Estee Lauder (EL) closed at $49.76. EL is expected to report Q2 EPS on January 28th. February option implied volatility is at 31, April is 29; near its 26-week average of 31, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Avon Products (AVP) closed at $32.26. AVP February put option implied volatility is at 35, April puts are at 32, versus its 26-week average of 32, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Elizabeth Arden (RDEN) closed at $16.27. RDEN is expected to report Q2 EPS in early February. February and June option implied volatility of 59 is below its 26-week average of 72, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

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

Options Update: Marketers of Beauty Products Volatility Low originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Stocks suffered a scary drop on Friday. It was fitting, in a sense, since it was the day before Halloween. In fact, as this Closing Bell piece noted, there were more tricks than treats to be had on Wall Street.

There are always equities bucking the trend, however. The Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) was one of them. Bullish buyers loved the beauty company's fiscal Q1 earnings release. As has been the case with many reports, the top line wasn't the fun part of the document: Estee Lauder saw a decrease of 2.7% for adjusted revenues. Here's the item of interest: net income after charges was 85 cents per share, more than three times what was made in the comparable frame.

Continue reading Estee Lauder's earnings explode to the upside in Q1

Estee Lauder's earnings explode to the upside in Q1 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Estee Lauder (EL) rises on Q3 earnings

Estee Lauder (EL) rises on Q3 earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 May 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Unlike a certain former governor of Illinois, I'm not afraid to admit it when I'm wrong. So, when I noticed that makeup maven Estee Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) was trading significantly lower today in the wake of its latest earnings report, I decided to take a fresh look at the stock. Was my bullish endorsement back in December completely wrong-headed, or is today's drop just a blip on the charts?

First, let's sum up the quarterly results. EL banked a second-quarter profit of 80 cents per share on $2.04 billion in revenue. The profit number exceeded analysts' expectations by three cents per share, while revenue matched consensus estimates. However, the company warned that third-quarter net sales are expected to drop 2% to 4%, and it announced plans to cut its headcount by 2,000 employees over the next two years -- roughly 6% of its workforce.

Continue reading Should you invest in Estee Lauder's post-earnings pullback?

Should you invest in Estee Lauder's post-earnings pullback? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Feb 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ah, my old buddy Revlon, Inc (NYSE: REV)! Actually, that exclamatory statement is full of sarcasm. Revlon, a beauty-products business whose colleagues include Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) and The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL), is not a buddy of mine. It is a stock that I really have no intention of buying. The company isn't exactly the most attractive one out there at the moment in terms of fundamentals, but it did have a decent cash-flow statement in the third quarter. Let's check out some numbers.

To begin with, revenues didn't see much growth, as they rose about 1%. Reported net income was $0.57 per diluted share versus a net loss of $0.20 per diluted share in the year-ago period. Unfortunately, that doesn't tell the whole tale. You have to strip out a one-time gain from discontinued operations to get the full story. And you're not going to like it once you do. So, the loss from continuing operations becomes $0.30 per diluted share, which was $0.06 wider than the loss in Q3 2007. Yet, the cash-flow statement does offer a bright spot. Positive operational cash flow of almost $44 million was booked over the last nine months. Last year, Revlon used almost $50 million to fund operations over the nine-month period. Some changes in working capital helped out.

Well, even with the better cash-flow scenario, no, I'm not buying the stock. Revlon is still, in my opinion, a long way off from becoming a great investment idea. I'll need to see more robust growth in the top line and a better profit picture. Sure, for the nine-month period, Revlon did generate a profit of $0.04 per diluted share, but I'm still not convinced. As of this writing, the stock was down 23%. I know it's a bad day in the markets and all, but I wouldn't want to align myself with a company that sees that kind of reaction to earnings. Such a pullback doesn't scream value to me when it comes to Revlon.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Revlon posts loss from continuing operations, improves cash flow originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Avon (NYSE: AVP) delivered not a bag of cosmetics to Wall Street, but a batch of growing earnings. Total revenues for the first quarter were up beautifully, rising 14% to $2.5 billion. Earnings per diluted share likewise did the double-digit-increase dance, rocketing 26% to $0.43.

Now, I would have liked the report a lot more if the company had indicated in its cash flow statement that everything was positive -- unfortunately, that was not to be, as operational cash flow was, in fact, negative. Avon needed to use $41 million for its operating activities during the quarter. Well, one thing I can say is that it's a lot less than the cash needed to fund last year's operations -- Avon burned through over $160 million in the comparable period. A check of the latest 10K shows that, while operational cash flow has been decreasing over the last few years, it has remained positive, so since this is the first quarter of the new fiscal year, we can wait to see how cash flow shapes up as the quarters go by.

Avon competes with companies like Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Revlon (NYSE: REV) and Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL). As I've stated in the past, Procter & Gamble is more my kind of consumer-products business, but I'll give Avon its due since it does have a good product portfolio backing its brand and a devoted base of users. The stock is not too far off from its 52-week high as of this writing, and so long as it can keep sales growing and fight inflationary pressures, it should be a decent long-term bet.

