Analyst Downgrades 8/8/2008
Ambac Financial (ABK) Cut To Underweight at JPMorgan. Ann Talor (AMM) Cut to Market Perform at FBR Bank of America (BAC) Cut to Neutral at UBS FEMSA (FMX) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Analyst Upgrades 8/8/2008
Apple (APPL) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse Dell (DELL) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse. EMC (EMC) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse
Like Every Other Company In The World, Nokia (NOK) Turns To China
The sun can never set on a day before some large multinational company says that its future is in China. Why should Nokia (NOK) be an exception? Nokia management opines that, even though 600…
Toilets Delay Boeing (BA) Planes
Boeing (BA) has already suffered the ignominy of three delays in the launch of its new Dreamliner jet. The tardiness of the project will cost the company revenue, at least in the next year.…
The New Economic Stimulus Package: $100 Billion In Tax Rebates A Month
Based on GDP figures and June numbers out of retailers including Wal-Mart (WMT), the tax rebate program helped the economy for about 30 days. July retail numbers seem to show that the effect did…
RBS (RBS): Another Big Bank Ambushed By Write-Offs
The safe-house for money center banks closed and locked its doors long ago. The mortgage-related paper crisis rolls on like a mighty river and its latest victim is RBS (RBS). But, victim is the…
Still Looking Forward To $200 Oil
With oil down to about $120 a barrel it is easy to forget that the dynamics of supply and demand still favor higher prices. That may not be true today, but it will not…
Media Digest 8/8/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, RBS (RBS) had $1.35 billion loss due to write-downs. Reuters reports that Google (GOOG) says its investment in AOL may be impaired. Reuters writes that Citigroup (C) and Merrill Lynch (MER)…
Asia Markets 8/8/08 (LFC)(CN)
Markets in Asia were mixed with Shanghai off sharply. The Nikkei rose .3% to 13,168. Mazda was up 2.6% to 589. Sharp was off 1.5% to 1430. The Hang Seng fell 1.2% to 21,837.…
Can Wachovia (WB) Weather An Auction-Rate Buy-Back?
Now that Citigroup (C) and Merrill Lynch (MER) have announced that they will buy back auction-rate securities sold to their private clients, the question arises about how financial companies with weaker balance sheets will…
Merrill Lynch (MER) Caves In On Auction Rates
Merrill Lynch (MER), pole-axed by the Citigroup (C) decision to buy back all of the auction-rate securities it has sold to individual investors, buckled and said it will purchase up to $12 billion of…
Edgar Online Loses Largest Shareholder (EDGR)
All companies gain or lose their largest holders at some point, and today the arrow stopped on EDGAR Online Inc. (NASDAQ: EDGR). Edgar Online lost its largest shareholder yesterday according to an SEC filing…
Sprint (S) Rises Aloft On Wild Rumors
Sprint (S) has traded about ten times its normal volume with over 261 million shares changing hands. The market is ablaze with rumors that the cellular carrier will cancel its plan to raise $3…
The 52-Week Low Club 8/7/2008 (NWS)(ANF)(CIEN)
Geo Group (GEO) Drops full-year outlook. Down to $18.47 from 52-week high of $32.93. Teekay (TK) Market unhappy with quarterly results. Falls to $33.13 from 52-week high of $62.61. Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) Bad…
Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Earnings Watch (BRK.A, BRK.B, KFT, BUD)
After the close of trading on Friday, we’ll get to see earnings out of Wall Street’s favorite idol as Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) reports earnings. The first thing…
Rhino Resources IPO Terms Slashed (RNO)
Rhino Resources, Inc. (NYSE: RNO) is supposed to price its IPO this evening for Friday trading, or at least that is what we had on our IPO calendar at the start of the week. …
Lenovo: PCs Still Selling In China (DELL)(HPQ)
No wonder Dell (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) wish they had higher market shares in China. While sales are slowing in the US, big China-based PC firm Lenovo says its revenue and earnings are moving…
Citigroup (C) Goes A Long Way Toward Becoming “Worst Managed Company”
In an announcement that shows how remarkable flawed the marketing and risk management at Citigroup (C) have been, the bank agreed to buy-back $7.5 billion in auction rate securities. It will also pay fines…
Good News Gets Scarce in the Energy Business (WNR, WMB, SRE)
There’s no good news coming from Western Refining (NYSE:WNR) today. The company reported second quarter earnings of $8.2 million (EPS of $0.12) versus $155 million and EPS of $2.29 for the same period a…
Blackstone Going Green (BX)
This morning there was interesting note out of The Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), although some efforts have already been made down this road. The company has formed a new business group to focus on…