Analyst Upgrades

• Siemens (SI) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• Diamond Offshore (DO) to market perform from underperform at FBR Capital.
• MeadWestvaco (MWV) to conviction buy from neutral at Goldman.
• TD AmeriTrade (AMTD) and Cabot Oil & Gas (COG) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Janus Capital (JNS) to hold from sell at Citigroup.
• Motorola Mobility (MMI) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Frontier Communications (FTR) to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.
• Humana (HUM) to buy from hold at Argus.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AMTD, COG, DO, F, GM, HUM, LEA, MMI, NKE, SI, TRW ...

Analyst Calls: AMTD, COG, DO, F, GM, HUM, LEA, MMI, NKE, SI, TRW ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading GM Announces Surprise CFO Resignation

GM Announces Surprise CFO Resignation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time for a second look at General Motors Company (GM), first discussed in this space on November 11, 2010, shortly after its IPO.

And the view remains -- stand aside.

Like most new and/or restructured companies, GM needs to amass at least four, and preferably eight quarters of earnings history under its belt, before one can form a meaningful analysis regarding the company's prospects. Of course, there are exceptions, but these are rare. But GM is not one.

Continue reading General Motors: For Now, Stand Aside

General Motors: For Now, Stand Aside originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Teams have been preparing their game plans and it's time to see which of the 60 teams will win. No, not the Packers or Steelers -- Go Pack! -- but PepsiCo (PEP), Anheuser-Busch (BUD), General Motors (GM) and all the other companies competing for the best spots in one of TV's most expensive marketing moments, costing an estimated $3 million dollars per 30 second spot.

For those not into football, the ads in the Super Bowl game can be more amusing than the game itself as advertising teams compete for attention, show their best efforts and even get rated by numerous online sites. Last year, Doritos (owned by PepsiCo), and E-Trade (ETFC) did well, and Anheuser-Busch seems to always have a Clydesdale horse in the running.

Continue reading Who Will Win the Super Bowl Ad Game This Year?

Who Will Win the Super Bowl Ad Game This Year? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 05 Feb 2011 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"We have a bent towards growth companies, with new products or services that are producing major sales and earnings growth; nevertheless, we're also students of the market, and we believe that the recent 're-IPO' at General Motors (GM) provides a big opportunity for investors," says Mike Cintolo.

The editor of Cabot Market Letter explains, "Granted, we're not going to predict that the stock is going to triple or quadruple; we're talking about a company with well over $100 billion in annual revenue.

Continue reading General Motors (GM): Old Company, New Stock

General Motors (GM): Old Company, New Stock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Barron's is forecasting a 10% rise in stock prices in 2011 led by big cap stocks. They argue that the big caps have lagged the market for the past decade and are now poised to take the lead, as reported by CNBC.com.

Here are their top ten picks for this year: Exxon Mobil (XOM), Walmart (WMT), Pfizer (PFE), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), General Motors (GM), Cisco Systems (CSCO), United Continental Holdings (UAL), Barrack Gold (ABX), Entergy (ETR), and PepsiCo (PEP).

Continue reading Barron's Forecasts 10% Higher Stock Market in 2011

Barron's Forecasts 10% Higher Stock Market in 2011 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Upgrades

• Boeing (BA) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Alcoa (AA) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• BP (BP) to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
• Office Depot (ODP) and Staples (SPLS) to buy from neutral at Janney Capital.
• ON Semiconductor (ONNN) to buy from hold at Citigroup.
• Kennametal (KMT) and Polyone (POL) to buy from hold at KeyBanc.
• Airgas (ARG) to outperform from market perform at William Blair.
• EchoStar (SATS) to neutral from underperform at Macquarie.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AA, BA, BP, BSX, COH, GM, INTC, NSM, STJ, TIF, TSN, UA ...

Analyst Calls: AA, BA, BP, BSX, COH, GM, INTC, NSM, STJ, TIF, TSN, UA ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

General Motors (GM) closed up 2% Wednesday, a day after a series of positive reports from banks involved in the company's initial public offering. GM will have a presence at the North American Auto Show beginning on Jan. 10. Overall implied volatility of 31 is at the low end of its one-month range, according to Track Data, suggesting low price movement.

CBOE Volatility Index-VIX closed down 42 cents to 17.06, below its 100-day moving average 21.12.

Continue reading Options Update: General Motors Volatility Low; Shares Close at Post-IPO Record High

Options Update: General Motors Volatility Low; Shares Close at Post-IPO Record High originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Dec 2010 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst Downgrades

• Diodes (DIOD) to hold from buy at Benchmark.

Analyst Initiations

• General Motors (GM) with a buy at BofA/Merrill and Citigroup, with an overweight at Barclays and Morgan Stanley, and with an outperform at Credit Suisse and RBC Capital.
• LPL Investment (LPLA) with an overweight at Morgan Stanley, a buy at Goldman, a neutral at JPMorgan, and a market perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• Booz Allen (BAH) with a market perform at Wells Fargo.
• ValueVision (VVTV) with an overweight at Piper Jaffray.

Analyst Calls: BAH, DIOD, GM, LPLA, VVTV originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Nobody knows what the future holds. But there are a few things shaping up that suggest certain things will most likely happen. Here are some of the major ones.

