State Street (NYSE: STT) is recently trading at $24.30 in pre-open trading, below its close of $36.35. STT reported Q4 EPS of 15 cents on net income of $65 million, compared to net income of $223 million, or 57 cents per share in Q4 2007. STT February option implied volatility is at 88, February is at 84; above its 26-week average of 73, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Bank of New York (NYSE: BK) is recently trading at $21.39 in pre-open trading, below its close of $23.36. BK is expected to report Q4 EPS on January 22. BK February option implied volatility of 87 is above its 26-week average of 69, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Northern Trust (NASDAQ: NTRS) is recently down $4.58 to $46.50 in pre-open trading. NTRS is expected to report Q4 EPS on January 21. NTRS option implied volatility of 99 is above its 26-week average of 71, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: State Street volatility elevated; shares down on financial outlook originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman upgraded the Brokers and Asset Management sector to Attractive from Neutral as they believe an inflection point has been reached for stocks with minimal credit exposure, or where exposure is marked to market. Goldman expects the problem to shift to regional banks and specialty finance from brokers. As such, Goldman upgraded American Express (NYSE: AXP), Metlife (NYSE: MET), Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE: BK), Franklin Resources (NYSE: BEN), Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS) and NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) to Buy from Neutral.
  
• Wachovia upgraded Pacific Sunwear (NASDAQ: PSUN) to Outperform from Market Perform based on valuation, merchandising improvements, operating efficiencies, favorable product mix, and reductions in underperforming categories.
  
• Rodman & Renshaw raised Metabasis (NASDAQ: MBRX) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation given the potential for MB07803.

• HSBC raised Novartis (NYSE: NVS) to Neutral from Underweight.
  
• UBS (NYSE: UBS) was upgraded at Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight from Underweight.

Analyst upgrades: AXP, MET, BK, NYX, PSUN and NVS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Apr 2008 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bank of New York (NYSE: BK) is scheduled to report Q1 EPS on April 17.

BK has more than $23 trillion in assets under custody and administration and more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management.

BK call option volume of 5,199 contracts compares to put volume of 10,438 contracts. BK April option implied volatility of 56 is above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Option Update: Bank of New York put volume & volatility elevated into EPS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he offers advice to investors who are just getting started.

If you own a bank stock, you know how brutal the stock market can be. Many are down more than 50% as the subprime mortgage mess continues to shock all investors. But some banks are being punished for being a bank, not for mortgages they don't even own.

Not all banks are the same. Most banks make mortgage loans to several different kinds of buyers for different types of properties: existing homes, new construction, and/or commercial buildings. Or they only make loans to well-qualified buyers, ones with good income and high FICO scores (your credit score). Still others make no mortgages at all, have a diversified revenue stream and are only guilty of being called banks. Finally, there are banks that have a large percentage of their revenues from international lending. Smart investors will look for all of these types and start investing a small amount in several of them, then wait for the rally that will inevitably come.

Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Don't be afraid of bank stocks

Comfort Zone Investing: Don't be afraid of bank stocks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• According to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard on the Street," as the economy continues to slow and the credit markets face further turmoil, high-profile companies like Countrywide Financial Corporation (NYSE: CFC) and The Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) are cutting back on buybacks as their shares drop.
• The New York Times reported that BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK) is expected to be the main asset manager for a $75B fund being created by Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup Incorporated (NYSE: C), and JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) to help stabilize the market fJor asset-backed securities, according to a source. The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) is reportedly a leading contender to be a custodian of the fund.

• A ruling in Vodafone Group Plc's (NYSE: VOD) favor may cause Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) to rethink its business model for the iPhone device. The injunction against Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE: DT)'s T-Mobile unit may force Apple to "unlock" its iPhones, the UK Times reported.
• Struggling airline UAL Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA), along with its unit United Airlines, is struggling, but finding a carrier willing to merge may be a problem, BusinessWeek speculated.

