|  |  |  | | | | | SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Trefis submits: McDonald's (NYSE:MCD) competes with Wendy's (NYSE:WEN), Burger King, and Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) in the fast food market, and is the leader in the hamburger fast food category. McDonald's also competes with Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) in the specialty coffee market. McDonald's owns and franchises restaurants across the globe with over 32,000 restaurants in 117 countries. Of these, roughly 80% are operated by franchisees, with the balance being company-owned. We currently maintain a $78.40 price estimate for McDonald's stock, implying a roughly 5% premium to market price. Steady Growth in Average Spend per Customer Visit Europe has the highest average spend across McDonald's operations, followed by the United States. McDonald's saw a slight spike in average spend in 2008 due to a rise in franchised restaurants in the U.S. and Europe as well as favorable currency impact with the U.S. dollar depreciating against the Euro. Additionally, the introduction of new premium products like
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Dividends4Life submits: We all are looking for the perfect dividend stock. In a utopian world, the perfect dividend stock would be one that is both high-yield and provides a high dividend growth rate. Its share price would appreciate ratable with its increasing dividend. All of this would be driven by increasing earnings and cash flow. Though they are not perfect, the stocks below did recently reward their investors with higher cash dividends: Entertainment Properties Trust (EPR) is a specialty real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in properties in select categories which require unique industry knowledge. March 10th the company increased its quarterly dividend 8% to $0.70/share. The dividend is payable April 15, 2011 to shareholders of record on March 31, 2011. The yield based on the new payout is 6.0%. Compass Diversified Holdings (CODI) is a public investment firm specializing in acquiring controlling stakes in small to middle market companies. March
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Double Dividend Stocks submits: As we mentioned in last week's article on undervalued Financial stocks, Standard & Poor's recently published a table with projected 2011 Earnings by Industry Sector:
This week, we'll focus on 3 Energy dividend paying stocks with low PEG ratios, attractive mgt. metrics, and low debt, with options available. Although none of these firms are high dividend stocks, you can still achieve double-digit annualized returns on them, and lower your risk, via selling Covered Calls or Cash Secured Puts. These 3 dividend stocks are CNOOC (CEO), Marathon Oil (MRO) and China Petroleum & Chemical (SNP):
(Company Profiles are listed at the bottom of this article.) Here are sector comps for these 3 firms (click to enlarge):
All 3 firms look good when compared to broad sector avgs., excepting Profit Margin and and Dividend Payout ratio. Clearly, CEO stands out above the other 2 firms, for mgt. metrics and profitability. This stems
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Investment Underground submits: We perused the preferred shares landscape to uncover values that can stabilize your portfolio amid skyrocketing commodities prices and a turbulent Middle East. Here is our analysis:
Citigroup (C) Capital XX Enhanced 7.875% C+G: Citigroup has made great strides in improving its balance sheet over the last 12 months. The company is consistently running positive operating cash flows on a quarterly basis. The XX series yield 7.7%. | | Symbol | Open | High | Low | Close | Net
Chg | %Chg | Vol | 52 Week
High | 52 Week
Low | Div | Yield | YTD
%Chg | | Citigroup Capital XX 7.875% Enhanced TruPS | C+G | 25.49 | 25.64 | 25.44 | 25.60 | 0.09 | 0.36 | 30,236 | 26.49 | 22.26 | 1.97 x | 7.70 | 0.67 |
Bank of America (BAC) Preferreds 1/1200th Series 8 8.625% BMLQ: Bank of America is an even safer bet, with an improving loan portfolio on the commercal end and strong operating cash flows. The 1/1200th interest Series 8 shares yield a substantial 8.21%.
