Home Prices Rose Even More Than Expected in 2012
ThinkstockIf you go back a year or so ago, the economy was still chugging along with low employment growth and the public was unsure if the uptick in home prices was going to stick.…
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Jon C. Ogg
Another ARM Downgrade Brings Up Valuation Concerns in Mobile Chips (ARMH, INTC, AMD, QCOM, NVDA, SOXX, UBS)
ThinkstockFor the fourth time in just over two weeks, ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) has been downgraded. London-based Numis Group downgraded ARM Holdings, which also trades on the London exchange, to Hold from Buy but lifted…
Insiders Dump $400 Million Worth of Five Below Stock
Five Below Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVE) has enjoyed a rather good run since its 2012 initial public offering. The company sells products that cost under $5 and are supposed to be targeted towards children. Now…
Analyst Dick Bove Sees Major Bank Stocks Rising 30% in 2013 (BAC, C, JPM, GS, MS, PNC, STI, CMA, FRC, XLF)
ThinkstockWhen well-known analysts make a major price call, investors and Wall St. usually listen. Outspoken bank analyst Richard Bove has done just that. The former Ladenburg Thalman and Rochdale securities analyst recently landed at Rafferty Capital…
Q4 GDP Turned Negative After 13 Quarters of Expansion, Recession Talk Resumes
The Commerce Department is confirming the worst fears of the economic worrywarts. Gross domestic product for the fourth quarter of 2012 came in negative rather than positive. This headline news almost certainly will dominate…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AMZN, MT, CSCO, GLNG, HOG, JBLU, KBH, LEN, OPEN, PLD, PFE, RMD, SAP, TPX, USB, WBSN, YUM)
Jon OggThese are this Wednesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) cut to Outperform at CLSA and maintained Outperform and target raised to $334…
DJIA 14,000 Still Offers More Big Upside for Stocks in 2013
January has been one great month for equity investors. With the Dow Jones Industrial Average up about 6.5% and challenging 14,000 again, and the S&P up more than 5.5% back above 1,500, investors have…
Amazon.com Regains Ground on Operating Margin
By Steve Jurvetson CC-BY-2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAmazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has reported its important fourth quarter earnings report. Operating income increased 56% to $405 million in the fourth quarter. The retailer of almost everything…
S&P Sees Caution in Netflix Ratings
Wikimedia Creative Commons, JohnnyMrNinjaNetflix, Inc. (NASDAQ: NFLX) is back! Are its finances? After things got so bad that investors were starting to call for the end of Reed Hastings’ tenure as CEO and after…
PIIGS Watch: Greece Continues To Lure Back Investment
ThinkstockThe Euro meltdown seen in 2012 looked as though it was going to bounce Greek out of the monetary union. That was then. We have noted on several occasions how investment is sneaking back…
5-Year Treasury Auction Confirms Trend Continuation of Higher Interest Rates
ThinkstockAre investors still buying Treasury notes with their low rates of return? It seems so, although interest rates have been ticking higher as investors are committing new funds to stocks paying dividends rather than…
Amazon Earnings Preview: All About Margin and Growth Out to 2015
ThinkstockAmazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) is set to report earnings on Tuesday after the close. The online retail giant which now sells almost everything is expected to report earnings of $0.29 EPS on a sales…
UBS and Oppenheimer Very Negative on BlackBerry 10 Launch (UBS, AAPL, GOOG, RIMM, T, VZ, S)
ThinkstockThis week’s highly anticipated launch of Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) BlackBerry 10 (BB10) operating system could well prove to be the defining moment for the troubled company. With the stock price having…
How Low Can Junk Bond Spreads Go?
Frank Golhen, via Wikimedia Commons24/7 Wall St. tracks the spreads that corporations have to pay above Treasury rates to fund their cost of borrowing. This is one key barometer for measuring the market’s risk…
Boston Scientific Turnaround Finally Begins to Take Shape
ThinkstockBoston Scientific Corp. (NYSE: BSX) is trading higher today after earnings and after a restructuring direction has been set. Unfortunately for its investors, Boston Scientific remains a story of an endless turnaround that just…
The Real Problem with VMware and Virtualization (VMW, EMC, CTXS, RHT)
ThinkstockVMware Inc. (NYSE: VMW) is getting to spend its turn inside the barrel after earnings. The report itself was not so bad, but guidance and the implications allowed Wall St. brokerage firms to run…
Consumer Confidence Tanks, Setting Bad Tone for Jobs and Unemployment
The Conference Board’s monthly report on consumer confidence in the month of January is out, and the number is not pretty. The reading came to 58.6, which is the weakest reading in more than…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ANF, AM, AHT, BIIB, BMC, CAT, CLH, DLR, EQIX, IDTI, LGF, RT, STX, SBUX, TSN, VMW)
Jon OggThese are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen from Wall St. research calls this Tuesday. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) raised to Outperform at BMO. American Greetings Corp.…
Compass Point Boldly Upgrades Homebuilders to Buy (KBH, LEN, SPF, RYL, BZH, PHM)
ThinkstockWe have written at great length about the resurgence of homebuilding in the United States. Like any other sector, if you go long enough without production, demand catches up with supply. Doomsday scenario forecasters…
Berkshire Hathaway Files to Raise Capital
ThinkstockBerkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) is about to raise some new debt financing. An SEC filing S-3ASR from Warren Buffett and friends was filed on behalf of the Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corporation unit to…