Bank of America posts
FeedPosted Apr 5th 2011 11:00AM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Forecasts, Market Matters, Bank of America (BAC), Economic Data
Fourth quarter GDP ended on a uptrend, coming in at 3.1%. The state of the economy was healthy and it looked like growth would continue to match or exceed Q4. Based on that scenario, Bank of America (BAC) analyst Ethan Harris, forecast first-quarter 2011 GDP to come in at 3.3%.
But in the few short months of 2011, the world is getting turned upside down. The conflict in Libya has cut OPEC oil production and sent oil prices skyrocketing. In turn, the price of gasoline is nearing $4.00 per gallon. And food processors are raising prices due to higher raw commodity prices. These two factors have put a dent in the household budget.
Continue reading Bank of America Cuts First-Quarter GDP Forecast
Posted Apr 4th 2011 10:00AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), Merck and Co (MRK), Bargain Stocks, Chasing Value™, Oil, Stocks to Buy, Newcastle Investment (NCT), Raytheon Company (RTN), EZCORP (EZPW), Stock Picks, Telefonica SA (TEF), Noble Corporation (NE)

It should surprise no one that oil stocks have taken the lead in the first quarter, while financial stocks -- after a good two-year run -- have been tamed. This is how things have shaped up through the first quarter for my 2011 stock picks. (For a look at my original picks, see here:
part 1, part 2, and
part 3.)
Normally, if I said a business was underwater, investors would think the worst. Actually, in the summer Noble Corp (
NE) was underwater -- and investors were not impressed. However, this was a great buying opportunity, and although the company is still underwater, it is also a market leader among my stock picks and the overall market -- even among oil industry players. With its fleet of 69 offshore drilling rigs, Noble stands tall.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks Q1 Review -- A Platform for Success
Posted Mar 24th 2011 11:30AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Wal-Mart (WMT), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Bank of America (BAC), Red Hat Inc (RHT), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Smithfield Foods (SFD), Analyst Initiations
Analyst Upgrades
- Red Hat (RHT) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
- Cogdell Spencer (CSA) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
- Micron (MU) to neutral from reduce at Nomura.
- El Paso Electric (EE) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
- MICROS Systems (MCRS) and Harmony Gold (HMY) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
- Meridian Bioscience (VIVO) to buy from hold at Canaccord.
- Verso Paper (VRS) to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
- Sony (SNE) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
- Noble Corp. (NE) and Baker Hughes (BHI) to buy from neutral at UBS.
- Tyson Foods (TSN) and Smithfield Foods (SFD) to buy from hold at BB&T.
Continue reading Analyst Calls: BAC, BHI, KKR, MU, NE, RHT, SNE, TSN, WMT ...
Posted Mar 24th 2011 9:10AM by Trefis (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Bank of America (BAC), Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW), Options, E*TRADE (ETFC)
Charles Schwab (SCHW) has announced its decision to acquire optionsXpress (OXPS) in a friendly all-stock deal. This deal will help Schwab compete with other firms like E-Trade (ETFC), Ameritrade (AMTD), and Bank of America (BAC), which all have large online brokerage services and are vying to provide investors with the best tools and services.
The deal, which is expected to close by the third quarter of 2011, will cost Schwab $1 billion, and the company will issue 60 million new shares to swap each outstanding share of optionsXpress with 1.02 of its own shares. Our $19.74 price estimate for Charles Schwab is at a premium of almost 12% to its current market value.
Continue reading Chuck Adds optionsXpress to Schwab's Portfolio
Posted Mar 12th 2011 10:30AM by Ted Allrich (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), Comfort Zone Investing
Banks are back in the news -- in a good way. Speculation is that mergers and acquisitions will be picking up, so are profits. Some are looking to raise their dividend and/or buy back more shares. Bank of America (BAC) is one of them.
The CEO, Brian Moynihan, announced that B of A wasn't looking to buy other banks. Instead, the bank would be focused on returning more capital to shareholders in the form of a regular dividend (now 4 cents a year), share buybacks and special cash dividends. The reason: he feels the bank will earn between $35 billion and $40 billion a year (yes, billion ... a year) in pretax earnings when the business normalizes. (But there's the catch: when does business get to normal?)
Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Are the Banks Back?
Posted Mar 11th 2011 3:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Market Matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Bargain Stocks, Chasing Value™, S and P 500, Financial Crisis, Stock Picks, Transocean Ltd. (RIG)

Back in the summer of 2010 when the market was down, the gulf was full of spewing oil and investors were running away from bad news stocks shocked most notably by BP (
BP) oil spill, I decided to post
a contrarian story reminding readers that the fear was overblown and created a buying opportunity.
"My pal Warren" has said for years that we should buy on fear and sell on greed. The toxic stock portfolio was a result of this sentiment.
This is the fourth update to my ranting eight months ago that acquiring six of the most hated, and most highly traded stocks with constant negative headlines would outperform the overall market. The theory has born fruit as the toxic stocks are ahead and the difference is increasing over time.
Continue reading Chasing Value: Toxic Stock Update #4 -- BAC, BP, C, GE, GS, RIG
Posted Mar 10th 2011 1:00PM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Newsletters, Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Bank of America (BAC), Best Buy (BBY), Campbell Soup (CPB), Stocks to Buy
"Even when the market is up a lot, you can always find some good stocks that have been left behind but could be on the verge of a rebound," says George Putnam.
The editor of The Turnaround Letter explains, "That's where we suggest you focus your efforts right now. These eight stocks all have strong business franchises and have all significantly lagged the market over the last two years.
"In fact, several of them are still trading near or even below where they were in early 2009. Here, we look at Bank of America (BAC), Best Buy (BBY), Campbell Soup (CPB), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Microsoft (MSFT) and Sprint Nextel (S).
Continue reading Turnaround Expert: A Six-Pack of Rebound Buys
Posted Mar 4th 2011 8:30AM by Paul Foster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC), Options
iShares Barclay 20+ Year Treasury ETF (TLT) March put option implied volatility is at 15, April is at 17, June is at 19, September is at 20, compared to its 26-week average of 16, according to Track Data, suggesting larger outer month price movement.
Bank of America (BAC) overall option implied volatility of 35 is near its 26-week average of 39, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement into its March 8 analyst day.
Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
Posted Feb 25th 2011 4:00PM by Trefis (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bank of America (BAC)
Bank of America (BAC), the largest bank in the U.S. based on the level of deposits, is testing new fee structure for its checking account service, which used to be free. The new pilot program for the customers in Arizona, Georgia and Massachusetts allow the customers to apply for various account types with a monthly fees ranging from $6 to $25. The bank plans to expand the program nationally later this year. Other banks such as JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C) and Wells Fargo (WFC) have introduced new fees on the checking account service after the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill restricted banks from charging merchants processing fees on debit card transactions.
Continue reading Bank of America New Account Fees Could Add Slight Additional Upside
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