65 target at Credit Suisse.
The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TRV) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Teekay Tankers Ltd. (NYSE: TNK) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) Raised to Outperform with $36 target at Credit Suisse.
XL Group plc (NYSE: XL) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.

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: AA, BRK-B, CCL, CPRT, DD, DGX, GSIC, HCBK, MAR, OI, TNK, TRV, UTI, WAG, XL, XOM

In Defense of Reinsurance (ACGL, AXS, RE, PRE, RNR, TRH, XL)

Administrator — Wed, 19 May 2010 13:39:17 +0000

If you want to know who is ultimately on the hook for the biggest part of catastrophic losses from natural (and man-made) disasters, look no further than reinsurers. They are on the hook for things like volcano business interruption, EU wind or flooding, Chilean earthquakes, hurricanes, and on and on. Morningstar has decided to take a look at some of the large companies in the reinsurance space with some defense of some of its favorite names like Arch Capital Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACGL), Axis Capital Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: AXS), Everest Re Group Ltd. (NYSE: RE), Partner Re Ltd. (NYSE: PRE), RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: RNR), Transatlantic Holdings (NYSE: TRH), and XL Capital Ltd. (NYSE: XL). Some of the long-term thesis coming in is to “lay the basis for some stabilization if not firming in reinsurance rates, and improved industry return prospects in the years ahead.”

FULL ARTICLE on Morningstar.com by Bill Bergman

Filed under: ADR, Analyst Calls, Financial Stocks Tagged: ACGL, AXS, PRE, RE, RNR, TRH, XL

Bernstein Dumps Insurers (ACE, ALL, CB, CNA, TRV, XL, AIG)

247wallst — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:56:26 +0000

Financial stocks may have enjoyed sizable bounces from their lows in November and December, but not all analysts are following them up. The insurrance sector and some of the re-insurance names have been downgraded by Bernstein. Here are the following calls we have seen from their report:

ACE Limited (NYSE: ACE) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform.
Allstate (NYSE: ALL) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform.
Chubb (NYSE: CB) downgraded to Underperform from Outperform.
CNA Financial (NYSE: CNA) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform.
Travelers (NYSE: TRV) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform.
XL Capital (NYSE: XL) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform.

Perhaps the best call in timing (yes, that is facetious) comes inAmerican International Group (NYSE: AIG), where its shares weredowngraded to Market Perform from Outperform. Great timing there.

Most of these are so far off of highs that you would wonder why these were even rated as "Outperform" in the first place.

Jon C. Ogg
January 6, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls, Financial Stocks Tagged: ACE, AIG, ALL, CB, CNA, TRV, XL

The 52-Week Low Club (YHOO)(MSFT)(SIRI)(XL)(CHTR)(LVLT)(ORCL)(CSCO)(F)(DELL)

247wallst — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 14:46:30 +0000

Yahoo! (YHOO) Concerns about slowdown in internet advertising. Drops to $13.20 from 52-week high of $34.08. Bet they wish they had taken Microsoft (MSFT) deal.

Sirius (SIRI) Merger a failure.Sells off to $.45 from 52-week high of $3.94.

Xl Cap (XL) Met Life warns, kills shares in industry. Down to $6.22 from 52-week high of $81.63.

Charter (CHTR) Troubled cable company, heavy with debt, gets more troubled. Falls to $.52 from 52-week high of $2.98.

Level 3 (LVLT) Big internet network company has too much debt. Dips to $1.66 from 52-week high of $5.01.

Oracle (ORCL) Concerns about enterprise software sales softening. Down to $16.01 from 52-week high of $23.62.

Cisco (CSCO) Another tech icon hurt by IT spending concerns. Sells down to $17.80 from 52-week high of $32.24.

Ford (F) More concerns about cash position and car sales. Runs down to $2.10 from 52-week high of $9.24.

Dell (DELL) Looks like the holidays may be weak for PC company. Off to $13.23 from 52-week high of $30.77.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted in HI/LOW Tagged: CHTR, CSCO, DELL, F, LVLT, MSFT, ORCL, SIRI, XL, YHOO

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (RATE, CE, CSCO, DCP, RL, PFG, RYAAY, AKH, VM, XL)

247wallst — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 07:20:09 +0000

Below are some of the early bird analyst calls that are affecting shares in pre-market trading:

Bankrate Inc. (NASDAQ: RATE) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Citigroup.
Celanese (NYSE: CE) raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) downgraded to Neutral from overweight at JPMorgan; downgraded to Neutral at Baird; more to come.
Dyncorp international (NYSE: DCP) upgraded to Buy at Jefferies; upgraded to Outperform at Wachovia.
Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) cut to Hold from Buy at Citigroup.
Principal Financial (NYSE: PFG) raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ: RYAAY) and Air France KLM (NYSE: AKH) were both raised to Buy at UBS.
Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) downgraded to Equal Weight at Lehman.
XL Capital (NYSE: XL) cut to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
February 7, 2008