Interest Rates: Low at the beginning of the year, then headed higher for a long time. If you have an adjustable rate mortgage and you're still paying it, it's the perfect time to get it refinanced, if you can qualify. Interest rates are definitely going up; it's just a matter of when. As long as the Fed is pumping money in (QE2 is targeted with $800 billion .... with the possibility of more behind it), rates will stay low, unless investors think inflation will get way out of hand. Then rates will go higher no matter what the Fed does as investors sell longer term bonds to beat the coming inflation. Initially, rising interest rates will be bullish as they are a precursor to a healthy economy. But that bull will morph and become a bear when rates start jumping as the Fed tries to get ahead of inflation. Tricky business. Investors will do well to have floating rate assets and fixed rate liabilities.

Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: What Lies Ahead For 2011 ... Maybe

Comfort Zone Investing: What Lies Ahead For 2011 ... Maybe originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

General Motors (GM) closed up 12 cents to $33.86 on active December 34 and January 35 calls with total call option volume of 27K contracts compared to 10K puts. December call option implied volatility is at 22, January is at 27, March is at 30, versus its ten-day average of 33, according to Track Data.

Honeywell (HON) announced the increase in its annual dividend by 10% to $1.33 into its 2011 outlook announcement scheduled for 9:00 AM on December 15. Overall option implied volatility of 25 is below its 26-week average of 29, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Options Update is by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Options Update: General Motors December/January Call Spreaders Active on Low Volatility originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 11 Dec 2010 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler, said that Chrysler plans to introduce a Fiat in the U.S. powered by natural gas. Bloomberg/Businessweek quotes Marchionne: "Natural gas engines offer a better way to cut emissions because they are cheaper than competing technologies."

Fiat is the leader in Europe in natural gas engines with 80% share of methane powered cars and 55% of light commercial vehicles. Alfredo Altavilla, quoted in Bloomberg/Businessweek said natural gas is a "more affordable solution" as it is less expensive to produce transport and distribute compared with other fuel sources.

Continue reading Fiat's Natural Gas vs. GM and Toyota's Electric Car

Fiat's Natural Gas vs. GM and Toyota's Electric Car originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you are looking for clues telling you which stocks have a good chance of increasing in value, you might want consider watching what insiders are doing. After all, talk is cheap, but when insiders put their own money on the line, you should sit up and take note.

Citigroup (C) topped the insider-buying charts for the week ending July 9th as insiders snapped up 542,198 shares of company stock at a market value of $2,330,386. During the past six months, insiders have increased their overall holdings in the company by 26.58% and now own 0.08% of C stock.

General Motors (GM) was not far behind, with insiders buying 43,150 shares at a market value of $1,455,536.

Continue reading Insiders Jumping into Citigroup, General Motors and More

Insiders Jumping into Citigroup, General Motors and More originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Option Volume Revs Up on General Motors

Option Volume Revs Up on General Motors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: General Motors IPO Pumps Up the Markets (GM, DRYS, EXEL, HUM, LTXC)

Closing Bell: General Motors IPO Pumps Up the Markets (GM, DRYS, EXEL, HUM, LTXC) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What a difference a year makes. General Motors made a dramatic turnaround from a $1.2 billion loss a year ago to a profit of $2 billion in the third quarter, The Wall Street Journal reported. Revenue grew by 21% to $34 billion in the quarter. Last year, GM lost 73 cents per share.

This encouraging profit report comes just in time for GM's stock offering, which is due in the next few weeks. CEO Daniel Akerson said in a conference call, in WSJ's words, that "GM is still losing money in Europe and must improve the way its vehicles are marketed in its core North American market."

Continue reading GM Posts $2 Billion Profit

GM Posts $2 Billion Profit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading General Motors Issues Forecast for IPO

General Motors Issues Forecast for IPO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Nov 2010 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The long awaited General Motors initial public offering is coming. According to the Financial Times, GM shares will be priced on Nov. 17 and begin trading the next day.

GM common shares are expected to be priced at between $26 and $29 per share. GM plans to raise between $9.5 billion and $10.6 billion. If demand is strong enough GM will issue more shares.

Continue reading GM IPO Set for November 17

GM IPO Set for November 17 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Nov 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sales for most major auto makers were down in September from August, as reported by MSNBC. Ford (F) was the standout with sales up 2%. Here are the numbers for the other companies:

• General Motors (GM) sales declined 3%.
• Chrysler was up less than 1%.
• Toyota (TM) fell less than 1%.
• Nissan (NSANY) was down 3%.

Continue reading Auto Sales Stumbled in September

Auto Sales Stumbled in September originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I found a rather interesting article from Wednesday's Washington Post that examined how the U.S. government could recover its investment in General Motors (GM). I decided to try this on a Price Is Right closest-without-going-over basis with my wife. Let's just say that we both missed the real number by quite a bit.

In order for the government to get back all of its $50 billion investment in GM, it must sell its stake at $134 per share. Does that figure seem a bit crazy? Blame it on the special inspector general of the government's bailout programs, that's who came up with the estimate.

Continue reading For the U.S. to Recover Its Investment, General Motors Must Sell For ...

For the U.S. to Recover Its Investment, General Motors Must Sell For ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.