Q2 2009 Earnings Call

July 31, 2009 8:30 am ET

Q1 2009 Earnings Call

May 1, 2009 8:30 am ET

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) is an old favorite of momentum hounds. From Q1 of 2003 to Q3 2008, the company was the Joe DiMaggio of Wall Street, beating estimates for 23 straight quarters by pretty whopping margins.

In fact, the streak was probably longer than that, but I don't have access to the data.

With the US equity market averages either probing or breaking down through their November lows, is it time to buy Phoenix stocks? Others have picked up on that theme, with the latest being a Minyanville article on buying beaten up stocks.

With that in mind, I screened the US market for stocks with the following characteristics:

Q4 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

February 20, 2009 8:30 am ET

Investors weren’t expecting much in the way of good news as inter-dealer broker GFI Group (GFIG) reported earnings on Thursday, after the bell. Shares are down 80% YTD and over 60% in the past month, as several of the company’s core markets - OTC derivatives trading - experienced massively lower volumes, and many industry watchers wonder if OTC derivatives are going the way of the dodo bird.

General de-leveraging activities have reduced the amount of money sloshing around the derivatives markets, so it’s impossible to tell just what the new average trading volumes will be for credit derivatives, forex, and equity derivatives. Going in, I was expecting the worst for the third quarter, while volumes in certain areas have been high (such as equity derivatives), the “work stoppage” in the credit markets was too steep to ignore.

GFI Group, Inc. (GFIG)

Q3 2008 Earnings Call

Tullet Prebon [TLPR.L] slipped 4.1% on Wednesday on concerns that talks with GFI (GFIG) could falter because of the recent weakness of sterling against the dollar. This will make the deal more expensive to pull off because it is likely to be structured as a Tullet purchase of GFI (say the Financial Ttimes).

If the increase in the amount of Tullet's stock that is out on loan is anything to go by, then short investors have held the same sentiment towards Terry Smith's inter-dealer broker, as the percentage of Tullet's Market Cap out on loan to short sellers (%MCOL) has risen from 3.8% to 5.2% since August 18th.

Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

August 01, 2008 8:30 am ET

I have followed GFI Group (GFIG) for sometime.  The stock is currently well off its highs but at its current levels still represents a rare opportunity for investors to profit from one of the world most rapidly growing and changing components of the financial market. 

The trading of derivatives has been at the heart of the current credit crunch; this is primarily because the market for individual securities can become illiquid incredibly fast.  Credit derivatives currently account for a little of 30% of GFI Group's revenue.  This slight reliance on derivative trading, which has been disrupted by the credit crisis, has contributed to the decline in price of the company’s stock.  Even with a slow down in the derivative business, the company has still managed to grow its top and bottom lines at a healthy clip.  I strongly believe that significant upside remains for the company and if you are interested, my detailed analysis of GFI Group can be found here.  

I have followed GFI Group (GFIG) for some time.  The stock is currently well off its highs but at its current levels still represents a rare opportunity for investors to profit from one of the world's most rapidly growing and changing components of the financial market. 

The trading of derivatives has been at the heart of the current credit crunch; this is primarily because the market for individual securities can become illiquid incredibly fast.  Credit derivatives currently account for a little of 30% of GFI Groups revenue.  This slight reliance on derivative trading, which has been disrupted by the credit crisis, has contributed to the decline in price of the company’s stock.  Even with a slow down in the derivative business, the company has still managed to grow its top and bottom lines at a healthy clip. 

Q1 2008 Earnings Call

April 29, 2008 8:30 am ET

GOOG – Last night’s bombshell earnings numbers gave the search colossus (and the market) a chance to preen today. Shares in Google (GOOG) are up nearly 20% over the noon hour at $538.02, and its options are among the most active on our platform, with calls out-trading puts by a factor of 1.5. A few trades of note from Google’s always-liquid front-month options emerged in the wake of the numbers. Traders lucked out in seizing upon a price peak at the open to short April 520 puts for $3.50 before the price dwindled to 45 cents in the first market hour. More than 20,000 lots were sold at this strike this morning where open interest had totaled no more than 347 lots heading into today. Heavy traffic in April calls is observed at strikes 530, 540 and 550, trading to buyers and sellers. There’s ample reason for traders to sell premium in Google today on the final day of the April contract – for example, the value of the April 530 call is up 6000% from yesterday’s levels.

One of my smartest hedgie contacts just pinged me about the financials. According to him, it seems to be getting pretty close to do or die for them:

• After hitting four-and-half-year low last Monday, the S&P 500 Financials index has staged a sharp rally on the back of the JPM/BSC deal, various Fed actions and the partial lifting of excess capital requirements on FNM and FRE. As of right now, we are up 16% from last Monday's trough.

• Trader errors hit Credit Suisse. Credit Suisse (CS) says it expects to post a Q1 loss (its first since 2003), and revised down its 2007 net profit by CHF 789 million ($799 million) to CHF 7.76B. CS said a probe into the valuation of some asset-backed securities (announced in February) resulted in writedowns of CHF 2.86B, about 200M less than originally anticipated, of which CHF 1.18B is related to Q4 2007, and CHF 1.68B to the current quarter. The CDOs were intentionally mispriced by traders who have since been terminated or suspended. Swiss banks were down hard in early trading: CS -6.1%; UBS (UBS) -5.9%.
• Oil, gold plummet. Oil fell $2.80 to below $100/barrel overnight (after falling $5 on Wednesday), and gold dropped more than 3%, falling at one point to $904. A massive commodity selloff is being blamed on concerns a U.S. downturn will undermine global demand. Late-to-the-party investors who were caught by surprise have likely contributed to its acceleration.
• Leading indicators to signal recession. The Conference Board's leading indicators are expected to decline by about 0.3% this morning, their fifth straight drop -- usually a sign of recession. "A losing streak of five months is usually reserved for recessionary periods," Credit Suisse economist Jonathan Basile says. "Once the labor market cracks, like it did last month, it shows the cycle is starting to turn down."
WSB Sponsor
CNBC Calls It The Super Bowl Of Value Investing!

Recent market volatility has been extremely unsettling. All the more reason you must attend the Value Investing Congress for clear, proven techniques from some of the world’s smartest investors (list of speakers). You will benefit from their unique perspective on how to navigate difficult economic conditions, and walk away with actionable ideas for how profit from today's market.

Everyone seems to have mixed opinions on whether or not JPMorgan Chase (JPM) (40.31 0.00 0.00%) got a good deal by paying only $2 a share for 85-year-old Bear Stearns (BSC) (4.81 0.00 0.00%). This valuation is at just 6% of its market value last Friday and a huge drop from its record share price of over $172 last year. Some say that it was a huge steal for JPMorgan, as it got help from the Fed, while others say the assets owned by Bear won’t cover its liabilities.

Not only will the shareholders suffer from the sellout to JPMorgan, Bear Stearns employees will suffer too. JPMorgan expects to cut about half of Bear’s 14,000 employees and seems only interested in the prime brokerage, securities clearing and equity trading businesses of Bear. This is a double whammy for employees, who are already losing out from the Bear shares they were paid in as the company was nearly 30% owned by its staff.

Q4 2007 Earnings Call

February 22, 2008, 8:30 am ET

As regular readers are certainly aware, the spread between the interest rate on high yield corporate bonds and comparable treasuries has risen sharply since June 1st.  While most financial stocks have sold off significantly as a result of the turmoil in the credit markets, there are some stocks in the sector that have actually done very well.  Below we list the 21 financial stocks in the Russell 3000 that are up more than 25% since high yield spreads bottomed on June 1st.

Avon Products (AVP), Clorox (CLX)