MS posts
Posted Jun 26th 2009 11:00AM by Tom Johansmeyer
Filed under: Pfizer (PFE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS)
Mergers and acquisitions aren't delivering the fees that investment bankers used to enjoy, but fortunately, the money's coming from elsewhere. Data from Thomson Reuters reports a 29% increase in capital markets and M&A fees for the first time in more than a year. Share sales (e.g., rights offerings) were where dealmakers found the action. In the shrinking M&A space, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) has taken the lead spot.
Since there are fewer banks in the marketplace than there were a year ago -- and they have less money -- the capital is starting to come from elsewhere. Because they aren't lending at their previous pace, companies are issuing bonds and equity to replenish their coffers. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), for example, raked in more than $23 billion from the bond market to fund its acquisition of Wyeth (NYSE: WYE), and Roche nabbed Genentech with the help of a $30 billion debt issuance.
Continue reading M&A plunges, investment banks find money elsewhere
Posted Jun 15th 2009 8:00AM by Paul Foster
Filed under: Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Options
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) closed at $145.64. GS is expected to report Q2 EPS soon. GS June 145 straddle is priced at $6.10, July 145 straddle is priced at $15.50. GS July option implied volatility of 45 is below its 26-week average of 75, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) closed at $29.70. MS is expected to report Q2 EPS soon. MS June 30 straddle is priced at $1.75, July 30 is priced at $4.05. MS July option implied volatility of 54 is below its 26-week average of 91, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
Posted Jun 8th 2009 10:10AM by Mark Fightmaster
Filed under: JPMorgan Chase (JPM), American Express (AXP), BB and T (BBT), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB), Financial Crisis

This morning, the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected announce that some banks will be allowed to
repay the money lent to them under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Some of the banks expected to receive approval are
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:
GS),
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:
JPM),
American Express (NYSE:
AXP),
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:
MS),
State Street (NYSE:
STT) and
U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:
USB). All of these banks have expressed interest in repaying the government.
What is interesting is that there will be yet another Czar joining the White House, a "Repayment Czar," (what is the deal with the media's fascination with Russian royalty?) or as the administration will call the position, the "
Special Master for Compensation."
Continue reading Fed to okay TARP repayment for some banks, appoint a Pay Czar
Posted May 29th 2009 11:20AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Morgan Stanley (MS), News Corp'B' (NWS), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Analyst initiations, Level 3 Communications (LVLT)
Analyst upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to Outperform from market Perform after transferring coverage to a new analyst. The firm expects Morgan to benefit from the pending joint venture with Smith Barney and improvements in its operating environment.
- FBR Capital upgraded Winn-Dixie (NASDAQ: WINN) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes the company is executing well and shares are cheap at current levels. The firm keeps a $16.50 target on the stock.
- Baird believes Polaris's (NYSE: PII) consensus expectations and valuation are too low and that the company will expand beyond powersports. The firm upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral and raised their target to $37 from $32.
- J. Crew (NYSE: JCG) was upgraded to Neutral from Sell at Goldman.
- Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) was upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays.
- Global Hunter upgraded Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) to Buy from Neutral.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MS, JCG, BKC, LVLT, NWS ...
Posted May 27th 2009 4:30PM by Connie Madon
Filed under: Management, Employees, Scandals
This story shows where integrity and greed, the good and the bad are present at all times in the market. Let's take trader A who follows the cardinal rules of trading. He holds an order to buy say $10 million of US treasuries. He knows that such an order will most likely drive the price up. He places his client's order first, then decides to piggy back him and places a trade for his own account after his client's trade is completed.
Trader B holds a similar order from a client to buy $10 million of US treasuries. But unlike trader A, he places an order for his own account first. So he already is in the market. After his trade is completed, he places his client's order which he believes will drive up the price. This practice is called "front running.