Newspaper wrap-up: Countrywide, Home Depot cut back on buybacks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bank of New York-Mellon earnings don't impress originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

PepsiCo is scheduled to give its Q4 earnings review via live webcast on Thursday February 8, 2007. The PepsiCo website states that "the live webcast will be accessible through PepsiCo's website at http://www.pepsico.com, and will be archived for replay at the same website for a period of 14 days."

Based on estimates which PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) reaffirmed on October 20, 2006 in this press announcement, PepsiCo is expecting EPS of at least $3.31 prior to the effects of a completed tax settlement and a fourth quarter restructuring of manufacturing flow. PepsiCo states that core EPS should be at least $2.98. I'm expecting a penny or two more. The general consensus on investment blogs and message boards is that PepsiCo is doing well and will continue to do so. There's even some dialog about a stock split if PepsiCo reaches and holds $70 a share.

For third quarter 2006 PepsiCo had an impressive gain of 73% in EPS over the previous year but that was due in part to tax effects involved in the repatriation of cash in the year 2005. PepsiCo stated; "Excluding the impact of the prior year tax charge, EPS increased 12%.

An item of very significant interest is the fact that PepsiCo now offers a direct stock purchase plan via The Bank of New York. For as little as $260 you may now open an investment account and purchase PepsiCo shares. After your initial investment you may then add funds in increments as small as $50, and you may even set up your account for automatic monthly deposits. The fees associated with the Pepsico direct share purchase plan are almost non-existent. Review the purchase plan booklet I've linked to. I think you'll be pleased. They, with the assistance of Bank of New York, have made it very easy and inexpensive for you to become a share holder of the company. It's a situation which I myself plan to become involved with.

Playing into my declaration that water is a word for investors to watch for this year, PepsiCo will be pushing a new variation on its Aquafina brand. Aquafina Alive is a vitamin and flavor enhanced water which will be available in three flavor combinations.

Gary E. Sattler intends to take a position in Pepsico this year.

Also check out some other earnings reports that we're following, and let us know what you're expecting.

Preview: PepsiCo earnings report should be a quencher originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For the past two years I have been given 50 free (online) stock trades associated with my Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE:WFC) Portfolio Management Account (PMA). I do not make anywhere near this many trades and do not expect to -- even in the next five years. So for me it makes all trading free. The PMA account has been convenient in many ways because it ties together my equity line, cash management, checking, credit cards, and stock accounts.

Recently, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) has done the same thing and offered me 100 free trades. This seems to be the new direction in banking and relationship management. Telecommunications and cable networks are bundling services as well to increase revenue and make the relationship "stickier."

But as the banking services become similar, it's likely I will drop one bank for another and consolidate accounts further. This will likely happen a lot.

So who loses out? For me, in the short run it is likely to be Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ:SCHW) because it still charges me for trading. Without the same network of branches as its competitors, it loses out on face-to-face contact as well. To mitigate this, I think Schwab will have to continue migrating its services toward asset management and banking and be forced to mimic the services of its competitors.

Mellon Bank / Mellon Financial Corp. (NYSE:MEL) (recently acquired by The Bank of New York Co., Inc. (NYSE:BK)) is also at a disadvantage (although it is not a retail bank and holds our business accounts only.) Mellon has been trying for years to increase the depth of our relationship, but for whatever reason has not elected to tie its services together and cannot compete with the full breadth of services offered by Wells and B of A. To its credit, however, Mellon has offered a high level of service for our many enterprises, and I doff my hat to Fred, Roger, Lynn, Janet, Tamara, Josh, German and Caesar in the Century City office. Without that valuable face-to-face relationship with them, we'd probably be gone.

The price competition in stock trading and the consolidation of the industry has been, and will continue to be, forefront in the business news for years to come. E*Trade, Scott Trade, Fidelity and TD Ameritrade are all beating each other up with free trading offers, discounts to new clients, banking opportunities and more. You can find these amazing offers spread throughout the AOL Money and Finance pages and every other financial web outlet.

