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Let Your Profits Run
2008-06-02 05:37:00
On Friday I played J. Crew Group, Inc. (JCG) on the long side. J.Crew Group is an apparel and accessories brand that embraces a standard of style, craftsmanship, quality and customer service. JCG reported first quarter earnings of $0.48 per share, $0.01 better than the First Call consensus estimate. Revenues rose 14.6% year/year to $340.6 million versus the $334.6 million consensus view.The problem for JCG and its stock on friday, however, was the company's guidance for the second quarter and full year, which is well below analysts' expectations. JCG sees second quarter earnings per share of $0.31 to $0.33 (consensus $0.40) and FY08 earnings per share of $1.70 to $1.75 (consensus $1.86). The company also revised expectations for fiscal 2008 comparable store sales growth, which it now expects in the range of flat to low single-digits. JCG shares tumbled more than 20% on this news.At one point it was down to 36.61 (approx 22% down) which I felt like overdone in terms of selling for...
More About: Retail , Support , Traders , Profits

Price Movement After Resistance Is Broken
2008-06-02 05:10:00
MR provides a good example of how when a strong resistance is broken it takes a quick leap ahead. $40 has been a strong resistance for MR and it took many attempts before it could break it convincingly. Now $40 should hold as a support. I am currently short MR with an average of $40.50 because i think at current levels it looks overbought and due for a healthy pull-back.
More About: Price , Resistance , Broken

Trade Tips For 7th May 08
2008-05-07 10:20:00
RSI = Relative Strength IndexSlow Stoc = Slow StochasticsMFI = Money Flow IndexS1 = 1st level of supportS2 = 2nd level of suppportR1 = 1st level of resistanceR2 = 2nd level of resistance
More About: Tips , Stock Picks , Trade

U.S. Pending Home Sales Probably Fell in March for Second Month
2008-05-07 08:21:00
Bloomberg has latest story about US Pending Home Sales : U.S. Pending Home Sales Probably Fell in March for Second Month Fewer Americans probably signed contracts to buy previously owned homes in March for the second consecutive month as falling prices and tougher loan rules discouraged buyers, economists said before a report today.The index of pending home resales fell 1 percent after a 1.9 percent drop in February, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 30 economists.The glut of unsold properties is driving down home values, while rising defaults on subprime mortgages have prompted lenders to restrict access to credit, representing more hurdles for buyers. The slump in residential real estate may persist for much of the year, hurting economic growth.....Recent reports indicate the worst housing slump in a quarter century is far from abating. Purchases of new homes plunged in March to the lowest level in a...
More About: Economy , Real Estate , Mortgage

Trade Tips For 6th May 08
2008-05-06 08:21:00
All of the following are trading tips for 6th May 2008 only.Short EntryBig Lots, Inc. (BIG) through its wholly owned subsidiaries is a national broadline closeout retailer.AmeriCredit Corp., (ACF) is an independent auto finance company.Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (COCO) is a post-secondary education company in the United States and Canada, with more than 62,115 students enrolled.YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) is a holding company that through wholly owned operating subsidiaries offers its customers a range of transportation services.Capital One Financial Corporation (COF) is a diversified banking company focused primarily on consumer and commercial lending and deposit origination.Focus Media Holding Limited (FMCN) operates out-of-home advertising network in the People?s Republic of China using audiovisual television displays, based on the number of locations and number of flat-panel television displays in its network. Lennar Corporation (LEN) is a homebuilder and a provider of financial se...
More About: Tips , Stock Picks , Trade , Traders , Technical Analysis

