Archive for March, 2010
(WSM) Williams-Sonoma Inc – Earnings Estimates Pop
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM) topped estimates once again, sending shares to multi-year highs. Top-line growth helped the company report its sixth consecutive surprise. Company Description Williams-Sonoma is a higher-end retailer that operates under brands that include Williams-Sonoma,...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(STI) SunTrust Banks Has Ratings Lowered by Fitch
With the concerns of continued weakness in mortgages and commercial loan losses, rating agency Fitch Ratings recently lowered the ratings of SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI). The rating agency downgraded the long-term issuer default ratings (IDR) for SunTrust and its bank subsidiary...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(FO) Fortune Brands Wins Patent Dispute Against Callaway Golf
Fortune Brands Inc. (FO), a leading consumer brands company, has recently received a favorable verdict against Callaway Golf Co. (ELY) relating to a patent dispute involving Titleist Pro V1 golf balls, bringing to an end a long-standing legal battle spanning over four years. In...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CEO) CNOOC Begins Production in Offshore Chinese Oil Fields
CNOOC Ltd (CEO) has successfully started production at two of its independent oil fields. The two oil fields are WeiZhou11-1 east (WZ11-1E) and BoZhong (BZ) 3-2. The first is located in western South China Sea, while the other is in Bohai Bay. The company has 100% interest in...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SINA) SINA Corporation – Bear of the Day
After posting strong results in 2008, SINA Corp. (SINA) posted weak financial results for 2009, due to dismal macroeconomic conditions. Both its revenue and EPS were below the year-ago levels. The fourth quarter of 2009 brought the company’s first loss in years and was...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DV) DeVry Incorporated – Bull of the Day
DeVry, Inc. (DV) is a leading provider of post secondary education in North America and commands a strong portfolio of well-established brands. Moreover, DeVry is also taking initiatives to diversify revenue streams and optimize its real estate strategy, which augurs well for...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(F) Geely Finances $2.7 Billion for Volvo Purchase From Ford Motor
China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has secured a financing of $2.7 billion to acquire the Swedish brand Volvo from Ford Motor (F). Geely would pay $1.8 billion for the unit, much less than $6.45 billion that Ford paid for it in 1999. The price includes a $200 million note...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(RCL) Royal Caribbean Cruises – Earnings Report Profit Instead of Expected Loss
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCL) recently hit a new 52-week high as the company’s earnings rebounds on a resurgent global economy and a commitment to cutting costs. Company Description Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. operates in the cruise vacation industry in North America...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(TM) Toyota Motor Suspends European Production
Toyota Motor (TM) has decided to halt production at its facilities in France and the U.K. for at least 12 days in order to cope with the weakening demand for its vehicles. Production at its U.K. facility has been already suspended since yesterday until Thursday and will be arrested...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Bank of America Deploys Cisco’s TelePresence
In order to manage meetings flexibly and reduce the need of executive travel, Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said on Monday that it will set up Cisco Systems Inc.’s (CSCO) TelePresence videoconferencing equipment. TelePresence is a highly realistic video and audio links and...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ETN) Eaton Expanding Vehicle Operations in China
Eaton Corporation (ETN) announced that it will expand its vehicle operations in China by investing in a new engine valve production facility in Jining City, Shandong Province. The facility will be located in the campus of Eaton Hydraulics System (Jining) Co. Ltd., which produces...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SNP) Sinopec Strengthens Exploration and Production Exposure
To boost its exploration and production (E&P) exposure, China’s largest refiner and marketer of refined petroleum products, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (SNP), or Sinopec, is acquiring deepwater oil assets in Angola. Sinopec is buying these assets by purchasing...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BA) Screening For the Best of the Best
Once in awhile on Financial Tides I like to look at the best of the best. Value Line has used this trading strategy for years and it seems to have worked well for them. Their theory is if you pick the most timely stocks in the most timely industries you should do better than...
