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Closing Bell: When cheerleaders lose the pom-poms (AAPL, WMT, HANS, PMTI, DNDN, PALM)

The jobs data was so wide apart, that it just trough everyone for a big loop. With 9.4% unemployment rather than 9.2% and with non-farm payrolls contracting at -345,000 rather than by more than -500,00, traders had trouble on and off all day long. The BLS even denied rumors that there were errors.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,763.29 +13.05 (0.15%)
S&P 500 940.10 -2.36 (-0.25%)
Nasdaq 1,849.42 -0.60 (-0.03%)

Top 10 Analyst Calls

Continue reading Closing Bell: When cheerleaders lose the pom-poms (AAPL, WMT, HANS, PMTI, DNDN, PALM)

Dr Pepper beats the analysts in Q1

Dr Pepper Snapple Group (NYSE: DPS) popped open its first-quarter report on Wednesday (I bet you never read that pun before from a financial pundit covering a beverage concern!). On an adjusted basis, sales rose 4%. Management needed to adjust for the termination of a contract with Hansen (NASDAQ: HANS), as well as for currency effects. The company saw a drop in bottom-line income excluding items as earnings came in at $0.37 per share. This was $0.03 less than last year's performance.

However, Dr Pepper can feel happy about the fact that the company beat expectations. The market was only looking for $0.29 per share. How refreshing (yep, another pun)! Volumes did all right during the quarter.

Continue reading Dr Pepper beats the analysts in Q1

Hansen Natural (HANS) Q1 earnings grow despite economy

HANS logoHansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS - option chain) shares are rising today after the company reported its first-quarter profit rose 44.3% to $41.6 million, or 44 cents per share, beating analysts' forecasts of 37 cents per share. Last year in the first quarter, HANS earned 29 cents per share. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on HANS.

HANS opened this morning at $41.38. So far today the stock has hit a low of $39.42 and a high of $41.88. As of 11:40, HANS is trading at $41.17, up $3.11 (8.17%). The chart for HANS looks bullish.

Continue reading Hansen Natural (HANS) Q1 earnings grow despite economy

Seven signs you should short sell a stock

These are not the only signs, just a few examples of when to bet against a company, all of which would have worked out great over the past year:

1. Right when management admits a massive fraud over many years, Satyam Computer Services (SAY)

2. Companies lie about the health of management: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)

3. Arrogance and greed blinds management to excessive risk-taking: General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE), Citigroup (NYSE: C), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM)-pick an over-leveraged financial, any financial...and yes, considering all the messy financial instruments these companies took on, they are all financial stocks.

Continue reading Seven signs you should short sell a stock

Options Update: Beverage purveyors volatility's are Flat

Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) closed at $43.29. KO is scheduled to report Q4 EPS on February 12. KO February option implied volatility of 36 is near its 26-week average of 34, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) closed at $50.44. PEP is scheduled to report Q4 EPS in early February. PEP February option implied volatility of 35 is near its 26-week average of 33, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) closed at $33.33. HANS is expected to report Q4 EPS in late February. HANS February option implied volatility is at 61, March is at 67; below its 26-week average of 72, according to Track Data, suggesting less price movement.

Molson Coors (NYSE: TAP) closed at $42.93. TAP is scheduled to report Q4 EPS on February 10. February option implied volatility of 42 is near its 26-week average of 39, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

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

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: KFT, SYMC, CAR, GLAD, HANS ...

