Option volume has ramped up today on KeyCorp (KEY), with activity rising well beyond the usual level on both the call and put side of the tape. Taking a closer look at some of the major block trades on this regional banking issue, it appears that a single spread strategist is responsible for a healthy portion of this option volume.

Specifically, the trader purchased a block of 10,000 June 10 calls for $0.50 each, and simultaneously sold 10,000 June 8 puts for $0.25 each. The result was a net debit of $0.25 per pair of contracts -- which means the speculator can begin collecting profits on those purchased calls if KEY rallies beyond $10.25 by June expiration.

Continue reading Buyout Buzz Inspires Bullish KeyCorp Spread

Buyout Buzz Inspires Bullish KeyCorp Spread originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Black Friday has come and gone and the holiday shopping season is off and running. In addition to keeping on eye on how retailers are doing, there will be plenty of other economic data for analysts and investors to peruse on this week.

• Monday: Chicago Fed's Midwest Manufacturing Index
• Tuesday: Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index, Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, S&P/Case-Schiller Home Price Index for Q3, Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index

Continue reading Week in Preview: Unemployment Rate, Fed's Beige Book, Canadian Banks

Week in Preview: Unemployment Rate, Fed's Beige Book, Canadian Banks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"This month we are beefing up our Northern exposure with a Canadian bank: Toronto-Dominion (TD)," says growth and income specialist Stephen Leeb.

The editor of The Complete Investor explains, "Financial institutions offer leveraged exposure to the entire economic system. With Canada's upside greater than most, adding another bank makes good sense. By total assets, market cap, and adjusted net income, Toronto-Dominion is Canada's second-largest bank.

"And it's not only a force to reckon with in Canada, it has a large and growing presence in the U.S., where it ranks among the top 15 banking companies. It also has the distinction of being one of only three Aaa-rated banks on the NYSE and was the rare bank to not cut its dividend during the financial crisis.

Continue reading Toronto-Dominion (TD): Northern Exposure

Toronto-Dominion (TD): Northern Exposure originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters are looking for EPS for these banks to have fallen from 15% to 25% from a year ago. Their long-term EPS growth forecast is for between 10% and 12%, which is in the same range as U.S. rivals JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC), but better than Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C). Earnings multiples for these Canadian banks are 10x to 12x, but none of them have a First Call consensus recommendation is to buy. The Motley Fool, though, considers TD as a value stock and RY a stock poised to pop. All of them are trading much closer to their 52-week highs than lows, and shares of all are up more than 100% since March lows.

Continue reading The week in preview: Canadian banks in the earnings spotlight

The week in preview: Canadian banks in the earnings spotlight originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After the Memorial Day holiday in the United States, the earnings spotlight turns to Canadian banks: Bank of Montreal (NYSE: BMO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (NYSE: CM), Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) are all scheduled to report their second-quarter results.

While banks north of the border of generally have held up better than their U.S. counterparts, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the four listed above to report that earnings declined between 20% and 30% since the same period of last year. All four have P/E ratios around 10, and they are paying dividends. Shares of all four have surged 50% to 83% in the past three months, but are still 26% to 38% lower than a year ago.

Continue reading The week in preview: Canadian and U.S. banks, and more

The week in preview: Canadian and U.S. banks, and more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 24 May 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In what could be the most watched private equity deal of the year, a consortium of buyout firms led by billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross has set its sights on BankUnited Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: BKUNA), says the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The consortium includes Carlyle Group and Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX).

Earlier this year, federal regulators declared that the Florida-based lender was "critically undercapitalized" and demanded that it find a buyer or raise new capital. While regulators have traditionally favored other lenders in sales of banks, if Ross's group is successful, it would not only be one of the largest acquisitions in the financial-services sector made by private equity, but could also signal a shift in the government's attitude toward private-equity buyers of banks.

Continue reading BankUnited deal to open the door to private equity acquiring banks?

BankUnited deal to open the door to private equity acquiring banks? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 May 2009 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Results for the tech stocks in last week's preview were a mixed bag, some beats, some misses, some in line. By and large, expectations for tech companies reporting results this week remain high, though. Here's what analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are anticipating in the way of earnings, as compared to the same period of the previous year.

• Solarfun Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF): $1.48 EPS (+73.0%) on sales of $1.3 billion (+171.0%)
• Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL): $0.21 EPS (+71.4%) on sales of $836.7 million (+27.4%)
• Solera Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SLH): $0.29 EPS (+51.7%) on sales of $137.0 million (+11.8%)
• Applied Signal Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: APSG): $0.14 EPS (+42.9%) on sales of $46.4 million (+17.4%)
• China Finance Online Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JRJC): $0.14 EPS (+42.6%) on sales of $13.3 million (+131.5%)
• OSI Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIS): $0.38 EPS (+36.8%) on sales of $162.0 million (+6.0%)
• LaBarge Inc. (AMEX: LB): $0.27 EPS (+33.3%) on sales of $71.6 million (+10.4%)
• Esterline Technologies Corp. (NYSE: ESL): $0.69 EPS (+11.6%) on sales of $374.6 million (+14.8%)
• Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL): $0.36 EPS (+11.1%) on sales of $15.9 billion (+7.8%)
• HEICO Corp. (NYSE: HEI): $0.46 EPS (+13.0%) on sales of $147.1 million (+10.5%)
• Daktronics Inc. (NASDAQ: DAKT): $0.17 EPS (flat) on sales of $141.5 million (+17.0%)
• Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL): $0.05 EPS (flat) on sales of $241.4 million (-0.7%)
• Omnivision Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: OVTI): $0.29 EPS (-17.1%) on sales of $172.5 million (-0.4%)
• Sigma Designs Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGM): $0.39 EPS (-18.8%) on sales of $58.7 million (+37.9%)

Continue reading The week in preview: Earnings expectations for techs, Canadian banks

The week in preview: Earnings expectations for techs, Canadian banks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 24 Aug 2008 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back on May 21st, the $34.1 billion buyout deal for BCE (NYSE: BCE) looked bleak. A Quebec court ruled that the process had to stop -- so as to evaluate the impact on bondholders. As a result, BCE's stock price plunged from $37.83 to $33.10.