Trade Results From 5th May 08
2008-05-06 07:30:00
Trade Results From 5th MayShort PositionsStock Price Yest Price % ChangeBIG 27.78 28.31 -1.87%ACF 14.29 14.49 -1.38%AAPL 184.73 180.94 2.09%LFC 67.75 68.29 -0.79%COCO 11.34 11.36 -0.18%YRCW 18.00 18.56 -3.02%AUO 20.14 20.35 -1.03%XLF 27.23 27.71 -1.73%COF 55.40 55.23 0.31%FMCN 39.66 38.48 3.07%Long PositionsStock Price Yest Price % ChangeWFR 63.89 65.37 -2.26%KGC 19.72 19.00 3.79%ESLR 8.37 8.43 -0.71%SLW 13.64 13.27 2.79%UFS 5.92 5.92 0.00%
More About: Stock Picks , Trade

Trade Tips For 5th May 08
2008-05-05 06:55:00
All of the following are trading tips for 5th May 2008 only.Short EntryBig Lots, Inc. (BIG) through its wholly owned subsidiaries is a national broadline closeout retailer.AmeriCredit Corp., (ACF) is an independent auto finance company.Apple Inc. (AAPL) designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, portable digital music players, and mobile communication devices and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions.China Life Insurance Company Limited (LFC) is an insurance company in the People's Republic of China.Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (COCO) is a post-secondary education company in the United States and Canada, with more than 62,115 students enrolled.YRC Worldwide Inc. (YRCW) is a holding company that through wholly owned operating subsidiaries offers its customers a range of transportation services.AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) designs, develops, manufactures, assembles and markets flat panel displays.Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (X...
More About: Tips , Stock Picks , Trade , Traders , Technical Analysis

More Earning Season Results
2008-04-28 05:40:00
YRC Worldwide (YRCW): Q1 EPS -$0.81 not comparable to consensus of -$0.25. Revenue of $2.23B in line. Sees Q2 EPS of $0.30-0.40, better than consensus of $0.33.Vale (RIO): Q1 EPS of $0.41 misses consensus of $0.52. Revenue of $8.05B vs. consensus of $8.74B. Shares fell 5%Microsoft (MSFT): FQ3 EPS of $0.47 beats consensus of $0.44. Revenue of $14.45B vs consensus $14.5B. Sees Q4 EPS of $0.45-0.48, lower than consensus of $0.48, and revenue of $15.5-15.8B vs. consensus of $15.56B. Sees 2008 EPS of $2.13-2.19, better than consensus of $1.87, and revenue of $66.9-68B vs. consensus of $60.18B. Shares fell 5%.MEMC (WFR): Q1 EPS of $0.84 misses consensus of $0.85. Revenue of $501M in line. Sees Q2 revenue of $540-570M vs. consensus of $566M. Shares fell 3.65%.KLA-Tencor (KLAC): FQ3 EPS of $0.67 beats consensus of $0.63. Revenue of $602M vs. consensus of $586M. Shares gained 0.8%.Ingram Micro (IM): Q1 EPS of $0.37 misses consensus of $0.39. Revenue of $8.58B vs. consensus of $8.87B. Sees Q2...
More About: Industry News , Results , Season , Earnings , Earning

April 9th: Daily Doze
2008-04-09 09:48:00
Small Business Optimism Index Hits All-Time Low (CNBC)Despite upbeat commercial real estate report, experts worried (Maryland Daily )China becomes world's biggest gold producer (AFP)Pending Home Sales Fall 1.9% to Record Low (CNBC)Are We In Denial About The US Economy & Stock Market? (ETFGuide)Retail real estate market sluggish in 1Q (SanAntonio BizJournal)New projections of slow growth spurred March rate cut: FOMC minutes (MarketWatch)Credit Crisis to Worsen Before Improving, Soros Says (Bloomberg)A trading low or a market bottom? (MarketWatch)5 Overbought Stocks for Traders (Yahoo)U.S. Economy to Stall as Consumer Spending Cools, Survey Shows (Bloomberg)Housing plan to help 500,000 borrowers (Reuters)Fed May Slow Pace of Rate Cuts in Face of Shrinking Economy (Bloomberg)Can Wall Street's Appetite For Leverage Stomach Regulation? (SeekingAlpha)State tells bank customers Idaho banks are safe and sound (IdahoStatesman)
More About: April , Industry News

