Archive for September, 2011
(VZ) Ugly U.S. Jobs Report in Depth Part 1
The total number of people employed was unchanged in August, not a single job gained or lost. That is much worse than consensus expectations for a gain of 75,000. This report was also worse than the ADP report on Wednesday. That report showed 91,000 private sector jobs created,...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CHK) A Tipping Scale Still Favors Natural Gas
by David Fessler, Investment U Senior Analyst Friday, September 9, 2011 This past April 21, according to Baker Hughes Inc.’s (NYSE: BHI) weekly rotary rig count, the number of rigs drilling for oil surpassed those drilling for natural gas. Back in May, I wrote an article on...
11Sep2011 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued(JPM) JPMorgan Chase & Co Anticipates No Job Cuts
On Tuesday, Reuters reported quoting Mr. Jes Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s (JPM) investment banking Chief Executive, that the company has no plans to retrench employees in the near future. During the first half of 2011, JPMorgan recorded compensation expenses of $15.8...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DTV) DIRECTV Offers NFL to Lift Viewership
In a strategic decision, DIRECTV (DTV), the largest satellite TV service provider in the U.S., has decided to stream its NFL (National Football League) Sunday Ticket TV package on the Internet. The company is trying to expand the viewership of football games by broadcasting it...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Bank of America to Layoff 40,000 Workers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is mulling over retrenching 40,000 workers under the first phase of a proposed restructuring program to recover its financial position, the Wall Street Journal reported following communication with people familiar with the plans. The looming layoff...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(S) Sprint to Expand in Ethernet Market
One of the leading telecom carriers, Sprint (S) announced its plans to expand its Ethernet services to 65 markets, thereby driving growth in its networking business. The company has already made its presence felt in Ethernet business in 40 domestic and 37 international markets. The...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(UAL) United Continental Holdings August Traffic Falls Overall
The consolidated August traffic dropped 2.7% at the largest U.S. airline United Continental Holdings Inc. (UAL) due to weak domestic and international travel. Airline traffic is measured in billions of revenue passenger miles, which means one mile flown by one passenger. On a...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(XOM) U.S. Imports Tumble – Crude Oil Stocks Fall
The U.S. Energy Department’s weekly inventory release showed that crude stockpiles fell more than expected as imports tumbled, while gasoline and distillate both added to their supplies. Meanwhile, refiners reduced processing rates by 0.2%. The Energy Information Administration...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ERTS) Video Game Sales Slips in August
The video game industry continued its dismal sales performance, reporting disappointing numbers in the month of August. According to market research firm, The NPD Group, U.S. video game retail sales declined for the fourth consecutive month to $669.9 billion in August 2011, down...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AIG) American International Group Offers Notes Worth $2 Billion
Yesterday, American International Group Inc. (AIG) vended off senior unsecured floating-rate notes worth $2.0 billion in a two-part offering. Accordingly, one part of senior unsecured notes is valued at $1.2 billion. These notes were issued at a price of $99.448 and dated to...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CVS) CVS Caremark Analyst Maintains Shares at Neutral
Recently, we reiterated our Neutral recommendation on CVS Caremark Corporation (CVS) with a target price of $38.00. CVS reported an adjusted EPS of 65 cents in the second quarter of 2011, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny but meeting the year-ago quarter’s...
11Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ACHN) Company News for September 9, 2011 – Corporate Summary
• Smithfield Foods (NYSE:SFD) posted Q1 EPS of $0.69, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.68 per share. Revenues for the quarter rose 6.6% year-over-year to $3.09 billion • PerkinElmer, Inc. (NYSE:PKI) said it will acquire Caliper Life Sciences Inc....
9Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Stock Market News for September 9, 2011 – Market News
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s evasive speech failed to lift investor mood on Thursday and benchmarks tumbled down by almost a percent. The Fed Chairman used his pet term “tools” this time as well, but he did not specify what ‘tools’ the central bank...
9Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BHI) U.S. Oil Drilling Rig Use Falls by Seven Units
In its weekly release, Houston-based oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) reported a dip in the U.S. rig count (number of rigs searching for oil and gas in the country). This can be primarily attributed to a decrease in the tally of land rigs. The Baker Hughes rig...
8Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MDT) Medical Devices Stock Outlook – Sept. 2011 – Industry Outlook
June quarter results mostly mirror the preceding quarter as a host of macro headwinds (including price and procedure volume pressures) continued to haunt the MedTech industry and weighed on the performance of the incumbent players. Although a number of these issues are expected...
8Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(LFC) China Life Insurance – ADR- Bear of the Day
We are initiating coverage on China Life Insurance (LFC) with an Underperform recommendation. The company’s semi-annual earnings witnessed a steep decline from the comparable period of the prior year. Increases in revenue and premiums were offset by increased benefits,...
8Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MSI) Motorola Solutions Incorporated – Bull of the Day
We upgrade our recommendation on Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI) to Outperform. The company reported excellent financial results for the second quarter of 2011. The company is a market leader in the lucrative U.S. Public Safety market. While the federal budgetary pressures are...
8Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(C) Company News for September 8, 2011 – Corporate Summary
• Share prices of FuelCell Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FCEL) advanced 25.24% after the power plant maker’s sales figures came in above analysts’ average estimates • According to a report by Citi (NYSE:C) analysts, car sales of General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM)...
8Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Stock Market News for September 8, 2011 – Market News
Markets snapped a three-day losing streak on Wednesday, as investors were boosted by Germany’s support for the euro-zone bailout and eagerly await President Barack Obama’s new job plans. Additionally, the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book reported an improvement in economic...
8Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Company News for September 7, 2011 – Corporate Summary
• Lufkin Industries (NASDAQ:LUFK) said it had concluded an Asset Purchase Agreement to purchase virtually all the assets of Quinn’s Oilfield Supply Ltd for around $303 million • Shares of exploration company Sunoco Inc. (NYSE:SUN) gained 5.32% after the...
7Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Stock Market News for September 7, 2011 – Market News
European debt concerns sent stocks down for the third-straight day after investors returned from a long weekend. The benchmarks suffered their worst three-day start this month since October 2008. This was also the S&P 500’s worst start in September in five decades. However,...
7Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ADP) Stock Market News for September 6, 2011 – Market News
Government jobs data came in at its worst in 11 months, sending benchmarks on a downward spiral on Friday. With zero jobs being added, the markets also suffered their sixth weekly decline in seven weeks, and recessionary fears crept back to dampen sentiment. Additionally, banking...
6Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(BAC) Company News for September 6, 2011 – Corporate Summary
• Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ:EXPE) announced that its chief financial officer, Michael Adler, will vacate his position after the spin-off of TripAdvisor, and will be replaced by Mark Okerstrom, currently senior vice president of corporate development • Houston-based...
6Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DUK) How to Profit When Power Plants Retire
by David Fessler, Investment U Senior Analyst Tuesday, August 30, 2011: Issue #1589 It’s no secret that coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel on the planet. That being said, it’s an essential part of our existence. The world burns more than seven billion tons per year, mostly...
6Sep2011 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued(MRGE) Merge Healthcare – Bear of the Day
Merge Healthcare’s (MRGE) growth prospects are highly dependent on capital investments by hospitals for advanced imaging solutions, which are in turn tied to general economic conditions. Moreover, declining Medicare reimbursements could negatively affect hospital and imaging...
6Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CF) CF Industries – Bull of the Day
CF Industries (CF) delivered $6.87 per share in the second quarter, striding ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.94. Management is expecting farm income to set a new record this year, and believes that farmers are going to plan a very large corn planting next year. The...
6Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(WFC) Wells Fargo Stops Debit Rewards
Yesterday, Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) announced its plan of scraping debit card rewards program for its existing customers, effective October. Previously, in March, Wells Fargo halted the program for its new customers. This is an attempt on Wells Fargo’s part to reduce...
6Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(TIVO) TiVo Beats Estimates But Loss Widens
TiVo Inc.(TIVO), a developer of advanced television services including digital video recorders (DVR), reported loss per share of 17 cents in the second quarter of 2012, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 20 cents. However, the reported loss widened from the...
4Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(CHU) China Unicom Meets 3G Goal
China’s second largest mobile operator China Unicom (CHU) added 2.12 million subscribers in July, up 1.2% from the prior month. This takes the company’s total customer base to 183.74 million. The company’s GSM subscriber base expanded to 158 million with the net addition...
4Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(NEM) Newmont Mining Plans Mine Extension
Gold miner Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) announced its plans to build another underground mine. The company plans to start exploration activities at its Waihi site in New Zealand. The proposed mine could extend gold and silver mining under the town until 2020. Newmont also announced...
3Sep2011 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued