Markets made solid gains today moving well in the green. There are a couple of factors that helped lift the market. It is a natural bounce back from the correction; risk of the sub-prime market is coming off the table with the government's attention and intervention, and the summer is ending and we are headed into the fall a time the market typically does better in.

The NYSE had volume of 2.1 billion shares with 2,321 shares advancing while 995 declined for a gain of 101.66 points to close at 9,698.64. On the NASDAQ, 1.6 billion shares traded, 1,969 advanced and 1,065 declined for a gain of 33.88 to 2,630.24.

SILVER STANDARD RESOURCES INC (NASDAQ: SSRI) rose $1.81 (6%) to $31.02. Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) gained $1.26 (5%) to $27.93. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) moved higher $5.68 (4%) to $144.16.

In options there were 3.5 million puts and 4.5 million calls traded for a put/call ratio of 0.78. There were a couple of options that had heavy volume that cought our attention. BankAmerica Corp. (NYSE: BAC) saw heavy volume on the September 47.50 calls (BACIW) with over 103,000 options trading and the September 45 calls (BACII) moved 90,000 options. BAC pays a dividend, so this may be dividend arbitrage. Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw heavy volume on the September 145 calls (APVII) with over 35,000 options trading. Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) rose $1.24 (5%) to $23.97. Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) saw heavy volume on the January 30 calls (YHQAF) with over 24,000 options trading and the September 25 calls (YHQIE) moved over 23,000 options trading. Bear Stearns reiterated Yahoo at outperform and tech was strong in general today.

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.

Monday Market Rap: YHOO, EK, SSRI, BAC & AAPL originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Sep 2007 17:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Onward with my review of the Dow Jones Industrials. Ten stocks have been reviewed so far with three worth further consideration as potential value plays: Alcoa Aluminum (NYSE: AA), American International Group (NYSE: AIG) and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT). You can link to Part 1 of this series or Part 2 if you want to catch up. Comments are always welcome.

Disney (Walt) Company (NYSE: DIS) on first glance looks like it may have some value hidden away. The raw numbers do not scream out at me but they cannot be ignored either. At a minimum this stock seems to be slightly under valued, given its strong brand and depth of content in a business where content is king, it has locked up many franchises. This includes the Pirates of the Caribbean: At the World's End now in theaters. It has an average P/E, a below average debt ratio, a modest dividend yield to go along with very low P/S 2.18 and P/B 2.36 ratios. Disney is worth consideration as a value stock.

DuPont EI De Nemours (NYSE: DD) is another mixed bag, although mostly favorable from a value standpoint. You have to like the below average P/E of 14.92, P/S of 1.77 and the generous dividend yield of 2.84%. On the other hand, it has a P/B of almost 5, which is higher than I would usually consider for a value play and the same is true for the P/CF of almost 12.29, which is a little bit pricey to me. It does report strong profit margins of 11.48% and a great ROE of 34.41. In comparing it to one of my stock picks Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) for 2007, which has a P/S and P/B of half of DuPont and a higher yield of 3.67% I think I will pass this one up.

Continue reading Serious Money: Whittling away at the Dow -- DIS, DD, XOM, & GE: Part 3

Serious Money: Whittling away at the Dow -- DIS, DD, XOM, & GE: Part 3 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 31 May 2007 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.