Consumer Confidence: Why Do We Care
2008-03-25 15:18:00
Why Investor s Care About Consumer Confidence :The pattern in consumer attitudes and spending is often the foremost influence on stock and bond markets. For stocks, strong economic growth translates to healthy corporate profits and higher stock prices. For bonds, the focus is whether economic growth goes overboard and leads to inflation. Ideally, the economy walks that fine line between strong growth and excessive (inflationary) growth. This balance was achieved through much of the nineties. For this reason alone, investors in the stock and bond markets enjoyed huge gains during the bull market of the 1990s. Consumer confidence did shift down in tandem with the equity market between 2000 and 2002 and then recovered in 2003 and 2004. Consumers became more pessimistic in 2005 when gasoline prices surged. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy, so the markets are always dying to know what consumers are up to and how they might behave in the near future. The m...
More About: Economy

Weekly Economic Calender
2008-03-25 15:05:00
Series of events listed for this week:The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller national home price index for January will be released Tuesday.On the housing front, the latest quarter's results from Lennar Corp. (LEN) and KB Home (KBH) are due Thursday and Friday, respectively.The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for March will be released Tuesday.February Durable Goods Orders and New Homes Sales will be out on Wednesday.Jobless Claims report is due Thursday.Personal spending and income numbers for that month are out Friday. There is also a plethora of Fedspeak following last week's moves to cut interest rates and allow investment banks to borrow from the Federal Reserve . Chicago Fed President Charles L. Evans speaks Wednesday to the National Association for Business Economic s in New York,Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher discusses the Fed and the regional economy Wednesday in Waco, Texas;Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto offers the "Federal Reserve Perspecti...
More About: Economy , Real Estate , Weekly

A Week Of Madness At Wall Street
2008-03-24 20:23:00
JPMorgan Chase & Co. quadrupled its offer for Bear Stearns Cos. to $10 a share today and struck a deal to buy 40% of the company without a shareholder vote, making it unlikely opponents can block the takeover. A week ago on Monday, JPMorgan Chase agreed to buy Bear Sterns at a fire sale price of $2 a share which caused a panic in the market.On Tuesday, Fed cut the lending rate by 75 basis points, less than the 100-basis-point cut economists expected. However, positive earnings from Gold man Sachs (GS) and Lehman Brothers (LEH) bolstered the case for a positive session, and the Dow finished Tuesday with a gain of more than 420 points.On Wednesday, Dow gave back most of Tuesday's gains falling 300 points. Strong results from investment brokers and a record IPO from Visa did not help the cause. Driving the loss was an implosion by commodities and metals. Gold plunged $59 an ounce, while crude oil futures dropped about $5 per barrel due to strength in the US Dollar. The US Dollar ra...
More About: Wall Street , Street , Federal Reserve , Wall

Agricultural Commodities: Why You Need To Be Bullish
2008-03-24 04:51:00
One of the sectors that is making waves in 2008 is the Agricultural Commodities . Emerging markets are booming and so are their consumption. With growth comes a change in lifestyle, diet being an important part of it. The rising middle-class in these emerging markets especially China and India are now calling for both higher quantities and a better quality of food. With industrialization and urban sprawl taking over, Chinese and Indian farmers are continually asked to produce more crops from shrinking amounts of land. They also have fewer farm workers as many have left villages to seek their fortune in more established cities. If you add environmental pressures to the mix, you've got an agricultural situation that's even more challenging.It's estimated that one out of every three dollars earned in China is spent on food. Why? Because the dietary habits of Chinese are changing. People are switching from starch-based diets (rich in grains and vegetables) to protein-rich diets (which...
More About: Stock Picks , Bullish