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | David Fish submits: The Dividend Champions spreadsheet and PDF have been updated through 2/28/11 and are available here. N ote that all references to Champions mean companies that have paid higher dividends for at least 25 straight years; Contenders have streaks of 10-24 years; Challengers have streaks of 5-9 years. Together, all of these companies may be referred to using the abbreviation "CCC." This is the eighth in a series of articles focusing on specific industries and isolating the CCC companies within those industries. The first seven can be found under my Articles page, beginning on March 2. Basic Industry and More Industrial companies could be called the backbone of any economy. They cover a broad spectrum from office supplies to jet fighters and from excavating equipment to packaging materials. A simple way to understand their breadth would be to say that they represent the entire business-to-business universe, producing the products and services
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Robert Woronoff submits: After a brief fling in the 2004/2005 time frame, I have recently begun a position in Gap Inc. (GPS). (Shouldn't Garmin (GRMN) have that ticker?) What I like about Gap is over the last 5 years, the company has made a substantial effort to reduce their common shares outstanding with excess capital generated from their operations. As a mature, fully saturated retailer, the company has given up the ghost of growing unprofitably in the US. Management has worked to reduce both the square footage and number of stores in the US. The Gap, Inc. has healthy free cash flow, limited Cap Ex needs, and been aggressive about allocating capital to buying their own stock and growing the dividend. The company is investing in growing sales internationally with all three major brands, Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic, by establishing flagship stores in Canada, UK, China, France and Italy as well
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rougemont submits: Thursday's big market sell off has created some new stock buying opportunities. In addition to Thursday's global sell off, the stock market in China and other Asian countries has underperformed other markets, and that has created some cheap stocks. The Asian companies below are trading at valuations that are very favorable in terms of risk vs. reward. These stocks have pulled back from their highs, and it could be a good time to start accumulating shares in these names. These share have low P/E ratios, and strong balance sheets. In some cases, these stocks appear oversold. I am looking at the earnings power and the Relative Strength Index (RSI) levels which can indicate oversold conditions. Stocks with an RSI rating around 30 can signal that the shares are oversold and due for a rebound. To learn more about RSI, read here. Here are the five companies: Posco (PKX) pulled back
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rougemont submits: It's hard to find a reasonably safe investment with which to earn an attractive yield. But there are some interesting places from which to get paid high yields if you look at closed end funds. One of the two funds I found is invested primarily in high yield bonds, and the other is in municipal bonds. Both of these funds trade at a discount to net asset value which is an added bonus. Here are the two funds: The Wells Fargo Advantage Multi-Sector Income Fund ( ERC) is a good place to earn about 8%. This is a closed end bond fund managed by Wells Fargo ( WFC) with a current share price of about $15.11. ERC pays about 10 cents per share monthly. The concern for many bond investors is that interest rates will rise and lower the price of certain bonds. This fund has most of it's holdings in high
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Rocco Pendola submits: Clear Channel's (CCMO.PK) radio division continues to shed staff. The almost always reliable Radio-Info.com reports that the company fired "dozens" of staffers from its creative and production departments in Columbus and Atlanta this week. This follows recent back office and newsroom cuts. According to its most recent annual report, Clear Channel generates nearly half of its revenue from its radio division. Its outdoor advertising segment (Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings; CCO) accounts for the other half through a mix of national and international efforts. It's tough to blame the company for bringing down the ax with frequency given a reality so sober it's worth repeating verbatim: "We have debt maturities totaling $885.1 million and $292.8 million in 2011 and 2012, respectively." These bills account for a mere fraction of Clear Channel's total debt load of more than $20 billion with a 'B.' While the company has about $1.9 billion in cash
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kapitall submits: If you're interested in biotech ideas, the following list might offer a good starting point.
We performed a DuPont analysis on the Return on Equity (ROE) of about 60 U.S. biotech firms, from which 6 companies emerged with favorable results. We broke the ROE equation into three parts:
ROE
= (Net Profit/Equity)
= (Net profit/Sales)*(Sales/Assets)*(Assets/Equity)
= (Net Profit margin)*(Asset turnover)*(Leverage ratio)
All of the stocks mentioned below have seen rising ROE values for the recent quarter, year-over-year. Then we wanted to analyze the sources of these returns, so we narrowed down the original universe to only focus on companies with the following characteristics:
- Decreasing leverage, i.e. decreasing Asset/Equity ratio
- Improving asset use efficiency (i.e. increasing Sales/Assets ratio) and improving net profit margin (i.e. increasing Net Income/Sales ratio)
To provide perspective on these results, we'll also include recent developments of these firms, as well as other pertinent data. Full
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jens Heycke submits: A month ago when Egyptians were protesting against Mubarak, Stratfor's analysts averred that Egypt would not be any kind of "domino." I wrote an article at the time, taking the opposite view, recommending investors buy oil. Since then Libya has exploded in civil war, unrest is fulminating in other Arab countries, and oil has jumped about $15/bbl. So now it's time to re-assess the situation. Other analysts have listed oil exports of countries in the region, along with "crude" guesses about their risk. I'd like to add more color by breaking down possible events into categories that are relevant for investors: - Political drama: events that will make lots of headlines and possibly influence lives in the region, but will have no significant, lasting effects on the global oil market
- Genuine risk: events that will affect the global oil market profoundly for a protracted period
When I see oil prices spike
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Old Trader submits: The Realty Income Corporation (O) has long been a stalwart for income-oriented investors. An operating REIT that has traditionally focused on free-standing retail holdings, the fact that it pays a monthly dividend, rather than quarterly, only increased its popularity with small retail investors.
