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Earnings highlights: Cisco, Ford, Humana, MasterCard, Starbucks, Toyota ...

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

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Cisco, Ford, Humana, MasterCard, Starbucks, Toyota ...

Tenet Healthcare swings to a Q3 loss; Humana profit jumps 65%

While the debate over health care reform rages on, hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp. (NYSE: THC) said Tuesday it swung to a loss in the third quarter, one day after health insurer Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) posted a 65% jump in its third-quarter profit.

Tenet said it lost $3 million, or a penny per share. That compares with a profit of $104 million, or 22 cents per share, a year earlier. But, Tenet reported a one-time gain of $140 million a year ago after selling investments.

Continue reading Tenet Healthcare swings to a Q3 loss; Humana profit jumps 65%

The week in preview: Eye on MasterCard, Prudential, Coinstar ...

It's official: the holiday season is here, marking the beginning of the race to the end of the year. It's also time for another FOMC interest rate decision, as well as for another look at the employment situation, perhaps the most dreaded measure of the economic recovery in the U.S. This week will bring the Challenger job cut announcements for October on Wednesday, initial jobless claims for last week and the Monster Employment Index for October on Thursday, and the employment numbers for October on Friday.

The earnings season rolls on this week as well, and analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are expecting good showings from the reports of Boston Beer Company Inc. (NYSE: SAM), DirecTV Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DTV), Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE), Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), and Whole Foods Market Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI).

Continue reading The week in preview: Eye on MasterCard, Prudential, Coinstar ...

Earnings highlights: Blackstone, CBS, Humana, Playboy, Sirius, Whole Foods ...

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

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Blackstone, CBS, Humana, Playboy, Sirius, Whole Foods ...

The week in preview: Seeking more signs of economic stability

Last week's Fed Beige Book report and GDP numbers suggested that the economy may be stabilizing, and this coming week will bring plenty of economic data to confirm or deny that suggestion. On the schedule are consumer credit, construction spending, factory orders, and pending home sales for June, the employment situation, the Import Price Index, and new motor vehicle sales for July, as well as the ISM Manufacturing and Non-manufacturing Indexes for July.

The week will also bring quarterly reports from home builders Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH), D.R. Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI), and Pulte Homes Inc. (NYSE: PHM). Yet again, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect all three to have narrowed their losses in the most recent quarter. However, they've all tended to post deeper-than-expected losses in recent quarters as well. Analysts also expect to see their revenue down 45% or more for the past quarter. They forecast long-term EPS growth of 7% or more, but none of these homebuilders has a First Call consensus buy recommendation, not surprisingly. Short interest is falling off for Beazer and D.R. Horton, and D.R. Horton and Pulte have been reporting positive cash flow from operations, but all three of them said they had more long-term debt than cash in hand last time around. Mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. (NYSE: PMI) is likewise expected to report that it narrowed its second-quarter loss.

Continue reading The week in preview: Seeking more signs of economic stability

Humana (HUM) misses out on defense contract

HUM logoHumana (NYSE: HUM - option chain) stock is falling today on news that the US Department of Defense selected competitor UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) to replace HUM as its main provider in the southern region of the the department's TRICARE program. HUM lost out on a deal with a total potential value of $21.8 billion. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on HUM.

This morning, HUM opened at $28.49. So far today the stock has hit a low of $28.14 and a high of $29.80. As of 11:55, HUM is trading at $28.92, down $1.67 (-5.5%). The chart for HUM looks bullish and S&P gives HUM a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Continue reading Humana (HUM) misses out on defense contract

The week in preview: High hopes for First Solar, Humana, DreamWorks and more

As the quarterly reports continue to roll out and the market continues to rally, optimism seem to be rising. Analysts certainly have high hopes for some companies reporting earnings this week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) to report first-quarter earnings of $1.51 per share, which is 62.3% higher than a year ago. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be 105.6% higher, or $404.9 million. First Solar earnings have topped expectations in the past five quarters, by as much as 47.3%. The long-term EPS growth forecast is 40.6% and the forward PE ratio estimate is 23.0. In the previous quarter, Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar reported having more cash on hand than debt. The First Call consensus recommendation is to buy FSLR; CNBC recently included it as a stock pick. First Solar has announced that it will build new solar power plants in Nevada and Germany. Its share price has risen 6.9% since the beginning of the year to $147.46.

Continue reading The week in preview: High hopes for First Solar, Humana, DreamWorks and more

Humana (HUM) plummets on Medicare warning

HUM logoHumana (NYSE: HUM - option chain) stock is declining today after the company said preliminary 2010 Medicare Advantage payment rates could cause reduced profits in 2010. These comments from HUM are dragging down the entire group, including industry stalwart UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), which is off by upwards of 15%. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on HUM.

This morning, HUM opened at $36.70. So far today the stock has hit a low of $30.57 and a high of $36.86. As of 11:55, HUM is trading at $31.41, down $9.13 (-22.5%). Prior to today, the chart for HUM looked bullish, while S&P gives HUM a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Continue reading Humana (HUM) plummets on Medicare warning

Earnings highlights: Time Warner, BP, Cisco, Motorola, Visa and others

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

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Time Warner, BP, Cisco, Motorola, Visa and others

Humana sputters, then hums

Humana (NYSE: HUM) reported earnings below analysts' expectations for the fourth quarter of 2008, spurring a quick sell-off of more than 3%.

The stock quickly recovered, due in part to the better-than-expected ISM report, and closed up almost 6% at $40.13.

Humana is one of the nations' largest providers of employer-based health care plans. Humana offers group health and dental plans for individuals and serves the health care needs of military families and seniors through a series of specialized plans.

The fourth-quarter earnings report disappointed analysts initially, as the report revealed a larger-than-expected decline in earnings of 28% from the previous year's fourth quarter.

Continue reading Humana sputters, then hums

The week in preview: High hopes for MasterCard, Avon, Aflac, Northrop Grumman

If you've been watching earnings this past week, or if you read last week's Week in Preview, then this coming week may leave you feeling a bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day. That is, again analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect earnings declines to be more frequent and deeper than earnings gains.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC), IAC Interactivecorp (NASDAQ: IACI), Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO), Elizabeth Arden Inc. (NASDAQ: RDEN), Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN), Diebold Inc. (NYSE: DBD), Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL), ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT), and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) are scheduled to report quarterly results this week, and they're all expected to report double-digit declines in earnings.

But again this week, let's take a look who Wall Street feels may have done well in the past quarter.

Continue reading The week in preview: High hopes for MasterCard, Avon, Aflac, Northrop Grumman

Earnings highlights: BP, CBS, Kraft, Sony, Verizon, Colgate, Nintendo and others

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

Continue reading Earnings highlights: BP, CBS, Kraft, Sony, Verizon, Colgate, Nintendo and others

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

Stocks to avoid: Motley Fool says stay away from WaMu, Ambac, Pulte

It has been a tough year for investors. We have been dealing with recession fears, housing market worries, high gasoline prices and a very weak U.S dollar. As much as we would love to say that the worst is behind us, we still could be in for some more rocky times ahead. So its best to try to figure out which stocks would be best to avoid for the time being.

Richard Gibbons wrote up a nice piece over on The Motley Fool that looks at some of the stocks that we would be wise to stay away from at this time. Regardless good or bad times, he is convinced there are always ways to make money, but in order to find the winners, it is also necessary to pull out the losers.

So how can we separate out the winners from the losers?

Gibbons seems to have a simple answer for this. He believes there is really no use in wasting our time trying to separate the winners from the losers as there are so many great cheap stocks that could offer us a chance to make money. Gibbons' advice is to not choose ugly and risky companies that could put our hard earned money at risk. To makes this clear, he uses a baseball analogy, expressing his options for the curve balls instead of the fastballs.

Continue reading Stocks to avoid: Motley Fool says stay away from WaMu, Ambac, Pulte

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

Last updated: November 10, 2009: 12:18 AM

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