FRE posts
FeedPosted May 8th 2010 11:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Chevron Corp (CVX), CVS Corp (CVS), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), Garmin Ltd (GRMN), Visa Inc. (V), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:
- American International Group Inc. (AIG) said its Q1 earnings doubled, easily topping analysts' expectations.
- Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) said Q1 revenue grew, but disappointing earnings dragged down shares.
- Chevron Corp. (CVX) had strong Q1 earnings and boosted its dividend, but Gulf spill concerns weighed on shares.
- CVS Caremark Corp. (CVS) Q1 earnings topped consensus estimates but it also said same-store sales slipped.
- Freddie Mac (FRE) said its lost $8 billion in Q1, less than a year ago, and requested further bailout funds.
Continue reading Earnings Highlights: AIG, Chevron, Freddie Mac, Kraft Foods, Playboy, Visa ...
Posted May 6th 2010 12:50PM by Connie Madon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Market Matters, Financial Crisis
Do you remember Freddie Mac (FRE)? This is a story for the record books. For years it was difficult to get a handle on Freddie's finances. When the meltdown occurred, Freddie was forced to bring $1.5 trillion onto its balance sheet. In one stroke of the pen this caused Freddie's net worth to plunge $11.7 billion.
With the $1.5 trillion on its books, Freddie has been showing losses. In the recent quarter, Freddie lost $8 billion, or $2.45 per share. That compares with a loss of $10.4 billion or $3.18 per share in the first quarter. This takes into account $1.3 billion in dividends paid to the Treasury Department.
Continue reading Freddie Loses $8 Billion and Seeks Another $10.6 Billion
Posted Jan 13th 2010 12:00PM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, General Motors (GM), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve picked up a $52.1 billion profit last year, a record for the organization. The result is due largely to its 2009 bailout efforts. Of the profit generated, $46.1 billion will be handed over to the Treasury Department -- the largest profit payment made since records began back in 1914. The previous record was $34.6 billion, in 2007. Last year, the Fed turned $31.7 billion over to the Treasury Department.
According to the Associated Press, the profit didn't come from the $700 billion lent to financial institutions -- and then to auto companies like General Motors. Rather, it was the result of earnings from the securities it had in its portfolio last year. Several investment programs were launched last year to help kickstart the U.S. economy and drive down rates on mortgages and consumer debt. Through the programs, the Fed bought $300 billion in government debt, and under another, it's on a trajectory to buy $1.25 trillion in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mortgage securities.
Continue reading Fed Profit Tops $50 Billion
Posted Dec 28th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), International Business Machines (IBM), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), UAL Corp (UAUA)

Today was a low volume trading day without much economic fanfare as many market participants were out or were talking about the Christmas holiday rather than the markets. The manufacturing output was reported for the Dallas and Chicago Fed Districts, but this in and of itself is rarely enough to heavily influence the markets. There will be more traders around on Tuesday and Wednesday most likely, but then it is likely to peter out again on Thursday ahead of the New Year's Day holiday this Friday. The markets were mixed throughout the trading day, and the real position for an up-close or down-close was something not known until the very end of the trading day.
Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,547.30 +27.20 (0.26%)
S&P 500 1,127.78 +1.30 (0.12%)
Nasdaq 2,291.08 +5.39 (0.24%)
Top Day Trader AlertsTop Stock RumorsContinue reading Closing Bell: Santa and Eggnog Preside over Stocks (IBM, BRK.A, UAUA, FNM, FRE AAPL)
Posted Dec 16th 2009 4:15PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Intel (INTC), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM)

The markets were very mixed going into the close and which direction the closing bell was going to be was not known until right at the close. Core consumer inflation seems to still be contained, although oil rose sharply today on supply and refining concerns. Even the FOMC decision to keep rates at the near-zero policy and keeping the "extended time" phrase on for extremely low fed funds rates did not hurt the markets today.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,441.12 -10.88 (-0.10%)
S&P 500 1,109.18 +1.25 (0.11%)
Nasdaq 2,206.91 +5.86 (0.27%)
Top Analyst Calls
Top Day Trader AlertsContinue reading Closing Bell: Give and take on FOMC Day (TMH, ACHN, INTC, AMD, NVDA, FNM, FRE, DPTR, PLA)
Posted Oct 19th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Sprint Nextel Corp (S), CIT Group (CIT), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Amgen Inc (AMGN)