Nouriel Roubini Break Up
2007-12-31 02:40:00
Nouriel Roubini Professor of Economics at New York University's Stern School of Business, breaks it up for us as to how ugly it is out there.Initial claims for unemployment benefits now at their recession level signaling the beginning of a serious slack in the labor market.Durable goods order falling ? excluding transportation ? for 4 months in a row; and non-defense capital goods orders and shipment falling, signaling that non-residential spending will show negative growth in Q4.Consumer confidence still plunging close to recession levels. Polls showing that a majority of Americans expect a recession in the next 12 months.Oil prices in the $90 to 100 range putting a dent to consumer pockets.Retail sales falling in real terms during the holiday seasons. With consumption spending being over 70% of GDP a saving-less and debt burdened consumer that is buffeted by several shocks - falling home values, falling home equity withdrawal, rising debt servicing ratios with ARM resets, rising...
More About: Real Estate , Break Up , Dollar , Break

Is This The Bottom For Housing Stocks ?
2007-12-29 00:55:00
The housing market is definitely in deep recession. Every now and then pumpers try to convince retail investors that housing has bottomed, and this is the time to start buying housing stocks. CNN Money covers an article stating how experts completely got housing wrong. Another interesting article about the bottom can be found here.The best way to come to a conclusion is to go over some facts.Today sales of new homes plummeting 9% month to month to their lowest level in more than 12 years to a seasonally adjusted annual sales pace of 647,000. This slump was worse than analysts expected.Over the last 12 months, new-home sales nationwide have tumbled by 34.4%, the biggest annual slide since early 1991, and stark evidence of the painful collapse in the once high-flying housing market.The median sales price of a new home dipped to $239,100 in November. That is 0.4% lower than a year ago.Would-be home buyers have found it more difficult to secure financing, especially for "jumbo" mortgage...
More About: Stocks , Real Estate , Mortgage , Housing , Short Selling

Drawing Attention: A Weak Dollar
2007-12-22 00:51:00
A weak dollar could draw more attention in the coming year.The dollar's slide against other major currencies in recent years has helped drive up prices for energy and food and in turn contributed to the economic hardship some consumers face. A further drop in the dollar in 2008 could spell more trouble.Dave Minucci who works at JPMorgan Chase says a recent home heating bill was $120 higher than at the same time last year due to higher energy prices and a weaker dollar. He sees what many Americans may not realize: With commodities from oil to natural gas to grain to meat priced in dollars and becoming more expensive as the greenback falls, consumers have to take more out of their wallets to simply buy the same amount of goods. And a lower dollar can also raise the cost of imported goods.The dollar has fallen because of concerns among investors worldwide about the U.S. economy, especially since a cascade of home mortgages has soured in the past year. And the dollar's slide itself ha...
More About: Drawing , Dollar , Oil , Attention

Consumer Spending Up, But Is It Good Or Bad
2007-12-21 20:48:00
Consumer spending is closely watched because it accounts for two-thirds of total economic activity. Consumers put aside worries about slumping home sales and soaring gasoline prices and headed to the malls in November, pushing spending up by the largest amount in 3 1/2 years. Consumer spending surged by 1.1% last month, nearly triple the October gain. (That in my opinion is a bogus comparison. Obviously with holiday season November sales will be better than October)The gain reflected various promotional efforts by retailers such as heavy discounting and longer store hours at the start of the holiday shopping season. (That means smaller profits for retailers. More the reason to stay away from retail stocks.)Incomes were also up last month, rising by 0.4%, double the October increase but slightly below the advance that had been expected. (Income rising is a good thing. Finally something to cheer about.)An inflation gauge tied to spending showed a 0.6% increase in November, the biggest...
More About: Consumer , Retail , Federal Reserve , Spending , Good

