|  |  |  | | | | | SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Brooks McFeely submits: 4:22 PM, Mar 10, 2011 -- - NYSE down 179.37 (-2.1%) to 8,200.07
- DJIA down 228.48 (-1.9%) to 11,985
- S&P 500 down 24.91 (-1.9%) to 1,295
- Nasdaq down 50.70 (-1.8%) to 2,701
GLOBAL SENTIMENT - Hang Seng down 0.82%
- Nikkei down 1.46%
- FTSE down 1.53%
UPSIDE MOVERS
(+) GMCR, SBUX in pack tie-up.
(+) HGSI, GSK gain on FDA approval of lupus drug.
(+) FCEL beats with results.
(+) CBEH beats with results, guidance.
(-) SFD beats with EPS.
DOWNSIDE MOVERS
(-) SCON reports sales drop.
(-) JTX cancels Q3 earnings due to ongoing discussions with creditors.
(-) ARYX to close after FDA delays guidance for study.
(-) PEET downgraded.
(-) UL downgraded.
(-) GM says CFO leaving.
(-) ARMH subject of negative analyst note on tablets.
(-) NTAP downgraded.
MARKET DIRECTION
Stock averages close deeply in the red, as the DJIA has fallen below the 12,000 line and logs its worst
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Energy Report submits: As an investment option, uranium glows brightly for Siddharth Rajeev, vice president and head of research at Fundamental Research Corp. He also favors coal and explains why size matters when it comes to potash in this exclusive interview with The Energy Report.
The Energy Report: When you last talked with The Energy Report, you were more bullish on the uranium price than any other commodity. Since then, the price of yellowcake has gone from about $50/lb. to just under $70/lb. Is there much upward momentum left in uranium?
Siddharth Rajeev: Yes, we continue to believe in the uranium story. You're right, uranium prices have gone up significantly in the last six to eight months. But we still think there's upside potential, mainly because the fundamentals remain very strong.
There are four reasons we believe in the uranium story: 1) Nuclear energy is a dependable and clean power source; 2) There
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit: Even though the market had already begun to struggle somewhat last week, 14 of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average remained in
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Zacks.com submits: Gerdau S.A.'s (GGB) weak financial results in the fourth quarter of 2010, though negatively impacted the company's stock price, failed to move analysts' sentiments who kept their estimates somewhat stable following the company's earnings release. Earnings Review On March 3, 2011, Gerdau released its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2010 financial results. The company's fourth quarter 2010 net income plummeted 35% year over year to R$420 million ($248.5 million) and registered a 31% sequential decline. Earnings per share (EPS) were R$0.29 ($0.17 per ADR), compared with R$0.45 ($0.30 per ADR) in the year-ago period and below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.18 per ADR. The bottom-line results were negatively affected by higher cost of sales and operating expenses, which more than offset by higher revenue in the quarter. In the fiscal year 2010, earnings per share were R$1.50 ($0.86 per ADR), up compared with R$0.79 ($0.74 per ADR). Net revenue
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | David Hunkar submits: The table below lists 17 stocks from the U.S. Focus list published by Credit Suisse, U.S. equity research division. Except 2008, the focus list has performed very well each year with double digit returns beating the S&P 500. | S.No. | Company | Ticker | Price as of Mar 9, 2011 | Target Price | Sector | Dividend Yield |
|---|
| 1 | CVS Caremark Corporation | CVS | $34.07 | $42.00 | Consumer | 1.50% | | 2 | International Game Technology | IGT | $16.53 | $21.00 | Consumer | 1.44% | | 3 | McDonalds | MCD | $75.78 | $87.00 | Consumer | 3.23% | | 4 | Procter & Gamble Co. | PG | $62.00 | $74.00 | Consumer | 3.11% | | 5 | Time Warner, Inc | TWX | $36.53 | $40.00 | Consumer | 2.58% | | 6 | PetroHawk Energy Corp. | HK | $21.06 | $23.00 | Energy | N/A | | 7 | Bank of America Corp. | BAC | $14.59 | $20.00 | Financials | 0.27% | | 8 | Morgan Stanley | MS | $28.72 | $35.00 | Financials | 0.69% | | 9 | Health Management Associates, Inc. | HMA | $10.75 | $12.00 | Healthcare |
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Larry Dignan (ZDNet) submits: There's an interesting race going on between Microsoft Windows Phone 7's app marketplace vs. Research in Motion's App World. And despite a lack of devices in the field, Microsoft's app marketplace is set to surpass RIM's in app count. The big question is whether this race matters. After Microsoft (MSFT) detailed earlier this week that it had more than 9,000 apps for its marketplace, I checked with RIM (RIMM) for an official app count. Turns out that RIM has more than 20,000 apps in its App World store at last count. I'm not one to get into app counts. Clearly Apple has the most apps in its App Store. Android is second. The reality is I don't have the time, interest, energy or bandwidth to try thousands of apps. In reality, I may need 10. That's why the race for No. 3 in apps is worth noting for customers like
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hard Assets Investor submits: By Brad Zigler Despite the weakness in junior gold mining stocks, it's been a pretty good week for holders of U.S. Gold Corp. (NYSE: UXG) shares. Exploration and development (E&D) companies like UXG have been struggling to regain their footing after stumbling at the 2010 year-end. On Feb. 28, we reported on corporate insiders' purchases of the Toronto-based exploration outfit's shares: "Insiders Buy A Gold Junior. Should You?". Since then, the company's stock price has climbed 7 percent, while the value of the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GDXJ)—of which UXG is a component—has dipped 1.5 percent. There should be yet more public interest in UXG shares now that the company reported encouraging drill results at its Mexican El Gallo site. The company released a report on Wednesday, announcing expansion in the area and mineralization of the El Gallo veins. Unlike the rest of the gold miners'
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Aircastle LTD (AYR) Q4 2010 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 10:00 AM ET Executives Ron Wainshal – Chief Executive Officer Mike Inglese – Chief Financial Officer Analysts Scott Valentin – FBR Capital Market Gary Liebowitz – Wells Fargo Securities Josh Pinkerton – Goldman Sachs Paul Strike – Cohen Asset Management Presentation Operator Good morning. My name is Ashley, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Aircastle Fourth Quarter and Year End Earnings Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Mr. Inglese, you may begin your conference. Mike Inglese Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everyone. This is Mike Inglese, the CFO of Aircastle and I'd like to welcome all of you to the fourth quarter and year-end 2010 earnings call
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Matthew Bradbard submits: A correction is underway in Commodities. Crude gave up 2% today and is almost $5 off its recent high. We are anticipating a trade closer to $98/99 into next week in the May contract. On its third attempt today natural gas failed to break above the 20 day MA; in May at $3.99. We remain long futures and own $4.25 calls with some clients, those that own $4/4.50 call spreads were advised to buy back their top leg today to book profits on half the trade. Our target remains $4.25. The indices are trading down 1-1.50 % as of this post. The next test will be if we can break the 50 day MA on a closing basis; in the Dow at 11950 and 1298 in the S&P. Our bias remains bearish as we finally may get some vindication on our June bear put spreads for clients. The rally is
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Roger Nusbaum submits: On Monday I spoke at a pretty large gathering of 401k investors at a company whose plan we manage. During that seminar there was one question that brought me back to a point I've made once or twice before but that is crucial to understanding the importance of portfolio returns.
The importance of saving money comes up here often and although I don't bring it up often enough, for many people the manner in which they save will be more important than investment results (here the assumption is that investment results are not super human or freakishly bad).
This can matter on several different levels. One way this is relevant is for people just starting out. I'll use the example of a Health Savings Account because if you have one, you've probably not had it very long. A few years ago when they first became available I believe the maximum
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Greentech Media submits: With solar installations that only measured in a few hundred megawatts in 2008 and 2009, the U.S. could hardly lay claim to being a player in the gigawatt-sized global solar market. But 2010 marks a significant shift in the U.S. solar market. The details of this transformation can be found in the year-end U.S. Solar Market Insight report, a collaboration between the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and GTM Research. The report delves deeply into industry trends in the U.S. photovoltaic, concentrating solar power, solar hot water and space heating and solar pool heating markets through surveys of installers, manufacturers, utilities and state agencies. The executive summary is available for download here. The full report is available here and here. The full report has component pricing for cells and modules in the U.S., as well as detailed installation data in each market segment by state and by quarter. (Click to
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stockopedia submits: GMO's James Montier has just released an essay entitled "The Seven Immutable Laws of Investing." Montier is always a good read, having shaken up the city and built his reputation with some left field research notes as global strategist at previous employer Societe Generale. Famous notes included tomes on how to be happy in spite of being a financier -- not exactly par for the research note course. His contrarian stance has always been driven by a core belief in the importance of value investing and the lessons of behavioral finance; his Seven Laws are repeated below. - Always insist on a margin of safety.
- This time is never different.
- Be patient and wait for the fat pitch.
- Be contrarian.
