SeekingAlpha
- Jim Cramer's Lightning Round - Freeport's Feeling the Pain (11/20/08)
- Stocks discussed in the lightning round session of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV program, Thursday November 20. Bullish Calls Teva Pharamceuticals (TEVA): “I like the pharm sector. It is not financial-oriented…The shekel is the strongest currency in the world because
- Cramer's Mad Money - AIG, Show Me the Money (11/20/08)
- Stocks discussed in the in-depth session of Jim Cramer’s Mad Money TV program, Thursday November 20. Cramer’s New Deal Cramer thinks a sustained rally is impossible unless aggressive action is taken to reverse the current situation. Cramer says if he
- Solar Companies Overseas: Where the Sun Don't Shine No More
- First Solar (FSLR) dervies more than half of its sales in Europe, particularly Germany. The company reported earnings on October 28 before Germany, Japan and other companies were officially pronounced in a recession. FSLR said then that subsidies by foreign
- Two Compelling Small Caps for This Recession
- Investment U submits: by Lou BaseneseOver one million jobs vanished this year. Retail sales cratered for the eleventh consecutive month. Auto sales, and for that matter automakers, are headed for the junkyard. And there’s no sign of consumer confidence anywhere.Complete
- At 2003 Levels, Berkshire Stock Is Enticing
- Todd Sullivan submits: In March of this year I claimed that Berkshire shares priced at $133,000 a share were no bargain. Then in July I said "priced at
- Letting Go of Esco, Buying Petsmart and Johnson Controls
- Robert Freedland submits: The market is acting in what is for me an unprecedented fashion.How do you explain a stock market that drops another 444.99 points Thursday to 7,552 on the Dow, or another 70.30 points on the Nasdaq to
- NN, Inc. Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript
- NN, Inc. (NNBR)Q3 2008 Earnings Call TranscriptComplete Story »
Blogging Stocks
- U.S. 10-year bond quickly becoming an electronic 'mattress' for savers
- Filed under: Forecasts, Economic data, RecessionTo look at it optimistically, its a period of risk aversion. Economists, business executives, analysts, and certainly employees are hoping it doesnt become an era of risk aversion - - a longer period where businesses
- The economy's so bad, people won't even buy books
- Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Economic data, RecessionOne theory about a recession is that people will not buy cars or refrigerators, but they will buy beer, razors, soap and books. If you cant ride around in a new Chevy, at
- Freddie Mac warned of possible delisting by NYSE
- Filed under: Bad news, Federal Natl Mtge (FNM), Housing, Financial CrisisFreddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) said today that it received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), warning that the mortgage firm could be delisted due to its rock-bottom
- U.S. utilities encounter a shocker: A dip in power demand
- Filed under: Other issues, Duke Energy (DUK)The latest trend in the utilities sector could deliver an unpleasant jolt (pun intended) to electric power generation companies, if it
- General Motors (GM), Ford (F) going to $1
- Filed under: Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Newsletters, Options, Stocks to Buy, Stocks to SellAs GM goes, so goes the nation. It may seem like that is all too true right
- Average U.S. gasoline price falls to $1.99 and is likely to drop more
- Filed under: Good news, Commodities, OilThere have been almost no bright spots during the U.S. economic downturn -- no investor or typical citizen would trade minor pluses for the credit market and economic
- Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MSFT, GPS, HPQ, VMW, GOOG, CSCO ...
- Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Analyst initiationsAnalyst upgrades: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Gap (NYSE: GPS) and Healthcare Services (HCSG) were todays noteworthy upgrades: Oppenheimer upgraded shares of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
The Kirk Report
- Another Leg Lower
- While the market attempted to bounce and hold above yesterdays close, sellers again swamped the tape in the afternoon forcing a close at the lows. In fact, today the S&P 500 plunged to its lowest level in 11 years! I...
- More Volatility Ahead
- Good morning. The sellers remain in charge following weakness in overseas markets and initial jobless claims that came in higher than expected. Other than chatter of investments in General Electric by sovereign wealth funds and increase stake by Saudi Prince...
- Bottom Fishing
- Fedspeak! Paulson locks horns with lawmakers over rescue fund The risk of Bernankes cash injections It isn’t a TARP without troubled assets to cover CPI + PPI = Deflation Years defaults soar past a quarter-trillion S&P 500s Q3 earnings fall...
- More Data To Chew On
- Good morning. Stock futures indicate a lower open today as U.S. CEOs urge at least $300 billion in stimulus and concerns continue that no bailout of the auto manufacturers will doom the economy. Markets overseas were again under pressure. Turning...
- Earnings, TARP, & The Economy
- Good morning. Premarket futures, once under pressure due to weakness in overseas markets, have turned around and are currently suggesting a positive open. Along with the latest read on retail sales and more earnings reports from companies like Hewlett-Packard (HPQ),...
- Market Imbroglio
- Obama says he will do whatever it takes on economy Obama & Pelosi may throw as much as half a trillion dollars worth of stimulus at the economy Key questions from the G-20 Summit The 6 unknowns that are roiling...
- Heartbreakers
- Last Valentines Day we put together our annual list of heartbreakers - i.e. stocks that members thought would give investors the most heartbreak over the next year. Within now just three months left to go, the heartbearkers are collectively down...
