Analyst Upgrades

• Walgreen (WAG) and Triumph Group (TGI) to buy from neutral at UBS.
• Focus Media (FMCN) to buy from neutral at Goldman.
• Home Depot (HD) to outperform from market perform at FBR Capital.
• Arbitron (ARB) to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Waddell & Reed (WDR) and Legg Mason (LM) to overweight from equal weight, and Janus Capital (JNS) to overweight from underweight, at Barclays.
• Central Euro Media (CETV) to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
• GenOn Energy (GEN) and Ntelos (NTLS) to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Cooper Tire (CTB) to buy from neutral and Goodyear Tire (GT) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: AOL, FMCN, GT, HD, JNJ, JNS, LOW, QCOM, RY, UA, WAG ...

Analyst Calls: AOL, FMCN, GT, HD, JNJ, JNS, LOW, QCOM, RY, UA, WAG ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 09 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, testified before a congressional committee investigating the 998 point drop in the Dow. That plunge wiped out nearly $1 trillion in market capital.

In his testimony, Gensler said he identified one high-volume trade in the e-mini S&P futures contract. The mystery firm was Waddell & Reed Financial (WDR). Waddell sold 75,000 contracts during the time of the plunge. The e-mini is liquid and traders use it as a guide to trading the Dow. Waddell maintains that the sale was a hedge. That means that the sales were used to offset other long positions.

Continue reading Waddell, Other Big Firms Identified as Mystery Traders in Stock Market Plunge

Waddell, Other Big Firms Identified as Mystery Traders in Stock Market Plunge originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 15 May 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In today's Barron's, investors will find the annual Lipper/Barron's Fund Families Survey. This survey, a pretty comprehensive look at performance of mutual fund families across different asset classes and investment strategies.

This year take-aways:

• Growth worked: Those funds that performed best definitely had a bias towards growth.
• International exposure: Funds that bought stocks with substantial foreign operations fared better.
• Avoiding pitfalls: Underexposure to potential "minefields like major banks, housing companies, and retailers" helped boost performance.
• High grade: Those funds that owned highest-quality bonds performed best.

Waddell & Reed (NYSE: WDR) placed first in 2007 betting on companies participating in "major infrastructure plays throughout the world," like Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) and Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE). Check out the Waddell & Reed Dividend Income Fund (WDVAX).

Continue reading Barron's says growth funds are back

Barron's says growth funds are back originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Feb 2008 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.