Of course, it should be also noted that O has always been a well run, conservatively managed operation with an exemplary record of consecutive dividend payments, as well as increases that dates back for decades. (On Feb. 8, 2011, the firm announced its 488 consecutive monthly dividend....that's over 40 years worth!). The firm has also increased its dividend for 53 consecutive quarters.
As mentioned, O is conservatively managed, and the properties it holds are unencumbered by mortgages. The company uses a combination of credit lines, bonds and stock issuance, as well as the occasional sale of a property to pay for new acquisitions. Currently (as of the
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Juan Carlos Zuleta submits: In a speech delivered on April 29, 2009, President Obama said : I don't know how to create an affordable, well-designed plug-in hybrid. But I know that, if the Japanese can design an affordable, well-designed hybrid, then, doggone it, the American people should be able to do the same. So my job is to ask the auto industry: Why is it you guys can't do this? And, in some cases, they're starting to do it.
Twenty hours later, Jhon O´Dell clearly synthesized the many critical voices of these misinformed remarks as follows: We're not sure who has been briefing the president, but the Japanese haven't been leaders in designing an affordable plug-in hybrid. True, the first plug-ins -- done by do-it-yourselfers such as Kramer -- used the Toyota Prius gas-electric hybrid as the base vehicle. But Toyota Motor Corp. spent a long time discouraging the converters and denigrating the value of
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Aigail Doolittle submits: After declining nearly 15% in nine months, the dollar index looks ready to make a significant move up due to several technical and fundamental factors. First, the dollar index held a long-term trendline of support last week as shown in the chart below (click to enlarge) and this "hold" may suggest that the dollar index is set to bounce up and off of it in the coming weeks.
Second, the dollar index is caught in a long-term Symmetrical Triangle pattern and this is shown in the same chart. While it's unknown whether the dollar index will break to the upside or downside from that triangle, it seems pretty clear that the dollar index needs to fill in the rest of this pattern's nose before such a break can be made and this suggests that the dollar index will move to at least 85 in the coming months while a spike
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Cullen Roche submits: Rail data has been all over the map in the last 8 weeks, but a clear downtrend in year over year data is becoming apparent. This week's 1% increase in intermodal traffic is the second slowest reading in over a year. Carloads remained fairly healthy at 5.5%. The AAR elaborates: The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported rail traffic gains for the week ending March 5, 2011, with U.S. railroads originating 300,953 carloads, up 5.5 percent compared with the same week last year. Intermodal volume for the week was also up, totaling 214,343 trailers and containers, up
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Angry Bear submits: by Rebecca Wilder The Federal Reserve released the Q4 2010 Flow of Funds Accounts for the US. On the household balance sheet, net worth (total assets minus total liabilities) was estimated at $56.8 trillion, which is up $2.1 trillion over the quarter. Notably, household net worth has increased $6.4 trillion since the recession's end (Q2 2009). Moreover, personal disposable income increased another $918 billion over the quarter, which dropped household leverage (total liabilities/disposable income) 1.1% to 116%. Click on all charts to enlarge:
Personal saving as a percentage of disposable income rose markedly in Q4 2010 to 10.9% (based on the BEA's measurement of saving using flow of funds data - see Table F.10, lines 49-52).
The chart above illustrates the the wealth effect - the wealth effect is the propensity to consume (save) as wealth increases/decreases. In the Flow of Funds data, this is best approximated by the ratio
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Quiksilver (ZQK) Q1 2011 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 4:30 pm ET Executives Joseph Scirocco - Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Bruce Thomas - Vice President of Investor Relations Robert McKnight - Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President Steve Tully - President, Women's Division Analysts William Reuter - BofA Merrill Lynch Mili Seoni - JPMorgan Taposh Bari - Jefferies & Company, Inc. Corbin Weyer Sarkis Sherbetchyan - B. Riley & Co. Christian Buss - ThinkEquity LLC Sean Naughton - Piper Jaffray Companies Jennifer Black - Jennifer Black & Associates Diana Katz - Lazard Capital Presentation Operator Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to introduce Bruce Thomas, Quiksilver's Vice President of Investor Relations, who will chair this afternoon's call. Please go ahead, sir. Bruce Thomas Thanks, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ChartProphet submit: Is the massive market rally of the past two years just a temporary recovery that has tricked many investors to jump back into stocks right before the next plunge? And how can the Great Depression reveal what may happen to the markets this year, almost 80 years later? As we enter the third year of what has been a very impressive "bull" market, many are left wondering whether this incredible run of as much as 100 percent on the S&P 500 can continue - and for how long. Yet while the economy seems to have rebounded very strongly off of its early 2009 lows, accompanied by improving fundamentals, increased company earnings, and a more optimistic consumer, many investors fail to at least consider the thought that this entire "recovery" could, in fact, be just an extreme overreaction to the 2008 market crash. In other words, the huge rally we have
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Richard Shaw (QVM Group) submits: Most investors would probably agree that today (March 10) was a pretty rough in the markets -- biggest drop in the Dow since August and worse drops in emerging markets.
