Continue reading Profiting from Boutique Investment Banks

Profiting from Boutique Investment Banks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In recent months, the value of gold has skyrocketed. As a price per ounce, the latest price was $1,104.30.00 per Troy oz. According to Goldprice.org, a site specializing in gold sales, shows price charts for various time periods. In the past year, the price per oz has risen from $852.70 to today's close, an increase of roughly 30%. That sounds like a great deal, but unfortunately it doesn't stand up when compared to stocks.

Continue reading In a Volatile Market, Is It Time to Invest in Gold?

In a Volatile Market, Is It Time to Invest in Gold? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the Finnish provider of mobile telephones and networking equipment, recently hit some rough seas. The company's sales and market share tanked, due mostly to recession woes. And in the first quarter of this year, Nokia posted its first ever pre-tax loss of 12 million euros.

Now, as the world's largest cellphone manufacturer tries to compete with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Samsung in the market for smart phones (see my article about this on DailyFinance, "Nokia's smartphone gets deadpan debut as carriers skip subsidies"), a number of analysts have downgraded its stock.

Continue reading Wireless Stock Watch: Nokia, a bad news buy

Wireless Stock Watch: Nokia, a bad news buy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the things that happens in large market drops is that investors move from stocks into cash. As individual investor pull money from the equity markets, institutions come to dominate trading.

According to The Wall Street Journal. individual investors are sick of stocks. "Investors pulled a record $72 billion from stock funds overall in October alone, according to the Investment Company Institute, a mutual-fund trade group." It is almost certain that the trend continued last month.

Three things come out of the withdrawals and none of them is good. When individual investors are not in the market to buy it could push demand for stocks down even more, dropping prices more. For those still holding equities, this could drag the value of their portfolios lower even further. This also means a recovery of prices is less likely.

Second, cash moved to money market funds now gets yields which are among the lowest in history. Investors may be moving money to safer havens, but the returns are so low that there is no chance that their portfolios will recover.

The last and most insidious problem is that investors on the sidelines are investors who have no chance to recover when the market moves back up. It always has, and it will again. Timing that is nearly impossible, but for an investor who has lost 50% of his portfolio, being out of equities when they move up means missing a chance to get some capital back.

Off course, the safe play is not to stay in a market which may drop much further. But, the safe play is not always the right one.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an investor at 24/7 Wall St.

The individual investor walks out on the market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Falling knife or opportunity? You make the call.

Falling knife or opportunity? You make the call. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Illinois Tool Works (ITW): OK despite the housing downturn

Illinois Tool Works (ITW): OK despite the housing downturn originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Raising price targets on a stock that is already at an all-time high can be a dangerous game. After earnings yesterday, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) shares did not move up much after hours. Traders are worried that the company is hiring people too fast and that a recession could hurt even the great search company.

But intrepid analysts will not be dissuaded from thinking Google will do even better.

According to a survey by Barron's, several large firms raised price targets. Bernstein has pushed its price target from $625 to $720. Credit Suisse has moved its from $600 to $800. And Goldman Sachs has upped its ante from $620 to $900. Google now trades at about $640.

It would seem unlikely that any news, even the launch of a Google Phone, will push shares much higher if the Q3 earnings do not. But analysts do not want to be left out in the cold if the shares take off again. GOOG is already up 35% in the last month.

The risk is that big Wall Street firms are raising targets and chasing a future that is not there. Google is up against the same cost pressures and recession risks that may trouble many other companies.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Firms raise price targets on Google (GOOG) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 07:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple (AAPL) price target raised to $180 by Morgan Stanley originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Circuit City (CC) shares hit four-year low: time to buy? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When the CEO of one of the most-watched companies on the planet accelerates his stock sales, people pay attention.

This is what is happening with Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt, who has sold $1.4 billion worth of stock in under three years with the search king. According to the San Jose Mercury News, "Between Wednesday and Friday, Schmidt filed a series of Form 4s disclosing that he sold 105,739 shares at prices ranging from $563.40 to $571.50 per share to collect $59,968,220."

Is this part of his normally scheduled portfolio divesting strategy, or is Schmidt cashing out before Google shares come crashing down? Although Schmidt, like many execs, sells shares on a scheduled filed with the SEC, we can't judge the guy for Google shares being near the $600 level at this point, right? Although Google shares may come crashing down to reasonable levels at some point, they do stand at over $582 today, within shouting distance of the ill-famed $600 price point. Is Google really worth that much? That question has been bandied about many times recently over the last year, and here we are.

When Schmidt signed on to lead the rag-tag Google team with founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, he probably had no idea what would transpire. However, the behemoth now controls access to so much information it would boggle the average mind. In a world of instant gratification, Google serves up a tasty dish of information billions of times per day around the world, satisfying the needs of business, government and consumers alike.

For that kind of exponential growth in such a short time, perhaps Schmidt's leadership is worth the billion-plus in stock he's sold since 2005. Is he worth it? You decide.