Continue reading Morgan Stanley and some of its former traders are fined for exchange violations
Posted May 25th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Market matters, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Cramer on BloggingStocks
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says journalists will shout that today's data is all-important ... every day. Take it with a grain of salt. We are always thinking about things that could happen, without thinking about things that have already happened. Consider that
JPMorgan (NYSE:
JPM) (
Cramer's Take),
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:
GS) (
Cramer's Take) and
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:
MS) (
Cramer's Take) want to pay back almost $50 billion in TARP money. People yawn at that. How about the fact that
Fifth Third (NASDAQ:
FITB) (
Cramer's Take) and
Key (NYSE:
KEY) (
Cramer's Take) can even refinance; I thought they would be seized, for heaven's sake. How about that Professor Rube, the guy from NYU, was calling for the nationalization of all banks because they are insolvent, which presumably includes
Bank of America (NYSE:
BAC) (
Cramer's Take), when the bank turns around and raises $30 billion? Maybe Professor Rube thinks that money doesn't count and we would be doing better if Bank of America were to become something like "The U.S. Postal Service and Bank of America"?
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Perspective is key
Posted May 18th 2009 10:30AM by Laurie Pasternack
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Brinker Intl (EAT), Allegheny Energy (AYE), AutoNation Inc (AN), Dean Foods (DF), Morgan Stanley (MS), Under Armour'A' (UA), Analyst initiations
Analyst upgrades:
- Citigroup upgraded Lennar (NYSE: LEN) to Buy from Hold as it believes the company's near-term liquidity profile is improved following the $400M debt issuance. The firm raised its target price to $12 from $11.
- Jefferies upgraded Rowan Companies (NYSE: RDC) to Buy from Hold as it believes jack-up drillers will continue to outperform deepwater names. The firm raised its target price to $27 from $20.
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded First Financial (NASDAQ: FFIN) to Market Perform from Underperform to reflect more positive loan data for the Texas banks. The firm raised its target price on shares to $44 from $38.
- MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan.
- Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at JMP Securities.
- Brinker (NYSE: EAT) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: LEN, RDC, FFIN, SII, AN, ACHN, UA, LULU, JST
Posted May 14th 2009 8:40AM by Mark Fightmaster
Filed under: After the bell, Law, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS), MBIA Inc (MBI)
In yesterday's online edition of The Wall Street Journal, it was reported that MBIA (NYSE: MBI) is facing lawsuits from a group of 18 different financial institutions. The lawsuit was filed in New York State court and includes the likes of J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), and UBS (NYSE: UBS).
These banks are claiming that the way MBIA split its municipal bond insurance business earlier this year was "an unlawful attempt to escape" its contractual obligations to cover losses from mortgage securities. In addition to the split earlier this year, MBIA shifted $5 billion to a municipal bond insurance company.
Continue reading MBIA sued by other banks for splitting units
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 11th 2009 11:50AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Morgan Stanley (MS), Dow Chemical (DOW), Analyst initiations, Valero Energy (VLO)
Analyst upgrades:
- FBR Capital upgraded KBW, Inc (NYSE: KBW) to Market Perform from Underperform as it sees increased capital-raising opportunities for small and mid-sized banks and believes the company's quarter is off to a strong start. The firm raised its target price to $23 from $18.
- Pali Capital upgraded Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to Buy from Neutral on expectations the company's strategic shift towards advisory, distribution and retail will be monetized sooner than expected and its capital markets business is gaining traction. The firm set a $33 target on the stock.
- Baird upgraded Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $58 from $55 based on valuation predictable earnings, and its market leading platform.
- Apollo Investment (NYSE: AINV) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
- HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) was lifted at Goldman to Buy from Neutral.
- Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MS, BBC, DOW, COST, VLO, WSM ...
Posted May 8th 2009 10:10AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Market matters, Bank of America (BAC), Morgan Stanley (MS), Politics, Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says they tainted a good series of bank tests. Sometimes the playing field is so unlevel that it makes no sense to play. That's how I felt about these leaks.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:
MS) (
Cramer's Take) went from being "Mr. Clean" on Wednesday to "Mr. Dirty" on Thursday. The company went from having bountiful equity that drove the stock up a point, to needing bountiful equity, which it filed for Thursday night. No apologies from anyone, not the leakers or the leakees. I never heard or read the phrase "it was incorrectly reported" even though that was totally the case.
Same with
State Street (NYSE:
STT) (
Cramer's Take). Here's one that went from needing capital, to not needing capital, to needing capital, and then to having too much capital so it can start paying back the TARP funds all in one 24-hour news cycle.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Put an end to the leaks
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