MetLife, Inc. (NYSE: MET) is finally losing its artificial status as a bank holding company. The insurance giant announced on Thursday that it has finally received the required approvals from both the Federal Deposit Insurance…
ThinkstockThe United States Treasury’s 30-Year Treasury Bond auction just went off and the results were looking a bit better than we would have been expecting even this morning. We had noted that 10-year Treasury…
ThinkstockCenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) is in serious trouble, with shares hitting a 52-week low. Shares are down more than 20% on Thursday, yet still worth almost $21 billion in market capitalization. The Louisiana-based telecom…
courtesy of BlackberryBlackBerry (NASDAQ: BBRY) has gone through quite a lot of changes, including a name change from Research In Motion. What is interesting is that its former co-CEO Jim Balsillie is no longer…
ThinkstockThe proposed management-led buyout of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is far from being without controversy. When the deal was still in the rumor stage, we came up with a maximum valuation of $15.00 per…
Jon OggThe Argus research company has provided investors with quality, independent equity research since 1934. For the individual investor, a source for independent research is always a positive for a portfolio. With no Wall…
ThinkstockThe Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) $28 billion buyout of H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ) is already all over the news. What investors need to consider now is how this impacts other large food…
Ed Brown, via Wikimedia CommonsThe U.S. Labor Department may have given a disappointing uptick in the unemployment rate two weeks ago, but the weekly jobless claims picture is coming out in a different light…
Jon OggThese are some of this Thursday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls. CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL) cut to Neutral at J.P. Morgan, cut to Reduce at Nomura…
2012 earnings season is wrapping up in the United States, and corporate America is set to log its third consecutive quarter of lackluster earnings growth, issuing guidance that is on average below consensus estimates.…
ThinkstockWorldwide gold demand in 2012 was another record high of $236.4 billion in the World Gold Council’s latest report. This was up 6% in value terms in the fourth quarter to $66.2 billion, the…
White House Photo by Pete SouzaWarren Buffett is out on another whale hunt acquisition today. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) and 3G Capital are acquiring food giant H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ). The terms…
ThinkstockWhole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFM) may be a great company at selling great products at a premium, and it may be able to have far higher margins that traditional grocery stores. Now it appears…
courtesy of Cisco SystemsCisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is out with its quarterly earnings report. The technology and communications equipment giant reported earnings of $0.51 EPS and $12.1 billion in revenue. The Thomson Reuters…
courtesy Best Buy Co. Inc.Shares of Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) have just dropped right before the closing bell. The word is out that founder Richard Schulze is considering alternatives to a formal…
courtesy of Groupon Inc.Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is a troubled company under questionable leadership where IPO investors have been crushed. Long gone are the days of a $6 billion or $7 billion buyout offer…
ThinkstockThe recession and the housing bust are getting farther and farther away and must be part of everyone’s distant memory. A company called Taylor Morrison Home Corporation is soon to come public in an…
Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors, Inc. is a hedge fund manager that can move stocks. The newest 13-F filing at the SEC shows that he made some significant portfolio changes as of the end…
courtesy of Cisco SystemsCisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) may have had trouble over the past couple of years in growing its share price, but now hours ahead of earnings the stock is about 1.5%…
Insiders are still selling shares. Most investors have heard that Eric Schmidt is selling out of about $2.5 billion worth of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) shares, but there are many other large insider selling…