Google's (GOOG) CEO unloads even more stock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Insider buying at Orbitz (OWW) a good sign for the industry originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So much has been written about Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) as we witnessed the long lines to buy the iPhone on June 29. Numbers were circulating that Apple sold 700,000 units of the new, revolutionary device in the first weekend. Apple has yet to confirm that, but the anecdotal evidence is certainly pointing toward blow-out numbers. Apple stated a goal of 10 million units sold by year end 2008, now I am hearing from several sources that the goal will be raised to 13-14 million. What does all this mean for the stock and its march to $200?

Apple is such a unique company because it transcends the typical technology company profile. With its massive retail store system, 180 strong, Apple has DIRECT contact with its customers: soup to nuts, it controls the sale. Apple controls not only the principal purchases of iPhones, iPods, Macs, etc., but controls the accessory sales and is building its own database of customer names and critical information. That list is worth its weight in gold. It's called future add-on sales with very low sales and marketing expenditures.

With all the moving parts to the Apple story, analysts intuitively know that forward numbers are quite conservative and going higher. The question is do we wait until July 25 for the release of the June quarter results or take a gander right here, right now? The June quarter consensus estimates call for revenues of $5.28 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of $0.72 versus last year's June results of $4.3 billion and EPS of $0.54. For the September 30 fiscal year 2007, expectations are for total revenues of $23.7 billion and EPS of $3.56. September 30, 2008 fiscal year expectations call for revenues of $29.2 billion and EPS of $4.13.

Let me give you my prediction and projections.

Continue reading Apple outlook: Why AAPL is on its way to $200

Apple outlook: Why AAPL is on its way to $200 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 14:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The compelling question regarding The Blackstone Group's (NYSE: BX) IPO is this: "Is the Blackstone IPO right for me, the typical investor?"

Well, that depends.

We'll leave aside the management compensation and political dimensions to this IPO -- Mr. Hamilton (you remember him, Alexander Hamilton) said a long time ago that political questions are best resolved by those in Washington, not in New York -- and we see no reason to disagree with the great Mr. Hamilton now.

The Deal

Instead we'll focus on one of the tasks New York performs best: analyzing market potential and discovering price.

Continue reading Blackstone's IPO & you: Risk capital only

Blackstone's IPO & you: Risk capital only originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Will Yahoo!, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) seek to acquire something or will Yahoo! look for a buyer for itself? Those are the two questions flying around . For me the answer is simple. At this time Yahoo! shouldn't be considering either move. Who needs to hear that Microsoft has purchased Yahoo!?

What Yahoo! needs right now is something new. Yahoo! needs a new direction. Yahoo! needs a new focus. Yahoo! needs new talent. Yahoo! needs to do new things. Did I mention Yahoo! needs something new?

Here's one of my ideas: Yahoo should align with ESPN and reawaken the "First Person Sport Cam". Do you remember the failed helmet cam concept they tried in the NFL? It was an excellent idea but unless you're completely immune to motion sickness you can't stand to watch the action from that perspective for more than a couple minutes. There is a way to make it work however. If a GPS sensor was put on a player's helmet which then sent directional cues to camera arrays around the perimeter of the field of play, then the helmet would relay the players field of view and the static cameras could provide clear, stable pictures of exactly what that player is looking at. The Yahoo! Helmet Cam Sport Arena could be born. The concept could work on baseball caps and batting helmets. Sensors could be put in soccer players head bands. Tiger Woods could have one in his golf hat.

The simple point to this blog post is that it's my opinion that now with Terry Semel moved aside it's the time for Yahoo! to do something drastically new. They should continue to work the boring old search realm as long as the revenue justifies that, but indications are that the search advertising game is bracing for upheaval from video sharing interests. Web users are becoming more and more entrenched in where they like to go and what they like to do. The dynamics of Internet advertising are changing and it's time for something Yah-new!

Yahoo! to buy or Yahoo! to sell, that is the NEW question. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Intel to increase buybacks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Financial services industry, look out. The boys of Bentonville are moving in, partnering with ShareBuilder, to offer low-cost investment services to customers. If you're not familiar with ShareBuilder, it's become a pretty big player in the discount brokerage industry by targeting a market most companies don't: people who might only have a few hundred dollars to invest. They offer a program that is ideal for dollar-cost averaging with small amounts of money. By combining thousands of orders for numerous stocks into a few big orders every Tuesday, the company is able to offer investors an opportunity to invest a little each week (or month) without facing prohibitively high transaction costs.

I haven't been able to get a lot of details on the plan, except that the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) service will offer customers a small discount from ShareBuilder's usual costs, depending on the number of trades per month. Wal-Mart describes the ShareBuilder partnership as a pilot project.

I like this a lot -- perhaps by advertising the program in-store, curious shoppers will take the company up on the offer to put a few dollars into shares of companies they're familiar with. By bringing the stock market into Wal-Mart, I believe we could see a lot of first-time investors starting to save for their future, and I think that's the goal here -- I doubt Wal-Mart thinks it can siphon off business from Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS).