The very word "Bank" has become more and more obsolete, while "Financial Institution" becomes ever more relevant. For the consumer, the opportunities are expanding as the services and price competition keep increasing. Who do you "bank" with? Who do you "trade" with? Is there a better term than financial institution?

Check out my other posts for BloggingStocks here. and be sure and read You don't have to be 007 to find the best picks for 2007!

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm.

B of A follows Wells Fargo into free trading originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bank of NY/Mellon: Once Again, Bigger Is Better originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 17:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This morning, The Bank of New York Company (NYSE: BK) announced the $16.8 billion stock acquisition of Mellon Financial Corporation (NYSE: MEL). Combined, the companies will have about $12.5 billion of annual revenue, rank first worldwide with more than $16 trillion of assets under custody, and rank in the top 10 with more than $1.1 trillion of assets under management.

The BK/MEL deal makes sense because securities processing -- managing the paperwork and information flows between buyers and sellers of stocks and bonds and all the parties in between -- is a scale sensitive business. In other words, the bigger you are, the lower are your costs to process a transaction. And the lower your unit cost, the more leeway you have in price cutting to win lucrative contracts.

The stock market appears to like the deal -- BK is up 8.4% and MEL has risen 5% in pre-market trading. Usually the acquirer's stock drops on such announcements so this is an unusual vote of confidence.

This deal is likely to spur more such deals and State Street Corporation (NYSE: STT) and Northern Trust Corporation (NYSE: NTRS) are two of the most likely merger candidates. STT has $11.3 trillion in assets under custody -- $8 trillion more than NTRS's $3.3 trillion. STT could acquire NTRS since its $20 billion market capitalization is $8 billion more than NTRS's.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, and a Professor of Management at Babson College. He has no financial interest in Bank of New York, Mellon Financial, Northern Trust or State Street.

Bank of New York buys Mellon: Are State Street and Northern Trust next? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stock futures were a little higher on a fair value basis early this morning, pointing to a similar start to stocks.

There are no economic data of note released today. Oil prices were lower as OPEC, worried about the weakening dollar, is leaning towards further production cuts. However, Hugo Chavez claimed reelection was widely expected.

What's really making headlines this morning, a story that's been developing over the weekend, is Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE). The world's largest drugmaker saw its shares sinking as much as 12% in Frankfurt after it had announced it would halt the development of a key new cholesterol treatment, torcetrapib, due to safety concerns and higher death rates in trials. On the NYSE, some analysts are predicting PFE shares, which have closed at $27.86 on Friday, would plunge to $20.

The other big news item today is the announcement that Bank of New York Co. (NYSE:BK) will merge with Mellon Financial Corp. (NYSE:MEL) creating the world's largest securities servicing and asset management firm -- Bank of New York Mellon Corp. -- with $16.6 trillion under custody. In the announced stock deal, Mellon will pay a premium of about 6.5% over Bank of New York shares, worth $28.4 billion.

In other corporate news:

Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) announced it is buying two micro-chip businesses to boost its core wireless technology product offerings. While the deals, to close in December, would be dilutive in 2007, they should be slightly accretive in 2008. Qualcomm is buying the majority of microchip maker RF Micro Devices Inc.'s (NASDAQ:RFMD) Bluetooth assets for $39 million and paying an undisclosed amount of cash to buy privately-owned startup Airgo Networks Inc.

LSI Logic Corp. (NYSE:LSI) announced it will purchase competitor Agere Systems Inc. (NYSE:AGR) for $4 billion in all stock deal.

Finally, on Friday after the bell, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) surprisingly announced that Chief Financial Officer Al G. de Molina will resign at the end of the year after only 15 months in the position. He will be succeeded by executive Joe Price.

Before the bell 12-4-06: Pfizer pressures down but banks lift market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 07:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.