buyback posts
FeedPosted Jan 14th 2010 6:00PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Press Releases, Wal-Mart (WMT), Target Corp. (TGT), Best Buy (BBY)
Target Corporation (TGT), a retailer that competes with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (WMT) and Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY), had some good news today for its shareholders. Management has decided to reinstate its stock buyback program. According to the press release, the company believes the economic environment has improved to the point where reducing some of its float could be a worthwhile investment.
This buyback is a continuation of a $10 billion program begun back in November 2007. About half of that sum has already been spent; the remainder of the allocation is expected to be used up in two to three years. So, this isn't an aggressive move, certainly. And, as always, evolving market conditions can affect the intended schedule.
Continue reading Target Thinks Its Stock Is a Good Investment -- Should You?
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 12:46PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Earnings Reports, Good news, Industry, Sears Holdings (SHLD), Options, Technical Analysis
Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD - option chain) shares have jumped higher today even after the company announced a Q3 loss that included slowing sales and falling margins. Earnings and revenues fell, but an extension of the company' s buyback plan is boosting the shares today, along with a positive outlook for the company's holiday layaway promotion. It might just be that investors expected even worse results from the beleaguered retailer. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on SHLD.
SHLD opened this morning at $33.98. So far today the stock has hit a low of $31.55 and a high of $38.47. As of 12:20, SHLD is trading at $36.67, up $4.83 (15.2%). The chart for SHLD looks bearish and S&P gives SHLD a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a December bull-put credit spread below the $22.50 range.
Continue reading Sears Holdings (SHLD) soars despite weak earnings
Posted Sep 22nd 2008 9:45AM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT)
With its share price having spent the first part of the millennium in the doldrums,
Microsoft (NASDAQ:
MSFT) is putting its $23 billion cash pile to work -- and it's not being used for anything as exciting as an acquisition of
Yahoo (NASDAQ:
YHOO).
In a
press release, the company announced that it had increased its quarterly dividend by 18% to 13 cents a share, and perhaps more interestingly, the board of directors authorized the company to repurchase $40 billion worth of stock.
Shares of Microsoft were up about 5% on the news in pre-market trade, but investors shouldn't read too much into it. A dividend hike of 8 cents per year is not exactly a reason to buy a stock, and as with any buyback announcement, this is an authorization, not a commitment. Microsoft might buy back $40 billion worth of stock and it might not buy back anywhere near that much.
Speaking on CNBC last week, Carl Icahn, who is now on the board of directors at Yahoo, reiterated his commitment to pushing the two companies into a deal of some kind. If it ends with an acquisition, Microsoft's buyback could be off the table.
Posted Aug 28th 2008 1:42PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Good news, Options, Technical Analysis
Mobile Telesystems (NASDAQ:
MBT -
option chain) shares are soaring higher today after the company announced
its board approved buying back 11.1 billion rubles ($452 million) worth of shares. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on MBT.
MBT opened this morning at $68.18. So far today the stock has hit a low of $67.55 and a high of $70.54. As of 12:35, MBT is trading at $69.22, up $3.08 (4.7%). The chart for MBT looks neutral and
S&P gives MBT a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a September
bull-put credit spread below the $60 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 4.2% return in just three weeks as long as MBT is above $60 at September expiration. MBT would have to fall by more than 13% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade
here.
MBT hasn't been below $60 at all in the past year and has shown support around $64 recently.
Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in MBT.Posted Jun 20th 2008 3:03PM by Brent Archer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Forecasts, Good news, Options, Technical Analysis, Western Union (WU)
Western Union (NYSE:
WU) shares are trading higher today after
the company said fiscal-2008 earnings will likely be in higher end of the range of $1.25 to $1.29 per share previously forecast, above analysts' estimates of $1.27 per share.
WU also approved a plan to repurchase $1 billion in common stock. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on WU.
After hitting a one-year low of $15.00 in August, the stock hit a one-year high of $24.83 in December. WU opened this morning at $24.35. So far today the stock has hit a low of $24.08 and a high of $25.45. As of 10:35, WU is trading at $25.43, up $2.27 (9.8%). The chart for WU looks bullish and steady, while
S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 Stars (out of 5) Hold rating.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a November
bull-put credit spread below the $20 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in just five months as long as WU is above $20 at November expiration. Western Union would have to fall by more than 21% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade
here.
WU hasn't been below $20 by more than a few cents since October and has shown support around $22.50 recently. This trade could be risky if the company's earnings (due out 7/22) don't match their guidance. but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find at its 200 day moving average, which is currently around $22 and rising.
Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in WU.Next Page >
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Polo Ralph Lauren (RL - option chain) shares are soaring higher today after the company reported Q3 2011 earnings this morning, posting a profit of $168.4 million, or $1.72 per share, on revenue of $1.55 billion. Analysts had forecast a profit of $1.29 per share on revenue of $1.46 billion. The company said it will lift its quarterly dividend to 20 cents per share, up from 10 cents per share and also announced an extension of its current stock buyback program by $250M. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on RL.
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