Spain's credit rating was dowgraded by Moody's. The ECB and EU ministers are torn between anti-inflation measures and bail-out programs for Portugal and some other EU countries that are in debt and fiscal difficulty. China reported a trade deficit for February which was the largest in 7 years (nearly $8 billion versus an expectation of nearly ($5 billion). US military intelligence projected a win for Libya's dictator. Reports were received of shots fired by Saudi police to disperse a crowd of protesters. If Saudi Arabia falls apart, look out below for stocks.
On March 7, we published saying that risks abound, but the up trend was still in place -- that it ain't over 'til its over.
On March 9,
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Japanese government will need to borrow some 48% of what it proposes to spend for the fiscal year beginning April 1st. Of course this borrowing will be funded by the issuance of yet more sovereign bonds (JGBs). This hasn't been a problem in the past because Japanese investors have had a strong appetite for JGBs. But what happens if the loyal Japanese investor loses that appetite? Given how fully invested/overexposed Japanese investors are to JGBs it could well prove to be disastrous. The greatest downside potential for a market is when it becomes a crowded trade. I don't know many investors who are betting on JGB yields rising dramatically over the coming months.
What would turn Japanese investors off the JGB market? Well in essence it would be inflation. Inflation is the worst enemy for investors in government bonds, particularly of the long dated variety. This is where things
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | National Semiconductor (NSM) Q3 2011 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 4:30 pm ET Executives Mark Veeh - Manager of Investor Relations Donald Macleod - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lewis Chew - Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance Analysts Shawn Webster - Macquarie Research David Wong - Wells Fargo Securities, LLC Craig Berger - FBR Capital Markets & Co. James Schneider - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Tore Svanberg - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. Christopher Danely - JP Morgan Chase & Co Sumit Dhanda - Citadel Securities, LLC Brendan Furlong - Miller Tabak & Co., LLC Christopher Caso - Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP Presentation Operator Good afternoon. My name is Kristin, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the National Semiconductor Q3 FY 2011 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Thank you. At this time, I would like to
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (EBS) Q4 2010 Earnings Conference Call March 10, 2011, 5:00 pm ET Executives Bob Burrows – VP, IR Fuad El-Hibri – Chairman and CEO Don Elsey – CFO Analysts Cory Kasimov – JP Morgan Greg Wade – Wedbush David Moskowitz – Madison Williams Eric Schmidt – Cowen Presentation Operator Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Emergent BioSolutions fourth quarter and full year 2010 financial results conference call. My name is Jeff and I will be your operator for today. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host for today Mr. Robert Burrows, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please proceed, Mr. Burrows. Robert Burrows Thank you, Jeff. Thank you everyone for joining
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | XOMA Ltd. (XOMA) Q4 2010 Earnings Conference Call March 10, 2011, 4:30 pm ET Executives Carol DeGuzman – Senior Director, IR Steven Engle – Chairman & CEO Fred Kurland – VP & CFO Alan Solinger – VP of Clinical Immunology Analysts Liana Moussatos – Wedbush Morgan Securities Christopher James – MLV Matt Kaplan – Ladenburg Thalmann Bart Classen – Summer Street Partners Jason Kantor – Royal Bank of Canada Presentation Operator Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the XOMA Limited fourth quarter 2010 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session and instructions will follow at that time. (Operator instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I would now like to introduce your host for today, Ms. Carol DeGuzman, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Ma'am, please go
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (CLNE) Q4 2010 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 4:30 pm ET Executives Ina McGuinness – Senior Vice President, ICR Inc. Andrew J. Littlefair – President and Chief Executive Officer Richard R. Wheeler – Chief Financial Officer Analysts Rob Brown – Craig-Hallum Capital Group Graham Madison – Lazard Capital Markets Brian Gamble – Simmons & Company International Eric Stine – Northland Capital Markets Peter Christiansen – Bank of America Merrill Lynch Pavel Molchanov – Raymond James Jade Green – Barclays Capital Presentation Operator Greetings and welcome to the Clean Energy Fuels Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2010 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. (Operator instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Ina McGuinness
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ener1, Inc. (HEV) Q4 2010 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 5:00 am ET Executives Aimee Gordon – Investor Relations Charles Gassenheimer – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas C. Goesch – President, Transportation Bruce Curtis – President, Grid Energy Storage Jeffrey Seidel – Chief Financial Officer Analysts Dan Galves – Deutsche Bank Vishal Shah – Barclays Capital Matthew Crews – Noble Financial Bryce Dille – JMP Securities Dilip Warrier – Stifel Nicolaus Carlos Berastain Gonzalez – Deutsche Bank Presentation Operator Good afternoon, and welcome to Ener1's 2010 Fourth Quarter and Year End Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. Your lines are being placed on listen-only mode until the question-and-answer segment of today's conference call. I would now turn the call over to Aimee Gordon, Investor Relations for Ener1. Please proceed. Aimee Gordon Thank you. Welcome to Ener1's
