FeedPosted Jul 22nd 2010 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Dell (DELL), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC)
A rise in jobless claims was trumped by a housing number that was not so bad. There was also a rise in oil prices after NOAA released the path of
Tropical Depression Three, revealing that it could be a threat to the Gulf of Mexico oil infrastructure. Regardless of the market move, this was another light-volume trading day. Ben Bernanke's testimony acted as a wash between yesterday and today because his lack of growth stance yesterday was negated today with more certain comments about new tools for the FOMC to use to counter a slowdown.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,345.76 +225.23 (2.23%)
S&P 500 1,093.66 +24.07 (2.25%)
Nasdaq 2,245.89 +58.56 (2.68%)
Top Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: Taking Back the Bernanke Loss from Yesterday (WFC, GDOT, USO, GS, ACF, DELL)
Posted Jul 21st 2010 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Yahoo! (YHOO), Cintas Corp (CTAS), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Hormel Foods (HRL), Analyst Initiations, Gilead Sciences (GILD)
Analyst upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded Goldman Sachs (GS) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $190 price target following the company's Q2 results. The firm believes the company's settlement with the SEC removes an overhang on shares.
- Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Health Care REIT (HCN) to Buy from Hold based on valuation and added shares to the Stifel REIT Income List. The firm has a $47 target on the stock.
- FBR Capital upgraded Annaly Capital (NLY) to Outperform from Market Perform citing the company's surprise dividend increase. The firm has a $20 target on the stock.
- Devon Energy (DVN) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
- Overseas Shipholding (OSG) was upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at JP Morgan.
- Cintas (CTAS) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Baird.
Continue reading Analyst Calls: GS, HCN, NLY, YHOO, GILD, BBG, WLL, JOYG, BUCY
Posted Jul 20th 2010 3:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), International Business Machines (IBM), Citigroup Inc. (C), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Options, Chasing Value, Stock Picks, Ebix Inc. (EBIX), Transocean Ltd. (RIG)
Yesterday I was shocked by the response to a
poll I conducted in this very same column where I suggested that six out-of-favor stocks were a buy and would out perform the over all market. The results left me puzzled for several reasons.
For one thing I have been blogging for Aol. for over four years and I cannot remember an occasion that there was so much unanimity on anything before. I expected approximately equal votes for each of four possible responses to my question, and an appreciable number that might think I was off my rocker. Instead, I was jolted to a new reality when 84% of the respondents agreed that the six toxic stocks would outperform.
The six stocks are Bank of America (
BAC), Citigroup (
C), General Electric (
GE), BP p.l.c. (
BP), Goldman Sachs (
GS) and Transocean (
RIG). I thought I was taking a contrarian position and based on recent market activity that would seem to be the case. This raises another question. If my readers are any reflection of the market, how could the market move in the opposite direction of such overwhelming sentiment?
Continue reading Chasing Value: Shocked By Toxic Stock and Still Finding Deals
Posted Jul 20th 2010 10:00AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Goldman Sachs Group (GS)
Among the flurry of earnings announced this morning is banking behemoth Goldman Sachs (
GS). The embattled firm announced that its second-quarter
earnings fell to 78 cents per share. The bank was negatively impacted by its $550 million settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. GS also took a negative hit from a U.K. payroll tax.
Taking the two aforementioned charges out of the equation, GS would have earned $2.75 per share, easily topping the consensus estimate of $2.08. The problem is that those penalties cost the company dearly.
Continue reading Goldman Sachs Second-Quarter Earnings Fall
Posted Jul 19th 2010 2:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Chasing Value, Stocks to Buy, Stock Picks, Transocean Ltd. (RIG)
Unless you are the ultimate contrarian, Friday was not a good day for the stock market. While there are always plenty of great companies to invest in, I've chosen a group of stocks that everyone else actually hates.
The stock market was none too pleased with the earnings reports from Bank of America (
BAC), Citigroup (
C) and General Electric (
GE). I was quite surprised that the trio, which are the most heavily traded stocks on the market, jolted investors as they did. I think all three are a buy.
Not to leave out any of the recently orphaned stocks, let's add three more bad boys to the picture: BP (
BP), Goldman Sachs (
GS) and Transocean (
RIG). They have been hurt by the misdeeds of management, which resulted in crushing blows to shareholders. These three stocks are very scary: The prospects for a turnaround remain bleak in most everyone's eyes, with little chance of the negative headlines or business improvement changing the outlook anytime soon. Could the timing be right to buy these monsters too?
Continue reading Chasing Value: Buying a Toxic Portfolio -- BP, RIG, C, GS, BAC and GE
Posted Jul 16th 2010 11:15AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Clorox Co (CLX), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Procter and Gamble (PG), Analyst Initiations, Las Vegas Sands (LVS), BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Time Warner Cable (TWC)
Analyst upgrades:
- Oppenheimer upgraded Goldman Sachs (GS) to Outperform from Perform following the company's $550M settlement with the SEC. Opco has a $213 price target for Goldman shares. BofA/Merrill upgraded Goldman Sachs to Buy from Neutral and raised its price target to $182 from $160.
- Wells Fargo upgraded JP Morgan (JPM) to Outperform from Market Perform following the company's Q2 results citing valuation and lower credit costs. The firm keeps a valuation range for shares of $48-$51.
- Goldman upgraded Murphy Oil (MUR) to Buy from Neutral and has a $61 price target on the stock. The firm cites Murphy's Eagle Ford growth and valuation for the upgrade.