All Signs Point To A Recession
2007-12-19 16:55:00
The index of leading economic indicators fell for the third time in four months in November, signaling an increasing risk of a U.S. recession. The deepest housing slump in 16 years is likely to worsen as foreclosures mount and banks restrict lending, economists said. Declining property values and rising energy costs may also hurt consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the economy. The economy is projected to grow at a 1 percent annual rate this quarter and at a 1.5 percent pace in the first three months of 2008.Jobs ReportMore people signed up for unemployment benefits last week, suggesting that the job market is softening as the economy loses speed. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for jobless benefits rose by a seasonally adjusted 12,000 to 346,000. It was a larger increase than economists were expecting.House Of PainMoody's Investors Service cut its rating for home builders D.R. Horton Inc (DHI) and Ryland Group Inc (RYL)...
More About: Real Estate , Mortgage , Signs , Bear Market , Point

More Trouble Ahead For Financials
2007-12-13 02:21:00
Bank of America said its provisions against loan losses would come to $3.3 billion in the fourth quarter amid deterioration in consumer real estate and small business loans. Bank of America's capital ratios continue to decline, and the bank may not resume stock buybacks until 2009. Wachovia, the fifth-largest U.S. bank by market value, said that the Charlotte, N.C., bank is bracing for mounting loan defaults and another round of losses tied to risky mortgage investments. Wachovia, estimated that its provision for loan losses will be about $1 billion more than its charge-offs. Its previous forecast was between $500 million and $600 million. Meanwhile, the bank said its market-related losses -- including those stemming from mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations -- are on pace to exceed the third quarter's. Wachovia's losses on its exposure to collateralized debt obligations and other assets were about $1.4 billion in October and November, compared with ar...
More About: Buyback , Bear Market , Short Selling , Ahead

Will Beazer Survive ?
2007-11-28 07:01:00
Beazer Homes (BZH) CEO Ian McCarthy anticipates 2008 to be another difficult year. He says the Atlanta-based builder is focused on managing issues that have surfaced over the past few months, such as a recent financial restatement and an internal investigation concerning compliance. The company also is installing a downturn management plan that will focus on cash savings across the board.Beazer's latest battle plans were announced today. The company also revealed some of its fourth-quarter results. Beazer is in a restatement period until May 15, 2008, so the quarterly results were incomplete. The most telling figure from the report was the cancellation rate, which logged in at a stunning 68 percent.Leslie Kratcoski, Beazer's vice president, says that "headline issues" had a significant impact on the percentage. Federal, internal, and local investigations, top executive firings, default notices, and heavy losses have kept the builder mired in controversy this year. And McCarthy say...
More About: Real Estate , Survive , Bear Market , Short Selling

Abu Dhabi Saves The Day
2007-11-28 01:43:00
A $7.5 billion Abu Dhabi deal to buy Citigroup shares may have created a model for acquisitions by Gulf and other emerging-market investors scouring the ruins of the U.S. mortgage crisis for bargains. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority sought no role in managing Citi Citigroup IncC30.32 0.52 +1.74% NYSEQuote | Chart | News | Profile | Add to Watchlis cnbc_quoteComponent_init_getData("C","WSO DQ_COMPONENT_C_ID0EHF15839609","WSODQ","t rue"); , allowing the world's wealthiest sovereign fund to invest as a saviour of the largest U.S. bank without the risk of being perceived in the United States as an Arab predator. Citi, which could book $17.8 billion in second-half credit-market losses, said ADIA would buy 4.9 percent of stock, eventually becoming the largest shareholder of a bank that has lost 42.5 percent of its market value in the past five months. Other Gulf investors, backed by $1.2 trillion in state reserves, say they could ...
More About: Middle East , Real Estate , Bear Market , Saves the Day

