Analysis Topic: Companies Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
Investing in Western Utility Stocks - Do Today’s Valuations Make Sense? / Companies / US Utilities
By: Charles_Carnevale
In part 1 of this series on utilities published on July 26, 2012, we looked at the utility sector with a broad brush. In this part 2, we will focus on utilities located in the western part of the United States. The series was inspired because of the apparent general impression that utility stocks are overvalued.
This impression stems from the fact that utilities have been the best performing sector over the past year. Therefore, people automatically assume that because an asset class has risen in price, that it must also be overvalued. However, if they have risen from previously undervaluation levels, this may not be the case. The following comparison of the performance of US ETF’s by sector first reported in part 1 on July 26, 2012, illustrates their recent outperformance.
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Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Protect Your Stocks Portfolio Against Wall Street's Greatest Lie / Companies / Corporate Earnings
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:"Can't anybody tell the truth anymore?" an exasperated Bob J. asked me at a recent cocktail reception.
"Evidently not" I told him.
Bob had seen me earlier that afternoon on Fox News. I appeared on the show to respond to a new study on corporate earnings by Professors Ilia Dichev, Shiva Rajgopal of Emory University and John Graham of Duke.
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Saturday, July 28, 2012
Exxon - If You Cant Produce Oil, Sell Assets / Companies / Oil Companies
By: Andrew_McKillop
The second-quarter results for Exxon, which was the world's biggest company by market capitalization until Apple moved into that slot, confirm a stack of trends in world energy and the global economy. Exxon Mobil is still the world’s biggest oil company by market value, even if its combined oil and gas reserves are now minuscule relative to those of a long list of both OPEC and NOPEC national oil companies. Its de facto shift, like the other "historic oil majors" to the refining downstream, energy trading, non-energy activities - and gas production and the hunt for global natural gas resources - makes Exxon highly vulnerable to the global economy's performance, and to falling oil prices.
Friday, July 27, 2012
LinkedIn Shares Poised to Drop / Companies / Company Chart Analysis
By: Chris_Vermeulen
Last night Zynga tanked, dragging down Facebook with it. There’s been a lot of hype regarding everything social, but not exactly a lot of follow through regarding earnings. Recently a new member of our team here at TTT, Brennan Basnicki, put out a fundamental piece on LinkedIn that I think merits a good readover as it is applicable to many of the high flying tech stocks we’ve seen get absolutely crushed lately. Further, if we look at some more of the fundamentals and technical indicators I think we may have found a prime shorting candidate.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Tech Stocks to Invest in For the Next 10 Years / Companies / Tech Stocks
By: Money_Morning
G.S. Early writes:
During the great Dotcom days, analysts were fond of saying that "growth is the new income." Back then, tech stocks were all the rage.
Some even went as far to say that if a tech stock didn't have a triple digit price/earnings ratio, it wasn't worth buying. There were even 70 year-olds at the time who bragged about the optical networking stocks they owned - but couldn't program the clock on their VCRs.
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Thursday, July 26, 2012
Man-Made Proteins Put a New Twist on Evolution / Companies / BioTech
By: Money_Morning
Michael A. Robinson writes:
Man-made proteins. You may have never heard of them, but you will.
They are set to become huge change agents in the high-tech world of the very near future.
Some of you may have already heard the recent news that doctors believe they can use these compounds to help fight the flu.
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Thursday, July 26, 2012
Time to SELL Overvalued Utility Stocks / Companies / US Utilities
By: Charles_Carnevale
Recently, I’ve come across several discussions by dividend growth investors as to whether the utility sector is overvalued or not today. Therefore, I decided to look into the sector’s relative valuation as a whole to see what I could find. The only way to efficiently conduct this kind of research is to rely on a broad statistical array utilizing traditional valuation metrics.
However, before I report my findings there are some caveats and clarifications that I feel are very appropriate. First and foremost, I believe that any time you attempt to make broad generalizations about anything; you are by definition applying a great injustice to it. In other words, painting all utilities with the same broad brush is analogous to holding a prejudicial view of human beings based on attributes such as race, creed or color. This is neither rational, nor fair.
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Wednesday, July 25, 2012
How to Boost Your Income in a World Where a Six Figure Salary No Longer Cuts It / Companies / Dividends
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
It may sound impressive, but a $100,000 salary isn't all it's cracked up to be. What would have cost you $100,000 in 1976 would cost you a whopping $380,000 today.
And that's just adjusting for inflation...
In fact, to get the same benefit from a "six-figure salary" that you would've earned in yesteryear, you'd need to make about $250,000 today.
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Why Windows 8 Made Me Sell Microsoft Stock / Companies / Microsoft
By: Vitaliy_Katsenelson
I sang love serenades to Microsoft in the December issue, but a few weeks ago we sold our shares of Microsoft. Because we believe the stock is undervalued, that decision was not easy. What changed? A very important part of my thesis was the success of Windows 8, an operating system that Microsoft made for both PCs and tablets. When I saw Windows 8 demonstrated in early 2011, it looked like a very innovative, un-Microsoft-like product. Windows 8 was very important for Microsoft’s response to Apple’s iPad — a tablet that was deservingly stealing market share from low-end laptops. Windows 8 was supposed to take Microsoft to the next level, leapfrogging Apple and Google.
