24/7 Wall St. » ZBRA

Major Companies That Refuse to Pay Dividends

Jon C. Ogg — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:55:22 +0000

Investors love dividends. This one investing component has comprised a major portion of total returns through time. The trend in recent years has been for companies to pay dividends and keep raising it. At the same time, many companies that have been around for sometime may have grown past their major growth phase. Some of these companies have started paying dividends, while others have chosen not to.

24/7 Wall St. praises dividends. We also want to call out the myriad of great companies that need to realize that times demand investor payouts. A few companies are still buying growth, and we have identified some of these players as well. The thesis behind offering a solid dividend is that it instills confidence in investors that the company has earnings visibility for years even when the business cycle slows.

Having a real dividend policy may also be the key to keeping nervous investors from fleeing and going into cash or Treasury bonds, which pay almost nothing these days. There are just still too many companies in denial that they are still growth companies when they need to start directly rewarding shareholders. Some companies can get away without paying out a single cent to owners because the value of growth is so strong. That list is shrinking these days. Most companies we identified are in what we would call the “Dividend Sinners” category.

Our review focuses on Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC), Express Scripts Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER), United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA). We have handicapped whether investors might expect a dividend in the near-term or long-term from each of these as well.

The first order of business is to identify some of the great companies that have started paying a dividend since we (and others) have called for them to act with dividend payments in the past year or two. A few would include Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ: SYMC) and NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ).

Filed under: Retail Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AMZN, BBBY, BRK-A, CSCO, DG, DLTR, EA, EBAY, EMC, ESRX, GME, JACK, LUV, MCD, SYMC, TER, UAL, VMW, VZ, WEN, YHOO, ZBRA

Forget One-Time Dividends… Watch Massive Insider Selling Into Year-End

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:11:49 +0000

We are seeing larger insider selling transactions ahead of year-end by many corporate insiders. With higher taxes on capital gains an almost certainty now, insiders are faced with a choice of selling now while capital gains are at the lowest rates ever again or sell when rates are higher AND when there might be another recession.

We already addressed a nearly $200 million sale in the last week by Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). There are many other large insider selling transactions which have been seen from SEC filings as well. The insiders at Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) continue to sell shares. This is not really a new trend at Google but the dollar volumes still look big. Sergey Brin sold $57 million worth of stock, Eric Schmidt another $25 million worth, John Doerr another $13 million worth, and more than $10 million worth from a director named Shriram. Progressive Corp. (NYSE: PGR) saw share sales in the last days of November by Chairman Peter Lewis of more than 2 million shares coming close to $45 million worth of stock.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) saw shareholder Green Equity Investors unload shares in the last days of November worth close to $44 million. These shares were on top of very large gains on shares bought during harder times.

UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) saw CFO David Wichmann sell more than 800,000 shares for gross sale proceeds of more than $43 million in the final days of November.

Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE: EXP) saw multiple sales as well. A director (Hirsch) sold $36 million worth of stock, followed by another $16 million worth; Its President Steve Rowley sold $10.8 million worth of stock.

Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) saw Chairman Lonnie Smith sell almost $14 million worth of stock in a sale in the last days of November.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) saw CFO David Viniar sell 100,000 shares for gross proceeds of more than $11.8 million at the end of November.

DSW Inc. (NYSE: DSW) saw Chairman Jay Schottenstein sell more than 154,000 shares for gross proceeds of $10.5 million at the end of November.

Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) saw various executives sell close to $20 million worth of stock in the last days of November and start of December.

Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA) has seen EVP Gerhard Cless sell almost $7.5 million worth of shares at the end of November and start of December.

Again, it is not hard to imagine why directors and insiders would be selling into year-end. It is highly probable that capital gains taxes will never be at 15% for the wealthy again. If they wait to sell after the first of the year they will be selling at higher tax rates and they are taking the risk that the US drives off the fiscal cliff.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Taxes Tagged: AMZN, DSW, EXP, GOOG, GS, ISRG, UNH, V, WFM, ZBRA

The 2012 Dividend Sinners: 20 Companies That Don’t Pay Dividends But Should

Jon C. Ogg — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 12:38:54 +0000

24/7 Wall St. loves companies which send capital back to shareholders via dividends. With all of the uncertainty in today’s markets and in the fluctuating economy, having a solid dividend policy may be the key to keeping nervous investors from fleeing and going into cash or Treasury bonds which pay almost nothing these days. Too many great companies just refuse to give up their ‘growth stock’ status and pay dividends to shareholders. For some companies, they can get away without paying out a single cent to owners because the value of growth is so strong. For other companies, they fall into the “Dividend Sinners”category of companies which should be paying a dividend to holders and which have just decided to control that cash in-house instead.

Our review focuses on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB), Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), Express Scripts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Jack In The Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), Teradyne Inc. (NYSE: TER), United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN), Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA).

