Continue reading Freeport's copper operation is set to shine again

Freeport's copper operation is set to shine again originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.

Few companies are as strongly associated with their hometowns as L.L. Bean, which has been producing outdoor clothing, sporting goods, and brightly colored preppy wear in Freeport, Maine, since 1912. The company's first product, the iconic rubber boot called the Maine hunting shoe, was manufactured in Freeport, and quickly became a big hit despite the fact that most of the first boots sold were returned due to a design defect.

In the past 95 or so years, both L.L. Bean and Freeport have come a long way. The company store, which began in a basement, grew significantly over the years, despite the fact that most of Bean's $1.5 billion in annual sales come through its ubiquitous mail-order catalog. The store has been open 24 hours a day since 1951, with a few exceptions for the deaths of John F. Kennedy and the founder, Leon Leonwood Bean.

Today, the company dominates the very small town of Freeport, population 7,800. It's much more than just a store, as its multiple buildings, parking lots, and outdoor patios and sculptures define the town itself. L.L. Bean has become more of a campus than a store, with different buildings for clothes, hunting and fishing gear, bikes and boats, and a discount outlet, as well as outdoor spaces dedicated to demonstrations of equipment and live musical performances.

Continue reading Big company, small town: L.L. Bean, Freeport, Maine

Big company, small town: L.L. Bean, Freeport, Maine originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This article is part of a 20 article special report on "Metals, miners and money".

"The Fed's bailout of the mortgage markets has reignited fears of inflation and of a slow-motion meltdown of the dollar," says Mark Skousen, editor of Forecasts & Strategies.

"That makes now a good time to own mining stocks, particularly Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX), which made a very smart move in March when it bought Phelps Dodge for $26 billion. The purchase made Freeport the world's largest publicly-traded copper company.

"It now has a huge, long-lived, geographically diverse portfolio of mining assets. And the acquisition of Phelps is producing tens of millions of dollars in unexpected savings. The buy will result in an immediate 30% spike in Freeport's annual sales.

"With Freeport opening a new copper mine in Arizona ahead of schedule this year -- one that will produce at least 240 million pounds of copper per annum -- and the new company enjoying huge new economies of scale, expect this stock to continue its rapid run."

Continue reading Top resource ideas: Harmony (HMY) and Freeport (FCX)

Top resource ideas: Harmony (HMY) and Freeport (FCX) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 10 Nov 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Analysts see BHP revising offer for Rio Tinto

Analysts see BHP revising offer for Rio Tinto originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Goldman downgraded shares of Continental Airlines, Inc (NYSE: CAL) to Neutral from Buy on valuation, higher oil prices and a weak domestic market.

• Goldman also downgraded Molson Coors Brewing Co (NYSE: TAP) to Neutral from Buy based on the increase in analyst estimates, valuation and the potential for margin pressure in the summer.

• BB&T cut Watsco, Inc (NYSE: WSO) to Hold from Buy based on valuation and catalysts that are already reflected in the share price.

• Roth Capital downgraded shares of K-V Pharmaceutical Co (NYSE: KV.A) to Hold from Buy, telling clients they have learned that Par Pharmaceuticals Cos (PRX) has launched generics of 50, 100 and 200mg Toprol-XL. The firm expects a material impact to KV's 100 and 200mg strength generics.

• Stifel expects investor enthusiasm regarding Progressive's Corp (NYSE: PGR) recapitalization plan to fade as underwriting fundamentals deteriorate and cut shares to Sell from Hold.

• Color Kinetics (NASDAQ: CLRK) was downgraded to Hold from Sell at Needham on valuation...

• Citigroup cut The Phoenix Co's (NYSE: PNX) to Hold from Buy.

• KeyBank downgraded Lubrizol Corp (NYSE: LZ) to Hold from Buy.

• Goldcorp Inc (NYSE: GG) and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE: FCX) were downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at BMO Capital.

• Susquehanna downgraded Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc (NYSE: BBW) to Neutral from Positive.

Analyst downgrades 6-15-07: BBW, CAL, FCX, PGR and TAP originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• DA Davidson raised Intel Corp's (NASDAQ: INTC) rating to Buy from Neutral based on market share gains and unexpected PC growth.

• American Technology upgraded Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) to Buy from Neutral as the firm expects shares to trade higher near-term with data not likely to get worse over the next six months. The firm suspects AMD could win a notebook platform at Toshiba Corp (TOSBF) and expects further offerings at Dell Inc (DELL).

• Banc of America upgraded shares of Post Properties Inc (NYSE: PPS) to Neutral from Sell and raised their target to $53 from $42 after REIT Wrap, a real estate industry newsletter, reported the company may have already received several unsolicited bids.

• Stanford upgraded Analogic Corp (NASDAQ: ALOG) to Buy from Hold based on improving fundamentals in the security and medical businesses.

• Goldman upgraded the base metals sector to Attractive from Neutral as the firm believes above-consensus metal prices for 2008-2009 are sustainable. The firm favors copper fundamentals over nickel, zinc and aluminum and views Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (FCX) as its top pick.