Of course, the decision was immediately appealed to Canada's Supreme Court. And, it was a savvy move. Today, the high court agreed to allow the BCE deal to move forward (this is according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which is a paid publication). In fact, there was no rationale provided (instead, this will be provided at a later date).

However, there are still headwinds on the buyout. Simply put, the credit crunch is still lingering and making it extremely difficult to pull off mega financings. The banks on the deal include Citigroup (NYSE: C), Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), Royal Bank of Scotland, and Toronto-Dominion Bank. Of course, they don't want to sustain any more losses on their balance sheets.

Then again, this does not mean the deal will fall apart. Rather, there will likely be pressure to renegotiate the price tag on the transaction. After all, this is what happened with the buyout of Clear Channel.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

BCE buyout gets a good call from Canada's Supreme Court originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 21 Jun 2008 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"Almost untouched by the subprime scandal and the subsequent credit fallout, Canada's banks are strong and their risk of writeoffs are consider by most analysts as minor," notes Genia Turanova and Gregory Dorsey in Leeb's Income Performance Letter.

Here, they look at two favorites in the Canadian banking sector: Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD) and Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY).

"Toronto-Dominion and its subsidiaries, collectively known as TD Bank Financial Group, serve more than 14 million customers. The group offers a full range of financial products and services including wholesale banking securities, personal and business banking, wealth management and U.S. personal and commercial banking.

"TD Bank is looking to expand its US presence by acquiring New Jersey-based Commerce Bancorp. After the acquisition is completed, TD's US banking operations will double. As for the hot topic of all financials these days - its subprime exposure - Commerce Bancorp's $16 billion loan portfolio has no subprime exposure.

Continue reading Income expert banks on Canada

Income expert banks on Canada originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My recent Investing in Ontario post took a look at the Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), Manulife Financial Corp. (NYSE: MFC), and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD); three public companies examined by the Motley Fool this past summer.

However, Ontario is more than just Canada's financial center. Its abundance of resources and location on Great Lakes have made Ontario a manufacturing powerhouse, including steel production and automobile manufacturing in southern Ontario, and mining and forestry in the north. Toronto is Canada's film and media center, as well as an important tourism destination. Niagara Falls is one of world's most popular tourist destinations. Other Ontario companies the Motley Fool liked include Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM), Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT), and IMAX Corp. (NASDAQ: IMAX).

Research in Motion (RIM), Canada's largest public company, is well know for its BlackBerry smart phones, but it also provides software development tools and produces radio-based modems used in portable devices. The consensus recommendation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is to buy RIM, and has been since April. RIM met analysts' earnings per share estimate when it reported second quarter FY2008 earnings in early October, and Wall Street expects EPS of 62 cents in the third quarter, double the 31 cents actual from a year ago. RIM has a five-year EPS growth rate of 73.5%, easily beating the S&P 500 and the technology sector average. RIM's share price has been climbing since a share split in August, to reach a 52-week high of $128.36 on Tuesday; it opened today at $124.75. Also this week, RIM announced plans to sell the BlackBerry in China, and introduced Facebook for the BlackBerry as well. For more on Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) challenge to RIM and other RIM-related news, see Bloggingstocks' RIM coverage.

Continue reading Investing in Ontario: Research in Motion (RIMM), Nortel Networks (NT), and IMAX (IMAX)

Investing in Ontario: Research in Motion (RIMM), Nortel Networks (NT), and IMAX (IMAX) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Its abundance of resources and location on the Great Lakes have made Ontario an economic powerhouse. Canada's capital, Ottawa can be found there, as well as its largest city, Toronto, which is also Canada's financial hub. Seven of Ontario's eight largest companies are financial institutions, and Toronto is also the home of one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. When the Motley Fool took a look at stock investment opportunities in Ontario this past June, three of the companies they focused on were financial institutions: Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), Manulife Financial Corp. (NYSE: MFC) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD). Considering the credit crunch and the weakness of the U.S. dollar, I thought it might be interesting to see how those companies are faring now.

The Royal Bank of Canada, also known as RBC Financial Group, is Canada's largest financial institution. It has 1,300 domestic locations and offices in 30 countries. In September, RBC's Gord Nixon won Canada's Outstanding CEO of the Year award for 2007. More recently, RBC announced the acquisition of a Caribbean bank, and it was one of four Canadian banks affected by restructuring at VISA. With RBC's five-year earnings per share growth rate of 26.5% (better than the S&P 500), the consensus recommendation of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial is to buy RBC, despite missing earnings expectations for the past two quarters. RBC's share price is near an all-time high on the NYSE, closing Thursday at $57.09 on the NYSE. RBC will release its next quarterly report on November 30.

Continue reading Investing in Ontario: Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Manulife Financial (MFC), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD)

Investing in Ontario: Royal Bank of Canada (RY), Manulife Financial (MFC), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.