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Earnings highlights: Google, KKR, Krispy Kreme, Williams-Sonoma, Guess? and more

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

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Google, KKR, Krispy Kreme, Williams-Sonoma, Guess? and more

Valero (VLO) issues woeful Q2 forecast

VLO logoValero Energy (NYSE: VLO - option chain) stock is down big today after the company warned it expects to report a second-quarter loss of 50 cents per share. Analysts had forecast a profit of 74 cents per share. The company also said it plans to sell about 40 million shares of common stock to fund general corporate purposes and recent acquisitions. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on VLO.

This morning, VLO opened at $19.64. So far today the stock has hit a low of $18.50 and a high of $19.79. As of 11:25, VLO is trading at $18.75, down $3.63 (-16.2%). The chart for VLO looked bullish before today while S&P gives VLO a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

Continue reading Valero (VLO) issues woeful Q2 forecast

Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MS, BBC, DOW, COST, VLO, WSM ...

Analyst upgrades:

  • FBR Capital upgraded KBW, Inc (NYSE: KBW) to Market Perform from Underperform as it sees increased capital-raising opportunities for small and mid-sized banks and believes the company's quarter is off to a strong start. The firm raised its target price to $23 from $18.
  • Pali Capital upgraded Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) to Buy from Neutral on expectations the company's strategic shift towards advisory, distribution and retail will be monetized sooner than expected and its capital markets business is gaining traction. The firm set a $33 target on the stock.
  • Baird upgraded Stericycle (NASDAQ: SRCL) to Outperform from Neutral and raised its target to $58 from $55 based on valuation predictable earnings, and its market leading platform.
  • Apollo Investment (NYSE: AINV) was raised to Outperform from Market Perform at Keefe Bruyette.
  • HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) was lifted at Goldman to Buy from Neutral.
  • Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MS, BBC, DOW, COST, VLO, WSM ...

Options Update: Valero Energy and Schlumberger volatility low into EPS

Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) closed at $20.50. VLO is scheduled to report Q1 EPS on April 28. Crude oil futures are recently up 1.51% to $49.59. VLO May option implied volatility of 63 is below its 26-week average of 73 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) closed at $46.23. SLB is scheduled to report Q1 EPS on April 24. May option implied volatility of 61 is below its 26-week average of 65, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Valero Energy knows Americans are inseparable from their cars

Readers of this space know that one of the preferred sectors has been the refining sector, with exclusions made for a few companies. Would that the United States (and much of the world, for that matter), transition to a next-generation propulsion system (natural gas, electric, fuel cell) quickly, but unfortunately that goal still looks a decade away, perhaps more. And that means refiners like Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) will remain a force.

The market punished Valero in 2008 after refining margins narrowed substantially, but folks, we're talking gasoline in the United States here: gasoline refining margins can't (and didn't) contract for very long, and significant, additional margin improvement in seen in 2009.

Continue reading Valero Energy knows Americans are inseparable from their cars

Earnings highlights: Yahoo!, McDonald's, American Express, Pfizer, Delta and others

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

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Yahoo!, McDonald's, American Express, Pfizer, Delta and others

Closing Bell: Stocks rise on Geithner's confirmation; TXN, NFLX, AXP, VLO, CVTX

Today Wall Street managed yet another day of gains. It seems that the confirmation of Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary offset all of the negative data. Financials also had a decent day that seemed to trump all of the dismal earnings announcements from other giant companies.

Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,174.73 +58.70 +0.72%
NASDAQ: 1,504.90 +15.44 +1.04%
S&P 500: 845.70 +9.13 +1.09%
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) rose after the chip maker gave earnings that were only "about as disappointing" as expected. The company is trimming costs and cutting about 3,400 jobs. Shares were up over 4% at $15.39 before the close.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Stocks rise on Geithner's confirmation; TXN, NFLX, AXP, VLO, CVTX

Cramer on BloggingStocks: In this market, trust can kill you

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the about-face at Apple and Bank of America is brutal for those who believed the company line.

Talk about a "trust no one" era. Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) (Cramer's Take) had been adamant that it had no use or need for the government's money. Its instant investment in China of much of our money made that point loud and clear. Why did we waste it on them? Why did we force them to take it?

Could we have been reassured more times that Steve Jobs was OK? That we were dead wrong to question it? That Joe Nocera, who wrote a prescient article about health and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) (Cramer's Take) and Jobs had been singled out by Jobs for the audacity of even questioning the man who is so much of Apple that we are frightened to even contemplate the world without him?

But we were asked to trust, and in return the trust was not rewarded. Bank of America has been in trouble for a month now, even though the company exuded confidence. The stock's been a killer.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: In this market, trust can kill you

Chasing Value: 2008 picks -- the last nail

I made it through mid-year of tracking my 2008 picks from last December and then -- Wham! -- I went from a slight advantage to being humbled badly by the market. However difficult it is to display your failings, once again I will share all of the horrors since I posted the original story Chasing Value: Final list -- 8 stocks for 2008.

The master is still the master, Warren Buffett and his life's work Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) beat me easily as well as the three indices I tracked.

For the most part, unless you started shorting stocks, there was no place to hide and most of my picks were big losers. There were two that beat Buffett and the market. The defense sector was the defensive sector it was supposed to be with Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) doing well on a relative scale. The other place you could have a morsel of stability was utilities and Huaneng Power International (ADR) (NYSE: HNP) lost less but not by much.

Continue reading Chasing Value: 2008 picks -- the last nail

Valero (VLO) cuts gasoline output

VLO logoValero Energy (NYSE: VLO - option chain) shares have moved higher today after the company announced it will reduce its refining capacity to at least 20 percent below normal levels due to the weakening gasoline market. This move should save VLO some money and possibly help to stabilize the price of gasoline by reducing supply. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on VLO.

