ip posts

Feed

A Toilet Paper Tax -- Really?

I was a bit amused to hear Omaha Mayor Suttle unrolled the idea of a toilet paper tax, but I am not so sure he really thought this tissue through. At first glance, the tax of 10 cents per roll to pay for sewer projects seems like a fair user tax; but I think the politicians really should have contemplated this a little more. Is it really fair to women?

While certainly my heart goes out to politicians trying to balance spending all that money without the pesky things called taxes; but I don't think this idea is going to ... float. But I think it is important to give the politician partial credit for productivity; as I imagine they thought up this idea while in the john.

Continue reading A Toilet Paper Tax -- Really?

Analyst Calls: ACN, AMAT, AZN, BBT, CBS, GPN, IP, ORCL, PKG, SONC, V ...

Analyst Upgrades

  • Oracle (ORCL) to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer.
  • Accenture (ACN) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
  • Advanced Energy (AEIS) and Applied Materials (AMAT) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.
  • Spreadtrum (SPRD) to buy from hold at Auriga.
  • Healthcare Realty Trust (HR) and Tortoise Energy Capital (TYY) to outperform from neutral at RW Baird.
  • Global Payments (GPN) to equal weight from underweight at Morgan Stanley.
  • CBS (CBS) to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
  • Sonic (SONC) to outperform from neutral at Cowen.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: ACN, AMAT, AZN, BBT, CBS, GPN, IP, ORCL, PKG, SONC, V ...

Chasing Value: Is Congress Indirectly Helping International Paper?

International Paper logoForgive me but I am still fuming about what is going on in Washington with our money. Money that is disappearing faster and faster. No matter how much our representatives cut taxes and extend benefits, it is meaningless. What is the good of having twice as much money when it is worth only half.

Welcome to Washington D.C. -- home of the Great Pretenders.

We just think that our Capitol sits atop solid ground. I think if you swept away the top soil you would find a giant cardboard box because our leaders are certainly playing the biggest game of three-card Monte of all time.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Is Congress Indirectly Helping International Paper?

Analyst Calls: AMGN, CAVM, COCO, GENZ, GILD, ICE, PWRD, SSCC, VMW ...

Analyst Upgrades

  • Deutsche Bank upgraded Smurfit-Stone (SSCC) to buy from hold after raising its estimates for containerboard names and upped its target for shares to $28 from $22. The firm also raised its price target for International Paper (IP) to $38 from $32, for Packaging Corp. (PKG) to $33 from $28, for Temple-Inland (TIN) to $31 from $28, for Greif (GEF) to $67 from $65, and for Rock-Tenn (RKT) to $70 from $65. All stocks are buy rated.
  • ThinkEquity upgraded VMware (VMW) to buy from hold and has a $90 price target on the stock. The firm expects VMware to benefit from increased virtual infrastructure adoption and improving vSphere solutions.
  • Needham upgraded Cavium Networks (CAVM) to strong buy from buy, citing the recent pullback in shares following Cisco's (CSCO) cautious commentary. The firm has a $37 target on the stock.
  • Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) was upgraded to outperform from neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • MedAssets (MDAS) was upgraded to buy from hold at Auriga.
  • Brookfield Properties (BPO) was upgraded to buy from hold at Citigroup.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AMGN, CAVM, COCO, GENZ, GILD, ICE, PWRD, SSCC, VMW ...

James Altucher: Stocks Heading to New Highs

James Altucher, a managing partner at Formula Capital as well as a regular contributor to DailyFinance, says the S&P 500 is going to 1500. He argues that now is the time for investors buy stocks. Appearing on CNBC's Squawk Box Tuesday morning with economist Nouriel Roubini, Altucher argued that the economy is improving and stocks are cheap trading at about 10 times earnings (compared to the historical average of 15 times earnings). As a result, he says that investing in stocks now makes sense.