- Precision Cast (PCP) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
- Pride International (PDE) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies.
- BHP Billiton (BHP) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at HSBC.
Continue reading Analyst Calls: GS, JPM, BHP, HES, VVUS, SNE, PG, MGM, HUM
Posted Jul 15th 2010 5:45PM by Paul Foster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Goldman Sachs Group (GS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP)
Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (
GS) is recently trading at $148.97 in after hours trading, above its close of $145.22. The SEC is expected to make a significant announcement today today concerning GS. GS is expected to announce Q2 EPS on July 20. GS total option volume today was 200K contracts. August put option implied volatility is at 39, October is at 38; near its six-month average of 37, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement
BP plc (
BP) rallied 9% to $39.44 after saying oil flow stopped as part of the well integrity test. BP call option volume of 226K contracts compares to put volume of 144K. BP August put option implied volatility is at 59, below a level of 68 from July 15 according to Track Data, suggesting less risk.
Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.comPosted Jul 13th 2010 11:40AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Aetna Inc (AET), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Analyst Initiations, Urban Outfitters (URBN)
Analyst Upgrades
- Deutsche Bank upgraded Illinois Tool Works (ITW) to buy from hold, citing valuation and the company's strong revenue performance. The firm has a $60 price target for shares.
- Goldman upgraded PPD Inc. (PPDI) to buy from hold and raised its price target to $31 from $28. The firm expects strong top line growth and bookings momentum for the upgrade.
- Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Insituform Technologies (INSU) to buy from hold based on higher estimates for sewer rehab and energy. The firm has a $31 target on the stock.
- Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
- Wisconsin Energy (WEC) and Northeast Utilities (NU) were upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
- Rockwell Collins (COL) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
Continue reading Analyst Calls: AON, AMED, C, GS, HEW, ITW, JPM, MS, PPDI, TLB, URBN ...
Posted Jul 6th 2010 11:30AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Analyst Initiations
Analyst Upgrades
- Soleil upgraded Thor Industries (THO) to buy from hold after the company said its accounting review will not lead to changes to previously taken accounting positions. The firm raised its target for shares to $45 from $28.
- Citigroup upgraded Family Dollar (FDO) to buy from hold, citing valuation and its positive view on the dollar store industry. The firm upped its target for shares to $47 from $44.
- Wells Fargo upgraded Albany Molecular (AMRI) to outperform from market perform, citing valuation and a stabilizing core business.
- Goldman Sachs (GS) upgraded to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
- Patterson-UTI Energy (PTEN) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Barclays.
- BP (BP) was raised to buy from hold at RBS.
Continue reading Analyst Calls: AMAT, AMRI, BP, BUCY, DB, FDO, GS, ISIL, THO ...
Posted Jun 29th 2010 3:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other Issues, Rants and Raves, Market Matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Initial Public Offerings, Technology
The long awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Tesla Motors (TSLA) stock hit the market at $17.00 a share and it is up in a down market, trading between $18 and $19 throughout Tuesday morning.
I say stay away. First and foremost, investors should take note of the fact that most IPO's end up as losing propositions. In the case of Tesla, which lost over $55.7 million last year and will lose more this year, the bleeding has just begun.
The car manufacturing business is very capital intensive and Tesla only hopes to stem the tide in 2012 when it projects a production run of 20,000 Model S all electric sedans for $50,000 each.
Continue reading Tesla IPO: Hot Stock or Portfolio Shock?
Posted Jun 22nd 2010 3:30PM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Goldman Sachs Group (GS)
The Wall Street Journal has been all over Goldman Sachs (
GS) during the past couple of days. First the firm was
given an extension to respond to the SEC's lawsuit involving disclosures concerning a collaterlized debt obligation related to subprime mortgages. The previous deadline for a response was Monday, but U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones gave GS until July 19 to answer the SEC. According to the SEC, GS did not tell investors that Paulson & Co. helped select the underlying portfolio for a hedge fund.
Continue reading Goldman Sachs Looking at an Image Makeover?
Posted Jun 22nd 2010 3:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, General Electric (GE), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Brazil, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Mexico, Canada, Serious Money, Israel
There are many places that Warren Buffett may choose to invest Berkshire Hathaway (
BRK.A /
BRK.B) capital. At the same time you can be sure there are places he will not set foot. It is not likely he will invest anywhere that does not have a vibrant, well-established stock market with a stable government. So, Mr. Hugo Chavez in Venezuela will not likely see any capital deployed from the likes of
"my pal Warren" any time soon.
As a matter of fact, I would put the chances at slim of any South American country, besides Brazil, getting a look at all. Brazil is just too big and too vibrant to ignore. I would rule out Africa entirely except for indirect investments in oil and minerals through large conglomerates. The closest thing in the region would be Israel, at the furthest western reaches of Asia. He has already invested there and there is a high probability he would again. Investors from most of Europe and Asia have done the same, although many would rather not discuss it.
He has also invested in China, Great Britain, South Korea, and Switzerland. I would expect more money to be plowed into all of them again without reservation if the right deal materialized.
Continue reading Serious Money: Buffett Looking Beyond Our Borders -- Part 3
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After Goldman Sachs (
Trying to figure out what Warren Buffett will invest in next is no small task. Although, you can bet it will not be small. In fact, he may try to acquire whole companies because anything else might not move the needle when it comes to increasing shareholder value at Berkshire Hathaway (
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