BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com BloggingStocks http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/media/feedlogo.gif BloggingStocks http://www.bloggingstocks.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Banks becoming hesitant to lend on belief credit losses will increase]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/08/25/banks-becoming-hesitant-to-lend-on-belief-credit-losses-will-inc/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/08/25/banks-becoming-hesitant-to-lend-on-belief-credit-losses-will-inc/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/08/25/banks-becoming-hesitant-to-lend-on-belief-credit-losses-will-inc/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

There are signs that banks and others are expecting another round of credit write-offs. Banks are becoming more hesitant to lend on speculation credit losses will increase as the global economic slowdown deepens, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

For borrowing, banks are charging each other a 77-basis-point premium above what traders predict the U.S Federal Reserve's daily, effective Federal Funds rate will average over the next three months, up from 24 basis points in January, Bloomberg News reported.

Banks concerned about potential write-offs, global slowdown

Economist Peter Dawson said Monday two factors are driving the widening short-term lending spread.

"Rightly or mistakenly, there's a suspicion that selected banks will announce another round of write-offs," Dawson said. "Second, banks are coming to grips with the reality of the global slowdown. The slowdown suggests reduced revenue for banks, which would further hurt already strained balance sheets, and make banks more-reluctant to lend."

In August 2007, banks began to hoard cash and pare-back lending after subprime mortgage defaults forced two Bear Stearns hedge funds to seek bankruptcy protection. A series of regional, mortgage asset-related write-offs followed, as the housing boom ended, first in the United States, then in the United Kingdom. Mortgage-related credit losses now total more than $500 billion worldwide, Dawson said.

Continue reading Banks becoming hesitant to lend on belief credit losses will increase

Banks becoming hesitant to lend on belief credit losses will increase originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>asset backed securitiesbalance sheetbanking sectorbond marketcredit crisiscredit crunchcredit marketshousinginterest ratesinthenewslendingmortgage backed securitiesmortgagesMon, 25 Aug 2008 11:01:00 EST<![CDATA[Cramer on BloggingStocks: Eventually, balance sheets will matter again ]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/07/16/cramer-on-bloggingstocks-eventually-balance-sheets-will-matter/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/07/16/cramer-on-bloggingstocks-eventually-balance-sheets-will-matter/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/07/16/cramer-on-bloggingstocks-eventually-balance-sheets-will-matter/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says when the dust settles, we'll notice the reduced equity here, and stocks will rise to reflect it.

Do corporate balance sheets matter? One of the things that you will see in the next few weeks is everyday industrial companies brimming with cash. You are going to see buybacks of huge proportions. Companies like Deere (NYSE: DE) (Cramer's Take) and Parker-Hannifin (NYSE: PH) (Cramer's Take) and Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) (Cramer's Take) are swimming in cash. United Technologies (NYSE: UTX) (Cramer's Take), Emerson (NYSE: EMR) (Cramer's Take), huge. Every drug company, big. Almost every major tech company from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) (Cramer's Take) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) (Cramer's Take) to Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) (Cramer's Take) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) (Cramer's Take). Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) (Cramer's Take), which just reported, has a monster amount of cash. (Eaton (NYSE: ETN) (Cramer's Take) will soon, after the smoke clears.)

I know it doesn't matter at all. Right now we are so stuck on the banking problems and on the companies bleeding from higher energy prices that nobody cares about all of this cash, which will be used to shrink equity. They won't care because the banks, brokers and homebuilders, and the hobbled companies that use oil, have to issue so much equity that you can't see the effect of the equity shrinkage. But it will eventually matter. It has to matter that Deere has taken out 10% of its stock in the last four years. It does matter that Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) (Cramer's Take) has eliminated almost 20% of its equity. Emerson's taken out 5%, same with Boeing (NYSE: BA) (Cramer's Take). There's just a huge amount of equity being shrunk.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Eventually, balance sheets will matter again

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Eventually, balance sheets will matter again originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>babalance sheetBalanceSheetbdkcatcscodeemretnfeaturedintcjim cramerJimCramerjnjmsftphtxnutxwbWed, 16 Jul 2008 09:10:00 EST<![CDATA[GAAP vs. IFRS: New accounting rules could mean trouble]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/06/26/gaap-versus-ifrs-new-accounting-rules-could-mean-trouble/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/06/26/gaap-versus-ifrs-new-accounting-rules-could-mean-trouble/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/06/26/gaap-versus-ifrs-new-accounting-rules-could-mean-trouble/#commentsFiled under: , ,

As if investors do not have enough to worry about, along comes another problem. There is a growing movement to allow, perhaps eventually require, American companies and foreign companies trading in ADRs, to keep their books according to International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, instead of the venerable GAAP method we all know and love.

The move to IFRS makes a fair amount of sense given the global nature of capital markets. American investors will simply have to learn to read a balance sheet constructed using different rules. The problem looming on the horizon is, who will construct the IFRS balance sheets?

Continue reading GAAP vs. IFRS: New accounting rules could mean trouble

GAAP vs. IFRS: New accounting rules could mean trouble originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Jun 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>accountingbalance sheetBalanceSheetGAAPIFRSInternational Financial Reporting StandardsInternationalFinancialReportingStandardsThu, 26 Jun 2008 16:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Hudson City is the bank that enables investors to sleep well at night]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/10/hudson-city-is-the-bank-that-enables-investors-to-sleep-well-at/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/10/hudson-city-is-the-bank-that-enables-investors-to-sleep-well-at/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/01/10/hudson-city-is-the-bank-that-enables-investors-to-sleep-well-at/#commentsFiled under:

The banking and financial sectors have certainly taken their lumps amid the housing sector's correction, but that doesn't mean there aren't bank stock opportunities out there, and one bank worth a review is Hudson City Bancorp.

Hudson City Bancorp (Nasdaq: HCBK) is a community bank with about 110 branches in the Metropolitan New York area.

Analysts like HCBK's loan growth, ramping fee income, and strong cost control history. Best of all, analysts say Hudson should not be adversely affected by the secondary mortgage market and its incorrect pricing of loans because Hudson holds most of the loans it originates.

Further, margin spreads should increase in 2008, and charge-offs should be minimal. The Reuters FY 2007/FY 2008 EPS consensus estimates for HCBK are $0.59 to $0.82.

The risks? An inversion of the yield curve would hurt HCBK's results; competition is modest.

The First Call mean rating for HCBK is: Buy [13 firms]. Mean 2008 target: $15.50 [high: $18, low: $12].

Stock Analysis: Hudson City Bancorp is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than 2 years should be rewarded from HCBK's shares. Sell/Stop Loss if you were to purchase shares in this company: $8.

Disclosure: Lazzaro has no positions in stocks. In addition to private real estate holdings, he owns corporate and municipal bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.

Hudson City is the bank that enables investors to sleep well at night originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>balance sheetbanking sectorbankscommunity banksHCBKhousingHudson City Bancorpinterest ratesmortgagesrecessionThu, 10 Jan 2008 19:09:00 EST<![CDATA[Bottom fishing for Savvis (SVVS)]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/09/27/evidence-of-successful-product-transition-for-savvis/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/09/27/evidence-of-successful-product-transition-for-savvis/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/09/27/evidence-of-successful-product-transition-for-savvis/#commentsFiled under:

Evidence of a successful product transition for Savvis Inc (NASDAQ: SVVS) should come out in its October earnings conference call. The data-center company had a nice run post-restructuring, but I blogged as the stock was hitting $50 per share that it was worth taking some money off of the table.

With the stock having corrected to $36, it is worth chipping away at this growth company.

Savvis is building four new state-of-the-art centers which will expand capacity by 160,000 sq. ft. around the country. The company also has utilized options to take back below-market-rate contracts which it is in the process of re-marketing and repricing. Further, the data-center company is upgrading its network with new Cisco equipment, getting rid of older Nortel gear, and will link its metropolitan data centers with fiber to improve service for customers.

Savvis also has completely overhauled its balance sheet with lower cost-of-capital converts.

Earnings from these new investments and balance sheet changes should begin to be seen when the company reports in October. It is worth considering bottom fishing at this price level. If the product transition is slow, the stock has limited downside; if it is ahead of schedule, you can potentially make some good money.

Bottom fishing for Savvis (SVVS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>balance sheetBalanceSheetearningsgrowthsavvissvvsThu, 27 Sep 2007 14:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Margins improving at Sun, but no real growth yet]]>http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/07/31/margins-improving-at-sun-but-no-real-growth-yet/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/07/31/margins-improving-at-sun-but-no-real-growth-yet/http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2007/07/31/margins-improving-at-sun-but-no-real-growth-yet/#commentsFiled under: ,

Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW), the networking computing company, reported impressive cash generation metrics last night, while sales continued to be light.

For the June 2007 fiscal year, Sun generated $1.2 billion in operating income and cash flow from operations of $950 million -- a vast improvement. Gross margin also improved 200 basis points for the year and almost 400 basis points from last year's Q4.

The problem at Sun continues to be revenue growth, as there was little year-over-year growth in the current quarter and the company is guiding to low-to-mid single digit revenue growth for the year -- which is not a good sign for a technology company. Also, the company provided no guidance for the upcoming quarter, leaving much of the growth to the tail end of FY 2008, which typically is not good.

Sun announced that it will host its analyst day in New York on September 5 and mentioned that it will discuss its capital structure, which is not a subject that is typically highlighted, a sign something more dramatic might happen with the $5 billion in balance-sheet cash.

Overall, Sun has little downside risk and has a private equity investment via a convert priced in the $7 price range. The computer-is-the-network company appears it might be setting itself up for a private equity deal with its focus on higher margin businesses and better cost controls.

Margins improving at Sun, but no real growth yet originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>analyst dayAnalystDaybalance sheetBalanceSheetcapital structureCapitalStructureearningsfeaturedrevenuesunsun microSunMicrosunwTue, 31 Jul 2007 07:45:00 EST