The markets saw broad selling pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average down another 207 points to the bottom of the correction range. From a technical standpoint the DJIA the down broke through support at 13,041; but is still above the numerically significant 13,000 level.

The NYSE had volume of 3.8 billion shares with 440 shares advancing while 2,924 declined for a loss of 174.59 points to close at 9,254.27. On the NASDAQ, 2 billion shares traded, 797 advanced and 2,234 declined for a loss of 43.12 to 2,499.12.

With all the market volatility, options continued to be very active. In options there were 7.6 million puts and 6.2 million calls traded for a put/call open interest ratio of 1.21. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) saw heavy volume on the January 45 calls (KOAI) with over 44,000 options trading. General Motors (NYSE: GM) tallied volume on the August 30 calls (GMHF) with over 31,000 options trading. American Express (NYSE: AXP) saw heavy volume on the January 60 calls (AXPAL) with over 28,000 options trading. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) moved heavy volume on the August 45 puts (HDTI) with over 90,000 options trading.

Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Disclosure note: Mr. Kersten owns and or controls a diversified portfolio of long and short positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.

Tuesday Market Rap: KO, GM, HD & AXP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ooooh yes, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) is a value, and it will be all the more so if this market takes a summer swoon, or global markets shift, or big caps take the lead. If you are just starting out and want to have a diversified solid foundation, this is a good stock to start with. You will also be a part of a special club receiving the golden words of Buffett in the annual report, although they are on the BRK website for all to see already.

Buffett will not be able to turn BRK.A or B into a 10-fer or a 5-fer over the next few years, but he can beat the overall market, and if he does it again it would surprise no one. According to AOL Money & Finance, this stock has a P/E three points below the DJIA, a low enough P/S and P/B that would make it pop-up on all my stock screens (except that I want dividends so it never has), consistent expansion of its ROE, and low debt -- and that spells value to me.

• Price-to-earnings P/E: 14.92 (TTM)
• Price-to-sales P/S: 1.71 (TTM)
• Price-to-book P/B: 1.55 (TTM)
• Price-to-cash-flow P/CF: 14.03 (TTM)
• Return-on-equity ROE: 11.02 (TTM)
• Long Term Debt-to-Equity (MRQ) 0.3
• Dividend Yield 0.0%

This five year chart is indicative of a pattern with BRK.B (B-Shares are almost affordable, A-Shares are not) where the stock trades in a tight range, moves up to catch up with earnings and equity expansion and then trades within a tight range for a few more years. My rationalization for this is that the stock is as boring as Buffett's acquisitions (his famous words) and because of its high share price, low trading volume (it does not even meet S&P threshold for inclusion) and lack of startling press releases, there is always a time lag between the build-up of equity and the market's appreciation of same. However, at the first sign of market weakness this safe haven may jump off the $3600 share price it has been straddling for almost a year.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Berkshire Hathaway -- the time is now

Chasing Value: Berkshire Hathaway -- the time is now originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In Part 1 of this series, I found two possible candidates for my Dow value picks, Alcoa Aluminum (NYSE: AA) and American International Group (NYSE: AIG). Here we review the next five DJIA stocks, searching for further value in light of the frequent new Dow highs. Lately, the Dow seems to be benefiting from the number of companies with growing international business, its higher than S&P average yields (2.3 vs 1.8 as a whole), and the safe haven nature of large caps in a precocious market.

AT&T (NYSE: T) -- Like most of the Dow stocks, T pays a high yield, currently 3.5%, and like the others it pays it consistently. This company is the aggregation of SBC, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, Bell-South, AT&T long distance and Cingular Wireless. It is the only one of today's five stocks that I have owned (separately as AT&T and SBC), but I do not own any shares of AT&T now and I do not care to. After all of the expansion done by mergers and acquisitions and only limited internal growth, I am not sure what the upside is.

How much pricing power will the new AT&T have, given ongoing competition in each segment of its business from other wireless carriers, cable television, and VoIP? Considering all of the recent M&A activity, it seems to have relatively low debt and huge cash flow. It also has a P/S, P/B, and P/CF in the lower range of most stocks. But a P/E over 20 is too high given that I do not see where future growth will come from. It seems to me for every competitive battle AT&T might win on one front they may lose an equal amount on another. All things considered, this stock seem fairly priced with limited near-term upside.

Continue reading Serious Money: Whittling away at the Dow - T, BA, CAT, C, & KO: Part 2

Serious Money: Whittling away at the Dow - T, BA, CAT, C, & KO: Part 2 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 May 2007 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Why in the world would it take so long for someone to create a natural version of the real thing. Healthier Coke? Only in Israel. While the motives of the Israeli Coca-Cola distributers involved making a version of the mixture for use on special occassions (it's already kosher) while still maintaining the same taste, there are many natural colas on the market and this was long overdue. If Coca-Cola Co.'s (NYSE: KO) marketing guys are smart, they will promote the natural formula next to competitors in health food stores everywhere.

It's only month four of my review of Chasing down 007 picks: Index beats Cramer -- value trumps growth. So now even Cramer is openly referring to his Mad Money TV show as more entertainment than investing advice -- good thing, because he is falling behind all of the major indices after four months. This could very well change, but Warren Buffett, he's not.

No one has yet to explain AMZN numbers to me after several posts last week pleading for an explanation. It turns out that there might not be a good rational because BWS Financial downgraded Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) to Hold from Buy citing valuation -- NO KIDDING! -- and corporate officers and directors are selling via the exercising of stock options en mass.

• Price/Earnings (TTM) : 106.10
• Price/Book (MRQ) 48.55
• Price/Cash Flow (TTM) 56.05

Those of you who are new to BloggingStocks.com can check out my other stories and read Chasing Value or Serious Money to find more potential opportunities and verify my track record as well.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Sunday Funnies: Coke, Cramer, & Amazon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 06 May 2007 16:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.