- Risk is the permanent loss of capital, never a number
- Be leery of leverage
- Never invest in something you don't understand.
The list echoes with soundbites lifted from the work of
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Modeled Behavior submits: By Karl Smith Lots of handwringing over the soaring price of Makena, a drug designed to prevent babies from being born too early. The long and the short is that independent pharmacists have been producing this compound on site for years. Those pharmacists typically sold the drug for around $15. However, recently a biotech company just won FDA approval for the drug, put it under patent and promptly sold the patent to a pharmaceutical company. The pharmaceutical company raised the price to $1,500 a shot. Kevin Drum offers a sober take The FDA required Hologic (HOLX) to perform some additional studies before Makena was approved, including a follow-up post-approval study that will run through 2018. Maybe this is worth $200 million. I don't know. But I wonder if Medicaid will pony up $25,000 for this shiny new version of 17P? I wonder how many low-income mothers will no longer have
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Greentech Media submits: By Katherine Tweed Progress Energy (PGN), which is on the verge of becoming part of the largest utility in the U.S. if the acquisition by Duke Energy (DUK) is completed, has begun to make announcements about its smart grid vendors.
International Business Machines, Corp. (IBM) was selected as the lead systems integrator for the approximately $520 million project, which will cover its two utilities in the Carolinas and Florida. And for that price tag, well, they're planning on getting a whole lot more than meters. The program, which aims to improve power efficiency, quality and reliability and allow for more renewable energy, energy storage and electric vehicles, was funded in part by a $200 million stimulus grant from the Department of Energy.
"This is a real exciting one for us," said Michael Valocchi, Energy & Utilities Industry lead for IBM's Global Business Services unit. "The reason that this is so
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mark J. Perry submits: Slate.com has an article titled "Why hasn't the Internet helped the American economy grow as much as economists thought it would?" about Tyler Cowen's e-book The Great Stagnation. Here's a really interesting point: Maybe it is not the growth that is deficient. Maybe it is the yardstick that is deficient. MIT professor Erik Brynjolfsson explains the idea using the example of the music industry. "Because you and I stopped buying CDs, the music industry has shrunk, according to revenues and GDP. But we're not listening to less music. There's more music consumed than before." The improved choice and variety and availability of music must be worth something to us — even if it is not easy to put into numbers. "On paper, the way GDP is calculated, the music industry is disappearing, but in reality it's not disappearing. It is disappearing in revenue. It is not disappearing in terms of
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Tom Lydon submits: History is filled with economic cycles, and the Treasury exchange traded fund (ETF) bonds market may soon come under pressure. The world's largest bond fund, PIMCO Total Return Fund (PTTRX), reduced its exposure to U.S. government debt to zero last month, reports Joe Morris of Ignites. Bill Gross, the fund manager, has been vocal about U.S. deficit spending and and interest rates; advising investors to prepare for the end of stimulus injections and that government debt should be "exorcized" from investors' portfolios. Gross' move underscores his belief that bond yields will rise and prices will fall. Back in 1994, fixed-income investors saw negative price movements and total return losses, writes Tom Sowanick for The International Business Times. Interest rates jumped across all fixed-income markets after the Federal Reserve tightened its monetary policy. As a result, bond investors dumped their fixed-income holdings, which brought yields higher, with the 2-year T-note rising
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Frederic Ruffy submits: Sentiment Stocks are broadly lower late-Thursday. Economic data was in focus early after the Labor Department reported the jobless claims increased by 26,000 last week, which was about 15,000 more than expected. A separate report showed the nation's trade balance increasing to $46.3 billion in January, which was wider than the $40.3 billion at the end of 2010 and also worse than the $41.5 billion that economists had expected. Meanwhile, European equity benchmarks finished lower on renewed concerns about the European Debt Crisis after Moody's cut Spain's credit rating. Reports that Saudis had fired on protestors also weighed on sentiment in midday trade. April WTI Crude is down $1.70 to $102.68, but well off session lows of $100.62. Gold is also taking a hit on dollar strength as well. The precious metal is off $16.2 to $1,413.40. Chevron (CVX) and Exxon (XOM) are among the biggest losers in the Dow
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mark J. Perry submits: The BEA released its report today on international trade for January, and what will likely get the most attention is the fact that the monthly trade deficit increased to $46.3 billion from $40.3 billion in December. There will be lots of commentary and hand-wringing today about the "bad news" that America's trade position, trade gap or trade deficit is: a) widening, b) worsening or c) deteriorating in January. What you probably won't hear much about is the good news that total U.S. trade (Exports + Imports) increased to $381 billion in January, reaching the highest level since August 2008, almost two-and-a-half years ago.
