NVLS - News and Analysis from Seeking Alpha 'NVLS' Tag RSS Syndication from SeekingAlpha.com SeekingAlpha.com http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/nvls 21 Breakout Stocks to Watch, And How to Generate Income with Apple LEAP Options http://seekingalpha.com/article/168437-21-breakout-stocks-to-watch-and-how-to-generate-income-with-apple-leap-options?source=feed 168437 Here is a list of 21 stocks which traded higher Thursday on unusually higher volume. I have added all 21 of these stocks to my watch list (and invite you to as well), but chose only one to write about in detail in this post. This post requires the knowledge of stock options. To learn more about the option strategies outlined in this post, risks, pricing, calculations, other strategies, and options in general, click here.

The table below shows the company, ticker, Thursday's per share % increase, and Thursday's volume increase (% increased compared to 50 day average). For your convenience I have ranked the stocks in order from greatest to least volume % change.

]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:02:40 -0400 Marco Hickey Marco Hickey submits:

Here is a list of 21 stocks which traded higher Thursday on unusually higher volume. I have added all 21 of these stocks to my watch list (and invite you to as well), but chose only one to write about in detail in this post. This post requires the knowledge of stock options. To learn more about the option strategies outlined in this post, risks, pricing, calculations, other strategies, and options in general, click here.

The table below shows the company, ticker, Thursday's per share % increase, and Thursday's volume increase (% increased compared to 50 day average). For your convenience I have ranked the stocks in order from greatest to least volume % change.


Complete Story »]]> AAPL ALXN AXP BAC BQI CAT CHRS DIA ECTX EW EWBC FFIV GE GLD GOOG GR GS IWM JCG JEF LEI LZ MA MDY NVLS NYT PNC QQQQ SKX SPY TLT TMRK TNB TNS V XLE XLF XLK Marco Hickey Novellus Systems Q3: Beats by a Penny http://seekingalpha.com/article/168172-novellus-systems-q3-beats-by-a-penny?source=feed 168172 Novellus Systems’ (NVLS) third quarter earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1 cent. Revenue beat the consensus by 2.6%.

Earlier, ASML (ASML), one of the largest semi equipment companies reported very strong results. Chip companies overall INTC, AMD, TXN, and LLTC, among others) have reported stronger sequential growth, indicating that the sector is exiting the recession. Novellus’ third quarter performance is further evidence of this trend.

]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 12:20:34 -0400 Zacks.com Zacks.com submits:

Novellus Systems’ (NVLS) third quarter earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1 cent. Revenue beat the consensus by 2.6%.

Earlier, ASML (ASML), one of the largest semi equipment companies reported very strong results. Chip companies overall INTC, AMD, TXN, and LLTC, among others) have reported stronger sequential growth, indicating that the sector is exiting the recession. Novellus’ third quarter performance is further evidence of this trend.


Complete Story »]]> NVLS Zacks.com Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News http://seekingalpha.com/article/168081-wall-street-breakfast-must-know-news?source=feed 168081

  • U.S. AAA rating not guaranteed. The U.S. could lose its AAA rating if it fails to reduce its deficit over the next 3-4 years, Moody's says. Steven Hess, Moody's lead analyst for the U.S., acknowledges reducing the gap won't be easy: "Raising taxes is never popular and difficult politically, so we have to see if the government can do that or cut expenditures." Earlier this year, markets were spooked after S&P cut its outlook on Britain to Negative from Stable. Meanwhile, Moody's said today European countries' rising debt won't trigger across-the-board downgrades.
  • Deep pay cuts coming to TARP recipients. In a plan to be made public within the next few days, the government will order deep pay cuts at the biggest bailout recipients - Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), AIG (AIG), GM, Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial. The plan targets the 25 top earners at each company, who will see their compensation decline this year by about 50%, while bonus payments will be slashed by up to 90%, to be replaced by stock that they'll be restricted from immediately selling. The plan does not address firms that didn't receive bailout funds, or that have already repaid their loans.
  • South Korea's $3.9B oil buy. State-owned Korea National Oil Corp. agreed to buy Canada's Harvest Energy (HTE) for $3.9B - $1.7B for its outstanding shares and the assumption of $2.2B in debt. Shareholders will receive $9.52/share - a 37% premium to Wednesday's close. The deal is South Korea's biggest outbound cross-border deal ever in the Oil & Gas sector, and ranks seventh in global Oil & Gas sector M&A transactions in 2009. Harvest produced 53K b/d in Q2, 70% of which was crude oil and 30% was natural gas. Shares +29.1% premarket to $9.05.
  • Bove drops a bomb. Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove sent stocks into a tailspin late Wednesday after he downgraded shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) to Sell, despite a consensus-beating Q3. Bove is concerned by the positive impact mortgage hedges have had on Wells' recent results, which "keep coming through for the company whenever it needs to bolster earnings," but are a nightmare for investors who shouldn't look at such activity as generating predictable or repeatable profits. Bove also called the portfolio Wells acquired from Wachovia 'cancerous.' WFC -5.1% yesterday.
  • eBay falters on gloomy outlook. eBay (EBAY) posted Q3 earnings that exceeded expectations, but shares traded lower after-hours after its guidance gave a gloomier vision of the near future than many expected (read eBay's Q3 earnings call transcript). eBay has struggled as online shopping habits have shifted away from auctions to fixed-price purchases on sites such as Amazon.com (AMZN).
  • Beige Book sees signs of growth. The Fed said most regional economies are on the mend, as home sales rebound and manufacturers restart idled operations. "Reports of gains in economic activity generally outnumber declines, but virtually every reference to improvement was qualified as either small or scattered," the Fed said in its beige book tally. The report also highlighted how heavily businesses are relying on government spending: "There were several reports that the only 'sure' business will come from government stimulus projects, although funding for such projects has been slow to materialize," it said.
  • Microsoft's big day. Microsoft's much-anticipated OS upgrade, Windows 7, goes on sale today. The company hopes Windows 7 will gain more traction among retail and corporate clients than its most predecessor, Vista, which was seen as slow and clunky. Analysts say the new OS isn't likely to cause a sudden spike in PC sales, a point conceded by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who said recently IT budgets "aren't going to rise just because we shipped a new version."
  • Twin deals for Twitter. Twitter inked deals to sell the rights to mine its pipeline of 'tweets' with both Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) Wednesday, underscoring the growing importance of real time search. Neither would say how much it's paying for the rights to index the millions of daily tweets, considered to be Twitter's most valuable asset. The deals could be the first meaningful revenue for Twitter since its 2006 inception, and begin to answer the much-explored question of "where's the beef?"
  • A strong Q3 for China. China's Q3 GDP came in at 8.9%, just below the 9% economists forecast. Separate reports showed industrial production and retail sales also accelerated. China's return to robust growth continues to raise the question of when policy makers will withdraw record fiscal and monetary stimulus in order to avoid another bubble.
  • Galleon wind down begins. Managers of Galleon Group's $500M Asia fund are considering buying the unit, sources say. On Wednesday, Galleon told employees and investors it would wind down the firm after its founder was charged with insider trading. Unless the government intervenes, investors likely won't get their money back until Jan. 1, 2010.