Continue reading James Altucher: Stocks Heading to New Highs

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Alcoa takes the wheel

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the upside surprise from this perennial laggard looks to give us a lift today.

It is a testament to how bad Alcoa (NYSE: AA) (Cramer's Take) has been run that no one thought they could do well despite a dramatic increase in the price of aluminum from quarter to quarter. Think about it -- did anyone think that Alcoa could deliver, despite the fact that aluminum went from 67 cents a pound to 83 cents a pound, a jump of 24%?

I was dumbfounded myself to see them not disappoint. It's been since the late 1980s and early 1990s that this company has made a lot of money, and it almost never seemed to matter what happened with costs of alumina or energy input costs or labor costs, you knew they would get it wrong.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Alcoa takes the wheel

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ALL, CMG, GRMN, IP, VRSN ...

Analyst upgrades:

  • Goldman said International Paper (NYSE: IP) is its top pick in the group citing leverage to early cycle containerboard. The firm upgraded shares to Conviction Buy from Buy and has a $26 target on the stock.
  • Morgan Keegan upgraded Healthcare Realty Trust (NYSE: HR) to Outperform from Market Perform citing valuation and better-than-expected Q2 results.
  • William Blair upgraded Harbin Electric (NASDAQ: HRBN) to Outperform from Market Perform as it believes the Chinese economy is likely to accelerate and the company's balance sheet is strengthened following the retirement of debt.
  • Allstate (NYSE: ALL) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at BofA/Merrill.
  • VeriSign (NASDAQ: VRSN) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Commercial Vehicle Group (NASDAQ: CVGI) was upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at JPMorgan.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: ALL, CMG, GRMN, IP, VRSN ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CIEN, DLTR, EXPE, IBM, ZION ...

Analyst upgrades:

  • Piper Jaffray upgraded PetMed Express (NASDAQ: PETS) to Overweight from Neutral following the better-than-expected Q1 results. The firm raised its target on shares to $22 from $19.
  • Deutsche Bank upgraded International Paper (NYSE: IP) and Packaging Corp. (NYSE: PKG) to Buy from Hold to reflect stabilization in the containerboard industry. The firm raised its target price on Packaging Corp. to $24 from $14, and on International Paper to $24 from $16.
  • Bernstein upgraded Human Genome Sciences (NASDAQ: HGSI) to Outperform from Market Perform following the positive Phase III data for Benlysta in lupus.
  • IBM (NYSE: IBM) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Societe Generale.
  • British Airways (OTC: BAIRY) was upgraded to Buy from Sell at Goldman.
  • Continental AG (OTC: CTTAY) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Citigroup.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CIEN, DLTR, EXPE, IBM, ZION ...

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CHK, AEO, RBS, COF ...

Analyst upgrades:

  • Morgan Stanley upgraded Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK) to Overweight from Equal Weight as they expect the company to benefit from higher natural gas prices in 2010. The firm has a $34 target on shares.
  • Citigroup upgraded Energy Conversion (NASDAQ: ENER) to Hold from Sell on valuation is it finds the risk/reward balanced at current levels. The firm raised its target price to $16 from $13.
  • Jefferies upgraded Lifetime Brands (NASDAQ: LCUT) to Buy from Underperform to reflect reduced liquidity concerns and an improved outlook for Global Direct Sellers. The firm raised its target price to $4 from $2.
  • American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Barclays.
  • TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) was upgraded at Barclays to Overweight from Equal Weight and to Outperform from Netural at Credit Suisse.
  • STEC Inc (NASDAQ: STEC) was raised to Overweight from Market Weight at Thomas Weisel.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CHK, AEO, RBS, COF ...

Five best start-ups of 2009

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending The Summit Series conference in Aspen with 115 top young entrepreneurs and inspiring philanthropists under the age of 35. This event, founded by Elliot Bisnow of Bisnow Media, has created a community of the world's most influential innovators. "We are inspired by events like the Clinton Global Initiative, TED, and Davos," says Bisnow. $200,000 was raised for the four presenting non-profit organizations including NothingButNets.com, Feed Foundation, Invisible Children, and Grassroots Soccer.