As Cato's Dan Griswold pointed out last month on his blog: Politicians and commentators love to
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Alex B. Gray submits: Anglo American PLC (AAUKY.PK) is a worldwide mining company with operations in Africa, Australia, North America, South America, Europe and Asia. The company boasts a highly diversified mining portfolio which includes the platinum group of metals, diamonds, copper, nickel, iron ore, coal and other minerals. The company's revenues are well divided between platinum, iron ore and coal (both thermal and metallurgical), which provided approximately 60% of revenues in 2010 with each providing about 20% each. The remaining 40% was provided by copper 15%, diamonds 8% and other mining and industrial activities 17%. Operating profit increased substantially in 2010 driven by improved results in the iron ore, copper and platinum operating units. However, the iron ore and copper units supplied nearly 67% of total operating profits. Below, I briefly discuss the major operating units and how they performed in 2010 as well as expectations for 2011. Platinum Anglo American is one
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ian Wyatt submits: Investors may feel as though they have missed the recent rise in oil-related stocks, but the fact remains that there are still notable opportunities within the sector. Even with the recent meteoric rise in oil and gas stocks, there are still several companies with compelling values and healthy dividends. As we all know, sometimes fear can lead to some of the most profitable opportunities. Take for instance the recent turn of events in Libya. The bloodshed that has occurred managed to push oil prices to a 29-month high at $105.17 a barrel last Thursday. If indeed oil prices continue to climb to the 2008 high of $145 a barrel, then certainly stocks in the oil industry will continue to rise in price. Many of the stocks within the oil industry have become expensive following the recent rise in crude prices ... although, there are still a few quality stocks that
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Trefis submits: Massey Energy (NYSE:MEE) is the 4th largest coal company in the United States and the largest in Central Appalachia based on produced coal revenue. Earlier this year, Alpha Natural Resources announced that it had struck an agreement with Massey for a $7.1 billion takeover which we discussed in a recent note titled Looking at Massey's Value Following Alpha Takeover Announcement. Massey and Alpha compete with companies like Peabody Energy (NYSE:BTU), Arch Coal (NYSE:ACI) and CONSOL (NYSE:CNX) Energy. We estimate that the produced coal division constitutes around 84% of our $55.08 price estimate for Massey's stock. Our price estimate is around 15% shy of the current market price and implies a market cap of $5.6 billion. The announced takeover is around a 26% premium to our estimated value for Massey, and the current market price is just about 10% below the proposed takeover price implying that the market is pricing in
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mark Thoma submits: To answer the question in the title of this post, it's useful to think of an island with only two goods. One of the goods is non-renewable, but highly desirable. The other good is less preferred, but it is renewable (thinking of renewable and non-renewable energy resources, for example). The key is to distinguish between changes in prices that reflect changes in the relative scarcity of the two goods, and changes driven by increases in the money supply. Over time, as the stock of the more desired good falls due to consumption, the price of this good will rise relative to the renewable good. Consumers will be hit by increases in the cost of living -- the same basket of the two goods purchased last year now costs more. But is this the kind of increase in prices the Fed should respond to? No, the price increase -- and the
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stephen Simpson submits: It is no great surprise that today's earnings report from machine tool manufacturer Hurco (HURC) is largely going unnoticed. Even though sales jumped 92% from last year, orders more than doubled (and the book-to-bill is over 1), and the company handily beat its estimate, only one analyst follows this stock and the company booked only $224M in revenue in its best year. In other words, it is a very small company that just falls through the cracks, more often than not. My objective here is not to sing the praises of Hurco (though I do believe it is a fine company and currently undervalued), but rather to try and connect a few dots that the earnings from companies like Hurco might be telling us. The Return of the Small/Mid-Sized Business? Much of the recovery story so far has been dominated by the improved performance at major companies. Corporate earnings have
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Karl Denninger submits: This is truly amusing, but it would not surprise. Rumors have started up again that Deutsche Telekom (DTEGY.PK) is talking with Sprint (S) about some sort of combination involving DT's T-Mobile US unit. Sprint is getting a hell of a pop here: (Click to enlarge) The problem with such a combination is that T-Mobile's network is GSM-based while Sprint's is CDMA and (for those still on legacy things from their previous combination) iDEN. The fun is that half its user base would have to re-equip no matter which way this goes. That's not so good, and brings to mind the hilarity that ensued when it bought Nextel with its iDEN infrastructure. That combination was a flat-out disaster. T-Mobile, for its part, is bleeding customers. Why? They're pricing as a premium carrier like Verizon (VZ) or AT&T (T) but aren't equipped like one. DT is simply nuts with pricing considering the