VLO opened this morning at $20.89. So far today the stock has hit a low of $20.58 and a high of $21.49. As of 12:00, VLO is trading at $21.13, up 30 cents (1.4%). The chart for VLO looks bullish and S&P gives VLO a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy ranking.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a March bull-put credit spread below the $10 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in just three months as long as VLO is above $10 at March expiration. Valero would have to fall by more than 52% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

VLO hasn't been below $13 at all in the past year and has shown support around $16 recently.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in VLO.

Closing Bell: Market rallies on Election Day; ADM, CIT, MA, VLO up, FCSX down

We don't have any official results from the presidential and congressional elections as of yet, but traders decided to keep buying stocks today despite concerns of what an Obama administration would do to equity investors. Regardless of the bad economic data, it looks and feels as though you can make actual analysis beyond the next 30-minute period again. Even a $6.00+ rally in oil prices after the Saudis cut production did not stop stocks from rallying. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,625.28 (+3.28)
NASDAQ: 1,780.12 (+3.12%)
S&P 500: 1,005.73 (+4.08%)

Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) surged after the agricultural giant blew past earnings estimates and it is being rewarded after losing so much ground this year. Shares were up 14% at $24.13 right before the close.

CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) saw its shares surge as one of the top percentage gainers today after the company announced that it has completed a $500 million financing facility from Wells Fargo. In the final minutes of trading, shares were up over 32% at $6.00 on three-times normal volume.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Market rallies on Election Day; ADM, CIT, MA, VLO up, FCSX down

Earnings highlights: Exxon, Motorola, Barclays, Burger King, Comcast, Visa, and others

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

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Exxon, Motorola, Barclays, Burger King, Comcast, Visa, and others

Closing Bell: Dow ends up nearly 11%; BA, DFS, GOOG, VLO end with strong gains; WHR declines

After failing yesterday when a late-day selloff hit the market, today the buyers were determined. Asia proved that its markets could finally rally and the rest of the world followed suit. The markets had enough buyers today that the worst consumer confidence on record and another poor housing number were swept as "yada yada yada, tell me something I don't know." The markets were also more hopeful that Ben Bernanke and friends at the FOMC will drop rates by 50 basis-points Wednesday.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 9,065.12 +889.35 +10.88%
NASDAQ: 1,649.47 +143.57 +9.53%
S&P 500: 940.51 +91.59 +10.79%
10YR T-NOTE 3.82% (+0.091%)

Top Upgrades & Downgrades


Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) reached a tentative pact that may end the machinists union strike at the aerospace giant. Shares were up 11% at $47.16 right before the close.

Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) settled on the litigation with MasterCard and Visa, and it will receive a total of $2.75 billion over anti-competitive pressures. It was a known event, but this finalizes the issue sooner rather than later. Shares were up 18% at $11.48 right before the close.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Dow ends up nearly 11%; BA, DFS, GOOG, VLO end with strong gains; WHR declines

Chasing Value: Valero Energy earnings up

When I suggested In December 2006 that Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) would be a smashing investment in 2007, I looked great as it rose from around $50 to almost $80 per share. When I stuck with it, recommending it for 2008, I got sandbagged big time as it sank from a 52-week high of $73.68 to a recent low of $14.59.

Valero was trapped by rapidly rising crude prices and shrinking margins on the refined product. However, in the last quarter it was able to show a year-over-year increase in profits.

VLO reported third quarter 2008 income from continuing operations of $1.2 billion, or $2.18 per share, which compares to $848 million, or $1.34 per share, in the third quarter of 2007. The third quarter 2008 results include the company's pre-tax gain of $305 million on the sale of its Krotz Springs, Louisiana refinery to a subsidiary of Alon USA Energy, Inc., which was effective July 1, 2008. Excluding this gain, third quarter 2008 income from continuing operations was $982 million, or $1.86 per share.

This morning the company said it planned significant turnarounds in 2009, with projects planned at two of its Texas refineries. The company also said it had scaled back capital spending in 2008 and 2009 by deferring projects until 2010 and 2011. "As it turns out, 2009 should be a more significant year for turnaround activity," said Chief Operating Officer Rich Marcogliese.

Continue reading Chasing Value: Valero Energy earnings up

The week in preview: Focus on oil and energy

While other earnings may have disappointed last week, the news was good for oil giant ConocoPhilips (NYSE: COP). In what some took as a good sign for big oil, the Houston-based company reported that third quarter net income surged 41% year over year to $3.39 per share, and that revenue also surged 52% to $70 billion. We'll see whether the good news extends to other petroleum giants scheduled to report quarterly results this week.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial are looking for BP (NYSE: BP) profits to have grown 43.2% in the most recent quarter to $2.34 per share on revenue of $109.7 billion, and Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) to post earnings up 39.4% to $3.25 per share on revenue of $86.8 billion. Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE: MRO), ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM), and Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) likewise are expected to report higher net income of $2.33 per share (sales of $23.4 billion), $2.40 per share (sales of $131.4 billion), and $2.65 per share, respectively. Even Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE: VLO) is expected to post earnings slightly higher to $1.46 per share (sales of $36.4 billion), despite the effects of Hurricane Ike. Among these companies, only BP and Valero beat earnings expectations in the previous quarter. Not surprisingly, analysts on average recommend buying all except Valero, and shares of all of these companies have recently hit 52-week lows.

Continue reading The week in preview: Focus on oil and energy

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Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-36.658,146.52
NASDAQ+3.481,756.03
S&P 500-3.55879.13

Last updated: July 11, 2009: 06:59 AM

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