Homebuilder ETFs Run On Housing Data (XHB, ITB)
The new home sales data is showing a very mixed bag, with a bit of a positive twist to it. We are seeing a run up in the SPDR S&P Homebuilders (NYSE: XHB) and…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Best Performing Sectors In Last Month: Hotel REITs, Home Furnishings, Car Rentals
Based on the TickerSpy index of major industry sectors, hotel REITs had the best performance of any group measured, up almost 60%. At the head of the industry were Diamondrock (DRH) and LaSalle Hotel…
Host Joins REITs Raising Cash (HST)
Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: HST) has completed a secondary offering that raised some needed cash for the company. The hotel-REIT priced a secondary offering of 66,000,000 shares of common stock at a…
SunPower In the Shade (SPWRA, WFR, FSLR, LDK)
One of the stalwarts of the solar business, SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWRA), has reported an EPS loss of -$0.06 on revenues of $214 million for the 2009 first quarter. Analysts had expected EPS of $0.24…
Schlumberger Sort of Beats Low Expectations (SLB, HAL, WFT)
The world’s largest oilfield services company, Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE:SLB), reported earnings this morning. The resemblance to the earnings reports from Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) and Weatherford International Limited (NYSE: WFT) from earlier this week is…
March Durables & Revisions Bad Enough To Influence GDP Expectations
We have just seen the highly volatile Durable Goods numbers released this morning. The numbers from the Commerce Department came in at -0.8%. This was a bit better than expectations as Bloomberg had forecasts…
R-I-M Loses Key Critic (RIMM)
Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) is getting a boost this morning from an analyst upgrade. The maker of the notorious Blackberry was raised at Citigroup with a new “Buy” rating rather than the…
Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMGN, CS, BEAT, DV, MAR, MSFT, RIMM, SPWRA, TOL)
These are among the top research calls and analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen early this Friday morning with over two hours until the open: Amgen (AMGN) Raised to Outperform at Baird. Credit…
Ford’s (F) Balance Sheet Play
Ford’s (F) announced earnings, but it did not pitch its P&L. The star of the announcement, at least in the company’s opinion, was its balance sheet. The No.2 US car company said that it…
Apple (AAPL) iPhone/iPod Apps Hit One Billion Downloads, Most Of Them Useless
Downloads of Apple (AAPL) applications for iPhones and iTunes have reach one billion. It only took nine months. Most analysts view this as a strategic advantage over RIM’s (RIMM) Blackberry and Google’s (GOOG) Android…
AAPL Post-Earnings Weekly Headline Roundup: April 24
From 24/7 Wall St. partner Apple Investor News: There were big concerns heading into AAPL’s Q2 earnings report. Despite its history of sandbagging guidance then surprising to the upside, some predicted this would be…
Samsung: As Much As Proxy For Economy As GE (GE)
GE (GE) earnings are often viewed as a legitimate test of how the global economy is doing. It has tremendous international operations. It has large industrial, infrastructure, medical, financial, and media businesses. But, it…
Microsoft (MSFT): In The Footsteps Of McDonald’s (MCD) And Wal-Mart (WMT)
Microsoft (MSFT) just released earnings that were mediocre but not any worse than was expected. It said that the balance of the calendar year would not be much better. In stating that, it is…
The Waterboarding Of Ken Lewis
Coercion and the use of force have been part of the American character since settlers started moving West at the end of the 18th Century. Gentility is not usually an acceptable approach to settling…
Media Digest 4/24/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, tech giants reported reasonable earnings for last quarter because of cost cutting and a resilience in a bad economy. Reuters reports that Chrysler is still working on a deal with Fiat…
Asia Markets And Europe Open 4/24/2009
Markets in Asia were mostly lower. The Nikkei fell 1.6% to 8,708. The Hang Seng was down .6% to 15,117. The Shanghai Composite fell .6% to 2,449. At the open in Europe, the FTSE…
Microsoft (MSFT): Weak Quarter, Plenty Of Reasons For Yahoo! (YHOO) Deal
Microsoft (MSFT) posted EPS of $.33 in the first quarter compared with $.47 in the same period last year. The period, which is the fiscal third quarter for the company, saw revenue fall to $13.65…
Amgen Back To Doldrums (AMGN)
Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) has posted some very highly anticipated and uninteresting earnings. The biotech giant reported $0.98 EPS net and $1.08 non-GAAP EPS on $3.31 billion in revenue, while Thomson Reuters had estimates…
Devil In Details For Amazon Earnings (AMZN)
Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has just posted earnings. The online retail giant has posted earnings of $0.41 in non-GAAP EPS and $4.89 billion in revenue. Thomson Reuters had estimates of $0.31 EPS and $4.76…
Picking Apart Microsoft Expectations (MSFT)
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will announce its highly awaited earnings after the close today. Analysts are expecting $0.39 EPS on $14.09 billion in revenues. That Thomson Reuters consensus number would compare to $0.47 EPS and…