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Investment Underground submits: The battle for increased oversight over the for-profit education industry began with the Department of Education, led by Arne Duncan, piloting the requirement that for-profit vocational programs yield "gainful employment," as measured by the ratio of salary to loan debt among graduates. We still think there is value in the for-profit space. Here are 7 names to consider: Apollo (APOL) made $4.92 billion in revenues in FY 2010 through August, which was an increase of 23.94%, after rising by 26.53% in FY 2009. However, net income fell by 7.57% in FY 2010 to $553 million, after growing by 25.56% in FY 2009. EPS fell by 3.47% to $3.62, after jumping by 30.66% in FY 2009. The respective EBT margins were 20.32% and 26.16%. The company posted a return on invested capital of 30% in FY 2010, and 37.75% in FY 2009. Q1 2011 results showed that revenues were up by
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FXedu submits: With all of the talk about inflation (and I am as guilty of it as the next guy), the structural problems that face the global economy may be far more important. The problem that I have is that nobody seems to be doing anything about these structural issues, and are content to sit back and hopefully inflate away the problem. That is a pipe dream. Yesterday, the RBNZ lowered interest rates as expected, but surprised the market with a 50 bp cut rather than the 25 bp the market was expecting, citing the damage caused by the earthquake. Overnight in Australia, the employment change came in worse than expected, though the unemployment rate remained the same. In Japan, GDP declined slightly more than expected. In China, trade balance figures came in much worse than expected, as exports grew at only 2.4% vs. an expectation of 27.1%, pushing the Chinese trade
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hard Assets Investor submits: By Brad Zigler History repeats itself. Somebody important1 said so. Many silver traders and investors regard the gold/silver ratio now and think that old maxim is being proved again. The white metal's been, er, white hot recently. Silver's has become expensive - not just in dollars, but in terms of gold. And as silver's price has raced higher, the gold/silver ratio has plummeted. The ratio, which describes silver's buying power by dividing the per-ounce price of gold by that of silver, has averaged 60:1 over the past 35 years, meaning it's taken 60 ounces of silver to purchase one ounce of gold. Though with silver's most recent push to the $36/oz level, it now takes much less. The gold/silver ratio broke below 40x this week, sending silver bulls into a tizzy. A decline in the gold/silver ratio is seen as bullish for metals, a notion borne out by the last
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cabot submits: By Paul Goodwin With blood on the tracks today, it's hard to find a lot of attractive setups for new buying. But there's one Chinese company that I've had my eye on for a long time, waiting for the chart to settle into a buyable situation. That may just have happened. Harbin Electric (HRBN) is a maker of electric motors, including rotary, linear and specialty micro-motors. Ninety percent of sales are within China, and revenues have increased by 85% annually for two years in a row. Earnings growth reached triple digits in three out of the last four quarters and the company has virtually no debt. The P/E ratio is an attractive 7. Those are very good numbers, and the company's earnings have grown each of the past six years. But the really intriguing aspect of Harbin Electric is its chart. The stock shared in the big 2009 recovery, but
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Michael Filloon submits: When looking at oil shale plays in the United States, the Bakken/Three Forks comes up first, due to the size of its reserves and the activity in the area. These assumptions may be right, but there are other shales in the United States that have huge upside potential. The Eagle Ford may be another play that could have better short term upside. Don't get me wrong, I still believe the Bakken is the best shale play in the United States, but some wells will pay out differently. Bakken wells tend to be very complicated to drill (at least to get the best possible outcome), but they also have very large amounts of resources to be pulled from the ground. Bakken wells have averaged anywhere from 90% to 97% liquids, give or take a few point. It can also cost upwards to $9 million or more to drill a well in
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | FuelCell Energy (FCEL) Q1 2011 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 10:00 am ET Executives Kurt Goddard - Vice President of Investor Relations Arthur Bottone - Chief Executive Officer and President Joseph Mahler - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer, Senior Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Treasurer Analysts Matthew Crews - Noble Financial Group, Inc. Chip Moore - Canaccord Adams Sanjay Shrestha - Lazard Capital Markets LLC Presentation Operator Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to FuelCell Energy Reports First Quarter 2011 Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to introduce our first speaker today, Mr. Kurt Goddard, the Vice President of Investor Relations. Sir, please go ahead. Kurt Goddard Good morning, and welcome to the First Quarter 2011 earnings call for FuelCell Energy. Delivering remarks today will be Chip Bottone, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Joseph Mahler, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. The earnings
