Yesterday I started a review of 25 companies that Fortune deemed most successful according to their peers in developing quality leadership. Today I review the remaining 20, searching to find the ones that might be worth investing in.

Price-to-book (from 11/27/09) was used as the first value screen. The theory being from a value investor's perspective that buying for a price at or near the break-up value of the company provides downside protection. Of course that is easier said than done.

Continue reading Serious Money: Fortune's 25 leaders, now 20

Serious Money: Fortune's 25 leaders, now 20 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The recent issue of Fortune magazine discusses how the best of the best train, guide and nurture top managers to become the leaders that will propel their corporations successfully forward. They list the top 25 companies, which I have used as the basis of a new review to see how they would fair against common metric screens.

In the past few months, many articles have posited that large-cap stocks should excel in the coming year based on their lagging the market behind smaller, more volatile stocks flying out of the March lows. I do not believe this is universally true. Plenty of large-cap stocks did well, such as Anadarko Petroleum (APC), Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), while many small caps went nowhere. Even among the large caps included in Fortune's "Leadership 25," some have doubled.

Continue reading Serious Money: Fortune's 25 leaders among leaders

Serious Money: Fortune's 25 leaders among leaders originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"While companies have been cutting dividends at an historic pace over the last 24 months, the fact is that there are still quality companies with long histories of paying dividends that represent good long-term investments," says Chuck Carlson, a specialist in companies offering dividend reinvestment plans.

In his top-notch The DRIP Investor he says, "The seven stocks featured here have each been paying a dividend for over 100 years, have raised their dividend annually for at least the last quarter century and offer direct-purchase plans.

Continue reading Seven dividend elites: 100 years of dividends

Seven dividend elites: 100 years of dividends originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Drug companies withheld results of anti-depressant studies originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Trident Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: TRID) to Hold from Buy and lowered their target to $9 from $20 following the company's mixed quarter as they expect TRID to lose share in the TV market and face increasing price pressure. Shares were also downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank. Oppenheimer lowered Trident to Neutral from Buy, citing disappointing December guidance, delay in TV ramp, and expectations that 2008 will be a peak year for TV chip ramp revenues.
• CIBC downgraded shares of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) to Sector Performer from Outperformer following the weak Q3 results to reflect increasing competition in telco video, slower broadband growth and the weakening economy.
• JP Morgan downgraded Level 3 Communications Inc (NASDAQ: LVLT) to Neutral from Outperform following disappointing Q3 results and guidance.
• Friedman Billings downgraded shares of Ambac Financial Group Inc (NYSE: ABK) and MBIA Inc (NYSE: MBI) to Market Perform from Outperform citing lack of near-term catalysts and uncertainty surrounding the credit markets.

• Banc of America lowered its rating on Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) to Neutral from Buy.
• WestLB downgraded GlaxoSmithKline PLC (NYSE: GSK) to Sell from Add.
• Societe Generale downgraded France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) to Hold from Buy.
• Franklin Resources Inc (NYSE: BEN) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Friedman Billings and at Keefe Bruyette.

Analyst downgrades: TRID, CMCSA, LVLT, ABK and MBI originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Telik Inc's (NASDAQ: TELK) January option implied volatility collapsed after disappointing data. Telik was recently down $11.47 to $4.79. TELK Phase 3 trails related to its cancer drug Telcyta (treatment for non-small cell lung cancer & ovarian cancer) "did not achieve statistically significant improvement in overall survival." JANY & STFL downgraded Telik to sell. Telik's January option implied volatility was at 85, according to Track Data, below a level of 215 from last week, suggesting decreasing risk.
  

• Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) January 55 calls were active on 6,163 contracts as Lilly rallies. Eli Lilly recently rallied .43 to $51.77, after a Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. ruled its 2011 Zyprexa patent was valid. Lilly faced pressure last week on documents leaked to the NY Times indicating Zryprexa (schizophrenia treatment) had understated weight gain and diabetes risk. Lilly's Zyprexa accounts for approximately 25% of Lilly's sales & 50% of its EPS. Lilly's January option implied volatility of 19 was near its 26-week average of 19, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risks.
  

• U.S. Bancorp's (NYSE: USB) calls active on company going ex-dividend on 12/27/06. USB goes ex-dividend on 12/27/06, paying a dividend of .40 cents. USB total intra-day call option volume was heavy on over 962,946 contracts, according to Track Data. Heavy call volume was attributable to traders hoping to take advantage of option exercises, call pricing discrepancies and low option transaction commission fees.
  

Daily option update 12-26: Markets up in light trading originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 26 Dec 2006 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.