SUPERVALU Is Back in Play
SUPERVALU Inc. (NYSE: SVU) soon will be acquired. If not, it is at least looking like the troubled grocery store chain operator is back in play. SUPERVALU has been in the buyout rounds before today,…
All Work
Jon C. Ogg
More Big Special Dividends (CATO, DISH, HCA)
We have more of the special dividends and dividend payout accelerations ahead of the coming fiscal cliff. Companies are trying to maximize their tax efficiency ahead of the increase of tax rates on dividend…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AAPL, BBD, BSBR, RATE, BSX, CNK, DECK, DELL, DUK, ELX, LULU, OXY, QLGC, RGC, RIMM, TEVA, VZ, WSM)
These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall St. research calls this Monday. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reiterated Buy with $800 target and raised estimates at Canaccord Genuity.…
Special Dividends Now Well Over $20 Billion … Much More to Come
The rate of special dividends from large great American companies is coming at an alarming rate. If the politicos in Washington D.C. are not paying attention to this about how taxes will adjust behavior…
Apple’s iPhone5 China Risk: Munster, Supplies, and the Coming Death-Cross
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is supposed to be a winner based on the launch of the iPhone 5 in China sooner than expected. With a December 14 now confirmed, you would think that with…
Chicago Purchasing Managers Back to Growth in November
Friday’s reading from the Chicago Purchasing Managers managed to get back above the breakeven line into positive territory. The adjusted index rose to 50.4 in November, versus 49.9 in October. Bloomberg was calling for…
Yum! CEO Out to Lunch as It Faces McDonald’s Growth Peak Woes
Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM) issued its reaffirmed guidance after the close on Thursday. The press release seemed harmless enough, as the company was reiterating guidance for 13% earnings growth in 2013. The report…
Credit Managers Regaining Some Optimism
The National Association of Credit Management’s economic report for November 2012 has shown that it has regained the losses seen back in October. The reading jumped to 55.2 in November from 54.4 in October.…
Tellabs Unleashes Huge Special Dividend
Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB) has joined in on the game of the special dividend declarations. What is so different for this one is that it is a $1.00 per share special dividend and the…
Personal Income and Spending Disappoint in October
Personal income and spending fell for the month of October, but this is yet another economic report that is marred from the impacts and uncertainty around Hurricane Sandy. Personal income was unchanged in October,…
Zynga and Facebook Altering Their Close Relationship
Shareholders are going to get to find out about what it feels like to move back toward book value in shares of Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA). The company is very dependent on Facebook Inc.…
Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (ACTV, AGN, BMY, CAG, COP, DUK, LLY, FRX, MRK, PFE, TIF, ULTA, WPI, YUM)
These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall St. research calls this Friday. Active Network Inc. (NYSE: ACTV) raised to Buy at BofA/ML. Allergan Inc. (NYSE: AGN) started as…
People Still Buying Twinkies on eBay
The shut-down of Hostess Brands has created the near-term death of Twinkies. What is so amazing is that there really are real-life character just like in Zombieland who are going to extreme measures to get a…
Oil Erases Losses for the Week
Crude oil has finally managed to break a three day losing streak and was back above $88 per barrel. Today’s gain may be nothing more than an oversold bounce, but there are some bullish…
Initial Windows 8 Sales Indicate More Hard Times For Dell, H-P, and Intel
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) was touting that it had already sold some 40 million copies of Windows 8 in recent days. Apparently that is not very good. NPD Group has a report out showing…
Exxon Mobil’s Principal Financial Officer Announces Retirement
Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) is losing another key member of the company. The oil giant (or now oil and gas giant) has announced that Donald Humphreys is retiring. The position he holds is…
Boehner Sours on Fiscal Cliff Resolution in Press Briefing
Speaker of the House John Boehner has just come out swinging about the coming fiscal cliff and the political discussions about this. Boehner said that no productive steps have been made with the White House…
Kansas City Fed Manufacturing Weakens To Worst Expectation in November
The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has now released its November Manufacturing Survey and it revealed that Tenth District manufacturing activity continued to fall in the month of November. Producers’ expectations were unchanged…
Analyst Brings Up Valuation Concern in Yahoo! with Downgrade
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has been downgraded by S&P Equity Research this morning. What is different about this call is that the downgrade is on valuation more than on the traditional execution risks and…
S&P 500 Back At Crucial 50-Day Moving Average
The market has seen better weekly jobless claims, a higher revised Q3 GDP report and better home sales data this morning. Shares are also higher on more hopes that a fiscal cliff resolution will be…