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Trefis submits: Akamai (AKAM) is a content delivery company that delivers web content for its customers and competes with other players like InterNAP Network Services (INAP), Limelight Networks (LLNW) and Level 3 (LVLT). The contribution of the media content segment to Akamai's overall business value is increasing, with 2010 showing an increasing customer base and a rebound in revenues (See Media Content Delivery Becomes Largest Value Driver for Akamai). Our price estimate for Akamai stands at $37.11 which is in line with market price. Akamai's stock, which shot upward in 2010, has dropped a healthy share of this gain in 2011, falling from a peak of over $54 to below $37. It is interesting to see Akamai's stock decline despite strong indications of a rise in digital media. Notably, Akamai's recent drop puts its market imprice in line with what we believe to be the company's intrinsic value ($37.11). (Chart created by
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Xerium Technologies (XRM) Q4 2010 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 9:00 am ET Executives Stephen Light - Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Kevin McDougall - Executive Vice President and General Counsel Analysts Ross Berner - Weintraub Capital Management Richard Hoss - Roth Capital Partners, LLC DeForest Hinman - Paradigm Capital Management Erin Wilson - Banc of America Securities Robert Gould - Private Investor Mark Fisher - Ahap Kevin Cohen - Imperial Capital Presentation Operator Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Xerium Technologies Fourth Quarter 2010 Financial Results Conference Call on March 10, 2011. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Kevin McDougall, Xerium's Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Please go ahead, sir. Kevin McDougall Thank you, and welcome to the Xerium
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stephen Simpson submits: Biotech investing is known for having more than its fair share of equivocal, confusing, or hard-to-interupt data. That's just really the price for sitting down at the table. The case of Amylin Pharmaceuticals (AMLN) seems to be taking that to a new level, though, and investors can be forgiven for not knowing quite what to do with this one. Bad News First – DURATION-6 Amylin, along with partners Lilly (LLY) and Alkermes (ALKS) dropped a bombshell on investors last week when they announced disappointing results from the companies' DURATION-6 study of Bydureon, a once-weekly version of Amylin's successful Byetta GLP-1 analog for Type 2 diabetes. The study, designed as a marketing study and not a pivotal clinical trial, was destined to show similar efficacy to Novo Nordisk's (NVO) once-daily Victoza; the idea being that similar efficacy from Bydureon along with a more convenient dosing schedule and softer side-effect profile would
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Martin Hutchinson submits: When PPL Corp. ( PPL) agreed to buy British power distributor Central Networks from German owner E.On AG ( EONGY.PK) last week, the $5.6 billion bid by the Allentown, Pa.,-based utility highlighted a key advantage that U.S. firms have when it comes to corporate-takeover battles in the international arena: In most countries, the staff and customers of the target company prefer a U.S. suitor to those from most other nations. How do I know this? Simple ... my mother told me. One Tough Cookie My mother - 85 years old and living in Cheltenham, England - is a frail-but-formidable Central Networks customer. The company regularly sends her final demands for payment and threatens to cut her off - not because she forgot to pay, but because of repeated errors by the utility. These "final notice" warnings are generated because someone read the wrong meter - or because the company sends my mother
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Hickey and Walters (Bespoke) submit: After once again trading to a new all-time high last week, the price of gold has seen a notable pullback over the last few days and is now trading back below its highs from last year. When
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | StreetAuthority submits: By David Sterman Judging by the number of companies that have lined up to pull off an initial public offering (IPO) in coming weeks and months, we may be looking at a banner year. If the performance of IPOs that made their debut since the year began is any guide, investor interest is likely to be quite strong. That's because virtually every company that has come public in 2011 is already trading up (except for Netherlands-based Tornier (TRNX), which is off just 2%). In fact, the biggest IPO of the year has just gone public. Hospital chain HCA (HCA), which is going public for the third time, sold $3.79 billion worth of stock today. The fact that enough investors were corralled for the deal is a sure sign of investor appetite for new issues. [My colleague Andy Obermueller profiled HCA just last week. Read his article here.] It always pays
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Pater Tenebrarum submits: The Plight of Greece It was easy in recent months to keep concerns over the euro area peripherals on the back burner. After all, the euro itself has been quite strong, lately in anticipation of ECB rate hikes. There is also a fundamental reason for euro strength that has been less obvious, but is no less real: money supply growth in the euro area has slowed down sharply. Also, the excitement in the U.S. stock market and various commodity markets due to the Fed's ample supply of liquidity via QE2 has taken precedence over virtually all lingering concerns, regardless of their source. It may be time to slowly but surely reconsider this stance. While market-based implied default probabilities have become less pronounced except in the case of Greece and Portugal, European bond yields have at the same time climbed to fresh highs across the board. There is no sign as
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Pater Tenebrarum submits: << Return to Part 1 2. PIIGS bond yields – note that Germany's 10 year yield stands at 3.29% at present – spreads versus German yields remain very high.