You will see that not all of these are old technology giants meant solely as a chase of the fresh Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) dividend announcement. Our aim is to identify companies which can make payouts but which have been holding the cash for a rainy day for far too long. Some of the more obvious Dividend Sinners are the same as you have seen criticized before, but many of these are overlooked by the media and by investors alike.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) waited far too long to adopt a dividend policy and look what happened to its shares after inaction. Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) was the last of the big department stores to have a payout. We have finally seen in the last year that Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), and NASDAQ OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) capitulated and finally decided to declare a dividend policy over the last year or so; and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) finally jumped on board with a good dividend policy.

Of the 2011 Dividend Sinners there were only one-fifth (4 of 20) of the companies covered a year ago which have since decided to institute a dividend policy. We would like to propose that one-fourth or more begin a dividend policy as 2012 merges closer to 2013.

Here is our list of The 20 Dividend Sinners in 2012 and why…

Filed under: Active Trader, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Dividends & Buybacks, Stock Buybacks, Stock Splits Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AMZN, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, CSCO, DG, DLTR, EA, EBAY, EMC, ESRX, FB, FLEX, GOOG, GPS, JACK, KSS, LUV, MCD, STX, SYMC, T, TER, UAL, URBN, VMW, VZ, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA, ZNGA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AVP, BAC, BBY, BA, DCI, FB, GS, HLF, KIRK, MS, MYGN, NUAN, PBR, RHI, ROST, SWY, SPLK, TJX, ZBRA)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:35:55 +0000

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

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) Cut to Sell at UBS.

Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Cut to Market Underperform at JMP Securities.

Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) Cut to Hold at BB&T.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) Raised to Buy at Argus.

Donaldson Company. Inc. (NYSE: DCI) Reiterated Outperform and raised estimates at Credit Suisse.

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) Started as Positive at Susquehanna.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) Cut to Market Underperform at JMP Securities.

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) Reiterated Buy at Argus.

Kirkland’s, Inc. (NASDAQ: KIRK) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) Cut to Market Underperform at JMP Securities.

Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ: MYGN) Raised to Outperform at Leerink Swann.

Nuance Communications (NASDAQ: NUAN) Started as Neutral with $25 target at Goldman Sachs.

Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) Raised to Buy at Societe Generale.

Robert Half International (NYSE: RHI) named as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Safeway (NYSE: SWY) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.

Splunk, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLK) Started as Overweight at Barclays.

TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) Cut to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AVP, BA, BAC, BBY, DCI, FB, GS, HLF, KIRK, MS, MYGN, NUAN, PBR, RHI, ROST, SPLK, SWY, TJX, ZBRA

More Than 20 Great Companies Which Refuse To Pay Dividends (AMZN, AMGN, AAPL, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, DELL, DG, DLTR, EBAY, ERTS, EMC, ESRX, FLEX, GOOG, JACK, NDAQ, SYMC, UAL, URBN, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA, CSCO, VMW, MHS)

Jon C. Ogg — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:05:03 +0000

No money was injured while filming

If you have been a reader of 24/7 Wall St. for long, you know that we appreciate companies that pay dividends just about as much the investors who buy companies because of their great dividends. With all of the uncertainty in today’s markets and in today’s economy, having a solid dividend policy may be the key to keeping nervous investors from fleeing and going into cash or other assets that actually pay no income at all. Some of the greatest companies of today and yesteryear actually refuse to pay dividends to shareholders. For some companies, they can get away without paying a cent to owners because the value and growth is so strong. There is another list of “Dividend Sinners” which should be paying a dividend to holders and have just decided to control that cash in-house instead.

We have identified more than twenty Dividend Sinners. Our review focuses on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bed Bath & Beyond, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A), Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG ), Dollar Tree, Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY), Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), Express Scripts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ESRX), Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Jack In The Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL), Urban Outfitters, Inc. (NASDAQ: URBN), Western Digital Corporation (NYSE: WDC), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), and Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA).

You can see that many of these are not technology giants. Many are. The aim is to handicap which companies still can get away without paying out income to their shareholders versus those which can and should. Some of the more obvious Dividend Sinners are the same as you have seen criticized before, but many of these are overlooked by the media and by investors alike. In some cases the lack of dividend payments is just ludicrous. Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) waited far too long to adopt a dividend policy and look what happened to its shares after inaction. Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) took until this year before finally declaring a dividend while its direct competitors have paid dividends for years.

Again, some companies can get away without paying holders a penny. Our aim was to identify the highly able companies and those which lag peers enough that the dividend trend just needs to be considered by management of these companies. We looked at forward P/E ratios based upon next year’s estimates from Thomson Reuters, the return on equity (ROE) from Finviz.com, the current share price and a 52-week trading range, along with the market cap of each company. If applicable, we handicapped competitor and peer dividends and even noted how high of a dividend these companies could pay out.