I went into my local Wal-Mart the other day and couldn't find anything on this. Has anyone checked it out? Any thoughts on it?

Wal-Mart and ShareBuilder team up for investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 20 May 2007 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Battle of the Brands feature. Let us know which brand you prefer, and watch out for more Battle of the Brands posts.

I was preparing to make a sandwich recently, which for me is quite an undertaking. The ingredients need to be fresh, sliced to appropriate thickness and of the tastiest varieties. I got out all the fixin's and took hold of the appropriate tools, then I realized that I was missing one key ingredient. I was yet to procure the mayonnaise.

I went into the refrigerator where I knew I'd find the delectably smooth and scrumptious stuff. You can probably imagine my shock when I found not one but two brand new unopened squeeze bottles of mayonnaise right there on the door shelf in between the horse radish and the barbecue sauce. As if that wasn't trouble enough, when I reached in to take one of the bottles for my project, I realized that each of the bottles was a different brand. Oh the sheer unfairness of it, that meant I would have to decide which brand would appropriately bless my sandwich.

Rather than make a rash decision by simply grabbing a bottle and applying the dressing, I decided to carefully weigh my mayonnaise choice. After all, I wanted the perfect mayo for the perfect sandwich. I already knew that the two products were nearly identical in taste and texture. I needed to find the deeper meaning. I grasped both bottles, one in each hand, and carefully initiated my sandwich dressing analysis. Both bottles were plastic and totally squeezable. Each had appropriate tamper protection and a wide, flip-top cap that can be used to stand the bottle inverted. Each had a serving opening designed to apply the mayo in a flat ribbon outlay. The caps were blue and the bottles were clear. So far it was a dead heat.

Continue reading Hellmann's vs. Kraft mayonnaise: Battle of the Brands

Hellmann's vs. Kraft mayonnaise: Battle of the Brands originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Volatility Index for S&P 500 Options (VIX) is up 1.81 to 15.29.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) April option implied volatility is Elevated at 39, suggesting more Risk. YHOO is recently trading at $31.47. Nollenberger says it's "All about Panama, for better or worse; initiating coverage at Neutral." YHOO is expected to report EPS on April 17. YHOO April option implied volatility of 39 is above its 26-week average of 34 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Option update - March 28, 2007 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I may have mentioned previously that for some odd reason I often have the very daunting privilege of entertaining some deeply intriguing questions. The query put to me today was issued in form similar to this:

If I could virtually guarantee you that by following my instructions on when to buy and sell stocks you would reap a profit at least 70% of the time, would you listen to my instructions and follow them? The only catch is you have to be the first one to take action based on my advice.

This question was brought up in reference to Jim Cramer and the tone of the question was not nice. It was implied that something less than honorable might be taking place behind the scenes. I stand in Jim Cramer's defense (as if it's even required).

Although at times he annoys me with his on screen antics, I have never had cause to believe that Jim Cramer's prognostications encompassed anything less than good, solid business analysis, thorough historical trending and conservative (although sometimes very wrong) performance projections. I have never known Mr.Cramer to lie about anything and he backs up every claim he makes with experience and facts.

Continue reading Is Jim Cramer the anointed king of pump and dump?

Is Jim Cramer the anointed king of pump and dump? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Mar 2007 16:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX up 2.30 to 20.43

Sepracor Inc. -(NASDAQ:SEPR) option implied volatility stays low on FDA request for new warnings. SEPR markets Lunesta, a prescription sleep aid and Xopenex, a treatment to prevent bronchospasm. SEPR is down .67 to $48.15. Dow Jones reported "The FDA said Wednesday it's requesting new warnings on 13 drugs such as Ambien and Lunesta." Goldman says "important catalyst for this year include the launch of generic SNY-Ambien on April 21 (which could threaten Lunesta trends) and the initial CMS decision on Xopenex UDV Medicare reimbursement on June 20 (final decision in September)." Goldman has a $55 target on SEPR, down from $59. SEPR call option volume of 3,026 contracts compares to put volume of 9,348 contracts. SEPR April option implied volatility of 35, below its 26-week average of 42 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price fluctuations.

Accredited Home Lenders-(NASDAQ:LEND volatility-call volume spikes: LEND rallies on chatter. LEND is a mortgage company originating, financing, securitizing, servicing and selling non-prime mortgages. LEND is recently up $1.61 to $5.61 on unconfirmed M&A chatter. LEND call option volume of 52,058 contracts compares to put volume of 36,681 contracts. LEND April option implied volatility of 210 is above its 26-week average of 63 according to Track Data, suggesting large price fluctuations.

Option volume leaders today were: Accredited Home Lenders (NYSE:LEND), Citigroup (NYSE:C) & Apple (NASDAQ:APPL).

Daily Option Update - March 14, 2007 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Mar 2007 15:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.