(Click to enlarge) Greece's 10 year yield hits a new high of 12.90% – it would be impossible for Greece to finance its debt in the market at these rates.
(Click to enlarge) Ireland's 10 year yield hits a new high of 9.55%.
(Click to enlarge) Portugal's 10 year yield hits a new high of 7.63%.
(Click to enlarge) Spain's 10 year yield is closing in on a new high – currently at 5.51%.
(Click to enlarge) Italy's 10 year yield at a new high of 4.99% – creeping perilously close to the cut-off level where it is no longer competitive with the rates offered by the EFSF to the bailed out governments.
(Click to enlarge) As a bonus, here is
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kapitall submits: The following three stocks are "dividend champions," identified by the DrIP Investing Resource Center as having increased dividends for more than 25 consecutive years. Additionally, all three of these stocks have attractive growth prospects.
Each company listed below has a higher TTM EPS growth rate than their industry competitors. These companies also have two of the three following characteristics: - Projected EPS (next 5 years) higher than the industry average
- Capital spending (last 5 years) accelerated at a faster rate than their competitors (theoretically, this makes them more competitive over the coming years)
- Cash flow growth has accelerated faster than their industry competitors over the last five years
We're not going to go into detailed analysis for each company. The goal here is to give growth-oriented investors a starting point for their own analysis.
These companies have maintained dividend growth rates for quite some time - do you think they can
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | MyPlanIQ submits: Among dividend paying equity ETFs, REITs continue to out perform other dividend stock ETFs. Both international (RWX) and US REITs (IYR), (VNQ) are ranked at the top two spots in the following trend score table. This trend has lasted several months now. For more detailed performance, please look here.
| Assets Class | Symbols | 03/09
Trend
Score | 03/02
Trend
Score | Direction |
|---|
| SPDR DJ Wilshire Intl Real Estate | (RWX) | 9.74% | 10.04% | v | | iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate | (IYR) | 9.61% | 10.0% | v | | SPDR S&P 500 | (SPY) | 9.41% | 10.12% | v | | Vanguard Dividend Appreciation | (VIG) | 9.2% | 9.09% | ^ | | Vanguard High Dividend Yield Indx | (VYM) | 9.15% | 9.39% | v | | iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index | (DVY) | 8.42% | 7.38% | ^ | | First Trust Value Line Dividend Index | (FVD) | 8.22% | 7.75% | ^ | | WisdomTree Emerging Market Equity Income | (DEM) | 8.12% | 7.59% | ^ | | iShares Dow Jones Intl Select Div Idx | (IDV) | 8.05% | 9.23% | v | | SPDR S&P Dividend | (SDY) | 7.95% | 7.14% | ^ | | PowerShares |
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | John M. Mason submits: Interest rate spreads on European sovereign debt jumped to new levels yesterday. On 10-year bonds, Greek debt rose to 942 basis points over German bonds of the same maturity. Portugal rose to 436 basis points over the German yields and Spain jumped back up to over 200 basis points. Is something on the horizon? A lot it seems. See my earlier post, "Meanwhile, Back In Europe." The new round of stress tests began on European banks last weekend. And ever since they started the tests bank regulators have had to defend themselves, to defend that the tests were not too soft. Not a very good beginning to the upcoming events, is it? How much confidence are we going to have in
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Market Blog submits: By David Berman For anyone who is still unconvinced about the significance of PIMCO's U.S. government bond sale last month, here's a scary thought from Scotia Capital's chief currency strategist: What if China followed his lead? On Wednesday, we reported that Pacific Investment Management Co. – headed by the Bond King himself, Bill Gross – had shed all of its U.S. government debt holdings last month from its $238-billion (U.S.) Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund. (Here is my previous post on the subject.) This was a big, bold move that suggested Mr. Gross was acting on his belief that the Federal Reserve would end its quantitative easing program (or QE2) in June, and another bond-buying plan was not in the works. Without QE3, bond prices would likely fall because the Fed accounts for about 70 per cent of bond-buying activity right now. Still, Mr. Gross's exit from
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Marc Chandler submits:The market continues to digest the meaning and implications of Moody's ( MCO) decision to cut Spain's rating to Aa2 from Aa1. The two main considerations behind Moody's decision are that the cost to restructure the banks will be greater than Spanish officials have estimated, and the sustainability of current austerity measures. At €40-50 bln, Moody's new estimate is more than twice the estimate it had made late last year and is well above the government's estimate. Moody's downgrade is of FROB, which is the government arm that is to help raise the funds for the bank restructuring. The ECB was quick to point out that FROB has the capacity to provide as much as €90 bln in funding. What was not said was that like the EFSF, FROB is not pre-financed, and that as banks request funds, FROB needs to raise them by issuing bonds and will then in some
