WellsFargo posts
FeedPosted Aug 13th 2009 2:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Getting started, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Serious Money, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2009, Olin Corp. (OLN)
Money market accounts and certificates of deposit are safe, but they provide very little return on your investment. This fact, and the invigorated stock market, provoked one of my bankers, Dobrinka, at the local Santa Monica Wells Fargo branch, to ask for advice on how I would invest $25,000 if I was just starting out.
This is a common question although the starting point in terms of cash varies. It certainly makes a difference how old the person is, their general knowledge about investing and finance, and the particulars of their financial statement.
Here is what I suggested sticking to regular themes I have written about before and broadly speaking would be a conservative approach emphasizing safety, diversity, liquidity, dividends and the potential for growth far exceeding cash in the mattress or in a money market account. I also think that it is important for beginners to educate themselves so my suggestions include an educational aspect.
Continue reading Serious Money: What to do with $25,000
Posted Jul 31st 2009 5:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, Microsoft (MSFT), Ford Motor (F), Market matters, Money and Finance Today, Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Chevron Corp (CVX), Nucor Corp (NUE), Options, BHP Billiton Ltd ADR (BHP), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bargain stocks, Anglo American (AAUKY), S and P 500, DJIA, Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO)
Where on earth can you buy things on sale for less than bargain prices?
Imagine that you were shopping for a nice shirt, or watch, or bicycle and you have been tracking the prices all year (or ten) and the thing finally goes on sale. You drive to the store and while you are in transit, unknown to you, the store manager puts a half price sticker on the item. You would be overjoyed with glee! To buy something at half the price you already thought was a bargain --
that would be amazing!The fact is that this year the stock market has provided that opportunity. This year for the first time in most of our lives, you were able to do that to a degree that we have not witnessed before and have only read about.
Continue reading Serious Money: The world's dumbest market
Posted May 11th 2009 2:10PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rants and raves, Market matters, Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Politics, Recession, Financial Crisis, Williams Companies (WMB), Marathon Oil (MRO)
After a nine-week stock market rally it is time to tally up the winners and losers. In a market where almost everything gained, there must eventually be separation between those that went with the flow and those that had something to show.
The financial stocks, with the help of the government, were able to show some positive earnings. The banks do raise the suspicion that this is a case of "managing the numbers".
The government has helped them along by "reshaping" some accounting rules and giving them advance warning (and leaking to the public) of the results of its stress testing. Until now, they have gone with the flow as the hardest hit stocks and rallied the most.
Continue reading After the rally comes the tally
Posted May 4th 2009 6:30PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Good news, Rants and raves, Market matters, Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, Headline news, Stocks to Buy
I have written many times in the past year about
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) and since it is up another 23.66% today, I'd like to come back to it. As an investor I have done more than just blab (or blog) about it. I have been loading up on the stock, acquiring shares at $12.00 when the bears were ruling the market only a short time ago --
a very short time ago!In the last month,
Wells is up an amazing 48.41%, and that for
the safest bank in the United States. The stock closed today at $24.25, up $4.64.
In addition to buying the stock, I have been playing with naked put options at multiple levels. The extreme negativity in the market created a huge opportunity, so much so that I wrote
Chasing Value: Will we be eating out of trash cans? which includes a discussion of naked put options.
Continue reading Chasing Value: Wells Fargo - squeezing out the shorts!
Posted Apr 9th 2009 5:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, International markets, Earnings reports, Good news, Consumer experience, Middle East, Market matters, Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), Economic data, Wells Fargo (WFC), Oil, Recession, Financial Crisis
As investors start to believe that the worst of the current recession is already behind us, they are turning their attention to oil, and today have
pushed the precious crude over the psychological $50 mark.
Oil is moving higher today with the overall markets, as Wall Street has been seeing hints that things are starting to turn around. Part of the reason for the optimism has come in the form of strong earnings this week from
Ruby Tuesday (NYSE:
RT) and
Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:
BBBY). If restaurants and retailers are seeing things start to rebound, its a good sign for the overall economy, and a sign that people are out there driving their cars around, which helps boost oil prices.
Continue reading Oil jumps over 5% as traders take a positive stance on the economy
Posted Mar 24th 2009 4:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International markets, Bad news, Rants and raves, General Electric (GE), Scandals, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Politics, Financial Crisis
In one of my previous blogs:
Is the stock market spring loaded? I coined the phrase
Lightspeed Inflation in reference to the rate at which the government was able to dilute our currency. It is time we stopped referring to the government's over spending as "running the printing presses".
We have reached a point, given our maximum note size of $100, that we would actually be better off if the government did have to print the money. Now they can just add whatever amount they want to the balance sheet electronically.
Continue reading From gold standard to no standard: 'Lightspeed inflation'
Posted Mar 16th 2009 9:50AM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wells Fargo (WFC)
Imagine that someone showed up at your door and insisted you take a loan from them, a loan that you didn't ask for and didn't want.