These five start-ups were among the most impressive and interesting business ideas:

Continue reading Five best start-ups of 2009

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Keep the TARP money until things get better

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says if we let some banks give it back, others may rush to do so unnecessarily.

Breather day? Or does this monster ever breathe?

We are seeing stress levels coming down: the magic VIX going under 40?, money coming in, industrials bouncing -- I watch International Paper (NYSE: IP) (Cramer's Take), Du Pont (NYSE: DD) (Cramer's Take), Packaging Corp. (NYSE: PKG) (Cramer's Take) and Ingersoll Rand (NYSE: IR) (Cramer's Take) for true industrial bounces. We are seeing the rails and the fertilizers -- two 2008 sectors -- regaining life and lifetime moves in a session.

But it was and is and always will be about the banks, and no matter what we do it will come back to them. They are the reason we got in trouble, and they are the reason we got out of trouble.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Keep the TARP money until things get better

Earnings highlights: Toyota, Disney, Merck, Marathon, News Corp. and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Toyota, Disney, Merck, Marathon, News Corp. and others

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AKAM, PFE, NYX, SCHW, SNDK

Analyst upgrades:
  • Merriman upgraded shares of Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM) to Buy from Neutral as they believe consensus expectations are now realistic and already reflect macro headwinds. Merriman also thinks the company's cost reductions could generate upside to EPS estimates.
  • JP Morgan upgraded Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) to Overweight from Neutral on expectations the company's diabetes drug will gain U.S. approval.
  • Credit Suisse upgraded Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) to Outperform from Neutral and raised their target to $20 from $19 citing the merits of the Wyeth (WYE) deal and valuation.
  • Quality Systems (NASDAQ:QSII) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
  • Parexel (NASDAQ:PRXL) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Wachovia.
  • Ferro (NYSE:FOE) was upgraded at KeyBanc to Hold from Underweight.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: AKAM, PFE, NYX, SCHW, SNDK

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Too much debt makes stocks dangerous

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says companies saddled with high debt loads can be found in every sector in every business.

Overleveraged. Too much debt. Need to pay down debt. How many times have you read that story?

You read it so much because it plays out every day and plays havoc with stock picking almost every time you see a savory stock down on its luck.

This weekend, as I went through the charts, I was amazed at how low some stocks have gone, stocks that I would normally say to just take a flyer on, but turn out to have so much debt, short- and long-term, that they are just too dangerous.

Consider these perhaps poisonous morsels:

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Too much debt makes stocks dangerous

Earnings highlights: Walgreen, Toyota, Best Buy, International Paper and others

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

Also, bank earnings will be hit next by cancelled M&A deals.

Earnings releases scheduled for early January include Navistar (NYSE: NAV), Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY), Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), Family Dollar (NYSE: FDO), and Monsanto (NYSE: MON).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Next Page >

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 10, 2012: 06:12 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

18.875-0.255(-1.33)

Alcoa

10.29-0.35(-3.29)

Apple Inc

493.42+0.25(+0.05)

Google Inc 'A'

605.91-5.55(-0.91)

Bank of America

8.07-0.11(-1.34)

Wal-Mart Stores

61.90-0.06(-0.10)

Exxon Mobil Corp

83.80-1.08(-1.27)

Ford

12.44-0.25(-1.97)

Citigroup

32.925-0.735(-2.18)

IBM

192.42-0.71(-0.37)

Yahoo

16.14+0.14(+0.88)

Starbucks

48.82-0.38(-0.77)

Microsoft

30.495-0.275(-0.89)

Home Depot

45.33+0.06(+0.13)

DailyFinance Headlines

AOL Business News

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Sponsored Links

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

Page Loaded in 1328915564232 ms.