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Immersion (IMMR) Q4 2010 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 5:00 p.m. ET Executives Jennifer Jarman – The Leisure Group Victor Viegas – Chief Executive Officer, President and Director Shum Mukherjee – Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer Analysts Jeffrey Schreiner – Capstone Investments Darice Lui – Brigantine Advisors Charlie Anderson – Dougherty & Company LLC Matt Bendixen – Craig-Hallum Capital Aaron Husock – Lanexa Global Presentation Operator Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Immersion Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2010 Earnings Conference Call. During today's presentation all parties will be in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, the conference will be open for questions. (Operator Instructions). This conference is being recorded today, Thursday March 10, 2011. I will turn the conference over to Ms. Jennifer Jarman, of the Leisure Group, please go ahead, ma'am. Jennifer Jarman Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wall Street Strategies submits: By David Urani According to the latest household net worth report from the Federal Reserve, Americans' net household equity rose by $2.14 trillion in the fourth quarter, or by 3.9%. This is an important to figure to watch, as it speaks to the health of the American consumer, and what might be driving confidence. The increase was driven by a $2.16 trillion rise in assets. Although there was indeed an increase in net worth, under the surface I see an important battle going on; and that is the tug-of-war between rising stocks and falling home values. That is a dynamic that could still turn the other direction and send household worth back down in the first quarter of this year. Click to enlarge During the fourth quarter, U.S. households saw a big boost from the stock market. Whether you attribute that to economic recovery, Ben Bernanke (QE2), both, or other
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jamba (JMBA) Q4 2010 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 5:00 pm ET Executives Karen Luey - Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer and Senior Vice President James White - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President Analysts Kurt Frederick - Wedbush Securities Inc. Conrad Lyon - B. Riley & Co., LLC Peter Mahon - Dougherty & Company LLC Presentation Operator Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Jamba Fourth Quarter 2010 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Karen Luey, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, ma'am. Karen Luey Thank you, operator. Good afternoon. With me on today's call is James D. White, our Chairman, President and CEO. During today's call, I will review our fourth quarter financial results. James will follow with a business update and a review
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Gary Gordon submits: Analysts like Bob Doll at Blackrock believe that U.S. economic growth will accelerate, with GDP likely to come in at a vibrant 3.5% for 2011. Economists polled at the Economist Intelligence Unit may be a little less enthusiastic, but they have raised their forecasts from 3.0% to 3.1%. So here's my question: If the U.S. economy is accelerating, then why are the majority of economically sensitive sector ETFs experiencing near-term downtrends? Specifically, Technology (XLK), Materials (XLB), Industrials (XLI) and Financials (XLF) are all below respective 50-day trendlines. It is true that a few cyclicals have managed to hold up. Both Consumer Discretionary (XLY) and Energy (XLE) remain above individual short-term moving averages. However, when the strongest segments are the safer haven plays like Health Care (XLV), Utilities (XLU) and Staples (XLP), investors may need to rethink the viability of the "recovery-to-expansion" thesis. | Sector ETFs Above and Below 50-Day Simple Moving |
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ETF Database submits: U.S. equity markets fell off a cliff in Thursday trading as a number of factors - ranging from worries over Spain to unrest in the Arabian peninsula - sent stocks reeling. The Dow was down by over 228 points while similarly brutal losses were had in the more broad indexes. The S&P 500 declined by 1.9% while the Nasdaq slipped by 1.8% to cap off one of the worst days in the market since late August. Commodity markets also suffered, as all the major resource sectors sank on the day. Among the worst losses were in the soft commodity market as coffee (down 4.9%) and sugar (down 5.6%) led the way lower. Given this backdrop, many investors shouldn't be surprised to read that one of the few winners on the day was the U.S. dollar and the Treasury market, as traders fled to safe havens in order to ride out
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Market Blog submits: By David Berman The downturn in stocks on Thursday has left few names unscathed. Within the S&P 500, just 23 stocks were in positive territory in late afternoon trading, or just 5 percent of the index. The usual way to describe such broad declines is that investors ran from risk. And it's true, in a way: Among the 10 subindexes within the S&P 500, the riskier cyclical stocks were hammered far harder than defensive stocks. But what's interesting is that many of the stocks that showed gains are actually higher risk names, with high price-to-earnings ratios and strong one-year share-price gains, and with operations in cyclical sectors. Here's what we're talking about. Netflix Inc. (NFLX-Q200.027.033.64%) was up 3.6 per cent, but the stock has a trailing P/E ratio of 67 and a one-year price gain of 179 per cent, even after a recent bout of weakness due to rising competition.
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Gino Verza submits: In my previous article in Seeking Alpha, I presented Ebix (EBIX) as an investment opportunity based on the gap between stock price and fundamental value ($38/share - $40/share). This article compares Salesforce.com (CRM) and Ebix as alternatives for investment. Fundamental valuation and a multi-year record of performance provide the context for the comparison. Focus is on free cash flow, a determinant of fundamental value. The popularity of CRM due to reasons such as the fast pace in product innovation and revenue growth, elevated premiums embedded in the price of the stock, and widespread following by stock analysts and market pundits provide the impetus for fact-finding and examination. Feeding analytical curiosity is the puzzlement, particularly from co-investors, regarding Ebix's stock sub-par market pricing relative to Salesforce.com. Similitude and Contrast Both firms develop and use technology to improve processes and decision making in businesses globally. CRM services firms across industry verticals. In
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mercenary Trader submits: While stock pickers have celebrated the demise of the "risk on / risk off" trade, some aspects of this dynamic are still alive and well. For example, there is a massive unappreciated "risk on" component of a weak U.S. dollar, and a corresponding "risk off" profile for a stronger buck. Meanwhile, oil prices busting through $100 / bbl are pointed at as proof positive of the inflation fires around the world. Yet there seems to be more inflation in record $USD short positions than core U.S. prices. As the Financial Times reports: Positioning data from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, widely seen as a proxy for hedge fund activity, revealed that the value of bets against the dollar rose $11.5bn in the week to March 1 to $39bn, $3bn more than the previous record of $36bn in 2007. Traders said the dollar was suffering given expectations that the Federal Reserve was
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Mark J. Perry submits: Click to enlarge chart The chart above shows monthly, inflation-adjusted prices for U.S. natural gas delivered to residential customers ( data here, prices are in 2010 dollars
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | John M. Mason submits: New Federal Reserve statistics just released indicate that the Reserve Balances of commercial banks at the Federal Reserve increased by more than $83 billion this week to come in just short of $1.4 trillion on Wednesday March 9. Excess reserves in the banking system averaged just under $1.3 trillion for the two banking weeks ending March 9. This figure tends to trail the Reserve Balances number because it is a 14-day average. The Reserve Balances at the Federal Reserve are up over $360 billion since December 29, 2010, and up about $400 billion since September 22 just
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Ron Rowland submits: Last week (3/3/11) brought the debut of PowerShares Senior Loan Portfolio (BKLN). This is the first ETF to offer exposure to senior bank loans, though several mutual funds already cover the niche with what are often called "floating rate" funds. The launch is well-timed as inflation fears drain assets from other types of fixed-income ETFs. What are "senior loans" and what gives them seniority? Also known as "syndicated loans" or "leveraged loans," these are debt instruments that represent loans made by banks to companies with a credit rating below investment grade. The "senior" part means that they are ranked higher than the borrower's other debts and are therefore slightly less risky. They may also be secured by collateral. What makes senior loans different from junk bonds is that they are floating rate debt – similar to a variable rate mortgage. The interest rate is usually a defined percentage above a
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Renaissance Capital IPO Research submits: After three weeks without any U.S. IPOs as companies updated 4Q financials, HCA (HCA), the largest non-governmental hospital operator in the U.S., brought the market back to life in a big way with a $3.8 billion deal. Backed by Bain, KKR (KKR) and BofA Merrill Lynch (BAC), HCA's offering is the largest ever private equity-backed IPO on a U.S. exchange, beating out Kinder Morgan's (KMI) $2.9 billion IPO in February and Nielsen's (NSLN) $1.6 billion offering in January. These three companies now make up the all-time private equity top three as 2011 is shaping up to be a banner year for large PE deals. HCA sold 126 million shares at $30 each, above the original expectations for 124 million shares at a price between $27 and $30. Like Kinder Morgan and Nielsen, HCA priced its IPO above the midpoint of the proposed range and traded up in its debut, despite