30Mar2010 | Shawn | 0 comments | Continued(SPEC) Spectrum Control’s First Quarter Profit Grows
Spectrum Control Inc. (SPEC) reported fiscal 2010 first-quarter results after the closing bell on Thursday. The company posted 11.8% growth in earnings to $2.4 million, or 19 cents per share, from $2.2 million, or 17 cents in the year-ago quarter. However, the result narrowly...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SWN) Southwestern Energy Company Explores in Canada
Southwestern Energy Company (SWN) recently made its first exploration outside the United States. The company will invest approximately $47 million over the next three years for the development of properties in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. The Department of Natural Resources...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(OXBT) Oxygen Biotherapeutics Moves Into New Business
This morning, Oxygen Biotherapeutics (OXBT) announced that the company has begun distribution for its new formulation of Dermacyte (perfluorocarbon oxygen concentrated gel) for the beauty and skin care market. This is essentially the full-scale rollout of Dermacyte following...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SWKS) Skyworks Solutions’ Earnings Estimates Scorecard
Following the upgrade in guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2010 by management, estimates for Skyworks Solutions Inc (SWKS) have been on the rise. Skyworks Solutions designs, manufactures and markets a broad range of high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SID) Growing World Economy Sees Cement Battle
At least for now, Brazilian steelmaker CSN ADR (NYSE: SID) has failed in its attempt to diversify. Late last year, it launched a hostile bid for Portugal’s national cement company, Cimpor ADR (PINK: CDPGY). And for good reason too. Put simply, Cimpor is a jewel. It has operations...
30Mar2010 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued(TM) Toyota Hybrid Technology to be Used by Mazda
Toyota Motors (TM) has agreed to provide inputs to its fifth largest domestic rival Mazda in a hybrid technology deal. Under the agreement, Toyota would supply key components of hybrid systems — batteries, motors, control units and other electronic parts — to Mazda. The...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ABK) Ambac Financial Group Sees Moody’s Rating Cut
Last week, rating agency Moody’s cut Ambac Financial Group’s (ABK) debt rating to “C” from “Ca.” This move was fueled by Ambac’s announcement that it might seek bankruptcy protection if it is unsuccessful in restructuring its debt. The company’s main unit...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ALTR) Altera Corporation Earnings Estimate Scorecard
Following an upgrade in outlook by chipmaker Altera Corporation (ALTR), estimates are on the upswing. Earlier this month, Altera revised its outlook for the first quarter of 2010. The company now expects revenues to be up 7% – 10% sequentially compared to the previous guidance...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(EQIX) Equinix and Switch & Data Facilities Company Merger Delayed
The proposed merger between the leading data center and network service provider company Equinix, Inc. (EQIX) and Switch & Data Facilities Co. (SDXC) has been delayed for another month. The companies applied to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), to extend the period...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ATAC) ATC Technology Corporation Earnings Preview
ATC Technology Corporation (ATAC) announced that it will release its results for the first quarter of 2010 after the market closes on April 27, 2010. The company has lowered its guidance for the quarter as well as for the year after reporting flat earnings for the fourth quarter...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CSC) CSC Earns Five Year IT Contract Extension
CSC Inc. (CSC) recently received a five-year extension of the information technology (IT) outsourcing agreement with United Technologies Corporation (UTX). From this extension the company will receive an additional monetary benefit of $1.5 billion through December 2019. As per...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued($XTO) Natural Gas Inventory Begins to Build
The federal government’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an in-line increase in natural gas supplies. Stockpiles held in underground storage in the lower 48 states rose by 11 billion cubic feet (Bcf) for the week ended Mar. 19, 2010. The current storage level,...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AMD) Advanced Micro Devices Has “World’s Fastest Chips”
The battle for server market share is on, with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announcing the much-awaited Opteron 6000 series chips for data centers. Although Intel Corp (INTC) and AMD have continued to battle for supremacy in speed and performance over the last few years with...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued($RBS) Outlook for the Non-U.S. Banks Industry
Starting as a credit issue in the subprime segment of the U.S. mortgage market, the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression has now spread to almost the entire global financial services industry. However, we believe that the worst of the global financial crisis is behind...
30Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BWA) BorgWarner Sees Robust China Growth
BorgWarner Inc. (BWA) expects that it will be able to sustain its 2000?2009 compound annual sales growth of 45% till at least 2014 in China . This was driven by the government’s policy aimed at promoting the automotive sector. In 2009, China’s auto sales surpassed that...
29Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(INHX) Inhibitex Pipeline Moves Forward – Phase II FV-100 Trial Progressing as Planned
On January 11, 2010, Inhibitex (INHX) announced that the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) met, as scheduled, in early December 2009 to review the 30-day follow-up data on the first quartile of patients enrolled in the company’s ongoing phase II clinical trial...
29Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(IBKR) Interactive Brokers Group Analyst Downgrades to Underperform
Based on substantially lower than expected results and weak fundamentals, we are downgrading our recommendation on Interactive Brokers Group Inc. (IBKR) to Underperform from Neutral. IBKR’s fourth-quarter earnings of 6 cents per share were substantially short of the Zacks Consensus...
29Mar2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued