LVS posts
Posted May 12th 2009 9:30AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Bank of New York (BK), BB and T (BBT), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Dow Chemical (DOW), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says we should closely monitor the situation as more banks raise capital with equity. What really did happen Friday? I keep thinking about this because, surely, if you saw how well the
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) (
Cramer's Take) and
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:
MS) (
Cramer's Take) deals behaved, didn't you, as a bank player, have to presume that there would be and will be more offerings?
If Wells Fargo went up 6, isn't it reasonable to presume that
Bank of New York Mellon (NYSE:
BK) (
Cramer's Take),
KeyCorp (NYSE:
KEY) (
Cramer's Take),
Capital One (NYSE:
COF) (
Cramer's Take),
BB&T (NYSE:
BBT) (
Cramer's Take) and no doubt all of the others, would do the same? Who wouldn't take advantage of this?
Fifth Third (NASDAQ:
FITB) (
Cramer's Take)?
Suntrust (NYSE:
STI) (
Cramer's Take)?
Why did they rally so much?
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: A bevy of bank offerings
Posted May 9th 2009 12:40PM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings reports, Cisco Systems (CSCO), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Hansen Natural (HANS), Walt Disney (DIS), American Express (AXP), News Corp'B' (NWS), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Symantec Corp (SYMC), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Vonage Holdings (VG), Blackstone Group L.P (BX), Garmin Ltd (GRMN), Marvel Entertainment (MVL)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Disney, Cisco, News Corp., Marvel, Sirius, Blackstone and more
Posted Jan 26th 2009 11:11AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, New York Times'A' (NYT), American Express (AXP), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Best Buy (BBY), Sara Lee Corp (SLE), Newell Rubbermaid (NWL), Office Depot (ODP), OfficeMax Inc (OMX), Staples Inc (SPLS), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Johnson Controls (JCI), Barclays plc ADS (BCS), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Liz Claiborne (LIZ), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says companies saddled with high debt loads can be found in every sector in every business. Overleveraged. Too much debt. Need to pay down debt. How many times have you read that story?
You read it so much because it plays out every day and plays havoc with stock picking almost every time you see a savory stock down on its luck.
This weekend, as I went through the charts, I was amazed at how low some stocks have gone, stocks that I would normally say to just take a flyer on, but turn out to have so much debt, short- and long-term, that they are just too dangerous.
Consider these perhaps poisonous morsels:
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Too much debt makes stocks dangerous
Posted Jan 5th 2009 4:23PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: After the bell, Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Market matters, Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
Today was a quiet day of selling despite the return of most traders to Wall Street. It seems that everyone was trying to get their bearings back more than they were willing to take any major bets on the "real" first day back for 2009. That also took back part of Friday's gains.
A $300 billion tax stimulus plan from President-elect Obama camp may have been trumped by more weak and bleak data, as well as by a $2.00 rise in oil. His comments of
"Things are getting worse..." may have trumped any positives today, and auto sales data just echoed those thoughts.
Here are the closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,952.89 -81.80 -0.91%
NASDAQ: 1,628.03 -4.18 -0.26%
S&P 500: 927.45 -4.35 -0.47%
Top Analyst CallsAmazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:
AMZN) was almost a winner today. Its shares were upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan on valuations and dominance of its online shopping empire.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL) came out today to say that Steve Jobs' weight loss was tied to
hormonal imbalances rather than to any resurgence of cancer. The company's notes to fight any pre-Macworld speculation paid off with shares up over 4% at $94.25 shortly before the close.
Continue reading Closing Bell: Dow ends down on bleak data; AMZN, AAPL, ICE, LVS, TM
Posted Dec 23rd 2008 8:40AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Before the bell, Citigroup Inc. (C), American Express (AXP), CIT Group (CIT), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says that CIT's approval as a bank holding company means anyone with a lending business can make it.
CIT Group (NYSE:
CIT) made it to the finish line. They became a bank. After a sickening and seemingly endless slide for this lender, to $4 from $30, the whole way down with nothing but rosy projections, the company made it to bank holding company status and now it will be able to survive. Who knows, the company might even thrive, which makes that last stock offering seem pretty delectable.
The issue for me now is you are nothing if you are not a bank. You can see the ramifications of making this reckless lender -- it can say otherwise, but aren't we tired of all the say "otherwises" at this point; it's just better to admit it -- a bank. It means that anyone, no matter how profligate, no matter how wasted, can make it, if it has some sort of lending business.
I ask, why? What is the government's interest in saving
Citigroup (NYSE:
C)? Why bother? Should we look for other companies that lend and give them protection?
How about
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE
: LVS) )? When you go there you can borrow money. Prime candidate for it, I believe.