Earnings: Thur. Before Open

  • 3M Company (MMM): Q3 EPS of $1.37 beats by $0.20. Revenue of $6.19B (-5.6%) vs. $5.77B. Shares +1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • AT&T (T): Q3 EPS of $0.54 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $30.9B (-1.3%) in-line. Wireless subscribers +2M to 81.6M. Shares +2% premarket. (PR)
  • AU Optronics (AUO): Q3 EPS of $0.26 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $3.5B (+8.4%) vs. $3.21B. Operating margin 6.8%. Shares -2.3% in Taiwan. (PR)
  • Black & Decker (BDK): Q3 EPS of $0.91 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $1.21B (-23%) in-line. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.68-0.78 vs. $0.50 consensus. Shares +2.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Bristol-Myers (BMY): Q3 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $5.49B (+4.4%) in-line. (PR)
  • Bunge (BG): Q3 EPS of $1.62 beats by $0.15. Revenue of $11.3B (-23.6%) vs. $12B. Sees full-year EPS of $3.10-$3.50 vs. consensus of $4.69. Says fertilizer business continues to be pressured by high-cost inventory and a weak pricing environment. (PR)
  • Celgene (CELG): Q3 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $692M (+16.8%) vs. $671M. Shares +5.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Check Point Software (CHKP): Q3 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $234M (+17%) vs. $231M. (PR)
  • CONSOL Energy (CNX): Q3 EPS of $0.48 misses by $0.18. Revenue of $1.09B (-6.7%) in-line. Shares -3.1% premarket. (PR)
  • Cooper Industries (CBE): Q3 EPS of $0.70 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $1.29B (-25.6%) in-line. "Revenue and orders for maintenance and repair items and product lines that declined rapidly at the beginning of the economic downturn are beginning to improve, while the longer cycle products appear to have now bottomed." Shares -0.3% premarket. (PR)
  • Danaher (DHR): Q3 EPS of $0.89 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $2.75B (-14.2%) in-line. (PR)
  • Delta Air Lines (DAL): Q3 EPS of $0.06 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $7.57B (+32.4%) in-line. (PR)
  • Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO): Q3 EPS of $2.62 beats by $0.32. Revenue of $908M (+0.9%) vs. $874M. Declares special dividend of $1.875/share. (PR)
  • Dow Chemical (DOW): Q3 EPS of $0.24 beats by $0.14. Revenue of $12.05B (+6.4%) vs. $11.85B. "The economic outlook for the rest of 2009 appears to be stabilizing with strong growth in Asia Pacific, especially China, and other emerging geographies. The global economy is now on firmer footing, and, in our view, the U.S. economy is beginning a slow and tenuous recovery, with unemployment continuing to be a drag on consumer spending." (PR)
  • EMC (EMC): Q3 EPS of $0.23 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.52B (-5.3%) vs. $3.45B. Says customers are signaling more comfort spending their IT budgets. Shares +1.5% premarket. (PR)
  • Ensco International (ESV): Q3 EPS of $1.05 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $425M (-31.3%) vs. $439M. (PR)
  • Entergy (ETR): Q3 EPS of $2.40 misses by $0.08. Revenue of $2.94B (-25.9%) vs. $3.9B. "We continue to experience the negative effects of the slowed economic recovery." (PR)
  • Ericsson (ERIC): Q3 EPS of 0.25kr misses by 0.61kr. Revenue of 46.4Bkr (-5.7%) vs. 49.46Bkr. "Sales of network equipment declined due to lower demand in the current tougher market environment. Despite lower volumes, Network margins remain stable." Shares -8.9% premarket. (PR)
  • Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB): Q3 EPS of -$0.20 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $M in-line. "The credit environment remains challenging, and we continue to aggressively work to manage risk in the portfolio." Shares -2.1% premarket. (PR)
  • Goodrich (GR): Q3 EPS of $1.12 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $1.65B (-7%) in-line. (PR)
  • Hershey Foods (HSY): Q3 EPS of $0.73 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $1.48B (-0.3%) vs. $1.54B. "As we look to 2010, we assume the economic environment for consumers in the U.S. and international markets will continue to be challenging." Shares +2.5% premarket. (PR)
  • Huntington Bancshares (HBAN): Q3 EPS of -$0.33 misses by $0.05. Revenue of $M in-line. Shares -2.1% premarket. (PR)
  • IMS Health (RX): Q3 EPS of $0.40 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $541M (-5.7%) vs. $522M. (PR)
  • Janus Capital Group (JNS): Q3 EPS of $0.05 misses by $0.10. Revenue of $228M (-17.4%) vs. $225M. (PR)
  • JetBlue Airways (JBLU): Q3 EPS of $0.04 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $854M (-5.3%) vs. $847M. Shares +1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Kimberly-Clark (KMB): Q3 EPS of $1.40 beats by $0.27. Revenue of $4.91B (-1.7%) in-line. Sees full-year EPS of $4.50-$4.60 vs. consensus of $4.26, citing increased cost savings, better organic sales growth and a further recovery in currency exchange rates. Shares +5.5% premarket. (PR)
  • Laboratory Corp. (LH): Q3 EPS of $1.22 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $1.19B (+4.4%) in-line. (PR)
  • Legg Mason (LM): FQ2 EPS of $0.30 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $660M (-31.7%) vs. $652M. (PR)
  • Logitech (LOGI): FQ2 EPS of $0.11 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $498M (-25.1%) vs. $474M. Sees FQ3 revenue of $575-595M vs. $623M. Shares +7.2% in Zurich. (PR)
  • McDonald's (MCD): Q3 EPS of $1.15 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $6.05B (-3.5%) in-line. Comps +3.8%, with U.S. +2.5%, Europe +5.8% and the rest +2.2%. Shares +1.3% premarket. (PR)
  • Mead Johnson (MJN): Q3 EPS of $0.53 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $700M (-5.8%) vs. $737M. Shares -8.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Merck (MRK): Q3 EPS of $0.90 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $6.05B (+1.8%) in-line. (PR)
  • NCR (NCR): Q3 EPS of $0.19 misses by $0.05. Revenue of $1.14B (-17.7%) vs. $1.22B. Sees full-year EPS of $0.45-0.55 vs. $0.67. "The willingness of customers to invest in Q2... did not spill over into Q3. That said, we were more encouraged by the conversations we were having with our customers about Q4 and 2010." Shares -5.9% premarket. (PR)
  • New York Times (NYT): Q3 EPS of $0.16 beats by $0.17. Revenue of $571M (-16.9%) vs. $562M. Shares +2.7% premarket. (PR)
  • NII Holdings (NIHD): Q3 EPS of $0.69 beats by $0.14. Revenue of $1.14B (-3.5%) in-line. (PR)
  • Nucor (NUE): Q3 EPS of -$0.10 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $3.12B (-58.1%) vs. $2.98B. "Our view remains that there has been little improvement in real demand and the uncertainty in our economy is still very high. We also continue to believe that real demand is in for a long, slow recovery." Shares -0.6% premarket. (PR)
  • Occidental Petroleum (OXY): Q3 EPS of $1.14 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $4.1B (-41.9%) in-line. Shares +1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Old Republic International (ORI): Q3 EPS of -$0.283 misses by $0.11. Revenue of $959M (+2.4%) vs. $910M. (PR)
  • Philip Morris (PM): Q3 EPS of $0.93 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $6.59B (-5.3%) vs. $6.71B. "While we experienced lower organic volume in the quarter, this was largely anticipated given our pricing actions and the on-going impact of the economic crisis on total consumption levels." Shares +0.75% premarket. (PR)
  • PNC Financial Services (PNC): Q3 EPS of $1.00 beats by $0.69. Revenue of $4.05B (+144.7%) vs. $3.8B. (PR)
  • Potash (POT): Q3 EPS of $0.82 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $1.1B (-64.1%) in-line. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.65-0.85 vs. consensus of $1.18. "The uncertainty among fertilizer buyers has lasted far longer than we anticipated, but cannot continue indefinitely." Shares -2.9% premarket. (PR)
  • ProLogis (PLD): Q3 EPS of $0.21 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $274M (-72.3%) vs. $228M. Shares +2.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Raytheon (RTN): Q3 EPS of $1.25 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $6.21B (+5.8%) in-line. Shares +0.7% premarket. (PR)
  • Reliance Steel & Aluminum (RS): Q3 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $1.24B (-57.1%) vs. $1.34B. Declines Q4 guidance. "We believe that demand is fairly stable at low levels." (PR)
  • Reynolds American (RAI): Q3 EPS of $1.24 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $2.15B (-5.3%) in-line. Shares -0.1% premarket. (PR)
  • Ryder System (R): Q3 EPS of $0.50 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $1.26B (-20.3%) in-line. Anticipates the weak overall economic environment and protracted freight recession will continue to impact its performance. (PR)
  • Schering-Plough (SGP): Q3 EPS of $0.40 in-line. Revenue of $4.5B (-1.7%) in-line. (PR)
  • Starwood Hotels (HOT): Q3 EPS of $0.14 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $1.22B (-20.7%) vs. $1.16B. "It is very difficult at this time to provide any definitive point of view on 2010. While business conditions have clearly stabilized, it is very hard to forecast the pace of recovery, especially rate." (PR)
  • SunTrust Banks (STI): Q3 EPS of -$0.60 misses by $0.05. Revenue of $1.94B (-21%) vs. $2.11B. Earnings include $131M writedown on debt. Allowance for loan losses +128M to $3.02B. (PR)
  • Sybase (SY): Q3 EPS of $0.63 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $293M (+3.3%) vs. $281M. Shares +2.2% premarket. (PR)
  • TASER International (TASR): Q3 EPS of -$0.05 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $26.8M vs. $20.9M. Shares -1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Temple-Inland (TIN): Q3 EPS of $0.24 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $885M (-9.3%) vs. $876M. "As we look forward, economic conditions, while still uncertain, have stabilized and appear to be on a slow path to recovery." (PR)
  • Terra Industries (TRA): Q3 EPS of $0.45 misses by $0.07. Revenue of $347M (-56.1%) vs. $356M. Shares +0.8% premarket. (PR)
  • Thermo Fisher (TMO): Q3 EPS of $0.78 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $2.53B (-2%) in-line. (PR)
  • Travellers (TRV): Q3 EPS of $1.61 beats by $0.30. Revenue of $6.3B vs. $6B. Sees full-year EPS of $5.30-5.50 vs. consensus of $5.28. Raises quarterly dividend to $0.33 from $0.30. Authorizes an additional $6B share buyback. "We remain cautious about the magnitude of rate gains that are achievable in the near term given general economic conditions." (PR)
  • Union Pacific (UNP): Q3 EPS of $1.02 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.67B (-24.2%) in-line. "Business volumes seem to have stabilized, but at very low levels." (PR)
  • UPS (UPS): Q3 EPS of $0.55 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $11.15B in-line. Volume of 927M packages, -2.4%. "I'm encouraged by the signs of economic recovery that are becoming apparent, although we still have a long way to go," CEO Scott Davis said. Shares -1% premarket. (PR)
  • US Airways (LCC): Q3 EPS of -$0.83 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $2.72B, including $110 from a la carte revenue initiatives, in-line. Shares +3.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Xerox (XRX): Q3 EPS of $0.14 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.67B (-15.9%) in-line. Sees full-year EPS of $0.55-0.57 vs. consensus of $0.53. (8-K)
  • Zimmer (ZMH): Q3 EPS of $0.88 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $976M (+2.5%) vs. $954M. Shares +1.8% premarket. (PR)