Analyst upgrades:
  • Merrill upgraded Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) to Buy from Neutral citing progress in the company's turnaround plan, execution, and 2009 earnings growth.
  • Thomas Weisel raised Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) to Overweight from Market Weight and believes the company's core business remains strong and that valuation is attractive.
  • Friedman Billings upgraded shares of Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation after checks indicated the company should meet Q2 expectations.
  • NeuStar (NSR) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
  • UBS raised Advance Auto Parts (NYSE: AAP) to Neutral from Sell.
  • Goldman upgraded Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) to Buy from Neutral.
Analyst downgrades:
  • Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ: ZION) to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered its target to $33 from $43 following the company's Q3 results, as they believe near-term credit trends and concerns surrounding its securities portfolio will limit upside. Shares were also downgraded at JP Morgan to Neutral from Overweight due to deteriorating credit trends.
  • Banc of America cut Monster (NASDAQ: MNST) to Neutral from Buy to reflect a lack of margin stability and their belief consensus estimates remain too high.
  • Barclays downgraded Avis Budget Group (NYSE: CAR) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing the global economic slowdown and refinancing risk.
  • Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI), Luxottica (NYSE: LUX) and ArvinMeritor (NYSE: ARM) were cut to Neutral from Buy at Goldman.
  • Luxottica was also downgraded at HSBC to Neutral from Overweight.
  • JP Morgan cut AuthenTec (NASDAQ: AUTH) to Underweight from Neutral.
Analyst initiations:
  • Janney Montgomery believes Gladstone Capital's (NASDAQ: GLAD) management team and lower portfolio investment risk profile warrant a premium valuation. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $13 target.
  • CommVault (NASDAQ: CVLT) was initiated with a Buy rating and $14 target at Cantor, as the firm finds the stock attractively valued given its secular growth rate potential.
  • KeyBanc is positive on Papa John's (NASDAQ: PZZA) management team, growth potential, cost initiatives, and differentiation. Shares were assumed with a Buy rating and $30 target.
  • Arris (NASDAQ: ARRS) was initiated at Jefferies with a Hold rating and $7 target.
  • Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RIGL) was initiated at Banc of America with a Neutral rating and $21 target.
  • Morgan Stanley started Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) with an Equal Weight rating.

Does Jones Soda have any pop left?

Since trading close to $25 per share in early 2007, shares of the former Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) heir-apparent Jones Soda (NASDAQ: JSDA) have tanked. They closed on Friday at a stunning 75 cents per share, down more than 27% on the day.

On October 6th, the company reduced its workforce by 38% to 68 employees, adding that termination and severance expenses were not expected to be material. CEO Stephen Jones said that "Given the financial crisis we're in, you have to preserve cash. Cutting back people is a horrible thing to go through, but you do it as a result of strategy. And my strategy is to focus on the core of what Jones Soda is."

Jones (whose surname is a coincidence) told Fortune Small Business about an ambitious plan to focus on core strengths, reduce sales to discounters, and bring the company back from the brink. Maybe that will work but, either way, the stock looks interesting at its current price. With a market cap of about $20 million, Jones Soda had tangible shareholder's equity of about $27 million at the end of the second quarter -- including nearly $20 million in cash and short-term investments.

Continue reading Does Jones Soda have any pop left?

A six-pack of beverage bets: Coke, Pepsi and Vina Concha Y Toro make the list

Beverage stocks are often considered "defensive" in nature. After all, no matter what troubles beset the economy, people continue to eat and drink.

Granted, a recessionary environment might impact purveyors of expensive champagnes. But our focus here is on everyday canned sodas and moderately-priced beer and wine.

Of course, no report on beverages would be complete without the two giants of the field -- Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP).

Chuck Carlson, editor of The DRIP Investor looks at Pepsi and suggests, "Investors should take advantage of the current price lull to do buying in these shares."

... Read the full article on PepsiCo

Meanwhile, Stephen Leeb, editor of The Complete Investor, looks at Coke and is attracted by both its expanding market opportunities and expanding dividend.

... Read the full article on Coca-Cola

Bottling these drinks is also big business and PepsiAmericas (NYSE: PAS) -- the world's second-largest bottler of PepsiCo beverages -- is a recent feature from quantitative analyst Vahan Janjigan, editor of The Forbes Growth Investor.

... Read the full article on PepsiAmericas

Energy drink maker Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS) has caught the eye of Bill Martin. The editor of BullMarket.com finds the stock attractive because the company has recently attracted some hedge fund investors.

... Read the full article on Hansen Natural

In The Forbes International Investment Report, editor John Christy interviews Lou Gerken of Gerken Capital Associates who sees potential in FEMSA (NYSE: FMX), which produces distributes Coca-Cola, Dos Equis, Tecate Beer in Mexico.

... Read the full article on FEMSA

And Nilus Mattive in his Dividend Superstars newsletter, looks to Chilean wine maker, Vina Concha y Toro (NYSE: VCO) as a play for both growth and income investors.

... Read the full article on Vina Concha y Toro

This report is prepared by Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com which offers a daily overview of the favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

Closing Bell: Bulls defy economic concerns as Dow rises

If you are involved in the market right now and watch the volatility with swings up and down, it might be easy to forget that trading volume is very thin and that moves can be exaggerated easily. Today's numbers, with a recession in Europe and stagflation rising in the U.S., were discounted by traders looking ahead and interpreting data out on the calendar. The good news in housing is that existing houses are finally moving, but the bad news is that they are selling under replacement cost.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA 11615.93 (+82.97)
S&P500 1292.93 (+7.10)
NASDAQ 2453.67 (+25.05)
10 YR T-Note 3.892% (-0.055%)
52-Week Lows

Alcoa Inc. (NYSE: AA) is a bit of a mystery. This had very unusual call option buying seen in the stock, yet shares were down marginally on the day by less than 1% at $31.96 before the closing bell. This stock has been the subject of rumors before, so anything is possible.

Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) was a winner today. Shares were up 10% at $21.20 right before the close on reports that it was cutting 1,000 newspaper jobs or about 3% of its workforce.

Hansen Natural Corp. (NASDAQ: HANS) was a huge winner after Nelson Peltz' Trian Funds disclosed an ownership stake. Shares were up over 10% at $29.79 in the final minutes of the trading day, and this is up almost 40% even after poor earnings recently.

PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) was a big winner today after the company sold off Australian operations for $920 million in a capital raising effort. Shares were up almost 60% at $4.45 in the final minutes before the close.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) shares were up almost 8% at $8.80 right before the close after Jim Cramer interviewed Martha Stewart herself and said the stock is cheap at $8.00.

Earnings highlights: Toyota, Cisco, ADM, MGM, General Mills, Warner Music and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Toyota, Cisco, ADM, MGM, General Mills, Warner Music and others

Hansen Natural (HANS) lifts on energy drink earnings

http://investors.hansens.com/Hansen Natural (NASDAQ: HANS - option chain) shares are soaring higher today after the company reported yesterday evening its second quarter profit jumped to 31 percent to $50.2 million on sales of its Monster energy drink. Despite missing estimates by a penny, the growth numbers and decreasing operational expenses are encouraging investors. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on HANS.

HANS opened this morning at $21.43. So far today the stock has hit a low of $20.67 and a high of $23.42. As of 12:55, HANS is trading at $23.42, up 1.77 (8.2%). The chart for HANS looks bearish and steady.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a September bull-put credit spread below the $17.50 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns.

For this particular trade, we will make a 13.6% return in just six weeks as long as HANS is above $17.50 at September expiration. Hansen would have to fall by more than 25% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

HANS hasn't been below $20 at all in the past year and has shown support around $21.50 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in HANS.

Early analyst calls (BA) (T) (C) (MCD)

Morgan Stanley upgrades Citigroup (NYSE:C) to "equal weight" from "underweight", according to Briefing.com. The news service also reports that Deutsche Bank downgraded McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) from "buy" to "hold".

Standard & Poor's added Hansen Natural Corp (NASDAQ:HANS) and Chattem (NASDQ:CHTT) to its list of mid-sized companies that show the "highest growth characteristics.", according to the AP.

Boeing (NYSE:BA) Cut to Neutral at Cowen & Co, according to 24/7 Wall St. The financial website also reports AT&T (NYSE:T) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan

Douglas A. McIntyre

Earnings highlights: AIG, Fannie Mae, Toyota, Warner Music, Qwest, MGM and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: AIG, Fannie Mae, Toyota, Warner Music, Qwest, MGM and others

Closing Bell: Masked retail numbers trump $124 oil

If you haven't noticed the surging price of oil at the pump or the surging prices of your electric bills, maybe oil at $124.00 and higher per barrel will catch your eyes. Maybe proposing higher margin limits on oil futures trading isn't such a bad idea after all.

Despite this, retail sales managed to come in better than most were expecting... even if you can chalk that up to an extra day because of Easter in March. Jobless claims also fell by 18,000 from last week to about 365,000. Below are the unofficial closing levels for the major US index levels:
  • DJIA 12,867.27 (+52.92; +0.41%)
  • S&P500 1,397.60 (+5.03; +0.36%)
  • NASDAQ 2,451.49 (+13.00; +0.53%)
  • 10YR-TBond 3.805% (-0.062%)
  • 52-WEEK LOWS
  • Top Analyst Calls
Barr Phrarmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: BRL) was the drug company blow-up today. The company missed earnings estimates and lowered guidance. As the company is a generic drug giant, does this mean people are going off their meds? Shares tanked by 22% to $38.28 in the final minutes today.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Masked retail numbers trump $124 oil

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Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+203.5210,226.94
NASDAQ+41.622,154.06
S&P 500+23.781,093.08

Last updated: November 10, 2009: 12:03 AM

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