Activist investors could have a field-day with at least a few of these dividend sinners…

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is the online retail king. It has a forward price earnings multiple of 56 and a return on equity (ROE) of 16.3%. Its market cap is $100 billion. The recent share price was $222 and the 52-week trading range is $114.51 to $227.20. While much of the tone of this article might seem to be geared around a negative impact of a no-dividend policy, Amazon.com is actually in a different camp. At 58-times 2012 projected earnings, the question to ask is “how high of a dividend could it pay anyway?”… Wall Street has even been able to absorb habitually lower and lower margins as it ramps up its capital spending. With shares having now hit the $100 billion market cap and having hit fresh all-time highs, is there are reason to criticize the company right now? We predicted that it would be on of the next mega-cap stocks for a reason.

Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) is due with earnings shortly and its path has been a boring one for long enough. The largest independent biotech outfit has a forward price earnings multiple of 9.7 and a return on equity (ROE) of 19.4%. Its market cap is $51 billion. The recent share price was $54.00 and the 52-week trading range is $50.26 to $61.53. Investors hope and pray that Amgen will be the first of the big biotechs to finally declare a dividend. The call has been a longstanding call and the company has more than enough ample cash and patent protection to justify a healthy payout. With about $15 billion in liquidity and $10 billion in long-term debt, investors should ask the company to stop wasting the cash by repurchasing shares in the open market. It hasn’t worked as is the case with most share buyback plans. If it is not going to have a dividend, maybe it should consider growing into new arenas with a substantial acquisition. Our take is that Amgen is going to have to do something at some point soon and a dividend will do far better than a stock buyback plan.

Filed under: Active Trader, Activist Investor, Compensation, Conglomerates, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Dividend, Dividends & Buybacks, Editor's Picks, ETFs & Mutual Funds, Industrials, Insider Activity, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mutual Funds, Personal Finance, Regulation, Retail, Shareholder Issues, Stock Buybacks, Stock Splits, Technology, Technology Companies, Turnarounds, Value Investing Tagged: AAPL, AMGN, AMZN, BBBY, BRK-A, CBB, CSCO, DELL, DG, DLTR, EBAY, EMC, ERTS, ESRX, FLEX, GOOG, JACK, MHX, NDAQ, SYMC, UAL, URBN, VMW, WDC, YHOO, ZBRA

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AIR, AA, AMAT, BWLD, CAT, OFC, DNDN, EMC, MRH, NFLX, SANM, SGEN, S, UNH, VFC, WFMI, YMI, ZBRA)

Jon C. Ogg — Mon, 02 May 2011 12:19:44 +0000

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

AAR Corporation (NYSE: AIR) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Buffalo Wild Wings, Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) Maintained Strong Buy at Zacks.
Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) Reiterated Outperform and target raised to $148 at Credit Suisse.
Corporate Office Properties (NYSE: OFC) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Underperform at Credit Suisse.
EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Raised to Buy with $35 target at BofA/ML.
Montpelier Re Holdings (NYSE: MRH) named as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Sanmina-SCI Corporation (NASDAQ: SANM) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Seattle Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: SGEN) Started as Buy
Sprint-NexTel Corporation (NYSE: S) Reiterated Buy with $7 target at Argus.
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) Kept at Strong Buy and noted as Value at Zacks.
V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) Cut to Hold at Jefferies.
Y M Biosciences Inc. (AMEX: YMI) Started as Neutral with $4 target at BofA/ML.
Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

You are invited to 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, AIR, AMAT, BWLD, CAT, DNDN, EMC, MRH, NFLX, OFC, S, SANM, SGEN, UNH, VFC, WFMI, YMI, ZBRA

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ADBE, AINV, CPST, DELL, ENER, LEAP, MEE, TIF, BTU, VVUS, ZBRA)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 13:30:54 +0000

These are some of this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this morning:

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse; Raised to Buy at Jefferies.
Apollo Investment (NASDAQ: AINV) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Capstone Turbine Corp. (NASDAQ: CPST) Raised to Outperform at Northland.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) Started as Market Perform at BMO Capital.
Massey Energy (NYSE: MEE) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) Raised to Buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
VIVUS Inc. (NASDAQ: VVUS) Started as Buy at Jesup & Lamont.
Zebra Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: ZBRA) Raised to Outperform at Baird.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about top analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPOs and secondary offerings, ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
FEBRUARY 10, 2010

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADBE, AINV, BTU, CPST, DELL, ENER, LEAP, MEE, TIF, VVUS, ZBRA

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AOL, DT, DOW, ECA, FNSR, PM, SWIR, TEN, MMM, WY, ZBRA)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:04:37 +0000