Earnings: Wed. After Close

  • Alliance Data Systems (ADS): Q3 EPS of $0.83 misses by $0.51. Revenue of $483M (-5%) vs. $500M. Expects 2010 EPS of $6.00 vs. $6.10. Shares -6.3% AH. (PR)
  • Amgen (AMGN): Q3 EPS of $1.49 beats by $0.22. Revenue of $3.8B (-2%) in-line. Raises full-year EPS guidance to $4.90-5.05 from $4.80-4.95, vs. $4.88. Shares -3% AH. (PR)
  • Ameriprise Financial (AMP): Q3 EPS of $1.03 beats by $0.39. Revenue of $2B (+20%) vs. $2.1B. Debt-to-total-capital ratio of 18.7%. Shares +1.6% AH. (PR)
  • Citrix Systems (CTXS): Q3 EPS of $0.43 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $401M (+1%) vs. $400M. Sees full-year revenue up 8-9% sequentially to $1.73B. Shares -3.6% AH. (PR)
  • Covanta (CVA): Q3 EPS of $0.28 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $409M (-7%) vs. $388M. Shares +0.3% AH. (PR)
  • eBay (EBAY): Q3 EPS of $0.38 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $2.2B (+6%) vs. $2.1B. Shares -4.9% AH. (PR)
  • Equifax (EFX): Q3 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $452M (-7%) in-line. Shares -3.2% AH. (PR)
  • F5 Networks (FFIV): FQ4 EPS of $0.50 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $175M (+2%) vs. $164M. Shares +8.1% AH. (PR)
  • Fidelity National Information Services (FIS): Q3 EPS of $0.46 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $851M (-4%) vs. $870M. Shares -0.4% AH. (PR)
  • Fidelity National Financial (FNF): Q3 EPS of $0.32 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $1.5B (+52%) in-line. Shares +0.2% AH. (PR)
  • Intersil (ISIL): Q3 EPS of $0.10 in-line. Revenue of $168M (-23%) vs. $162M. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.14-0.17 vs. $0.13. Shares -2.8% AH. (PR)
  • Knight Transportation (KNX): Q3 EPS of $0.16 in-line. Revenue of $173M (-17%) vs. $165M. Shares +1.2% AH. (PR)
  • Lam Research (LRCX): FQ1 EPS of $0.03 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $319M (+46%) vs. $288M. Shares +3.2% AH. (PR)
  • Newfield Exploration (NFX): Q3 EPS of $1.58 beats by $0.24. Revenue of $375M (-45%) vs. $536M. Shares -0.1% AH. (PR)
  • Noble (NE): Q3 EPS of $1.63 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $906M (+5%) in-line. Shares +1.1% AH. (PR)
  • Novellus Systems (NVLS): Q3 EPS of -$0.03 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $177M (-29%) vs. $172M. Shares +0.9% AH. (PR)
  • OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP): Q3 EPS of $0.81 beats by $0.49. Revenue of $111M (+18%) vs. $106M. Shares -1% AH. (PR)
  • Pactiv (PTV): Q3 EPS of $0.54 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $839M (-9%) vs. $858M. Shares -0.2% AH. (PR)
  • QLogic (QLGC): FQ2 EPS of $0.21 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $132M (-23%) vs. $126M. Shares -2.6% AH. (PR)
  • Range Resources (RRC): Q3 EPS of $0.26 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $204M (-67%) vs. $261M. Shares -0.2% AH. (PR)
  • Skechers (SKX): Q3 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.17. Revenue of $405M (+1%) vs. $385M. Shares +5.2% AH. (PR)
  • Terex (TEX): Q3 EPS of -$0.95 misses by $0.61. Revenue of $1.2B (-51%) vs. $1.3B. Shares -10.5% AH. (PR)
  • TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT): Q3 EPS of $0.10 in-line. Revenue of $173M (-7%) vs. $178M. Shares -19.9% AH. (PR)
  • VMware (VMW): Q3 EPS of $0.24 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $490M (+4%) vs. $474M. Sees Q4 revenue of v$540M-560M vs. $523M. Shares +1.6% AH. (PR)

Today's Markets

Asian and European markets followed the U.S. into the red Thursday. Stock futures are marginally lower.

]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:18:31 -0400 SA Editor Eli Hoffmann

  • U.S. AAA rating not guaranteed. The U.S. could lose its AAA rating if it fails to reduce its deficit over the next 3-4 years, Moody's says. Steven Hess, Moody's lead analyst for the U.S., acknowledges reducing the gap won't be easy: "Raising taxes is never popular and difficult politically, so we have to see if the government can do that or cut expenditures." Earlier this year, markets were spooked after S&P cut its outlook on Britain to Negative from Stable. Meanwhile, Moody's said today European countries' rising debt won't trigger across-the-board downgrades.
  • Deep pay cuts coming to TARP recipients. In a plan to be made public within the next few days, the government will order deep pay cuts at the biggest bailout recipients - Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), AIG (AIG), GM, Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial. The plan targets the 25 top earners at each company, who will see their compensation decline this year by about 50%, while bonus payments will be slashed by up to 90%, to be replaced by stock that they'll be restricted from immediately selling. The plan does not address firms that didn't receive bailout funds, or that have already repaid their loans.
  • South Korea's $3.9B oil buy. State-owned Korea National Oil Corp. agreed to buy Canada's Harvest Energy (HTE) for $3.9B - $1.7B for its outstanding shares and the assumption of $2.2B in debt. Shareholders will receive $9.52/share - a 37% premium to Wednesday's close. The deal is South Korea's biggest outbound cross-border deal ever in the Oil & Gas sector, and ranks seventh in global Oil & Gas sector M&A transactions in 2009. Harvest produced 53K b/d in Q2, 70% of which was crude oil and 30% was natural gas. Shares +29.1% premarket to $9.05.
  • Bove drops a bomb. Rochdale Securities analyst Richard Bove sent stocks into a tailspin late Wednesday after he downgraded shares of Wells Fargo (WFC) to Sell, despite a consensus-beating Q3. Bove is concerned by the positive impact mortgage hedges have had on Wells' recent results, which "keep coming through for the company whenever it needs to bolster earnings," but are a nightmare for investors who shouldn't look at such activity as generating predictable or repeatable profits. Bove also called the portfolio Wells acquired from Wachovia 'cancerous.' WFC -5.1% yesterday.
  • eBay falters on gloomy outlook. eBay (EBAY) posted Q3 earnings that exceeded expectations, but shares traded lower after-hours after its guidance gave a gloomier vision of the near future than many expected (read eBay's Q3 earnings call transcript). eBay has struggled as online shopping habits have shifted away from auctions to fixed-price purchases on sites such as Amazon.com (AMZN).
  • Beige Book sees signs of growth. The Fed said most regional economies are on the mend, as home sales rebound and manufacturers restart idled operations. "Reports of gains in economic activity generally outnumber declines, but virtually every reference to improvement was qualified as either small or scattered," the Fed said in its beige book tally. The report also highlighted how heavily businesses are relying on government spending: "There were several reports that the only 'sure' business will come from government stimulus projects, although funding for such projects has been slow to materialize," it said.
  • Microsoft's big day. Microsoft's much-anticipated OS upgrade, Windows 7, goes on sale today. The company hopes Windows 7 will gain more traction among retail and corporate clients than its most predecessor, Vista, which was seen as slow and clunky. Analysts say the new OS isn't likely to cause a sudden spike in PC sales, a point conceded by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who said recently IT budgets "aren't going to rise just because we shipped a new version."
  • Twin deals for Twitter. Twitter inked deals to sell the rights to mine its pipeline of 'tweets' with both Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT) Wednesday, underscoring the growing importance of real time search. Neither would say how much it's paying for the rights to index the millions of daily tweets, considered to be Twitter's most valuable asset. The deals could be the first meaningful revenue for Twitter since its 2006 inception, and begin to answer the much-explored question of "where's the beef?"
  • A strong Q3 for China. China's Q3 GDP came in at 8.9%, just below the 9% economists forecast. Separate reports showed industrial production and retail sales also accelerated. China's return to robust growth continues to raise the question of when policy makers will withdraw record fiscal and monetary stimulus in order to avoid another bubble.
  • Galleon wind down begins. Managers of Galleon Group's $500M Asia fund are considering buying the unit, sources say. On Wednesday, Galleon told employees and investors it would wind down the firm after its founder was charged with insider trading. Unless the government intervenes, investors likely won't get their money back until Jan. 1, 2010.

Earnings: Thur. Before Open

  • 3M Company (MMM): Q3 EPS of $1.37 beats by $0.20. Revenue of $6.19B (-5.6%) vs. $5.77B. Shares +1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • AT&T (T): Q3 EPS of $0.54 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $30.9B (-1.3%) in-line. Wireless subscribers +2M to 81.6M. Shares +2% premarket. (PR)
  • AU Optronics (AUO): Q3 EPS of $0.26 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $3.5B (+8.4%) vs. $3.21B. Operating margin 6.8%. Shares -2.3% in Taiwan. (PR)
  • Black & Decker (BDK): Q3 EPS of $0.91 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $1.21B (-23%) in-line. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.68-0.78 vs. $0.50 consensus. Shares +2.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Bristol-Myers (BMY): Q3 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $5.49B (+4.4%) in-line. (PR)
  • Bunge (BG): Q3 EPS of $1.62 beats by $0.15. Revenue of $11.3B (-23.6%) vs. $12B. Sees full-year EPS of $3.10-$3.50 vs. consensus of $4.69. Says fertilizer business continues to be pressured by high-cost inventory and a weak pricing environment. (PR)
  • Celgene (CELG): Q3 EPS of $0.56 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $692M (+16.8%) vs. $671M. Shares +5.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Check Point Software (CHKP): Q3 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $234M (+17%) vs. $231M. (PR)
  • CONSOL Energy (CNX): Q3 EPS of $0.48 misses by $0.18. Revenue of $1.09B (-6.7%) in-line. Shares -3.1% premarket. (PR)
  • Cooper Industries (CBE): Q3 EPS of $0.70 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $1.29B (-25.6%) in-line. "Revenue and orders for maintenance and repair items and product lines that declined rapidly at the beginning of the economic downturn are beginning to improve, while the longer cycle products appear to have now bottomed." Shares -0.3% premarket. (PR)
  • Danaher (DHR): Q3 EPS of $0.89 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $2.75B (-14.2%) in-line. (PR)
  • Delta Air Lines (DAL): Q3 EPS of $0.06 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $7.57B (+32.4%) in-line. (PR)
  • Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO): Q3 EPS of $2.62 beats by $0.32. Revenue of $908M (+0.9%) vs. $874M. Declares special dividend of $1.875/share. (PR)
  • Dow Chemical (DOW): Q3 EPS of $0.24 beats by $0.14. Revenue of $12.05B (+6.4%) vs. $11.85B. "The economic outlook for the rest of 2009 appears to be stabilizing with strong growth in Asia Pacific, especially China, and other emerging geographies. The global economy is now on firmer footing, and, in our view, the U.S. economy is beginning a slow and tenuous recovery, with unemployment continuing to be a drag on consumer spending." (PR)
  • EMC (EMC): Q3 EPS of $0.23 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.52B (-5.3%) vs. $3.45B. Says customers are signaling more comfort spending their IT budgets. Shares +1.5% premarket. (PR)
  • Ensco International (ESV): Q3 EPS of $1.05 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $425M (-31.3%) vs. $439M. (PR)
  • Entergy (ETR): Q3 EPS of $2.40 misses by $0.08. Revenue of $2.94B (-25.9%) vs. $3.9B. "We continue to experience the negative effects of the slowed economic recovery." (PR)
  • Ericsson (ERIC): Q3 EPS of 0.25kr misses by 0.61kr. Revenue of 46.4Bkr (-5.7%) vs. 49.46Bkr. "Sales of network equipment declined due to lower demand in the current tougher market environment. Despite lower volumes, Network margins remain stable." Shares -8.9% premarket. (PR)
  • Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB): Q3 EPS of -$0.20 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $M in-line. "The credit environment remains challenging, and we continue to aggressively work to manage risk in the portfolio." Shares -2.1% premarket. (PR)
  • Goodrich (GR): Q3 EPS of $1.12 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $1.65B (-7%) in-line. (PR)
  • Hershey Foods (HSY): Q3 EPS of $0.73 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $1.48B (-0.3%) vs. $1.54B. "As we look to 2010, we assume the economic environment for consumers in the U.S. and international markets will continue to be challenging." Shares +2.5% premarket. (PR)
  • Huntington Bancshares (HBAN): Q3 EPS of -$0.33 misses by $0.05. Revenue of $M in-line. Shares -2.1% premarket. (PR)
  • IMS Health (RX): Q3 EPS of $0.40 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $541M (-5.7%) vs. $522M. (PR)
  • Janus Capital Group (JNS): Q3 EPS of $0.05 misses by $0.10. Revenue of $228M (-17.4%) vs. $225M. (PR)
  • JetBlue Airways (JBLU): Q3 EPS of $0.04 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $854M (-5.3%) vs. $847M. Shares +1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Kimberly-Clark (KMB): Q3 EPS of $1.40 beats by $0.27. Revenue of $4.91B (-1.7%) in-line. Sees full-year EPS of $4.50-$4.60 vs. consensus of $4.26, citing increased cost savings, better organic sales growth and a further recovery in currency exchange rates. Shares +5.5% premarket. (PR)
  • Laboratory Corp. (LH): Q3 EPS of $1.22 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $1.19B (+4.4%) in-line. (PR)
  • Legg Mason (LM): FQ2 EPS of $0.30 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $660M (-31.7%) vs. $652M. (PR)
  • Logitech (LOGI): FQ2 EPS of $0.11 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $498M (-25.1%) vs. $474M. Sees FQ3 revenue of $575-595M vs. $623M. Shares +7.2% in Zurich. (PR)
  • McDonald's (MCD): Q3 EPS of $1.15 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $6.05B (-3.5%) in-line. Comps +3.8%, with U.S. +2.5%, Europe +5.8% and the rest +2.2%. Shares +1.3% premarket. (PR)
  • Mead Johnson (MJN): Q3 EPS of $0.53 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $700M (-5.8%) vs. $737M. Shares -8.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Merck (MRK): Q3 EPS of $0.90 beats by $0.08. Revenue of $6.05B (+1.8%) in-line. (PR)
  • NCR (NCR): Q3 EPS of $0.19 misses by $0.05. Revenue of $1.14B (-17.7%) vs. $1.22B. Sees full-year EPS of $0.45-0.55 vs. $0.67. "The willingness of customers to invest in Q2... did not spill over into Q3. That said, we were more encouraged by the conversations we were having with our customers about Q4 and 2010." Shares -5.9% premarket. (PR)
  • New York Times (NYT): Q3 EPS of $0.16 beats by $0.17. Revenue of $571M (-16.9%) vs. $562M. Shares +2.7% premarket. (PR)
  • NII Holdings (NIHD): Q3 EPS of $0.69 beats by $0.14. Revenue of $1.14B (-3.5%) in-line. (PR)
  • Nucor (NUE): Q3 EPS of -$0.10 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $3.12B (-58.1%) vs. $2.98B. "Our view remains that there has been little improvement in real demand and the uncertainty in our economy is still very high. We also continue to believe that real demand is in for a long, slow recovery." Shares -0.6% premarket. (PR)
  • Occidental Petroleum (OXY): Q3 EPS of $1.14 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $4.1B (-41.9%) in-line. Shares +1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Old Republic International (ORI): Q3 EPS of -$0.283 misses by $0.11. Revenue of $959M (+2.4%) vs. $910M. (PR)
  • Philip Morris (PM): Q3 EPS of $0.93 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $6.59B (-5.3%) vs. $6.71B. "While we experienced lower organic volume in the quarter, this was largely anticipated given our pricing actions and the on-going impact of the economic crisis on total consumption levels." Shares +0.75% premarket. (PR)
  • PNC Financial Services (PNC): Q3 EPS of $1.00 beats by $0.69. Revenue of $4.05B (+144.7%) vs. $3.8B. (PR)
  • Potash (POT): Q3 EPS of $0.82 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $1.1B (-64.1%) in-line. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.65-0.85 vs. consensus of $1.18. "The uncertainty among fertilizer buyers has lasted far longer than we anticipated, but cannot continue indefinitely." Shares -2.9% premarket. (PR)
  • ProLogis (PLD): Q3 EPS of $0.21 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $274M (-72.3%) vs. $228M. Shares +2.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Raytheon (RTN): Q3 EPS of $1.25 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $6.21B (+5.8%) in-line. Shares +0.7% premarket. (PR)
  • Reliance Steel & Aluminum (RS): Q3 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $1.24B (-57.1%) vs. $1.34B. Declines Q4 guidance. "We believe that demand is fairly stable at low levels." (PR)
  • Reynolds American (RAI): Q3 EPS of $1.24 beats by $0.07. Revenue of $2.15B (-5.3%) in-line. Shares -0.1% premarket. (PR)
  • Ryder System (R): Q3 EPS of $0.50 beats by $0.05. Revenue of $1.26B (-20.3%) in-line. Anticipates the weak overall economic environment and protracted freight recession will continue to impact its performance. (PR)
  • Schering-Plough (SGP): Q3 EPS of $0.40 in-line. Revenue of $4.5B (-1.7%) in-line. (PR)
  • Starwood Hotels (HOT): Q3 EPS of $0.14 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $1.22B (-20.7%) vs. $1.16B. "It is very difficult at this time to provide any definitive point of view on 2010. While business conditions have clearly stabilized, it is very hard to forecast the pace of recovery, especially rate." (PR)
  • SunTrust Banks (STI): Q3 EPS of -$0.60 misses by $0.05. Revenue of $1.94B (-21%) vs. $2.11B. Earnings include $131M writedown on debt. Allowance for loan losses +128M to $3.02B. (PR)
  • Sybase (SY): Q3 EPS of $0.63 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $293M (+3.3%) vs. $281M. Shares +2.2% premarket. (PR)
  • TASER International (TASR): Q3 EPS of -$0.05 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $26.8M vs. $20.9M. Shares -1.2% premarket. (PR)
  • Temple-Inland (TIN): Q3 EPS of $0.24 beats by $0.06. Revenue of $885M (-9.3%) vs. $876M. "As we look forward, economic conditions, while still uncertain, have stabilized and appear to be on a slow path to recovery." (PR)
  • Terra Industries (TRA): Q3 EPS of $0.45 misses by $0.07. Revenue of $347M (-56.1%) vs. $356M. Shares +0.8% premarket. (PR)
  • Thermo Fisher (TMO): Q3 EPS of $0.78 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $2.53B (-2%) in-line. (PR)
  • Travellers (TRV): Q3 EPS of $1.61 beats by $0.30. Revenue of $6.3B vs. $6B. Sees full-year EPS of $5.30-5.50 vs. consensus of $5.28. Raises quarterly dividend to $0.33 from $0.30. Authorizes an additional $6B share buyback. "We remain cautious about the magnitude of rate gains that are achievable in the near term given general economic conditions." (PR)
  • Union Pacific (UNP): Q3 EPS of $1.02 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.67B (-24.2%) in-line. "Business volumes seem to have stabilized, but at very low levels." (PR)
  • UPS (UPS): Q3 EPS of $0.55 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $11.15B in-line. Volume of 927M packages, -2.4%. "I'm encouraged by the signs of economic recovery that are becoming apparent, although we still have a long way to go," CEO Scott Davis said. Shares -1% premarket. (PR)
  • US Airways (LCC): Q3 EPS of -$0.83 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $2.72B, including $110 from a la carte revenue initiatives, in-line. Shares +3.4% premarket. (PR)
  • Xerox (XRX): Q3 EPS of $0.14 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $3.67B (-15.9%) in-line. Sees full-year EPS of $0.55-0.57 vs. consensus of $0.53. (8-K)
  • Zimmer (ZMH): Q3 EPS of $0.88 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $976M (+2.5%) vs. $954M. Shares +1.8% premarket. (PR)

Earnings: Wed. After Close

  • Alliance Data Systems (ADS): Q3 EPS of $0.83 misses by $0.51. Revenue of $483M (-5%) vs. $500M. Expects 2010 EPS of $6.00 vs. $6.10. Shares -6.3% AH. (PR)
  • Amgen (AMGN): Q3 EPS of $1.49 beats by $0.22. Revenue of $3.8B (-2%) in-line. Raises full-year EPS guidance to $4.90-5.05 from $4.80-4.95, vs. $4.88. Shares -3% AH. (PR)
  • Ameriprise Financial (AMP): Q3 EPS of $1.03 beats by $0.39. Revenue of $2B (+20%) vs. $2.1B. Debt-to-total-capital ratio of 18.7%. Shares +1.6% AH. (PR)
  • Citrix Systems (CTXS): Q3 EPS of $0.43 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $401M (+1%) vs. $400M. Sees full-year revenue up 8-9% sequentially to $1.73B. Shares -3.6% AH. (PR)
  • Covanta (CVA): Q3 EPS of $0.28 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $409M (-7%) vs. $388M. Shares +0.3% AH. (PR)
  • eBay (EBAY): Q3 EPS of $0.38 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $2.2B (+6%) vs. $2.1B. Shares -4.9% AH. (PR)
  • Equifax (EFX): Q3 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.02. Revenue of $452M (-7%) in-line. Shares -3.2% AH. (PR)
  • F5 Networks (FFIV): FQ4 EPS of $0.50 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $175M (+2%) vs. $164M. Shares +8.1% AH. (PR)
  • Fidelity National Information Services (FIS): Q3 EPS of $0.46 misses by $0.01. Revenue of $851M (-4%) vs. $870M. Shares -0.4% AH. (PR)
  • Fidelity National Financial (FNF): Q3 EPS of $0.32 misses by $0.02. Revenue of $1.5B (+52%) in-line. Shares +0.2% AH. (PR)
  • Intersil (ISIL): Q3 EPS of $0.10 in-line. Revenue of $168M (-23%) vs. $162M. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.14-0.17 vs. $0.13. Shares -2.8% AH. (PR)
  • Knight Transportation (KNX): Q3 EPS of $0.16 in-line. Revenue of $173M (-17%) vs. $165M. Shares +1.2% AH. (PR)
  • Lam Research (LRCX): FQ1 EPS of $0.03 beats by $0.11. Revenue of $319M (+46%) vs. $288M. Shares +3.2% AH. (PR)
  • Newfield Exploration (NFX): Q3 EPS of $1.58 beats by $0.24. Revenue of $375M (-45%) vs. $536M. Shares -0.1% AH. (PR)
  • Noble (NE): Q3 EPS of $1.63 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $906M (+5%) in-line. Shares +1.1% AH. (PR)
  • Novellus Systems (NVLS): Q3 EPS of -$0.03 beats by $0.01. Revenue of $177M (-29%) vs. $172M. Shares +0.9% AH. (PR)
  • OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP): Q3 EPS of $0.81 beats by $0.49. Revenue of $111M (+18%) vs. $106M. Shares -1% AH. (PR)
  • Pactiv (PTV): Q3 EPS of $0.54 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $839M (-9%) vs. $858M. Shares -0.2% AH. (PR)
  • QLogic (QLGC): FQ2 EPS of $0.21 beats by $0.03. Revenue of $132M (-23%) vs. $126M. Shares -2.6% AH. (PR)
  • Range Resources (RRC): Q3 EPS of $0.26 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $204M (-67%) vs. $261M. Shares -0.2% AH. (PR)
  • Skechers (SKX): Q3 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.17. Revenue of $405M (+1%) vs. $385M. Shares +5.2% AH. (PR)
  • Terex (TEX): Q3 EPS of -$0.95 misses by $0.61. Revenue of $1.2B (-51%) vs. $1.3B. Shares -10.5% AH. (PR)
  • TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT): Q3 EPS of $0.10 in-line. Revenue of $173M (-7%) vs. $178M. Shares -19.9% AH. (PR)
  • VMware (VMW): Q3 EPS of $0.24 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $490M (+4%) vs. $474M. Sees Q4 revenue of v$540M-560M vs. $523M. Shares +1.6% AH. (PR)

Today's Markets

Asian and European markets followed the U.S. into the red Thursday. Stock futures are marginally lower.


Complete Story »]]> ADS AIG AMGN AMP AMZN AUO BAC BDK BG BMY C CBE CELG CHKP CNX CTXS CVA DAL DHR DIA DO DOW EBAY EFX EMC ERIC ESV ETR FFIV FIS FITB FNF GLD GOOG GR HBAN HOT HSY HTE ISIL JBLU JNS KMB KNX LCC LH LM LOGI LRCX MCD MJN MMM MRK MSFT NCR NE NFX NIHD NUE NVLS NYT ORI OSIP OXY PLD PM PNC POT PTV QLGC QQQQ R RAI RRC RS RTN RX SGP SKX SPY STI SY T TASR TEX TIN TMO TQNT TRA TRV UNP UPS USO VMW WFC XRX ZMH SA Editor Eli Hoffmann Novellus Systems Inc. Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript http://seekingalpha.com/article/168029-novellus-systems-inc-q3-2009-earnings-call-transcript?source=feed 168029 Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS)

Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript

October 21, 2009 at 4:30 pm ET

]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:20 -0400 Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS)

Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript

October 21, 2009 at 4:30 pm ET


Complete Story »]]> NVLS Earnings Preview: Novellus Systems http://seekingalpha.com/article/167887-earnings-preview-novellus-systems?source=feed 167887 Novellus Systems (NVLS) is expected to report Q3 earnings after the market close on Wednesday, October 21, with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 pm ET.

Guidance

The consensus estimate is (4c) for EPS, with the range being break-ever to (7c) and $172.43M for revenue, according to First Call. Novellus' guidance provided on their Sept. 3 mid-quarter update was for EPS of 0c-(9c), revenue of $160M-$180M, gross margin of 40% plus/minus 2%, tax rate of 20%, orders $156M-$172M, and shipments $150M-$170M.

]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:00:41 -0400 theflyonthewall.com Novellus Systems (NVLS) is expected to report Q3 earnings after the market close on Wednesday, October 21, with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 pm ET.

Guidance

The consensus estimate is (4c) for EPS, with the range being break-ever to (7c) and $172.43M for revenue, according to First Call. Novellus' guidance provided on their Sept. 3 mid-quarter update was for EPS of 0c-(9c), revenue of $160M-$180M, gross margin of 40% plus/minus 2%, tax rate of 20%, orders $156M-$172M, and shipments $150M-$170M.


Complete Story »]]> NVLS theflyonthewall.com Market Movers That Aren't Housing http://seekingalpha.com/article/167700-market-movers-that-aren-t-housing?source=feed 167700 The market is fixated on the less than desirable housing-related reports out Tuesday morning. Such below-consensus readings on starts and permits are a shot across the bow for regulators to cut the smooth talk and extend the housing tax credit. Whether the tax credit has had a huge impact on overall housing demand in recent months is not very supported in the statistics (low mortgage rates arguably a bigger component). But, much could be said about bolstering market psychology, in this case that of homebuilders. Maybe it is time to expand the program to not just first time buyers making less than $75,000.

The recent rally in the price of crude oil is faltering Tuesday. The dollar actually started to rally in value versus a basket of other international currencies, and this is causing a shift out of the commodity asset class of which crude oil is included. Also causing some of the selling pressure Tuesday was the fact that it closed in on the $80 per barrel level. Oil and other commodities have an inverse relationship with the value of the dollar. As it stands, oil traders and investors have been taking their cue from the rally in the broader equities market and allocating more capital to the oil trade. The fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently hit, and surpassed, the psychologically important 10,000 mark served as a source of encouragement to investors that the economy is on the mend. As such, the logic goes that this portends an eventual increase in activity which will ultimately lead to a ramp in the demand for energy.

]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:00:37 -0400 Wall Street Strategies Wall Street Strategies submits:

The market is fixated on the less than desirable housing-related reports out Tuesday morning. Such below-consensus readings on starts and permits are a shot across the bow for regulators to cut the smooth talk and extend the housing tax credit. Whether the tax credit has had a huge impact on overall housing demand in recent months is not very supported in the statistics (low mortgage rates arguably a bigger component). But, much could be said about bolstering market psychology, in this case that of homebuilders. Maybe it is time to expand the program to not just first time buyers making less than $75,000.

The recent rally in the price of crude oil is faltering Tuesday. The dollar actually started to rally in value versus a basket of other international currencies, and this is causing a shift out of the commodity asset class of which crude oil is included. Also causing some of the selling pressure Tuesday was the fact that it closed in on the $80 per barrel level. Oil and other commodities have an inverse relationship with the value of the dollar. As it stands, oil traders and investors have been taking their cue from the rally in the broader equities market and allocating more capital to the oil trade. The fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently hit, and surpassed, the psychologically important 10,000 mark served as a source of encouragement to investors that the economy is on the mend. As such, the logic goes that this portends an eventual increase in activity which will ultimately lead to a ramp in the demand for energy.


Complete Story »]]> AAPL ASML COH LRCX MGA NVLS TSM TXN Wall Street Strategies Galleon Group's 50 Largest Holdings http://seekingalpha.com/article/167155-galleon-group-s-50-largest-holdings?source=feed 167155 The founders of the Galleon Group, a hedge fund started in 1997 and which has a technology and healthcare focus, have been charged with insider trading. Galleon is one of the 250 hedge and institutional investment funds that are available on AlphaClone. The fund's Top 10 Holding Clone, which invests quarterly in the the fund's ten largest holdings at the time they are disclosed, is up 48.2% so far this year but has not performed very well over time returning a negative 3.9% annualized over five years and a dismal negative 18% annualized since 2000 (all returns as of 10/15/09 close). We thought we'd list the fund's 50 largest holdings below (as of 6/30/09). Now that the fund will almost certainly wind down, perhaps there are some good short opportunities.

Name Ticker
1 EBAY INC EBAY
2 GOOGLE INC GOOG
3 APPLE INC AAPL
4 OSI PHARMACEUTICALS... OSIP
5 BANK OF AMERICA COR... BAC
6 JP MORGAN CHASE & CO JPM
7 CISCO SYS INC CSCO
8 SPDR S&P 500 SPY
9 DELL INC DELL
10 NVIDIA CORP NVDA
11 E M C CORP MASS EMC
12 WYETH WYE
13 PEPSI BOTTLING GROU... PBG
14 MEMC ELECTR MATLS INC WFR
15 First Solar Inc FSLR
16 VERISIGN INC VRSN
17 YAHOO INC YHOO
18 ELECTRONIC ARTS INC ERTS
19 SPDR Gold GLD
20 INTEL CORP INTC
21 QUALCOMM INC QCOM
22 COGNIZANT TECHNOLOG... CTSH
23 FORD MTR CO DEL F
24 NATIONAL SEMICONDUC... NSM
25 NETEASE COM INC NTES
26 SUNTRUST BKS INC STI
27 TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD TYC
28 TERADYNE INC TER
29 RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD RIMM
30 ALCON INC ACL
31 HEWLETT PACKARD CO HPQ
32 VISA INC V
33 AMAZON COM INC AMZN
34 BIOGEN IDEC INC BIIB
35 NOVELLUS SYS INC NVLS
36 ANADARKO PETE CORP APC
37 COMMSCOPE INC CTV
38 FTI CONSULTING INC FCN
39 PEPSICO INC PEP
40 ABERCROMBIE & FITCH CO ANF
41 F5 NETWORKS INC FFIV
42 LAM RESEARCH CORP LRCX
43 LEXMARK INTL NEW LXK
44 GAP INC DEL GPS
45 Seagate Tech STX
46 YINGLI GREEN ENERGY... YGE
47 RADIOSHACK CORP RSH
48 KLA-TENCOR CORP KLAC
49 FIDELITY NATIONAL F... FNF
50 ALLERGAN INC AGN
]]> Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:48:55 -0400 AlphaClone AlphaClone submits:

The founders of the Galleon Group, a hedge fund started in 1997 and which has a technology and healthcare focus, have been charged with insider trading. Galleon is one of the 250 hedge and institutional investment funds that are available on AlphaClone. The fund's Top 10 Holding Clone, which invests quarterly in the the fund's ten largest holdings at the time they are disclosed, is up 48.2% so far this year but has not performed very well over time returning a negative 3.9% annualized over five years and a dismal negative 18% annualized since 2000 (all returns as of 10/15/09 close). We thought we'd list the fund's 50 largest holdings below (as of 6/30/09). Now that the fund will almost certainly wind down, perhaps there are some good short opportunities.

Name Ticker
1 EBAY INC EBAY
2 GOOGLE INC GOOG
3 APPLE INC AAPL
4 OSI PHARMACEUTICALS... OSIP
5 BANK OF AMERICA COR... BAC
6 JP MORGAN CHASE & CO JPM
7 CISCO SYS INC CSCO
8 SPDR S&P 500 SPY
9 DELL INC DELL
10 NVIDIA CORP NVDA
11 E M C CORP MASS EMC
12 WYETH WYE
13 PEPSI BOTTLING GROU... PBG
14 MEMC ELECTR MATLS INC WFR
15 First Solar Inc FSLR
16 VERISIGN INC VRSN
17 YAHOO INC YHOO
18 ELECTRONIC ARTS INC ERTS
19 SPDR Gold GLD
20 INTEL CORP INTC
21 QUALCOMM INC QCOM
22 COGNIZANT TECHNOLOG... CTSH
23 FORD MTR CO DEL F
24 NATIONAL SEMICONDUC... NSM
25 NETEASE COM INC NTES
26 SUNTRUST BKS INC STI
27 TYCO INTERNATIONAL LTD TYC
28 TERADYNE INC TER
29 RESEARCH IN MOTION LTD RIMM
30 ALCON INC ACL
31 HEWLETT PACKARD CO HPQ
32 VISA INC V
33 AMAZON COM INC AMZN
34 BIOGEN IDEC INC BIIB
35 NOVELLUS SYS INC NVLS
36 ANADARKO PETE CORP APC
37 COMMSCOPE INC CTV
38 FTI CONSULTING INC FCN
39 PEPSICO INC PEP
40 ABERCROMBIE & FITCH CO ANF
41 F5 NETWORKS INC FFIV
42 LAM RESEARCH CORP LRCX
43 LEXMARK INTL NEW LXK
44 GAP INC DEL GPS
45 Seagate Tech STX
46 YINGLI GREEN ENERGY... YGE
47 RADIOSHACK CORP RSH
48 KLA-TENCOR CORP KLAC
49 FIDELITY NATIONAL F... FNF
50 ALLERGAN INC AGN

Complete Story »]]> AAPL ACL AGN AMZN ANF APC BAC BIIB CSCO CTSH CTV DELL EBAY EMC ERTS F FCN FFIV FNF FSLR GLD GOOG GPS HPQ INTC JPM KLAC LRCX LXK NSM NTES NVDA NVLS OSIP PBG PEP QCOM RIMM RSH SPY STI STX TER TYC V VRSN WFR WYE YGE YHOO AlphaClone Cramer's Mad Money - The Fastest Growing Drug Company (10/9/09) http://seekingalpha.com/article/165836-cramer-s-mad-money-the-fastest-growing-drug-company-10-9-09?source=feed 165836 Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Friday September 9.

Warner Chilcott (WCRX), Johnson&Johnson (JNJ), Chattem (CHTT), Procter & Gamble (PG)

]]> Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:54:46 -0400 SA Editor Miriam Metzinger Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Friday September 9.

Warner Chilcott (WCRX), Johnson&Johnson (JNJ), Chattem (CHTT), Procter & Gamble (PG)


Complete Story »]]> AAPL ABT BAC C CHTT CSX CY EBS GOOG GS INTC JNJ JPM NOK NVLS PG WCRX XLNX SA Editor Miriam Metzinger Report from Europe for Friday, Sept. 4 http://seekingalpha.com/article/160032-report-from-europe-for-friday-sept-4?source=feed 160032

Déjà vu, another up day, another down volume day, with the now almost self fulfilling spike into the close led by yet another AIG (AIG) short squeeze! This dodgy $2 bankrupt stock spiked 5% into the close and continues to lead the Dow around like an innocent puppy on a lead. This allowed the S&P 500 to close back above the psychological 1000 level. But all very suspicious and dubious. As many have noted, the rally has been led by low quality stocks, and as Jimmy Cliff once crooned, “the harder they come, the harder they fall” when the tide turns.

Gold made further gains overnight, coming close to testing $1000 at one point. There’s some talk on the screens and in the blogs about potential purchases by China as part of its reserve diversification strategy.

]]> Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:51:58 -0400 The Mole The Mole submits:

Déjà vu, another up day, another down volume day, with the now almost self fulfilling spike into the close led by yet another AIG (AIG) short squeeze! This dodgy $2 bankrupt stock spiked 5% into the close and continues to lead the Dow around like an innocent puppy on a lead. This allowed the S&P 500 to close back above the psychological 1000 level. But all very suspicious and dubious. As many have noted, the rally has been led by low quality stocks, and as Jimmy Cliff once crooned, “the harder they come, the harder they fall” when the tide turns.

Gold made further gains overnight, coming close to testing $1000 at one point. There’s some talk on the screens and in the blogs about potential purchases by China as part of its reserve diversification strategy.


Complete Story »]]> AIG ANF ELN NVLS The Mole TIM Report: Sentiment Crosses into Bullish Territory http://seekingalpha.com/article/154894-tim-report-sentiment-crosses-into-bullish-territory?source=feed 154894 According to the recent TIM (Trade Ideas Monitor) report, the TIM Sentiment Index (TSI) increased 2.1% week over week to 50.90 on August 6th, compared to 49.84 on July 30th (see last post, and previous post and the youDevise website for additional information on the TIM report). For the last few weeks, the index has been fluctuating just above and below the critical 50 mark, differentiating bullishness from bearishness.

The TIM report lists the daily change in the TSI as being statistically correlated to market movement 1-3 days forward. Total new short ideas as a percentage of all new ideas sent to investment managers by way of the TIM increased slightly to 33.21% on August 6th from 33.19% on July 30th. Shorts represent 34.96% of broker ideas in August, compared to 40.69% year to date.

]]> Sun, 09 Aug 2009 05:30:01 -0400 David Enke David Enke submits:

According to the recent TIM (Trade Ideas Monitor) report, the TIM Sentiment Index (TSI) increased 2.1% week over week to 50.90 on August 6th, compared to 49.84 on July 30th (see last post, and previous post and the youDevise website for additional information on the TIM report). For the last few weeks, the index has been fluctuating just above and below the critical 50 mark, differentiating bullishness from bearishness.

The TIM report lists the daily change in the TSI as being statistically correlated to market movement 1-3 days forward. Total new short ideas as a percentage of all new ideas sent to investment managers by way of the TIM increased slightly to 33.21% on August 6th from 33.19% on July 30th. Shorts represent 34.96% of broker ideas in August, compared to 40.69% year to date.


Complete Story »]]> ALTR CVC DVA HIG HPQ NVLS David Enke Cramer's Mad Money - What to Buy if You Missed Intel (7/15/09) http://seekingalpha.com/article/149085-cramer-s-mad-money-what-to-buy-if-you-missed-intel-7-15-09?source=feed 149085 Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Wednesday July 15.

Novellus (NVLS), Sandisk (SNDK)

]]> Thu, 16 Jul 2009 04:35:31 -0400 SA Editor Miriam Metzinger Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Wednesday July 15.

Novellus (NVLS), Sandisk (SNDK)


Complete Story »]]> AAPL CIT CSCO EMC HPQ INTC NVLS QCOM SNDK SA Editor Miriam Metzinger Novellus and CSX: Impressive Earnings or Same Old Safety Dance? http://seekingalpha.com/article/148914-novellus-and-csx-impressive-earnings-or-same-old-safety-dance?source=feed 148914

We won't have time to do much of this in the coming weeks since there is an avalanche of reports to review, but Monday was a light day of earnings so I am going to lay out some of the things I review on my own time, on the blog.

As long-time readers will know, I ignore almost all the government reports because they are so flawed; the only reason we are forced to pay attention is because the lemmings of the stock market react to them as gospel. For example, just last week we had all the retailers report - yet on Tuesday, we ignore everything they say and clutch to a government report on retail sales. A report that showed better than 'expected' mostly because... gasoline prices were higher. (i.e. consumers had to spend more because gas prices were up - green shoots).

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:28:24 -0400 TraderMark Trader Mark submits:

We won't have time to do much of this in the coming weeks since there is an avalanche of reports to review, but Monday was a light day of earnings so I am going to lay out some of the things I review on my own time, on the blog.

As long-time readers will know, I ignore almost all the government reports because they are so flawed; the only reason we are forced to pay attention is because the lemmings of the stock market react to them as gospel. For example, just last week we had all the retailers report - yet on Tuesday, we ignore everything they say and clutch to a government report on retail sales. A report that showed better than 'expected' mostly because... gasoline prices were higher. (i.e. consumers had to spend more because gas prices were up - green shoots).