Then, a few months later, the person who lent you the money showed up at your door and told you that you would be subjected to mandatory "stress tests" and insisted on a role in managing how you run your financial affairs.
You'd probably be mad as hell, and that's exactly how
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) chairman Richard Kovacevich is feeling.
Continue reading Wells Fargo CEO blasts TARP, stress tests
Posted Mar 6th 2009 4:20PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: International markets, Good news, Management, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of New York (BK), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, U.S. Bancorp (USB)
It is being reported today in the
Business Journal that the safest bank in the United States is
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:
WFC).
According to
Global Finance, which will publish its analysis, "World's 50 Safest Banks" in its April issue, international banks dominate the rankings, which show the effects of the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and credit crisis brought on by large Wall Street players. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo is the top-rated U.S. bank at No. 21. European banks now dominate the rankings, with only four U.S. banks among the listing.
Continue reading Chasing Value: The safest bank in the U.S. -- Wells Fargo
Posted Mar 6th 2009 10:10AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wells Fargo (WFC)
This morning,
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) announced what it terms a "very difficult decision." Wells Fargo decided to
cut its quarterly dividend to 5 cents per share from 34 cents per share, saving $5 billion in the process. WFC also believes that the move will help the company reimburse the government for its recent investment in the firm.
WFC's CEO John Stumpf stated in a press release, "The actions we're taking every day ... are the right thing to do in any event for our shareholders, customers, and team members ... these actions will help us repay the government's investment at the earliest practical date."
Continue reading Wells Fargo cuts dividend to save money
Posted Mar 5th 2009 4:05PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), General Motors (GM), Citigroup Inc. (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), General Dynamics Corp (GD)
Yesterday there was hope. Obama had just
endorsed stocks for the long-term, China predicted 8% growth, and the markets staged a rather large trading rally. But it turned out to be just that: a trading rally, and a small one to boot. The
lower-than-expected jobless claims and not as bad retail numbers failed to cause any follow-through buying as China's great new package was really not much more than we already knew. Yep, this was just the recipe for a great flush-out for equity investors.
Dow 6,594.44 -281.40 (-4.09%)
S&P 500 682.56 -30.31 (-4.25%)
Nasdaq 1,299.59 -54.15 (-4.00%)
Top analyst upgradesTop analyst downgradesContinue reading Closing Bell: The great flush-out (GE, WMT, C, WFC, GM)
Posted Feb 25th 2009 2:20PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Competitive strategy, Citigroup Inc. (C), Wells Fargo (WFC)
While most banks are slashing dividends and looking to raise capital,
Wells Fargo (NYSE:
WFC) actually raised its dividend in the third quarter of 2008. That's been a boon to the company's stock price. Sure, it's trading at less than one-third of its 52-week high, but it isn't on the precipice of collapse like its competitors are.
But the
Wall Street Journal says (subscription required) that the company should cut its dividend: "Wells's stock yields over 10%. Dividends, which cost $4.31 billion last year, deplete capital. Wells's ratios are hardly impressive as it is, and look anything but bulletproof in the face of rising credit losses and huge economic uncertainty."
Continue reading Why Wells Fargo should cut its dividend
Posted Feb 9th 2009 2:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Diageo plc (DEO), Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, Anglo American (AAUKY), Stocks to Buy, Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG), Annaly Capital Management (NLY), Best Stocks for 2009, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), EZCORP (EZPW)
The 2009 clock is ticking loudly. The year has started off with a lot of continued turbulence. We have a new president, Barack Obama, who will boldly lead us where no man has gone before -- two trillion further in debt, most likely.
Not that this is his doing, but it is his chosen calling, and right now he is calling out to the Senate minority to compromise, and get yet another federal stimulus package off the shelf and out the door.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2009 picks -- news and views
Posted Feb 6th 2009 10:25AM by Lita Epstein (RSS feed)
Filed under: Money and Finance Today, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Wells Fargo (WFC), Financial Crisis
Goldman Sachs (NYSE:
GS) doesn't like to be told what it can or cannot do by the President of the United States, so it now
wants out of the TARP program. David Viniar, Goldman's chief financial officer told attendees at a Credit Suisse conference on Wednesday that he would like to pay back the government. However, the big question is: Can Goldman raise the funds to pay back the $10 billion in capital the company took from the government last fall?
The money looked very good to financial companies. Goldman and the other banks saw it as a cheap way to raise capital and steady the ship. There's a huge catch, though. In order to pay back those funds, the company must raise new equity capital to buy out the government's stake in the bank.
Continue reading Goldman Sachs wants to give back TARP money, but can it?
Next Page >
"Banks had taken a brutal beating over the last two years was brutal; the S&P Sector SPDR Financials dropped 72.0% from its high last September to its low in March," notes Brandon Clay.
Wells Fargo
The week in preview: Earnings from Walmart, Macy's, and other retailers
Six top trades for the rest of 2009
Comfort Zone Investing: Buffett buys Burlington
