In a case of buy low, sell high, Kuwait's sovereign wealth fund just unloaded its $4.1 billion stake in Citigroup (C). In doing so, the fund scored a $1 billion profit -- and a 37% rate of return on its investment -- according to the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA).

The fund invested in Citigroup in January 2008, before the financial industry came to the brink of collapse last year, but well after the impact of the mortgage crisis had been identified. The fund also invested $2 billion in Merrill Lynch, which was acquired by Bank of America (BAC) in September 2008.

Continue reading Kuwaiti fund rakes in $1 billion profit on Citigroup sale

Kuwaiti fund rakes in $1 billion profit on Citigroup sale originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 06 Dec 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) has garnered three upgrades in as many days this week. On Monday, Fox-Pitt upped the equity from Underperform to In Line, while FBR on Tuesday raised its opinion from Underperform to Outperform. Raymond James rounded out the trifecta on Wednesday, hiking its rating on ETFC from Underperform to Market Perform.

Judging by this rush of analyst love, Wall Street seems to think the worst is over for E*Trade. However, most of this week's commentary falls under the category of "damning with faint praise." For example, Fox-Pitt said they now believe ETFC is more likely to be acquired by another firm than to file bankruptcy, and Raymond James observed that the stock has "limited downside" -- hardly a bold statement for an equity that settled Wednesday at $1.23.

Continue reading Call volume climbs on E*Trade Financial after a trio of upgrades

Call volume climbs on E*Trade Financial after a trio of upgrades originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.