These are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) Started as Neutral at JPMorgan.
Deutsche Telekom (NYSE: DT) Started as Underweight at Morgan Stanley; Cut to Sell at UBS.
Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
EnCana (NYSE: ECA) Cut to Market Perform at Raymond James.
Finisar Corp. (NASDAQ: FNSR) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Philip Morris International, Inc. (NYSE: PM) Cut to Reduce at Nomura.
Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) Raised to Outperform at Raymond James.
Tenneco Inc. (NYSE: TEN) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Zebra Technologies (NASDAQ: ZBRA) Cut to Neutral at Baird.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear about ongoing day trader and options trader alerts, analyst upgrades and downgrades, stock and market rumors, Buffett and guru investor news, M&A and IPOs, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AOL, DOW, DT, ECA, FNSR, MMM, PM, SWIR, TEN, WY, ZBRA

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AA, BBBY, BRK.A, DFS, LYG, SNY, SWI, TRW, ZBRA)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:46:33 +0000

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations of new coverage which we have see from Wall Street this Monday morning:

ALCOA (AA) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) Started as Buy at Wedbush Morgan.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) Started as Outperform at KBW.
Discover Financial (DFS) Raised to Outperform at KBW.
Lloyds Banking Group plc (LYG) Raised to Conviction By List at Goldman Sachs.
Sanofi-Aventis (SNY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
SolarWinds (SWI) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan; Started as Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
TRW (TRW) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Zebra Technologies (ZBRA) Raised to Outperform at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
June 29, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls, Buffett Tagged: AA, BBBY, BRK-A, DFS, LYG, SNY, SWI, TRW, ZBRA

52-Week Low Club (ABK, AKAM, C, CPKI, EBAY, FFIV, FUL, NMX, PMI, ZQK, SGMS, STXS, TTI, XRX, ZBRA)

Douglas A. McIntyre — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:31:47 +0000

After the financial meltdown and after the new tech wreck, many of the same stocks and same REIT’s keep appearing over and over on the list of new 52-week lows. Here are some others that might not have normally caught your eye:

AMBAC Financial (ABK) was down big after it came clean and ran the gauntlet, but this one went from bad to worse by closing down a whopping 38% at $12.97. Ouch!
Akamai Tech (AKAM) closed down almost 4% at $25.88; prior 52-week range was $25.97 to $59.69….. so much for pushing out online video and media faster being a solid business.
Citigroup (C) just cant catch a break with a new year low close of $26.24. Maybe being a stronger manager might help Pandit. Dear Vikram, Welcome to running a troubled public company.
California Pizza Kitchen (CPKI) after its warnings closed down over 17% at $10.10; $12.20 to $25.23 prior range.
eBay (EBAY) was a bit of a shock to see, although if you take the retail, tech, and internet angle it’s not a huge stretch. The good news is that this was only intra-day with a low of $27.67 at the open. It closed up 0.5% at $28.09 and the prior 52-week range was $27.85 to $40.73.
F5 Networks (FFIV) took a downgrade to Hold from Buy at Jefferies; shares closed down 8% to $20.68; prior range $21.07 to $46.94.
H B Fuller (FUL) manufactures and markets adhesives and specialty chemical products worldwide. It fell 11.3% to $19.57; prior low $20.56; posted lower Q4 earnings
NYMEX Holdings (NMX) closed down 7.5% at $103.98, 52-week range is $105 to $148; maybe that raised CEO bonus might not be the best idea.
PMI Group (PMI) won’t find any sympathy anywhere, shares closed down 7.5% at $7.77.
Quicksilver (ZQK) can’t be a big shock since it warned on earnings yesterday; -5.3% at $7.04.
Scientific Games (SGMS) wasn’t just bad, it was a slaughter at -30% to $19.45; prior range $28.15 to $40.70. It lost a contract and took a downgrade.
Stereotaxis (STXS) received an additional approval from FDA but it warned on earnings in a significant manor that caused an investor and trader revolt in what was already down and out. It fell down 22% to $8.84; prior range $9.66 to $16.88.
Tetra Technologies (TTI) is a geographically diversified oil and gas services company that provides niche products and services focused on well completion and on late-life production enhancement and decommissioning. Maybe that business isn’t great anymore? It warned Monday about a shortfall and today was just as bad or worse. This one closed down 8% to $14.38, and its prior 52-week range was $14.38 to $30.20.
Xerox (XRX) hit intra-day 52-week lows and if this isn’t an endorsement of a slowdown in the big business climate then what the hell is? Shares hit a low of $13.59, but closed barely over the prior 52-week low at $13.88; 52-week range $13.84 to $20.18.
Zebra Tech (ZBRA) can’t be too big of a shock with retail slowing and its bar code tech is retail dependent (sans-drugs); stock fell almost 3% to $30.17; prior range is $30.95 to $42.50.

Jon C. Ogg
January 16, 2008