• Lehman upgraded Alon USA Energy, Inc (NYSE: ALJ) to Equal Weight from Underweight.

• Bear Stearns upgraded Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd (NASDAQ: SNDA) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

• Wesco International, Inc (NYSE: WCC) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

• BMO Capital raised ResMed Inc (NYSE: RMD) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

Analyst upgrades 5-14-07: ALJ, AMD, INTC and RMD originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 May 2007 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The "Totally Informal Economics Roundtable" (TIER) met this past week -- the esteemed round table achieves a quorum whenever yours truly and my three astute economist friends from graduate school convene to discuss matters economic ... or to celebrate the birthday of one our school-age children, or for another social occasion. This week the topic was the global savings surplus.

Earlier on The FLY and on bloggingstocks.com, the TIER commented on the global savings surplus, or more-broadly, the large and increasing pool of global capital that's spanning the globe in search of return and yield.

It's hard for Americans to think in terms of a "savings surplus" with the U.S. posting a negative savings rate for more than a year, a savings rate well below appropriate levels for an advanced industrial economy, but the world is awash in capital, fed in part by savings. China, Japan, the European Union, and some petro-dollar countries have vast amounts of surplus savings. This fact, combined with a corporate capital base in the U.S. and abroad, has produced a multitude of unexpected consequences -- consequences that have lasted longer than many economists and analysts expected, the TIER agreed.

The first and foremost consequence, the TIER agreed, has been continued low interest rates for long-term bonds, mortgages, and certificates of deposit. Further, although recently released statistics from the Congressional Budget Office indicate the U.S. budget deficit in fiscal 2007 could drop to as low as $150 billion, five consecutive years of plus-$200 billion deficits normally should have led to a crowding-out effect on capital, resulting in higher long-term interest rates. Those high rates did not -- and have not -- materialized, the TIER agreed, due to that foreign savings surplus -- foreigners' willingness to buy U.S. Treasuries while spanning the globe for return and yield.

Continue reading Global capital pool seen keeping interest rates low

Global capital pool seen keeping interest rates low originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 May 2007 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Citigroup cut both BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE: BHP) and Anglo American ADR (NASDAQ: AAUK) to Hold from Buy.
• Shuffle Master Inc (NASDAQ: SHFL) was downgraded to Sell from Neutral at Goldman based on valuation and near-term challenges.
• RBC cut KLA-Tencor Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC) to Sector Perform from Outperform citing valuation, concerns related to June order expectations, a slowdown in operating expense reduction and long-term concerns related to process control spending.
• JP Morgan downgraded shares of Hershey Foods Co (NYSE: HSY) to Underweight from Neutral on valuation and concerns about the company's restructuring plan.

• Keefe Bruyette downgraded Ameriprise Financial, Inc (NYSE: AMP) to Market Perform from Outperform, citing valuation.
• Merriman cut ValueClick, Inc's (NASDAQ: VCLK) rating to Neutral from Buy as the firm believes Google's (GOOG) acquisition of DoubleClick clouds VCLK's long-term prospects.
• UBS downgraded Supervalu Inc (NYSE: SVU) to Reduce from Neutral based on deteriorated sales trends.
• Morgan Stanley downgraded Southern Copper Corp (NYSE: PCU) to Underweight from Equal Weight based on valuation and a potential miss to Q1 expectations.
• Goldman removed Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE: FCX) from its Conviction Buy List, citing valuation.

Analyst downgrades 4-16-07: BHP, FCX, HSY and KLAC downgraded today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Apr 2007 10:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading IMF report points to multi-polar economy

IMF report points to multi-polar economy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Freeport: A promising play for the patient investor originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Calyon initiated three consumer financial services companies:
  
• American Express Co (NYSE: AXP) was initiated with a Buy rating and $67 target, based on valuation.
  
• Capital One Financial Corp (NYSE: COF) was initiated with an Add rating, as the firm believes shares should be valued in-line with comparable banks, but feels the best investors should hope for is $90/share by year-end given the current market conditions.
  
• MasterCard Inc (NYSE: MA) was started with an Add rating and $123 target, as the firm believes shares should perform well in an environment in which concerns over credit risk remain paramount.

• CBS Corp (NYSE: CBS) was initiated with an Outperform rating at Wachovia, which expects accelerated growth in 2008.

• CIBC started Dress Barn Inc (NASDAQ: DBRN) with a Sector Performer rating, citing valuation.

• Lazard initiated Terremark Worldwide, Inc (AMEX: TWW) with a Buy rating and $10 target.

• BB&T assumed coverage of Aaron Rents, Inc (NYSE: RNT) with a Buy rating and $30 target.

• Merrill Lynch reinstated Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE: FCX) with a Neutral rating.

• Jefferies started NYMEX Holdings, Inc (NYSE: NMX) with a Hold rating and $140 target on valuation.

Analyst initiations 4-02:07: MasterCard, CBS Corp & American Express initiated today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 11:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Daily Option Update - January 3, 2007

Daily Option Update - January 3, 2007 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Jan 2007 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.