ClickSoftware Technologies Ltd. (CKSW)
2007-08-01 05:27:00
ClickSoftware Technologies , Ltd. (CKSW) provides mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions. The company offers service optimization suite. Their ClickSchedule enables companies to automate and optimize their service resources; ClickFix, a diagnostic and trouble-shooting tool; ClickAnalyze, ClickPlan, ClickRoster, and ClickForecast that enable corporate decision makers to analyze past performance, monitor current performance, and plan for future service needs; ClickMobile, a wireless workforce management product for monitoring field workforce activities and reducing the labor of dispatching personnel; and ClickLocate that captures the location information of a field service engineer and/or his or her vehicle, and integrates it with ClickSchedule for use in scheduling. ClickSoftware Technologies also offers various consulting services. The company's products are used by customers in the telecommunications, utilities, financial services, aerospace, defense, semi-c...
More About: Click , Earnings , Technical Analysis

4 Reasons To Sell Your Penny Stocks
2007-06-26 20:41:00
Penny stock is a stock that trades at a relatively low price and market cap. Penny stocks are generally attractive to retail investors who want to make a quick buck. A 10 cent increase on a stock worth $1 is equivalent to 10% returns. A 10 cent increase on a stock worth $10 is equivalent to only 1% returns. A small increment in a penny stock can yield high returns. This makes it really attractive to many investors. However even a 10 cent drop can reduce retail investors investment drastically. Therefore penny stocks should be traded with caution.DiversifyIt is alrite to buy penny stocks at low prices and then eventually sell it off at high prices, provided you thoroughly understand the company's business model and financial statements. It is advisable to diversify your penny stock portfolio to spread your money.4 Reasons To Sell Your Penny StockThere will be times when you might want to sell your stock for only a small profit or no profit at all. Bad news of almost any sort can dri...
More About: Stocks , Penny Stocks , Penny stock

Variety of ETFs
2007-06-19 08:51:00
Exchange Traded Funds ETFs have become very popular with institutional investors over the last 10 years. However only in the past couple of years have ETFs started to become attractive investment options for retail investors like you and me. More and more retail investors are now talking about ETFs. A part of the reason why most investors did not use ETFs in their portfolio is because they seem to be a bit confusing to begin with. ETFs were originally designed to track popular indexes like the Nasdaq 100. Unlike indexes, however, ETFs are traded on exchanges and their prices fluctuate throughout the day. In short they trade like stocks.The major advantages that ETFs offer investors are Diversification of investments Low risk Low costs than mutual or index funds, Flexibility because they trade like stocks, and Tax advantages like the ability to defer capital gains. However, not all ETFs are created equal and there are actually 4 different types for investors to choose from:UIT'sUni...
More About: Investor , Variety

Value Investing versus Growth Investing: Know The Difference
2007-06-11 12:41:00
Typically when you read about investing, you would come across the terms value investing and growth investing. Both mean different things, and what investment style you would use depends on the kind of person you are. I can bet, that most investors do not really understand the difference between value investing and growth investing. If you are one of them, this would be a good time to get it right.Value Investing Value investing is the strategy of selecting stocks that trade for less than what they are really worth. Value investors keep looking for stocks that are under priced but have excellent financial record. This information can be obtained by looking at the financial statements (balance sheet, income statement). Value investors typically take into consideration attributes like low price to earnings ratio (P/E), price to book ratio (P/B), price to sales ratio (P/S) and high dividend yields. In short, value is defined based on low valuations (low price ratios and high dividend y...
More About: Growth , Investor , Technical Analysis , Versus

Sector Overlook: Computer Hardware
2007-06-11 03:08:00
Analyst estimate the unit sales of personal computers in 2007 will grow 10-12%, partly due to the release of Microsoft's MSFT new operating system Microsoft Vista. Vista sales in the first 2 months of release were better than expected.Long-term fundamentals in the computer industry looks attractive, thanks to a global appetite for technology products, which should boost productivity and communications. Add to that global competition, which would force companies to be more productive. Many vendors have also streamlined operations during the industry's downturn, thus boosting their longer-term profit potential.Emerging MarketsThe economy of emerging markets is growing rapidly and so it their purchasing power. Analyst believe with high purchasing power, more people in emerging markets will buy personal computers, therefore increasing their demand. Markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America are the ones to see the fastest growth. This ever-growing demand will boost computer hardwa...
More About: Hardware , Computer , Computer Hardware , Look , Hardwar

