Credit Services
(EFX) Equifax Exceeds Expectation
Equifax’s (EFX) fourth quarter 2009 EPS of 61 cents exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5 cents. Revenue Revenue for the quarter was $464.3 million, up 4.0% from $446.6 million reported in the year-ago quarter. Approximately 3.0% of the increase was due to the unfavorable...
4Feb2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MCO) Moody’s Incorporated Beats in Fourth Quarter
Moody’s Inc.’s (MCO) fourth-quarter earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents per share. Excluding restructuring charges, quarterly earnings stood at 42 cents, up 13.5% from 37 cents in the year-ago period. The results reflected improvement in the credit market...
4Feb2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MCO) Earnings Preview For Moody’s
The earnings outlook for Moody’s Inc. (MCO) remains robust ahead of its fourth-quarter results on February 4, with the current Zacks Consensus Estimate at 39 cents per share. A surge in bond issuance activity will boost the company’s fourth-quarter earnings. However, there...
1Feb2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AEA) My Confrontation With Ben Bernanke: The Question He Refused to Answer
by Dr. Mark Skousen, Contributing Editor Tuesday, January 26, 2010: Issue #1183 “The Federal Reserve continues to work actively to prepare for the possibility of financial stress.” – Ben Bernanke, January 5, 2007 The Secret Service watched me warily as I approached Federal...
26Jan2010 | InvestmentU | 0 comments | Continued(AXP) American Express Company Beats on Lower Credit Losses
American Express Company’s (AXP) fourth quarter earnings from continuing operations of 59 cents per share were ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 56 cents. This also compares favorably to an earnings from continuing operations of 26 cents in the prior-year quarter. Including...
23Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(COF) Capital One Financial’s Revenue Surpasses
Capital One Financial Corp.’s (COF) fourth quarter net income from continuing operations of 90 cents per share was substantially better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 45 cents. This also compares favorably to a net loss of $3.67 per share in the year-ago period. Results...
23Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AXP) American Express Company Eclipses Estimates
American Express Company (AXP) significantly surpassed its year-ago performance while also eclipsing the Zacks Consensus Estimate in its fourth quarter. After the bell marked another sharp selloff in the market, at which time AXP announced earnings per share of 59 cents, beating...
21Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SLM) Sallie Mae Reports Profits But Misses Consensus Expectations
SLM Corporation (SLM), commonly known as Sallie Mae, reported fourth quarter core earnings of $249 million or 41 cents per share and just missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 44 cents. However, the results were significantly up from the prior-year quarter when the company had...
21Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(EFX) Equifax Partners With 1010data
Information solution major Equifax Inc. (EFX) recently announced that the company is expanding its partnership with data provider and analytics company 1010data. This collaboration will help Equifax to provide its individual and household marketing data to retailers via the 1010data...
20Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(EZPW) EZCORP Incorporated – PEG Ratio of Only 0.69
EZCORP Inc. (EZPW) is scheduled to report fiscal first-quarter 2010 results on Jan 21. The company operates payday-lending stores and pawnshops in the U.S., Canada and Mexico for individuals who do not have cash or access to credit. On Nov 5, EZCORP issued first quarter guidance...
18Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(ECPG) Encore Capital Group – Earnings Estimates Are Up
Encore Capital Group, Inc. (ECPG) continues to trade at excellent valuations and analysts are projecting excellent growth over the next few years. Company Description Encore Capital buys accounts receivable from businesses to perform collection services. The debt portfolio includes...
14Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(NNI) Nelnet’s CUnet to Buy Sparkroom
CUnet, a subsidiary of Nelnet Inc.’s (NNI), announced yesterday that it has agreed to acquire Sparkroom, a provider of enrollment marketing automation and lead performance management solutions. The transaction is expected to close on Feb. 1, 2010. Terms of the deal were not...
12Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AXP) Unemployment Duration Still Increasing
What really sets this recession apart from all previous post-war recessions is the difficulty people have in going back to work after they have been laid off. In any economic environment, there are always jobs that are being lost, and new jobs created. It is the net number that...
10Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SLM) SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae) – Bull of the Day
We are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of SLM Corporation, or Sallie Mae (SLM) to Outperform. The company’s third quarter earnings were well ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven by an increase in loan originations and improvements in the credit markets. However,...
6Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(FIF) Financial Federal Corporation Upgraded by Analysts
We are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of Financial Federal Corp. (FIF) to Neutral as we think that the shares of the company are currently trading at a price almost near the agreement value with People’s United. On Nov 22, 2009, Financial Federal entered into...
6Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(SLM) SLM Corporation “Sallie Mae” Upped to Outperform
We are upgrading our recommendation on the shares of SLM Corporation (SLM) to Outperform. Based in Reston, Virginia and commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation is the nation’s market leader in education finance. The company manages student loans of roughly 10 million...
5Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(EFX) Consumer Payments Trend Down
As per a recent credit trend report published by Equifax Inc. (EFX), consumer delinquency rates for bankcards, first mortgages and home equity lines of credit increased on a month-to-month basis in November 2009. Home mortgage rates touched another record of 7.91% in November,...
1Jan2010 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(EFX) Equifax & Moneta Enter Joint Venture for Online Payments System
Equifax Inc. (EFX), a global leader in information solutions, recently announced that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Moneta, an online payment alternative to credit cards, whereby the latter will be utilizing the Equifax credit decisioning system for a new...
29Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(COF) Capital One Financial Upgraded to Outperform
We are upgrading our recommendation on Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) to Outperform. The company’s third quarter earnings were substantially ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven primarily by higher-than-expected revenue and almost stable expenses. However, an increase...
27Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(COF) Capital One Financial – Bull of the Day
We are upgrading our recommendation on Capital One (COF) to Outperform. The company’s third quarter earnings were substantially ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, driven primarily by higher-than-expected revenue and almost stable expenses. However, increased provisions...
27Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MCO) Moody’s Investors Service Downgrades Celanese Corporation
Moody’s Investors Service (MCO) has reportedly affirmed the long-term debt ratings and lowered its outlook for two subsidiaries of Celanese Corporation (CE) ? Crystal U.S. Holdings 3 LLC and Celanese U.S. Holdings LLC. Moody’s has downgraded Celanese’s outlook...
27Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MCO) Moody’s Investor Service May Downgrade Alcoa
Reportedly, credit rating agency, Moody’s Investor Service (MCO) has placed Alcoa’s (AA) senior unsecured debt under review for a possible downgrade, after the U.S. aluminum giant announced it would be spending $900 million in a joint venture with Saudi Arabian Mining Co....
22Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(DFS) Discover Financial Services Falls Short by a Nickel
Discover Financial Services (DFS) yesterday announced fourth-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share, which missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 20 cents. However, this came in better than the loss of 19 cents, reported in fourth quarter 2008. The sluggish result was primarily...
18Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(MCO) Washington Mutual Looks to Probe JPMorgan
On Monday, failed bank Washington Mutual Inc. filed a motion in federal court to seek permission for questioning third parties, including some regulators and banks connected with the Washington Mutual seizure. These third parties include regulators such as the Federal Deposit...
18Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(COF) Capital One Financial Corp Default Rates Increase Risk
On Tuesday, the third-largest issuer of Visa credit cards, Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) stated a rise in its net annual charge-off rate to 9.60% in Nov 2009 from 9.04% in Oct 2009. The statement came as a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, thereby signifying...
17Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(EFX) Equifax Enhances Product Portfolio
Equifax Inc. (EFX) announced that it is expanding its portfolio of solutions to help credit issuers and lenders gauge the end consumers’ ability to repay the amount within the stipulated time. In order to provide additional services to the end customer, the company has introduced...
15Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AXP) Outstanding Consumer Credit Falling
Yesterday, the Federal Reserve reported that the amount of outstanding consumer credit fell by $3.5 billion in October. As shown in the graph below (from http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/), declining consumer credit is a very unusual occurrence, particularly on a year-over-year...
8Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(AXP) Unemployment Duration Still Rising
While we got some very good news with the employment report today (see “Unemployment Report – WOW!”), there was one part of the report that was very troubling. While it looks like the number of people entering the pool of unemployed is falling, once people are...
4Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(COF) U.S. Treasury Department Sells Capital One Financial Warrants
The U.S. Treasury Department said on Tuesday that it will auction 12.7 million warrants to buy common stock of Capital One Financial (COF) on Thursday. This is the latest government effort under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) set up during the height of the financial...
2Dec2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued(FIF) Financial Federal Corporation Downgraded
We are downgrading our recommendation on the shares of Financial Federal Corp. (FIF) to Underperform as we think that negative factors for the company will more than offset the positives over the near term. Financial Federal’s fourth quarter fiscal 2009 (ended Jul 31) earnings...
29Nov2009 | vitalstocks | 0 comments | Continued