Merck Co posts
FeedPosted Apr 4th 2011 10:00AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), Merck and Co (MRK), Bargain Stocks, Chasing Value™, Oil, Stocks to Buy, Newcastle Investment (NCT), Raytheon Company (RTN), EZCORP (EZPW), Stock Picks, Telefonica SA (TEF), Noble Corporation (NE)

It should surprise no one that oil stocks have taken the lead in the first quarter, while financial stocks -- after a good two-year run -- have been tamed. This is how things have shaped up through the first quarter for my 2011 stock picks. (For a look at my original picks, see here:
part 1, part 2, and
part 3.)
Normally, if I said a business was underwater, investors would think the worst. Actually, in the summer Noble Corp (
NE) was underwater -- and investors were not impressed. However, this was a great buying opportunity, and although the company is still underwater, it is also a market leader among my stock picks and the overall market -- even among oil industry players. With its fleet of 69 offshore drilling rigs, Noble stands tall.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2011 Stock Picks Q1 Review -- A Platform for Success
Posted Feb 1st 2011 3:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, General Electric (GE), Citigroup Inc. (C), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), Merck and Co (MRK), Bargain Stocks, Chasing Value™, Oil, S and P 500, Stocks to Buy, Newcastle Investment (NCT), Raytheon Company (RTN), EZCORP (EZPW), Telefonica SA (TEF), Noble Corporation (NE)

We are only one month into the new year and there have not been many dull moments. Games are going on in the Middle East and they are not the friendly kind. In Egypt
a million plus protesters are playing a game of chicken with the Mubarak government demanding he step down from his 32-year-old reign as perpetual president.
This is not radical Islam fundamentalists; it is even more fundamental. The people want to improve their daily lives in a meaningful way. Education, infrastructure, clean water and clean streets. Speaking of infrastructure and getting back to the less dramatic but still important great stock picks Telefonica (
TEF) and General Electric (
GE) were the big winners so far bouncing over 10% in January.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2011 Picks Dust the S&P
Posted Aug 23rd 2010 9:30AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Merck and Co (MRK), Options, Chasing Value™, Stocks to Buy, Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A), Telefonica SA (TEF)
A few weeks ago, a good friend asked me for a stock recommendation that he might add to his Roth IRA. Three stocks with high yields came to mind that would be great in a retirement account. Note that I do not advise others what they should do, but share what I am doing or contemplating doing.
I recently included Merck (MRK) in a review of the granny portfolio, and discussed Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A) in Chasing Value™: Buffett Must Be Buying Oil. I own Merck in all of my portfolios and have made Shell the largest holding in the largest portfolio. The third stock that I thought of I don't yet own -- Telefonica SA (TEF). I looked at it last May, and it currently pays a whopping 7.13% yield.
Continue reading Chasing Value: Telefonica, a Work of Art
Posted May 15th 2008 8:00AM by Laurie Pasternack (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, General Electric (GE), IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA), Merck and Co (MRK)
MAJOR PAPERS:
- In a move to help turnaround its troubled business, General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) will sell or divest its appliance division, and could expect to receive between $5B and $8B for the unit, according to the Wall Street Journal. Potential buyers appliance makers BSH Bosch & Siemens Hausger of Germany and Haier Group of China, as well as private equity firms and Controladora Mabe, GE's partner in Mexico.
- The Wall Street Journal also reported that Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) will acquire Plaxo, a networking Web site, in an effort to increase its range of services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- To help improve its Ask.com search engine, the Wall Street Journal reported that IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) will buy the Lexico Publishing Group, which owns Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com.
WEB SITES:
- Citing the New England Journal of Medicine, Bloomberg reported that migraine headache medicines, including Merck & Co Inc's (NYSE: MRK) Maxalt and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (NYSE: GSK) Imitrex caused potentially fatal reactions in at least 11 people. The Journal said people using "triptans," an older class of migraine drugs, could develop serotonin syndrome, which may cause fever, shock, vomiting and rapid heartbeat.
Posted Apr 23rd 2008 11:23AM by Eliza Popescu (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Consumer Experience, Merck and Co (MRK)
Drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp. (NYSE: SGP) reported this morning a drop of 48% in its fiscal first-quarter profit, hurt by higher costs tied to a buyout in the prior quarter. However, the company was able to post adjusted earnings well above analysts' predictions, pushing its shares up in morning trading.
Schering-Plough's profit during the first-quarter plunged to $291 million, or 15 cents a share, dragged down by charges related to its acquisition of Organon Biosciences NV. Excluding items, Schering-Plough's earnings figures would have come at 53 cents per share. Analysts' forecasts (which typically exclude one time items) were for 37 cents per share in the quarter.
The company's quarterly revenue jumped by a respectable 57% to $4.66 billion. For the period, the company benefited from strong gains from Organon, which came with sales of $1.3 billion. Anti-inflammatory Remicade sales also saw a growth of 36%, while allergy treatment Nasonex revenue saw a rise of 8%. Higher drug prices offset lower prescriptions in the U.S. Analysts, on average, expected Schering-Plough's revenue to be $4.52 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.
Continue reading Schering-Plough (SGP) sees quarterly profit falling 48% on merger costs
Posted Apr 17th 2008 9:25AM by Eliza Popescu (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Bad News, Consumer Experience, Competitive Strategy, Pfizer (PFE), Merck and Co (MRK)

Shares of drug maker
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:
PFE) have been tumbling in early trading after reporting this morning a
plunge of 18% in its first-quarter profit. The company's earnings numbers have been dragged down by lower sales of blood-pressure drug Norvasc and the allergy drug Zyrtec.
The company said its quarterly profit dropped to $2.78 billion, or 41 cents per share on strong generic competition. These numbers are down from $3.39 billion, or 48 cents per share reported in the same period a year ago. Excluding items, Pfizer's earnings would have come in at 61 cents per share, missing analysts' predictions for a profit of 66 cents per share in the quarter.
Pfizer's quarterly revenue also slipped 5% to $11.85 billion.The company attributed the revenue decline to its loss of U.S. exclusivity for blood pressure drug Norvasc. However, the drop in revenue could have been even worse if the drug maker hadn't benefited from the weak dollar, Pfizer stated. Analysts expected the company to show sales of $12.06 billion in the first quarter, according to Reuters Estimates.
Continue reading Pfizer (PFE) reports disappointing Q1 earnings on weak drug sales