Despite a
cautious report from home builders and despite a low volume day, today marked a clear win for the S&P 5000 and for the DJIA. The S&P broke through 1,100 and the DJIA broke through 11,000. We also had two mergers this morning, and while small they are signs that companies are willing to merge once more.
Here were today's closing bell levels:
Dow 10,090.76 +94.85 (0.95%)
S&P 500 1,097.52 +9.84 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 2,175.83 +19.03 (0.88%)
Top 10 Analyst CallsTop Day Trader AlertsTop Stock Rumors Continue reading Closing Bell: Deals drive home (AMGN, S, IPCS, CIT, FNM, FRE)
Posted Oct 19th 2009 12:50PM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Estee Lauder (EL), Caterpillar (CAT), Halliburton (HAL), American Express (AXP), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Mattel, Inc (MAT), Southwest Airlines (LUV), Analyst Initiations, Deere and Co (DE), Marvell Technology Group (MRVL)
Analyst upgrades:
- American Express (NYSE:AXP) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at FBR Capital, as the firm sees limited near-term downside in the stock. The firm raised its target price on the shares to $37 from $25.
- RBC Capital upgraded Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL) to Outperform from Sector Perform. Target to $44 from $34. UBS upgraded Nestle on expectations the company will begin returning cash to shareholders via buybacks and dividends.
- Piper Jaffray raised Dicks Sporting (NYSE:DKS) to Neutral from Underweight following positive channel checks and raised its target on the shares to $28 from $18.
- Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell by Pali Capital.
- Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) was raised to Buy from Hold by Natixis.
- Sunpower (NASDAQ:SPWRA) was upgraded to Neutral from Underperform at Macquarie.
- China Automotive (NASDAQ:CAAS) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Merriman.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AXP, HAL, EL, MAT, CAT....
Posted Sep 30th 2009 9:50AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market Matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), CIT Group (CIT), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, MBIA Inc (MBI)
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says this year will see the mirror image of last year, when redemptions ended the game for many managers. One year ago today, a quarter ended that put hundreds of bullish hedge funds out of business. Today, a quarter ends that will put hundreds of bearish hedge funds out of business.
Oh, sure, last year some of the bulls were able to stumble through the fourth quarter, but October was a horror show and they ended up getting huge redemption letters and spending the rest of 2008 selling into the strength of the rally to return capital to investors and lock in losses.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Here comes the death of the bearish funds
Posted Sep 14th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market Matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Regions Financial (RF), Bank of America (BAC), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says everyone in the trenches knows we're better off now -- only the academics disagree. Am I nuts, or am I missing something? One year after the financial system was brought to its knees, we are back in the mid-9000s and we have taken off the table massive bank risk and are well on our way to recovery.
I keep listening to people like Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz say the banking system is worse off now and I say to myself, "That's just stupid and wrong and anti-empirical and actually just silly." Anyone who knows what's really going on has to feel this way. And where was Stiglitz when some of us were running around trying to save things?
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Worse after Lehman? Are you kidding me?
Posted Aug 27th 2009 9:30AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Citigroup Inc. (C), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), CIT Group (CIT), Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), Vonage Holdings (VG), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the bizarre rules these days make it worth looking at stocks through a different lens.
How much should we care about low-dollar speculation? How much should we care about the incessant trading in CIT (NYSE: CIT) (Cramer's Take) and Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take), Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) (Cramer's Take), or Vonage (NYSE: VG) (Cramer's Take) and Sprint (NYSE: S) (Cramer's Take)? Or even Citigroup (NYSE: C) (Cramer's Take)?
First, I have to tell you that I worry about it less than I used to. Why? Because when we used to have rules and government officials that were willing to speak the truth about stocks, we wouldn't have these single-digit players out there every day. But without it, how in heck can people not believe that Fannie and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) (Cramer's Take) are the biggest and best bets on a turn in housing?
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Reasonable speculation
Next Page >