I know I was thrilled when all of those life insurers got around the law by buying little banks. That was good judgment in action.
The real worry, of course, is that without bank status, like the status of the utilities, how can you finance your way through this period? Can we make troubled retailers banks? If someone has a retail charge card, like
Macy's (NYSE:
M) ), isn't that the same as
American Express (NYSE
:AXP). Tons of retailers have charge cards and they are all candidates for bank status as they get in trouble. Neiman Marcus should have bank status.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: You're nothing if you're not a bank
Posted Dec 8th 2008 2:40PM by Peter Cohan
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.
In 2008, many big names took big face plants. Since this is a blog about money, I ranked them based on how much they lost and how far they fell. As you can see, the method is not exactly scientific. Here are the five biggest falls from grace:
- Richard Fuld, Lehman Brothers. The $639 billion bankruptcy is history's largest so far by a factor of at least six. And Fuld personally lost about $1 billion in his personal holdings of Lehman stock. And the repercussions of letting Lehman fail stretched from money market funds to Iceland. Ouch!
- Jimmy Cayne, Bear Stearns CEO. Cayne lost plenty of his personal wealth when Bear Stearns stock stumbled. But at least shareholders were able to get out with something when JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) bought it.
- Eliot Spitzer, New York governor. Spitzer destroyed his once promising political career by spending time with at least one woman other than his wife. He was trying to use his prosecution of Wall Street to boost his political career as Rudy Giuliani did. But his self-destructive urges got the better of him.
- Sheldon Adelson, CEO, Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS). Adelson, a colorful character who was a consulting client of mine, has lost $30 billion on paper thanks to his excessive debt load and a decline in gambling.
- Jerry Yang, CEO, Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). Poor Jerry Yang suffered from delusions about his ability to revive his creation. He lost a chance to boost shareholder returns by selling to Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) for $31 a share. With the stock at $11.51, he left big bucks on the table, and the board kicked him out of the big chair.
Let us know which one you would chose as the biggest fall of 2008.
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.
Share the reasons for your Biggest Fall from Grace pick in the comments, or let us know about any contenders we overlooked. Also be sure to see the rest of the Best & Worst in Money 2008.
Posted Nov 13th 2008 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Dell (DELL), General Motors (GM), Penney (J.C.) (JCP), American Express (AXP), Palm Inc (PALM), Analyst initiations, Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
.gif)
Analyst upgrades:
- Roth Capital upgraded Charlotte Russe (NASDAQ: CHIC) to Hold from Sell. The firm is positive on management's strategy to drive improved operating performance and is encouraged by the company's longer-term growth prospects.
- Banc of America upgraded shares of Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) to Neutral from Sell following the company's capital raise as they see a more balanced risk/reward at current levels. The firm lowered their target to $5 from $12.
- Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) was raised to Buy from Neutral at UBS.
- Credit Suisse upgraded Ameriprise (NYSE: AMP) to Outperform from Neutral.
- Bob Evans (NASDAQ: BOBE) was upgraded to Hold from Underweight at KeyBanc.
- J. Sainsbury (OTC: JSAIY) was upgraded to Buy from Hold at ING and to Neutral from Underweight at JP Morgan after the company topped earnings expectations.
Analyst downgrades:
- JP Morgan downgraded General Motors (NYSE: GM) to Neutral from Overweight citing the "ambiguity of government aid structure" and the likely dilution to equity. The analyst said GM needs money now to get past December 2008 and will need at least $15B to get through 2009, with the total bailout potentially reaching $30B.
- Goldman downgraded Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) to Sell from Neutral and added shares to the Conviction Sell List.
- J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) was lowered to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Continue reading Analyst calls: LVS, GM, DELL, JCP, PALM, AXP, CHIC, STZ, AMP, BOBE
Posted Nov 13th 2008 8:15AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Earnings reports, Google (GOOG), Wal-Mart (WMT), Intel (INTC), Citigroup Inc. (C), Penney (J.C.) (JCP), Applied Materials (AMAT), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Crocs Inc (CROX)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) reported
better-than-expected quarterly profit Thursday morning, as the world's biggest retailer benefited from deteriorating global economic conditions as shoppers looked for discounted goods.
Earnings from continuing operations were 77 cents per share, beating estimates by a penny. Sales rose more than 7% to $97.6 billion. The discount retailer, however, lowered its full year guidance, mostly citing currency exchange effects. WMT shares were trading lower at the open.
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) sharply
cut its fourth-quarter sales projection Wednesday to about $9 billion, down from a previous estimate of $10.1 billion to $10.9 billion. Following Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO)'s warnings, as well as a few others, that orders dropped significantly during October, this is further indication that technology spending has been grinding to a hlat as the economic slowdown continues. INTC shares were down 4.2% in premarket trading (7:58 am), but were flat an hour into the session.
Citigroup Inc. (NYES: C) -- The board is
considering replacing its chairman Sir Win Bischoff, the
Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter, but a spokesman denied it.
A leading candidate is Richard Parsons, Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX)'s chairman. [
Update: 9:30: The WSJ also reported that
Citi is in talks to buy U.S. regional lender Chevy Chase Bank FSB, which operates in the mid-Atlantic region. Citi shares are trading 1.7% higher in premarket (7:56 am), but traded 5% lower around 11 a.m.
Siemens (NYSE: SI) on Thursday reported a
widening fiscal fourth-quarter loss to 2.47 billion euros ($3.1 billion) and said it would be more difficult to meet its profit target for the current year. Operating profit for its core sectors of industry, energy and healthcare dropped 24% to 1.49 billion euros. Sales rose 7% to 21.65 billion euros as demand from China and Europe offset U.S. weakness. SI shares rising in Germany and traded 4.4% higher in premarket (7:25 am). SI shares are adding 7% to their value during the session.
Continue reading Stocks in the news: WMT, INTC, C, SI, AMAT, GOOG, CROX, LVS ...
Posted Nov 12th 2008 4:22PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: After the bell, Earnings reports, Market matters, American Express (AXP), Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
Today was another one of those days where one could feel like the Duke Brothers from Trading Places. It was just another down day, yet the pain seemed to capture everything and everyone. The reasons markets are hurting are all the same as they have been, but such is life and expanding the TARP bailout money isn't helping.
Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,282.66 -411.30 -4.73%
NASDAQ: 1,499.21 -81.69 -5.17%
S&P 500: 852.32 -46.63 -5.19%
Major Stocks Breaking Under $10.00Short Sellers Move To Healthy CompaniesTop Analyst Upgrades & DowngradesAmerican Express Co. (NYSE:
AXP) fell again after negative headlines that it supposedly wants $3.5 billion in TARP funds. Although these are much of the same concerns as yesterday since becoming a bank holding company. Shares were down over 10% at $19.99 right before the close.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:
LVS) got to see insult added to injury. Moody's
cut its debt ratings further into junk status. Shares were down more than another 5% at $5.03 right before the close.
Continue reading Closing Bell: Carnage and mayhem, day 6; AXP, NAT, MELI, OWW, LVS
Posted Nov 12th 2008 8:22AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), American Express (AXP), Applied Materials (AMAT), Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Best Buy (BBY), Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) shares are down after the company said it
sees softer consumer spending and lowered fiscal 2009 EPS guidance.
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) --
The Wall Street Journal reported that according to its sources, AmEx is
seeking about $3.5 billion from the U.S. government to help boost its balance sheet. This follows Monday's Federal approval for AmEx to become a bank holding company.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thinks GM is too big to fail and wants Congress to support a
financial assistance for the troubled U.S. auto industry. This follows Obama urging Bush to support aid for struggling automakers and Democrats in Congress passing legislation that would give GM, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler
access to $25 billion in government-backed loans. But automakers need more. GM shares are trading higher.
Prudential Financial Inc. (NYSE: PRU) said late Tuesday it will
pay a dividend of 58 cents per share on Dec. 19 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Nov. 24. This 2008 annual dividend is roughly half of the $1.15 per share it paid out to shareholders last year.
Continue reading Stocks in the news: BBY, AXP, GM, PRU, M, AMAT, BBBY, LVS, MSFT
Posted Nov 11th 2008 4:20PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: After the bell, Starbucks (SBUX), Market matters, Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
Today was a strange day as Veteran's Day was observed by the bond market but not by the stock market. Stocks traded lower most of the day as the realization that even a Chinese stimulus package was not going to prevent a global recession. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,693.96 (-1.99%)
NASDAQ: 1,580.90 (-2.22%)
S&P 500: 898.94 (-2.21%)
Analyst Upgrades
Analyst DowngradesChesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE:
CHK) announced a joint venture in the Marcellus Shale and an international unconventional natural gas exploration alliance with StatoilHydro. Despite this supposedly being a win, shares were down 5% at $22.45 right before the close.
Focus Media Holding Ltd. (NASDAQ:
FMCN), a Chinese advertising agency for online, outdoor, and print ads, was hit extremely hard after posting light earnings and guiding estimates lower ahead. Shares were trading down over 45% at $8.74 right before the close.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:
LVS) announced the pricing of a full financing package to keep it within its debt covenants, but it did so at what appears to be a 40% discount on a fully diluted basis. Shares were trading down 35% at $5.22 right before the close.