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Frank Voisin submits: Lexmark International Inc (NYSE:LXK) develops, manufactures and supplies printing and imaging products for home and office users. It has been a favourite of value investors, frequently appearing in stock screens for companies appearing cheap on a variety of metrics. For example, while it currently trades at a P/E of ~9, excluding cash, you would get a P/E closer to 5. The company appears to be enjoying the results of a successful (and ongoing) restructuring, in which the company's new CEO is moving up market to capture higher margin sales (e.g. laser printer sales and servicing for small and medium businesses). Both revenue and margins improved this year as a result. Additionally, the company's balance sheet looks great, with cash more than double debt (the company has $15.50 of cash/share!). The company has a long track record of strong free cash flow, and it appears (at least with just a few
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Zacks.com submits: Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) set its capital budget for 2011 at $34 billion, which represents a 5.6% increase from the 2010 level. The company also intends to invest $33 billion to $37 billion annually through 2015, significantly higher than its previous target range of $25 billion to $30 billion a year through 2014. Exxon's increased capex guidance is suggestive of its intent to expand production levels through its major projects. These include the oil sands venture in Canada, natural-gas in the U.S. and the Middle East, as well as oil exploration overseas. Notably, the company said that 80% of its forthcoming production is expected to be crude oil over the next five years. Importantly, Exxon's total output will likely grow 3% to 4% in 2011 and 4% to 5% per year on average through 2014. The growth will be fueled by 11 major upstream projects, which are scheduled
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Tim Iacono submits: Now, that's the way you do it. Due in no small part to record money printing by the central bank, the value of households' assets rose by $2.1 trillion in the fourth quarter of last year year while debt increased by a paltry $26 billion. As shown below via the Federal Reserve's latest Z1 Flow of Funds data, it looks like we're now well into another bubble hand-off - first from stocks to housing during the 2000-2003 time period, now from housing to stocks in the post-2008 era. Click to enlarge Historians will no doubt look back on this data – collected and reported right there at the Fed – and wonder how people could actually believe that monetary policy in the late-19th and early-20th century was aimed at inflating another asset bubble after the last one burst. Of course, the longer you do this, the more difficult the task
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Kapitall submits: The following is a list of small-cap stocks, with market caps between $100M-$500M, that have recently experienced an increase in the Put/Call ratio, which is based on open interest of option contracts. In addition, the Put/Call ratios of these companies are at the upper end of their annual ranges.
Some technical traders view the Put/Call ratio as a contrary indicator when it reaches extreme highs or lows. In other words, because the stocks mentioned below have a high number of open put option positions relative to call option positions, contrarians would think most of the stocks mentioned below are set for a rally. Do you agree?
Options data sourced from Schaeffer's, short float and performance data sourced from Finviz. (Please note: All changes in the Put/Call ratio occur between 2/24 - 3/09.)
Click for expanded images
The list has been sorted by the change in the Put/Call ratio.
1. Dawson
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jeb Handwerger submits: Gold [SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)] is breaking into new 52-week highs and silver [iShares Silver Trust (SLV)] is at its highest point in more than 30 years as Libya, one of the largest oil producers, faces a civil war. Libya is not following Tunisia and Egypt with a somewhat moderate transition; this revolt has been extremely violent and bloody. A lot of the fear at the moment is due to concern that protests could spread to Saudi Arabia. Investors are fearing the rapid rise in oil [iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil TR Index ETN (OIL)] prices may be the spark that hurts a questionable global economic recovery as the equities [S&P 500 (SPY)] sells off, bringing down some miners to extremely cheap levels - considering the high price of gold and silver bullion.
