Harley-Davidson (HOG) closed yesterday much higher than where it opened. The stock rose over 10%, finally settling at $31.37. During the intraday session, the shares hit a new 52-week high of $31.66. According to TheFly, RBC Capital increased its price target for the motorcycle company, believing it may eventually hit $36.

You know what? My gut tells me $36 is easy at this point (however, I do have some reservations and warnings, which I'll get to). There was a lot of volume backing the bid on Monday, and as I look through different time periods for the stock in terms of price gain (one-month return, three-month return, etc.), I come to the conclusion that this is one strong equity.

Continue reading Harley-Davidson Is a Hot Stock: Is it Overbought?

Harley-Davidson Is a Hot Stock: Is it Overbought? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bloomberg News reports that Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER) has extended its Auction Rate Securities (ARS) redemption offer in response to what I thought was pressure from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo who threatened to take Merrill to court. But what is interesting is that Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin was the one who announced the settlement.

While the politics of this intrigue me, those who held Merrill ARSs (pun intended) care about the terms of the settlement. Bloomberg reports that Merrill "will begin the buyback on October 15 for individuals, nonprofits and small business with $3 million or less on deposit. Redemptions for clients with $100 million or less start on January 15." This Merrill deal adds to the one it announced on August 7 -- a voluntary buyback of $10 billion worth of ARS. Merrill has a total of "30,000 clients who held an estimated $12 billion" according to Bloomberg.

This leaves many major ARS issuers lagging behind their peers. Here are four holdouts (with their 2007 municipal ARS issuance in parentheses):

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) ($4.3 B)
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) ($3.7 B)
• RBC Capital Markets ($1.2 B)
• Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) ($1.1 B)

What are they waiting for?

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Merrill caves to Galvin on Auction Rate Securities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Aug 2008 16:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is supposed to be doing very well now. But, last week, its shares were off much more than the Nasdaq, and at week's end, they had recovered less.

On Thursday, Apple stock was down over 12% for the week. The Nasdaq had dropped a little more than 6%. By the end of the week, the consumer electronics giant was still off 5%.

The reason that this appears odd is that Wall Street has been unusually happy about the prospect for Apple's new line of Macs. The Apple computer's sales have been growing faster than the overall PC market. The Mac has 5% of the overall market, and some optimists think this could move toward 10%.

The iPod is still selling well, and RBC Capital says that its check of channels shows that the iPhone is selling very well.

Apple's stock price could be the victim of its own success. At least that's the convenient explanation. Despite the recent sell-off, the stock is up 80% over the last year. Even a slight problem with sales in one of its three businesses would be a disappointment.

Continue reading A very odd week for Apple (AAPL)

A very odd week for Apple (AAPL) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel considers resigning

Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel considers resigning originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.