Complete Story »]]> CSX NVLS TraderMark Cramer's Mad Money - Buy Viacom before Spongebob Rings the Bell (7/14/09) http://seekingalpha.com/article/148795-cramer-s-mad-money-buy-viacom-before-spongebob-rings-the-bell-7-14-09?source=feed 148795 Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Tuesday July 14.

Viacom (VIA.B), Time Warner (TWX), Disney (DIS)

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:00:17 -0400 SA Editor Miriam Metzinger Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Tuesday July 14.

Viacom (VIA.B), Time Warner (TWX), Disney (DIS)


Complete Story »]]> BHP CSX CVX DIS FCX FRT NVLS TWX VIA.B XLE SA Editor Miriam Metzinger Intel Beats Handily, Issues Solid Guidance http://seekingalpha.com/article/148800-intel-beats-handily-issues-solid-guidance?source=feed 148800 By Charles Rotblut

Right after the close, Intel (INTC) reported very strong numbers. Revenues totaled $8 billion, far above expectations for $7.18 billion. Non-GAAP EPS totaled 18 cents, 11 cents above the consensus.

]]> Wed, 15 Jul 2009 01:28:33 -0400 Zacks.com Zacks.com submits:

By Charles Rotblut

Right after the close, Intel (INTC) reported very strong numbers. Revenues totaled $8 billion, far above expectations for $7.18 billion. Non-GAAP EPS totaled 18 cents, 11 cents above the consensus.


Complete Story »]]> IGW INTC MU NSM NVLS TXN Zacks.com Closing Update for Tuesday, July 14 http://seekingalpha.com/article/148772-closing-update-for-tuesday-july-14?source=feed 148772 4:14 PM, Jul 14, 2009 --

  • NYSE up 44.2 (0.7%) to 5,805.58.
  • DJIA up 27.8 (0.3%) to 8,359.
  • S&P 500 up 4.78 (0.5%) to 905.84.
  • Nasdaq up 6.52 (0.4%) to 1,800.


GLOBAL SENTIMENT

]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:18:50 -0400 Midnight Trader Brooks McFeely submits:

4:14 PM, Jul 14, 2009 --

  • NYSE up 44.2 (0.7%) to 5,805.58.
  • DJIA up 27.8 (0.3%) to 8,359.
  • S&P 500 up 4.78 (0.5%) to 905.84.
  • Nasdaq up 6.52 (0.4%) to 1,800.


GLOBAL SENTIMENT


Complete Story »]]> CIT CNB CPST DARA DELL GS HITK HNT JAVA JNJ NVLS OSCI PRU SQNM TTWO Midnight Trader Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News http://seekingalpha.com/article/148626-wall-street-breakfast-must-know-news?source=feed 148626

  • CIT yo-yos on default risk, rescue rumors. Reports that the government is in advanced talks to help lender CIT Group (CIT) sent shares up nearly 26% after hours, following a drop of 11.8% during regular trading, but shares may trade lower again today as sources say a regulatory battle between government agencies is delaying any potential rescue. CIT isn't large enough to be considered system-critical or too-big-to-fail but it is a lender to nearly 1M companies and is struggling in the face of serious liquidity problems and a wave of maturing debt. S&P gave CIT's counterparty credit rating a hefty four-notch cut, to CCC+ from BB-, and said bankruptcy is possible. Moody's also downgraded CIT's credit rating by four notches, to B3 from Ba2.
  • Buoyant banks. Bank stocks fared well yesterday (BAC +9.3%, AXP +5.6%, WFC +8.4%, COF +6%, JPM +7.3%, GS +5.3%, MS +7.6%, C +7.3%) after Meredith Whitney released a bullish note on the sector and gave Goldman Sachs (GS) a Buy rating one day ahead of its Q2 earnings release. Whitney expects bank shares to gain at least 15% short-term, but her bullish view of Goldman is related to her overall bearish outlook for the U.S. economy; she thinks Goldman will benefit from a 'tsunami of debt issuance' as governments try to fill budget shortfalls. GS +1% premarket (7:00 ET) ahead of Q2 earnings report. (FT Alphaville highlights some key points in Whitney's report)
  • Rattner packs his bags. Steven Rattner is stepping down as head of the auto task force after six months on the job, following the emergence of both Chrysler and General Motors from bankruptcy protection. Ron Bloom, an adviser to the task force, will assume Rattner's role. Rattner likely won't rejoin his former firm, Quadrangle, which is being scrutinized by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for links to a pension industry corruption probe, though there was no indication that Rattner's departure from the auto task force was connected to the investigation.
  • Facebook valued at $6.5B. Digital Sky Technologies agreed to buy $100M of Facebook common shares from employees for $14.77/share, valuing the company at $6.5B. Digital Sky had invested a previous $200M in Facebook in May, and the new purchase raises its stake to 3.5% of the company.
  • SEC targets rating agencies. The SEC is increasing supervision of credit rating agencies and subjecting them to 'special' examinations over their role in the financial crisis. The SEC's Schapiro has also directed staff members to consider new regulations to prevent companies from shopping around for favorable credit ratings and will re-examine the issuer-paid model in which rating agencies are paid by the banks whose products they rate. Schapiro will testify in Congress at 10:00 ET about the SEC's oversight agenda. (Read Schapiro's prepared testimony (.pdf))
  • Exxon sees green in green. In partnership with biotech firm Synthetic Genomics, Exxon Mobil (XOM) is expected to announce a $600M investment in the production of biofuel from algae. Exxon has been publicly criticized for its reluctance to develop renewable fuels, and the announcement may not satisfy some of Exxon's environmental critics who will wait to see "whether companies are simply paying lip service to something or whether they are putting their weight and power behind it.” Exxon says it will be 5-10 years before large-scale commercial plants produce fuel from algae.
  • Netflix buyout rumors. Netflix (NFLX) got an unexpected bump yesterday as takeover rumors circulated, with Amazon (AMZN) pegged as a potential buyer. However, a Netflix acquisition would force Amazon to collect sales tax in several states, raising costs and making a potential takeover unlikely, especially considering Amazon recently stopped doing business with affiliates in Hawaii, Rhode Island and North Carolina to avoid collecting sales tax there.
  • MSFT, RIMM feel the beat. Microsoft (MSFT) will launch its own streaming music service later this month, which will offer both ad-supplemented free streaming with an option for downloads and a premium service. Despite the heavy competition, Microsoft's Peter Bale thinks the company can bring 'scale and a quality of product' to the music streaming scene. Not to be left out, Research In Motion (RIMM) announced it's also launching an online music service, similar to the model used by Apple (AAPL) and Nokia (NOK).
  • Fortress plays lender/borrower in loan talks. Fortress Investment Group (FIG) is in discussions with lenders to refinance a critical $1.6B loan on Florida East Coast Industries but faces the peculiar problem of being one of the lenders as well. Fortress has a $2B equity position in the real estate and railroads company, but separate investment funds managed by Fortress have also bought up large portions of Florida East Coast's debt, becoming the company's largest lender. Fortress, which has only until July 27 to refinance the loan, is taking a backseat in the lending group's negotiations in an effort to speed the process along and avoid potential conflicts.
  • More help for jobless homeowners. The White House is considering new mortgage aid for unemployed homeowners falling behind on monthly payments, including options to allow borrowers to delay or skip payments. The potential policy is still evolving, but some officials are worried it will create perverse incentives that further distort the housing market.
  • Ballooning budget deficit (.pdf). The U.S. budget deficit for June came in at $94.3B, bringing the total to a whopping $1.086T so far this fiscal year and breaking the $1T mark for the first time. In comparison, the U.S. had a $33.55B budget surplus in June 2008, and a shortfall of only $285.85B in the comparable year-ago period. Economists expect the deficit to head higher, intensifying fears about higher interest rates, inflation and the strength of the dollar.
  • Europe wants bigger say on pay. The European Commission proposed new rules on Monday that would give bank regulators increased say over compensation at financial firms, including the ability to force changes to pay practices. The commission wants the rules to take effect in 2011.

Earnings: Tuesday Before Open

  • Goldman Sachs (GS): Q2 EPS of $4.93 beats by $1.39. Revenue of $13.8B (+46%) vs. $10.7B. Shares +0.1% premarket (8:20 ET). (Goldman press release (.pdf))
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Q2 EPS of $1.15 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $15.2B (-7.4%) vs. $15B. Shares +2.2% premarket (7:50 ET). (PR)

Earnings: Monday After Close

  • CSX (CSX): FQ2 EPS of $0.72 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $2.2B (-25%) vs. $2.3B. (PR)
  • Novellus Systems (NVLS): FQ2 EPS of -$0.41 misses by $0.03. Revenue of $119M (-54%) in-line. (PR)

Today's Markets

Asian markets jumped in trading, while European markets are modestly higher. U.S. futures show slight gains ahead of Q2 earnings due out this morning.

]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:16:48 -0400 SA Editor Rachael Granby

  • CIT yo-yos on default risk, rescue rumors. Reports that the government is in advanced talks to help lender CIT Group (CIT) sent shares up nearly 26% after hours, following a drop of 11.8% during regular trading, but shares may trade lower again today as sources say a regulatory battle between government agencies is delaying any potential rescue. CIT isn't large enough to be considered system-critical or too-big-to-fail but it is a lender to nearly 1M companies and is struggling in the face of serious liquidity problems and a wave of maturing debt. S&P gave CIT's counterparty credit rating a hefty four-notch cut, to CCC+ from BB-, and said bankruptcy is possible. Moody's also downgraded CIT's credit rating by four notches, to B3 from Ba2.
  • Buoyant banks. Bank stocks fared well yesterday (BAC +9.3%, AXP +5.6%, WFC +8.4%, COF +6%, JPM +7.3%, GS +5.3%, MS +7.6%, C +7.3%) after Meredith Whitney released a bullish note on the sector and gave Goldman Sachs (GS) a Buy rating one day ahead of its Q2 earnings release. Whitney expects bank shares to gain at least 15% short-term, but her bullish view of Goldman is related to her overall bearish outlook for the U.S. economy; she thinks Goldman will benefit from a 'tsunami of debt issuance' as governments try to fill budget shortfalls. GS +1% premarket (7:00 ET) ahead of Q2 earnings report. (FT Alphaville highlights some key points in Whitney's report)
  • Rattner packs his bags. Steven Rattner is stepping down as head of the auto task force after six months on the job, following the emergence of both Chrysler and General Motors from bankruptcy protection. Ron Bloom, an adviser to the task force, will assume Rattner's role. Rattner likely won't rejoin his former firm, Quadrangle, which is being scrutinized by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for links to a pension industry corruption probe, though there was no indication that Rattner's departure from the auto task force was connected to the investigation.
  • Facebook valued at $6.5B. Digital Sky Technologies agreed to buy $100M of Facebook common shares from employees for $14.77/share, valuing the company at $6.5B. Digital Sky had invested a previous $200M in Facebook in May, and the new purchase raises its stake to 3.5% of the company.
  • SEC targets rating agencies. The SEC is increasing supervision of credit rating agencies and subjecting them to 'special' examinations over their role in the financial crisis. The SEC's Schapiro has also directed staff members to consider new regulations to prevent companies from shopping around for favorable credit ratings and will re-examine the issuer-paid model in which rating agencies are paid by the banks whose products they rate. Schapiro will testify in Congress at 10:00 ET about the SEC's oversight agenda. (Read Schapiro's prepared testimony (.pdf))
  • Exxon sees green in green. In partnership with biotech firm Synthetic Genomics, Exxon Mobil (XOM) is expected to announce a $600M investment in the production of biofuel from algae. Exxon has been publicly criticized for its reluctance to develop renewable fuels, and the announcement may not satisfy some of Exxon's environmental critics who will wait to see "whether companies are simply paying lip service to something or whether they are putting their weight and power behind it.” Exxon says it will be 5-10 years before large-scale commercial plants produce fuel from algae.
  • Netflix buyout rumors. Netflix (NFLX) got an unexpected bump yesterday as takeover rumors circulated, with Amazon (AMZN) pegged as a potential buyer. However, a Netflix acquisition would force Amazon to collect sales tax in several states, raising costs and making a potential takeover unlikely, especially considering Amazon recently stopped doing business with affiliates in Hawaii, Rhode Island and North Carolina to avoid collecting sales tax there.
  • MSFT, RIMM feel the beat. Microsoft (MSFT) will launch its own streaming music service later this month, which will offer both ad-supplemented free streaming with an option for downloads and a premium service. Despite the heavy competition, Microsoft's Peter Bale thinks the company can bring 'scale and a quality of product' to the music streaming scene. Not to be left out, Research In Motion (RIMM) announced it's also launching an online music service, similar to the model used by Apple (AAPL) and Nokia (NOK).
  • Fortress plays lender/borrower in loan talks. Fortress Investment Group (FIG) is in discussions with lenders to refinance a critical $1.6B loan on Florida East Coast Industries but faces the peculiar problem of being one of the lenders as well. Fortress has a $2B equity position in the real estate and railroads company, but separate investment funds managed by Fortress have also bought up large portions of Florida East Coast's debt, becoming the company's largest lender. Fortress, which has only until July 27 to refinance the loan, is taking a backseat in the lending group's negotiations in an effort to speed the process along and avoid potential conflicts.
  • More help for jobless homeowners. The White House is considering new mortgage aid for unemployed homeowners falling behind on monthly payments, including options to allow borrowers to delay or skip payments. The potential policy is still evolving, but some officials are worried it will create perverse incentives that further distort the housing market.
  • Ballooning budget deficit (.pdf). The U.S. budget deficit for June came in at $94.3B, bringing the total to a whopping $1.086T so far this fiscal year and breaking the $1T mark for the first time. In comparison, the U.S. had a $33.55B budget surplus in June 2008, and a shortfall of only $285.85B in the comparable year-ago period. Economists expect the deficit to head higher, intensifying fears about higher interest rates, inflation and the strength of the dollar.
  • Europe wants bigger say on pay. The European Commission proposed new rules on Monday that would give bank regulators increased say over compensation at financial firms, including the ability to force changes to pay practices. The commission wants the rules to take effect in 2011.

Earnings: Tuesday Before Open

  • Goldman Sachs (GS): Q2 EPS of $4.93 beats by $1.39. Revenue of $13.8B (+46%) vs. $10.7B. Shares +0.1% premarket (8:20 ET). (Goldman press release (.pdf))
  • Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): Q2 EPS of $1.15 beats by $0.04. Revenue of $15.2B (-7.4%) vs. $15B. Shares +2.2% premarket (7:50 ET). (PR)

Earnings: Monday After Close

  • CSX (CSX): FQ2 EPS of $0.72 beats by $0.10. Revenue of $2.2B (-25%) vs. $2.3B. (PR)
  • Novellus Systems (NVLS): FQ2 EPS of -$0.41 misses by $0.03. Revenue of $119M (-54%) in-line. (PR)

Today's Markets

Asian markets jumped in trading, while European markets are modestly higher. U.S. futures show slight gains ahead of Q2 earnings due out this morning.


Complete Story »]]> AAPL AMZN CIT CSX DIA FIG GLD GS JNJ MSFT NFLX NOK NVLS QQQQ RIMM SPY USO XOM SA Editor Rachael Granby Financial Stocks Set the Stage for Earnings Reports http://seekingalpha.com/article/148581-financial-stocks-set-the-stage-for-earnings-reports?source=feed 148581 Highly regarded banking analyst, Meredith Whitney, upgraded Goldman Sachs (GS) to a buy and financial stocks were off to the races as Monday’s top market leading sector. Now that the stage has been set, the market will take the bulk of its cues from earnings as quarterly reports and guidance increase.

Volume was mixed on the two major exchanges: NYSE volume -0.92% below average and Nasdaq Composite volume +2.12% below average.

]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2009 04:49:51 -0400 J Clinton Hill J Clinton Hill submits:

Highly regarded banking analyst, Meredith Whitney, upgraded Goldman Sachs (GS) to a buy and financial stocks were off to the races as Monday’s top market leading sector. Now that the stage has been set, the market will take the bulk of its cues from earnings as quarterly reports and guidance increase.

Volume was mixed on the two major exchanges: NYSE volume -0.92% below average and Nasdaq Composite volume +2.12% below average.


Complete Story »]]> AIG ANDE BSX CELL CIT CPRT CRVL DIA DLX EXPD GB GBCI HAR IWM IYZ LDR LXK MKSI MVSN NFLX NSIT NVLS OSIP OZRK QQQQ SGMS SHW SKX SMRT SNX SPY STL SWM TLGD TQNT TRN VSEA XLB XLE XLF XLI XLK XLP XLU XLV XLY J Clinton Hill Novellus Q2 2009 Earnings Call Transcript http://seekingalpha.com/article/148518-novellus-q2-2009-earnings-call-transcript?source=feed 148518 Novellus (NVLS)

Q2 2009 Earnings Call

July 13, 2009 6:30 pm ET

]]> Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:55:37 -0400 Novellus (NVLS)

Q2 2009 Earnings Call

July 13, 2009 6:30 pm ET


Complete Story »]]> NVLS Novellus: Looking for Clues in NVLS Chart http://seekingalpha.com/article/148504-novellus-looking-for-clues-in-nvls-chart?source=feed 148504 By Bryan McCormick

Novellus is no longer a heavyweight index component, but earnings results and guidance from the company after the market closes today will color other semiconductor equipment makers such as Applied Materials and Lam Research.

]]> Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:38:38 -0400 optionMONSTER optionMONSTER submits:

By Bryan McCormick

Novellus is no longer a heavyweight index component, but earnings results and guidance from the company after the market closes today will color other semiconductor equipment makers such as Applied Materials and Lam Research.


Complete Story »]]> NVLS optionMONSTER Preview from Europe: More Negativity from Stocks http://seekingalpha.com/article/148378-preview-from-europe-more-negativity-from-stocks?source=feed 148378 Stocks were down again on Friday (making it two down weeks in a row) as a fall in crude prices (they had their worst week since January) and a drop in consumer sentiment proved a drag. Chevron (CVX) joined in the chorus of doom on Friday by warning that Q4 earnings would be “significantly lower” than the preceding quarter, hightening earnings worries. Against such a background, the ordinary punter finds it hard to comprehend that yet again failure is being rewarded; AIG in talks with U.S. over another $250 million in bonuses.

The Dow has now fallen back 7.4% since that June 12 finish. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have fallen back by similar amounts. The Dow finished the week down 1.6%. The S&P 500 dropped 1.9%, with a 2.6% decline for the Nasdaq. Investors fretted about the potential for a string of tepid earnings reports this week and worried about the pace of the alleged recovery. Among the big companies reporting next week are railroad CSX, Goldman Sachs (GS), Intel (INTC), IBM, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and General Electric (GE). Personally I think that the earnings of the financials will be almost impossible to decipher but watch for increased provisioning against non-performing loans.

]]> Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:57:20 -0400 The Mole The Mole submits:

Stocks were down again on Friday (making it two down weeks in a row) as a fall in crude prices (they had their worst week since January) and a drop in consumer sentiment proved a drag. Chevron (CVX) joined in the chorus of doom on Friday by warning that Q4 earnings would be “significantly lower” than the preceding quarter, hightening earnings worries. Against such a background, the ordinary punter finds it hard to comprehend that yet again failure is being rewarded; AIG in talks with U.S. over another $250 million in bonuses.

The Dow has now fallen back 7.4% since that June 12 finish. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have fallen back by similar amounts. The Dow finished the week down 1.6%. The S&P 500 dropped 1.9%, with a 2.6% decline for the Nasdaq. Investors fretted about the potential for a string of tepid earnings reports this week and worried about the pace of the alleged recovery. Among the big companies reporting next week are railroad CSX, Goldman Sachs (GS), Intel (INTC), IBM, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and General Electric (GE). Personally I think that the earnings of the financials will be almost impossible to decipher but watch for increased provisioning against non-performing loans.


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