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Monday, July 23, 2012
Using Options to Trade Apple AAPL Corporate Earnings News / Companies / Options & Warrants
By: J_W_Jones
Trading stock around the times of earnings releases is a notoriously difficult operation because it requires accurate prediction of the direction of price movement. Wrong predictions can expose the trader to substantial loss if large unexpected moves occur against his position.
Because of the risk associated with these events, many traders use options to define their risk and protect their trading capital. The purpose of my missive today is to present several approaches to using options to capture profits during the earnings cycle and to help present the logic and call attention to a major potential pitfall of using these vehicles in this specific situation.
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Sunday, July 22, 2012
HSBC Rampant Drug Money Laundering, Deals With Iran, Record Billion Dollar Fine Rumored / Companies / Banksters
By: Jesse
"And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that." John Dalberg Lord Acton
This HSBC scandal is being overshadowed by LIBOR a bit in the States at least, and the usual diversions of the day to day, but it seems about to explode into the headlines of the insular major media. Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, July 20, 2012
Healthcare Stocks: Mergers Show How Obamacare Will Deliver Investor Profits / Companies / Healthcare Sector
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes:
Want proof that healthcare stocks are poised to reap rewards from Obamacare?
Just take a look at this recent blockbuster healthcare merger.
Giant managed care firm WellPoint Inc. (NYSE: WLP) announced July 9 that it would buy Amerigroup Corp. (NYSE: AGP), the country's largest private Medicaid managed care company, for $4.9 billion in cash.
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Thursday, July 19, 2012
These Natural Gas Stocks Will Bounce Back As Demand Rises / Companies / Natural Gas
By: Money_Morning
Larry D. Spears writes:
Now is the perfect time to invest in natural gas stocks.
To many investors, that may seem counterintuitive. After all, natural gas has been the red-headed stepchild of energy for years.
But prices for this plentiful alternative fuel are just beginning to turn higher after a four-year slide that saw values slashed by more than 80%.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
U.S. Discount Retail Stocks Bank Triple-Digit Gains Despite Economy / Companies / Sector Analysis
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
The changing shopping habits of a pressured middle class continue to boost the fortunes of one group of U.S. stocks in particular - discount retailers.
Almost all discount retailers have profited from the Great Recession, but those on the lowest rungs, such the dollar stores, have gained the most.
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Six Dividend Stocks to Hold Forever / Companies / Dividends
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
Investor. Now there's a word you don't hear much these days. "Buy and hold," they tell us, has gone the way of the dinosaur.
Today, it's all about the fast money. In the market, out of the market... this stock, that stock...
Of course, that's perfectly fine for traders. The good ones earn small fortunes that way. But for folks who don't have that kind of experience, being nimble is simply an invitation to be whipsawed by the markets.
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Don't Give Up Yet: US Solar Companies can Compete with China with a Bit of Innovation / Companies / Renewable Energy
By: OilPrice_Com
The US solar industry is undergoing some serious growing pains, with bankruptcies and mergers a necessary part of that process; meanwhile, competition from Chinese solar panels has many believing that American solar simply cannot compete. Not so.
Solar's track record is certainly not inspiring: The past couple of years have seen a number of high-profile bankruptcies, including Solyndra, Q-Cells, Evergreen Solar and Abound Solar. At the same time, while Chinese solar companies have managed to avoid bankruptcy, they are in trouble and are posting sharp losses, and debts are not government-owned as most might think. Perhaps the Chinese government will bail these heavily subsidized solar companies out, but not necessarily as such a move would further imbalance the solar market.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
It's Not Too Late to Buy into the Pharma Stock Powerful Uptrend / Companies / Healthcare Sector
By: DailyWealth
Brett Eversole writes: Drug stocks have been on a tear this year.
Pharmaceutical giant Abbott Labs is up 18%. Smaller names like Questcor and Auxilium are up 38% and 35%, respectively.
The sector overall – as measured by the PowerShares Dynamic Pharmaceuticals fund (PJP) – is up 19% so far in 2012... more than double the S&P 500's 9% return.
Saturday, July 14, 2012
JPMorgan's Massive Losses, Failure of Corporate Governance, Questions of Fraud / Companies / Banksters
By: Janet_Tavakoli
Transcript
TOM HUDSON: More now on the JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) trading loss and the
bank’s response. Janet Tavakoli is president of Tavakoli Structured
Finance with us tonight in Chicago. Janet, I want to get right really to
the heart of JPMorgan’s admission today regarding this $6 billion trading
loss. This is what it said in its release today: the recently discovered
information raises questions about the integrity of the trader marks and
suggests that certain individuals may have been seeking to avoid showing
the full amount of the losses being incurred in the portfolio during the
first quarter. Who is accountable for this?
Friday, July 13, 2012
Three U.S. Stocks to Keep an Eye on as Corporate Earnings Season Unfolds / Companies / Corporate Earnings
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes:
It's a proven fact -- stock prices eventually follow earnings.
So as we enter second-quarter earnings season, an avalanche of corporate reports will likely set the tone for the stock market for the next six weeks.
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Friday, July 13, 2012
The World's Safest Stocks On Track for Near 10 Percent Annual Earnings Growth / Companies / Water Sector
By: Roger_Conrad
No natural resource is as vital to human life as water. But that doesn’t mean it’s always a profitable investment.
Time and again, water investors have been tripped up by myriad factors, from changing weather patterns to volatile politics. Growing populations and industry degrade watersheds, wetlands, rivers, lakes and other areas critical to safe drinking water supplies.