Short Selling: Squeeze, Short-Interest, Short-Interest Ratio
2007-05-31 07:08:00
In general, people think of investing as buying an asset, holding it while it appreciates in value, and then eventually selling to make a profit. The exact opposite of that is short selling. You make money when the asset falls in value. Let us take a quick look at what is short selling.A Review of Short Selling When you sell X number of stocks that you do not own, but you promise to buy it back in future is called short selling. So how can you sell a stock you do not own ? Basically your broker will lend it to you. Sooner or later you must buy back the same X number of stocks (covering) and return them back to your broker. When you buy back the stock at the lower price than you sold earlier, you obviously made a profit on the difference. However if the stock price rises, you end up losing money. Most of the time, you can hold a short for as long as you want. However, you can be forced to cover if the lender wants back the stock you borrowed. This is known as being called away. If the...
More About: Interest , Short Selling , Squeeze

Blackstone IPO: An Investment Opportunity
2007-05-23 13:00:00
For the first time China has decided to make a direct investment in a U.S. private equity fund by investing $3 billion from its currency reserves of $1.2 trillion in private equity firm in U.S. called The Blackstone Group.The Blackstone GroupPrivate equity firms buy companies or take controlling stakes, cut costs, restructure the businesses and sell them later for a profit. They usually borrow two-thirds of the money needed to finance their purchases, making for a high-risk, high-return investment strategy. A record $911 billion was invested globally in private equity deals last year, up from $471 billion the prior year. Blackstone group is the second-largest U.S. private equity firm.Blackstone has invested in over 100 companies in a variety of industries, geographies and economic environments. Blackstone's current holdings include such diverse companies as Cadbury Schweppes, Center Parcs UK, CineWorld, Deutsche Telekom, Extended Stay America, Michaels Stores, The Nielsen Company...
More About: Investment , Private Equity , Opportunity

Earnings Trends: Positive and Negative Surprises
2007-05-02 05:48:00
Here is an interesting chart displaying the earnings trend of S&P 500 companies.Column 1 represents 10 basic sectors.Column 2 represents Q1 median growth year-over-year.Column 3 represents Q2 median projected growth year-over-year.Column 4 represents 2006 median growth.Column 5 represents 2007 median projected growth.Column 6 represents the % of the companies, that have reported earnings in Q2.Column 7 represents the median % surprize factor.Column 8 represents the number of positive surprise.Column 9 represents the number of negative surprise.Column 10 represents the number of match as expected by analysts/experts.Among S&P 500 companies, 60% of them have already reported earnings. Positive surprizes turned out be 4 times that of negative surprises. There were 201 positive surprises and 53 negative surprises. All in all, most of the sectors had positive surprises than negative surprises, except for Utilities and Telecom sector. The median S&P500 company is expected to post dou...
More About: Trends , Earnings , Negative , Rise

Dow Record High ... Don't Believe the Hype
2007-05-01 20:21:00
The big headline a few weeks ago was the record high hit by the Dow Jones average. Of course what you didn't read or hear at the time was that the ratio of declining to advancing shares was 1800 to 1300. In other words, even as the Dow was hitting its stride the market was giving way beneath investors' feet. How should an investor interpret mixed messages like that? The answer may lie in the events buried on page 30 of the Wall Street Journal a day before the historic high; you see, China had delayed the release of Q1 economic statistics and that did not portend well. Of course followers of sino-economics were not surprised at all. China had been overheating for decades and inflation was always on the horizon. Now the Chinese faced the inevitable need to raise interest rates and hike bank reserves.China delayed the release of economic statistics until after markets closed ... this was no surprise as the economy had been overheating for decades and inflation had been a rising spect...
More About: Economy , Hype , High , Believe