Starbucks (NASDAQ:
SBUX) traded down after the high-end coffee retail destination posted light earnings and gave a warning for the base case for its fiscal year of Sept-2009. Shares were down 13% at $22.00 right before the close.
Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE:
TYC) posted earnings at $0.81 EPS, well above the $0.73 EPS estimates. Unfortunately, the company said the current environment was going to put pressure on earnings ahead, and that somehow managed to surprise the investor community. Shares were down 13% at $22.01 right before the close.
Posted Nov 11th 2008 8:13AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Google (GOOG), Starbucks (SBUX), General Motors (GM), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Market matters, American Express (AXP), Toll Brothers (TOL), Economic data, Las Vegas Sands (LVS)
U.S. stock futures were lower Tuesday morning as economic concerns increased. China, which boosted markets only Monday with its own stimulus plan, today showed signs of slowing growth as well.
World markets responded, with Asia markets posting losses and European markets opening down as well.
Oil prices declined again to as low as $60 a barrel. Gloomy corporate reports as well as housing and financial sector woes are weighing heavily on markets today.
[Note: Extended hours indications can change as news progresses, changes.]
American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) applied to become a commercial bank on Nov 5. Monday night the Federal Reserve
approved the request due to "emergency conditions." AmEX could now accept deposits, thus bolster its cash, and gain quicker access to Fed financing.
Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), the once high flying company, reported Monday
97% lower profit in its fourth quarter. Excluding items, Starbucks earned 10 cents per share, below analyst estimates of 13 cents per share. Fewer U.S. customers and higher costs for closing poorly performing stores led to lower sales and profit. SBUX shares declined 2.75% in after-hours trade 7:56 p.m.
Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks headed lower; AXP, SBUX, TOL, GM, SIRI, GOOG, LVS
Posted Nov 10th 2008 9:55AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Cisco Systems (CSCO), General Electric (GE), Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Home Depot (HD), Market matters, Citigroup Inc. (C), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Alcoa Inc (AA), Bank of America (BAC), Boeing Co (BA), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), Centex Corp (CTX), ConocoPhillips (COP), D.R.Horton (DHI), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Procter and Gamble (PG), Amer Intl Group (AIG), KB HOME (KBH), Lennar Corp'A' (LEN), , QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Deere and Co (DE), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Wells Fargo (WFC), Cramer on BloggingStocks, MetLife Inc. (MET)
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says tons of stocks look like good buys, and they go down all the time. All weekend I heard it. Stocks have gotten too cheap. Put 'em away cheap. Don't worry about 'em cheap. To which I say, stocks are only cheap if the companies make it. Stocks are only cheap if the bondholders don't claim them.
Every day I see cheap stocks.
Ford (NYSE:
F) (
Cramer's Take) reported this morning. Ridiculously cheap. How cheap is
Sprint (NYSE:
S) (
Cramer's Take), for heaven's sake? Did you see the
Sunrise Senior Living (NYSE:
SRZ) (
Cramer's Take) numbers? That stock should show up when you enter "cheap stock" in Google. Except
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE:
LVS) (
Cramer's Take) comes up.
When Warren Buffett says stocks are cheap, or Jeremy Grantham or Steve Leuthold or Jeremy Siegel, it's very heartening. You just want to go out there and buy cheap stocks like
CBS (NYSE:
CBS) (
Cramer's Take) and
Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:
WSM) (
Cramer's Take) and
Ann Taylor (NYSE:
ANN) (
Cramer's Take) and
Talbots (NYSE:
TLB) (
Cramer's Take).
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: 'Cheap' is meaningless
Posted Nov 7th 2008 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Viacom (VIA), CBS Corp 'B' (CBS), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Las Vegas Sands (LVS), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if these guys can't parse it, what hope do we have? People ask me why I am so often freaked out about what is happening daily in this market. Let me give you four reasons: Sheldon Adelson, Sumner Redstone, Howard Lester and Aubrey McClendon.
All four of these gentlemen got overextended and bought too much of their own stock or the stock of another company and got margined out.
These are great American businessmen. They are much smarter than I am -- much smarter than almost any people in business -- and they completely and utterly screwed up. You cannot possibly say that they did anything else.
Howard Lester created
Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:
WSM) (
Cramer's Take). He built that company into the best housewares company in the world with a name synonymous with quality. He is a titan. Lester sold 1,150,000 Williams-Sonoma shares to meet margin calls at prices that are down so huge from the highs as to make me think that if he doesn't know what to do -- and he clearly doesn't -- with his company or his stock, how the heck am I to know?
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Four reasons to be skittish on the market
Next Page >
Biotech ETFs: Best bets on health care reform
Cramer on BloggingStocks: The world's been waiting for the new GM 
Dell fights Taiwanese authorities over pricing mishaps