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The LFB submits: The three main global equity indices are showing weakness on the last two trading sessions of the week, as the impact of regional civil unrest starts to finally hit stock valuations that no longer have the safety net of earnings season headlines to support the moves to break resistance. As has been noted in recent client notes, the Nikkei, DAX
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rash Menaria submits: The following is a list of top tech losers from yesterday: | Company | Ticker | Quote Change | | Finisar Corporation | FNSR | -38.54% | | Opnext | OPXT | -20.05% | | JDS Uniphase Corporation | JDSU | -16.71% | | Oplink Communications | OPLK | -12.10% | | Fabrinet | FN | -24.39% | | Oclaro | OCLR | -18.59% | | Cavium Networks | CAVM | -6.64% | | Youku.com | YOKU | -7.55% | | RF Micro Devices | RFMD | -6.68% | The list is dominated by companies in the optical sector (FNSR, OPXT, JDSU, OPLK, FN, OCLR, CAVM) which got hammered after a disappointing outlook from Finisar
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | optionMONSTER submits: By David Russell Sprint Nextel (S) has been riding a bullish wave in recent weeks, and investors continue to look for more upside. Our Heat Seeker tracking system shows a heavy concentration of call buying in the mobile-phone carrier, which has been treading water for the last year. The activity is a continuation of a pattern that began on Feb. 23 when investors snapped up the May 4.50 calls for $0.20 to $0.23 and the May 5s for $0.08. The shares have been climbing since, and those calls have now appreciated by more than 100 percent and 250 percent, respectively.
Today traders purchased more than 20,000 May 6 calls for $0.08 against open interest of just 3,751 contracts. The May 5s and April 5s are also seeing buying activity, though volume remains below open interest in the strike. Overall calls have outnumbered puts in the name by a bullish ratio
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Zacks.com submits: By Dirk van Dijk The Trade Deficit rose in January to $46.34 billion from $40.26 billion in December (revised down from $40.58 billion). The rise in the trade deficit is very bad news for the economy. Not only did it soar by 15.1% on the month, it was also much worse than the $41.50 billion consensus expectation.
On a year-over-year basis, the total trade deficit was up 33.7% from $34.65 billion a year ago. The trade balance has two major parts: trade in goods and trade in services. America's problem is always on the goods side; we actually routinely have a small surplus in services.
Relative to December, the goods deficit rose to $59.75 billion
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Energy Burrito submits: Ok, I'm not messing about this week; the gloves are off. I am cutting the wheat from the chaff and going straight to the quick. There are two key issues in the US economy, which are delicately poised to potentially either save or sink us. And these are unemployment and gasoline prices. (Well, there is a third, but a double dip in housing is a done deal). So below I have given some background on these two issues, hopefully illustrating their potential threat to a sustained economic recovery. So first up, employment: - The average number of hours worked in a week is flatlining (at 34.2 hours). This is not good enough*
- The average length of unemployment just reached a new high at 37.1 weeks
- Unemployment may have fallen to 8.9%, but the job participation rate is at a 28-year low**
- Underemployment (= part-time or disenchanted) = still high at 15.9%
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Trader Mark submits: At the start of the week, I said market tops are a process, rather than a moment (usually). Thus far this week, it's been a chop fest suited to only the shortest term of intraday traders. While we won't know if this moment is a top or just a consolidation period, until we look back at it in a few weeks or months, there is definitely a change in character from the non-stop rally since Thanksgiving. I contend there remains no reason to make any outsized bets here, since if this is a consolidation period, one can jump back on the gravy train once a new high for the year is reached in the major indexes. And by ratcheting down risk here, one can curtail potential losses if we finally have this ever elusive breakdown. [Click all to enlarge] Let us continue to also keep an eye on the Nasdaq,
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