Countries that have created easy monetary policies and that are still struggling with high unemployment are finding
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Stewart Enterprises (STEI) Q1 2011 Earnings Call March 10, 2011 11:00 am ET Executives Thomas Kitchen - Chief Financial Officer, Senior Executive Vice President, Director and Member of Investment Committee Scott Eckstein - Director of Account Services Thomas Crawford - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director Analysts Nicholas Jansen - Raymond James Clint Fendley - Davenport & Company, LLC James Clement - Sidoti & Company, LLC Albert Rice - Susquehanna Financial Group, LLLP Robert Willoughby Dick Innes Presentation Operator Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's Stewart Enterprises, Inc. First Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Scott Eckstein. Please go ahead, sir. Scott Eckstein Thank you, operator. Good morning. On behalf of Stewart Enterprises, I'd like to welcome, everyone. By now, you should have all received a copy of the press release. If not, please visit Stewart's website
Complete Story » | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Trefis submits: Facebook primarily competes with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and AOL (NYSE:AOL) in the display and search advertising markets. Below we highlight three key trends that will go a long way towards driving Facebook's value in the years to come. We currently peg Facebook's intrinsic value at $45 billion. Better Demographic Targeting We estimate that text and display ads are the most valuable business for Facebook, making up roughly 60% of our estimated value for the company. Facebook's revenue per page view [RPM] declined from around $0.58 per 1,000 page views in 2006 to $0.38 per 1,000 page views in 2009. However, RPM rebounded back towards $0.45 in 2010, and we expect further growth towards $0.54 per 1,000 page views by the end of our forecast period. Chart created by using Trefis app Facebook allows for targeted advertising based on user demographics. Better demographic targeting will increase click through
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Hickey and Walters (
![But what's interesting is that many of the stocks that show gains are actually higher risk names, with high price-to-earnings ratios and strong one-year share-price gains, and with operations in cyclical sectors. Here's what we're talking about. Netflix Inc. (NFLX) was up 3.6 per cent, but the stock has a trailing P/E ratio of 67 and a one-year price gain of 179 per cent, even after a recent bout of weakness due to rising](http://www.theoxengroup.com/">The Oxen Group</a> submits: </strong><p> <span> <span>With some sharp pullbacks as of late, this is a great time to reload as we believe that market conditions are setting up for a nice rally rather than more losses. Oil is declining once again and the market is adjusting, and we had a round of economic news that was not great but comes in the middle of a lot of positive news throughout the world. Further, we are at the end of all earnings, and now, traders/investors will be looking to enter stocks that have sold off, given up gains, and are setting up for a nice rally into the next quarter.<br/></span> </span> </p><p> <span> <span>Here are some stocks we like right now that we are watching and/or going to pull the trigger on soon:<br/></span> </span> </p><p> <span> <span><strong>Bank of America (<a href="http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/bac" title="Bank of America Corp.">BAC</a>) </strong>- After a bullish announcement on Wednesday that the company was looking to support dividends, share buybacks and refocus on its consumer,</span></span></p><br/><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/257653-3-stocks-we-are-watching-that-have-potential?source=feed">Complete Story »</a> </td> </tr> </table> </td> <td valign="top" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="10" height="10" style="border-bottom:1px solid #C1BFC0;"></td> </tr> </table> </td> <td width="7" rowspan="2" bgcolor="#D8D6D7"></td> <td width="8" rowspan="2"></td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td bgcolor="#d8d6d7"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="8" height="9"></td> <td width="7" height="9" bgcolor="#d8d6d7"></td> <td height="9" bgcolor="#d8d6d7"></td> <td width="7" height="9" bgcolor="#d8d6d7"></td> <td width="8" height="9"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width="8" height="8"></td> <td width="7" height="8" bgcolor="#D8D6D7" style="border-top: #D8D6D7 1px solid;"><img src="http://www.feedmyinbox.com/images/email/v2/cg.gif" width="7" height="8" style="display:block;"/></td> <td height="8" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" style="border-top:#c1bfc0 1px solid; border-left:#c1bfc0 1px solid; border-right:#c1bfc0 1px solid; "><img src="http://www.feedmyinbox.com/images/email/v2/cg.gif" width="7" height="8" style="display:block;"/></td> <td width="7" height="8" bgcolor="#D8D6D7" style="border-top: #D8D6D7 1px solid;"><img src="http://www.feedmyinbox.com/images/email/v2/cg.gif" width="7" height="8" style="display:block;"/></td> <td width="8" height="8"></td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td bgcolor="#d8d6d7"> </td> <td rowspan="2" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" height="5" style="border-right:#c1bfc0 1px solid; "> <table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"> <tr> <td valign="top" style="padding:10px 20px; border-left:1px solid #c1bfc0; border-bottom:1px solid #C1BFC0;"> <table width="100%" style="padding-bottom:20px; border-bottom:1px solid #575C5D;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td style="font-size: 24px; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; letter-spacing: -1px; font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/257652-investors-both-run-from-and-embrace-risk?source=feed" style="color: #153aa4; text-decoration:none;">Investors Both Run From and Embrace Risk</a></td> </tr> <tr> <td height="5"></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #575c5d;" >March 10, 2011 at 10:05 PM</td> </tr> </table> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 13px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #404040; line-height:1.3em; padding-bottom:10px;" bgcolor="#ffffff"> <strong><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/blogs/markets/">Market Blog</a> submits: </strong> <div><p><em>By David Berman</em></p><p>The downturn in stocks on Thursday has left few names unscathed. Within the S&P 500, just 23 stocks were in positive territory in late afternoon trading, or just 5 per cent of the index. The usual way to describe such broad declines is that investors ran from risk. And it){kind=link}
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