Disclosure: I don't own shares in any of the companies mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Avon's Q1 earnings were fetching (except for the cash flow) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY

• Jefferies upgraded shares of Thornburg Mortgage Inc Corp (NYSE: TMA) to Buy from Hold as they believe the stock is at an inflection point, characterized by accelerated earnings and dividend growth.
• Expedia Inc (NASDAQ: EXPE) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse, as they believe the company is well-positioned to benefit from global e-travel and media opportunities, strong free cash flow, and attractive valuation.
• Perot Systems Corporation (NYSE: PER) was upgraded to Sector Perform from Underperform at RBC Capital following its Q4 report.

• HSBC raised Swiss Reinsurance Company (OTC: SWCEY) to Overweight from Neutral.
• The Estee Lauder Companies Inc (NYSE: EL) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Lehman.
• Cantor upgraded Genomic Health Inc (NASDAQ: GHDX) to Buy from Hold.

Analyst upgrades: TMA, EXPE and PER originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• GPC Biotech (NASDAQ: GPCB) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman, to Sell from Hold at Deutsche Bank and to Underweight from Overweight at Lehman after the company's phase III trial of satraplatin to treat prostate cancer did not meet its primary endpoint.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) to Hold from Buy on valuation following the recent rally as they believe concerns around slowing growth, margins and capital efficiency will limit upside.
  
• Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) was downgraded to Sector Performer from Outperformer at CIBC and to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan following the company's disappointing Q3 results.
  
• Jefferies downgraded shares of Shutterfly (NASDAQ: SFLY) following the better-than-expected Q3 results due to valuation.
  
• Piper downgraded shares of LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) to Market Perform from Outperform, as they expect higher blended poly cost for the company due to tightening scrap poly supply and increased competition.

• Maxwell Technologies (NASDAQ: MXWL) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
  
• UBS downgraded Estee Lauder (NYSE: EL) to Sell from Neutral.
  
• Merrill downgraded CommScope (NYSE: CTV) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Under Armour (NYSE: UA) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Raymond James.
  
• RBC Capital downgraded Beckman Coulter (NYSE: BEC) to Sector Perform from Outperform.

Analyst downgrades: GPCB, AKAM, Q, SFLY and LDK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Oct 2007 10:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Estee Lauder (EL) raises outlook after doubling expected earnings

Estee Lauder (EL) raises outlook after doubling expected earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 14:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Lear Corp (NYSE: LEA) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Credit Suisse following the $2.31B cash bid from Carl Icahn.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded Tellabs Inc (NASDAQ: TLAB) to Buy from Neutral, citing expectations for an improvement in cross-connect demand and margins; the firm expects Tellabs to benefit from AT&T's (NYSE: T) new broadband initiatives, a demand recovery at Cingular, T-Mobile 3G deployment plans and an increase in Sprint/Nextel (NYSE: S) base stations.

• JP Morgan upgraded Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA) to Overweight from Neutral based on expectations for gross margin upside to be driven by improved unit costs and market share gains in the notebook segment.

• Raymond James upgraded shares of AirTran Holdings Inc (NYSE: AAI) to Outperform from Market Perform with a $14 target.

• CIBC upgraded Kronos Inc (NASDAQ: KRON) to Sector Outperformer from Sector Perform, with a $46 target, as they find valuation attractive at current levels given their increasing confidence operations are improving.

• State Street Corp (NYSE: STT) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley following the news of the Investors Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ: IFIN) acquisition.

• Triad Hospitals Inc (NYSE: TRI) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Bank of America.

• Overstock.com Inc (NASDAQ: OSTK) was upgraded to Neural from Sell at First Albany, as the worst is already reflected in the stock's valuation.

• Matrix USA upgraded Estee Lauder Co Inc (NYSE: EL) to Hold from Sell based on fundamental trends.

Analyst upgrades 2-06-07: Credit Suisse upgrades Lear after Icahn bid originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jo-Ann Stores and Lowe's rock Black Friday, dollar stores don't originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jim Cramer, never one to rest on a single industry segment, discussed the quest for youthfulness tonight on his ever-popular MAD MONEY show.

If you want your body to look like a teenager's but your bank balance to scream "old fogey," Cramer advises that you avoid Bare Escentuals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BARE). He calls it a fad that isn't going anywhere, and says if you own it you should "ring the register." It was spun off by an LBO firm, but now it's too late; the company won't make you money. Cramer had regrets over this one: he didn't tell a caller on Friday to sell, and wished he had.

Better options if you want to capitalize on America's quest for eternal youth? Cramer likes Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN) for its Botox and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation (NYSE:MRX) for its competing product. He counselled against the big, luxury names in the space: Avon Products Group (AVP), The Estee Lauder Co. (NYSE:EL) or Revlon, Inc. (NYSE:REV). Cosmetic companies are unreliable to Cramer.

Cramer did say International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE:IFF) is a good alternative, even though it is close to a 52-week high. He thinks the company is much better with scents and steady end markets. Soon it will split into two businesses, he says, as it creates sweet ingredients that it sells to large companies like P&G. He said IFF only trades at 16x forward earnings and it has consistent 10% earnings growth. The best pick of the bunch? IFF, Cramer says.

[Photo Michael McCauslin]

Cramer: look younger with Botox, IFF; Bare Escentuals old news originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Oct 2006 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.