Win a free GPS from Gadling!

AOL Money & Finance

Posts with tag seic

Analyst initiations: SPR, G and SEIC

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Spirit Aerosystems, Genpact and SEI Investments were today's noteworthy initiations:
  • Friedman Billings believes Spirit Aerosystems (NYSE: SPR) is well-positioned on key aircraft platforms and has significant revenue visibility. The firm started shares with an Outperform rating and $33 target.
  • Baird is positive on Genpact's (NYSE: G) recurring, non-discretionary revenue, strong growth in Global Client revenue, market leading position; shares were assumed with an Outperform rating and $16 target.
  • SEI Investments (NASDAQ: SEIC) was initiated with a Market Perform rating and $27 target at Keefe Bruyette, as they are cautious in the near-term due to industry headwinds.
OTHER INITIATIONS:

Thought your money market fund was safe? Think again

In August I posted on the danger that subprime mortgages pose to people who invest in money market funds. Today, the New York Times reports that several such funds have invested in commercial paper (CP) issued by Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs) backed by subprime mortgage-backed securities (MBSs). I think all money market funds should start a public information campaign to let people know if they have the SIV virus and if so, what they're doing to protect their customers from it.

Earlier, I posted on all the new vocabulary words I've learned in the last year thanks to the subprime mortgage meltdown. This $1.3 trillion market consists of mortgages to people who can't afford to repay in many cases. Forty seven percent of the loans were made without documentation of the borrower's income -- these are known as liar loans. The subprime mortgages were packaged as MBSs and among the buyers were SIVs -- off-balance sheet entities that use a bank's good credit rating to issue CP to invest in MBSs.

Thanks to the subprime mortgage meltdown, the CP is not worth as much as before so the money market funds that bought it are now forced to break the $1 per share constant value or put money into the fund to make up for the lost value. So far, analysts say that most SIV securities are trading at 97 to 98 cents on the dollar. But if more SIVs are forced to unwind, the resulting fire sale would put pressure on prices.

Continue reading Thought your money market fund was safe? Think again

Analyst upgrades: NTRI, UA, CME, AKH and KRC

MOST NOTEWORTHY: NutriSystem, Under Armour, CME Group, Air France ADS and Kilroy Realty were today's noteworthy upgrades:
  • NutriSystem (NASDAQ: NTRI) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Buy at Broadpoint on valuation, as they believe all concerns are overdone.
  • Think Equities upgraded Under Armour (NYSE: UA) to Buy from Accumulate on valuation.
  • Wachovia upgraded CME Group (NYSE: CME) to Overweight from Market weight, as they expect fed income volumes to benefit from a more active Federal Reserve.
  • Goldman added Air France (NYSE: AKH) to its Pan-European Conviction Buy List citing valuation following the recent sell-off.
  • Citigroup upgraded shares of Kilroy Realty (NYSE: KRC) to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe concerns are overblown and the company's underleveraged balance sheet can drive growth.
OTHER UPGRADES:

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+49.9111,496.57
NASDAQ-29.522,282.78
S&P 500+0.361,260.68

Last updated: July 20, 2008: 05:03 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

BloggingStocks Featured Video

TheFlyOnTheWall.com Headlines

WalletPop Headlines

    AOL Business News

    Latest from BloggingBuyouts

    Sponsored Links

    My Portfolios

    Track your stocks here!

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