Footnoted.org
- Odds and ends…
- Lots of stuff going on today, so rather than a regular post, here’s some things worth paying attention to:House agriculture hearing (which I’m listening in on right now) on credit default swaps. This is a follow-up to last month’s hearing.
- Fortress worries about Obama’s plans and other new rules…
- Last Thursday, we had the spectacle of five top hedge fund managers testifying on Capitol Hill. Several Congressmen honed in on the current tax code which allows hedge fund partners (and other partnerships) to be taxed at a lower rate
- $55K for a bailout-mobile?
- There’s been endless stories written about executive compensation for banks participating in Treasury’s Capital Purchase Program. As the rules clearly spell out, compensation for the five named executives is capped at $500K and there’s additional restrictions on so-called golden parachutes.
- Breaking: SEC charges Mark Cuban
- Just received a press release from the SEC that it has charged internet entrepreneur Mark Cuban, 50, with insider trading. The release is here on the SEC’s site and the 9 page complaint (pdf) charges Cuban with insider trading —
- Lots of drama at Blockbuster…
- Over the past 23 years, Blockbuster, Inc. (BBI) has made a lot of money by renting and selling Hollywood dramas. But the financial drama that the company is involved in now is surely one that its executives, employees and investors
- Some banks are just saying no to bailout money…
- The deadline for banks to apply for the Treasury Department’s Capital Purchase Program is just hours away and as we’ve footnoted before, banks have been busily filing both their applications with Treasury and 8Ks with the SEC announcing their applications
- Some banks are just saying no to bailout money…
- The deadline for banks to apply for the Treasury Department’s Capital Purchase Program is just hours away and as we’ve footnoted before, banks have been busily filing both their applications with Treasury and 8Ks with the SEC announcing their applications
TraderFeed
- Three Common Trading Mistakes
- Trading is a lot like dating: often you have to make enough mistakes and suffer the consequences when you dont have much on the line before you start making good decisions when youre playing for keeps. Here are some of
- High Yield, Low Performance and Other Market Ideas
- * Unyielding Yield Play - One rule thats held consistently in the recent market is that reaching for yield has cost investors in performance. I took a look at the FINRA data and the numbers were eye-opening. Here are the
- How Volatile Is This Stock Market?
- I went to the cash S&P 500 Index from 2003 through June of 2007 and calculated that the median weekly high-low price range was 2.09% (mean 2.32%). I then looked at the *daily* high-low range for $SPX from July, 2007
- Stress and Performance in Trading
- An excellent review of research by Mark Staal, conducted for NASA, offers fascinating windows on the variety of ways that stress can affect human performance. Examining hundreds of research studies, the author finds that stress interferes with attention, memory, decision
Random Roger's Big Picture
- WWLD?
- Here is the quote from Lou Rukeyser from the 1987 crash as per USA Today.Lets start with whats really important tonight,
- Ludacris!
- I was on CNBC on Monday talking about whether or not insider buying was important and whether it made sense to
- Holy Crud!
- The puke down continued yesterday. The sold them with both hands, well they have been selling them with both hands for ages now havent they.I read one quick snippet about JP Morgan and Bank America going to mid 90s levels.
- Headed To Hilo
- We are flying to Hilo today, regular blogging to resume tomorrow. Taking a page from Barry maybe we can get a
- Throwing In The Towel
- Not me but maybe the market. Yesterdays decline felt like the market just gave up, it grew weary of fighting. No way to substantiate that of course, just a feeling I had in seeing it unfold. Early in the day
- Closing Bell
- Im scheduled 20 minutes after the close for a segment on whether insider buying is a relevant predictor for future market
- Something Will Have To Give
- Yesterdays post about taking 4% of principal as retirement income from the portfolio elicited a couple of opposing views which makes
Ticker Sense
- November 17th Blogger Sentiment Poll
- The blogging world remains bullish for the week. Blogger Sentiment Poll Participants:24/7 Wall St. (-) Ahead of the Ticker (+) Carl Futia (+) Crossing
- Bear Market Strategy
- Distributed to Mini-Institutional subscribers on Friday, Birinyi Associates newest publication is a 180 page analysis of every bear market from the last fifty years. Each bear cycle is broken down into its causes, catalysts and final resolution. The first 20
- November 10th Blogger Sentiment Poll
- Bloggers continue their bullish positions this week. Blogger Sentiment Poll Participants:24/7 Wall St. (-) Ahead of the Ticker (+) Carl Futia (+) Crowder Blog (+) Crossing
- November 3rd Blogger Sentiment Poll
- Bloggers begin the month maintaining the bullish sentiment. Blogger Sentiment Poll Participants:24/7 Wall St. (N) Ahead of the Ticker (+) Carl Futia (+) Crowder Blog
- Volkswagen: The Biggest Company in the World
- Yes, thats right, at one point early this morning EST Volkswagen AG was up 100% and surpassed Exxon-Mobil as the largest company in the world. The move has been blamed on a short squeeze, but could you really imagine XOM
- October 27th Blogger Sentiment Poll
- There are still more bulls than bears this week. Blogger Sentiment Poll Participants:24/7 Wall St. (N) Ahead of the Ticker (+) Carl Futia (+)
- Re-Read "the next CRASH"
- the next CRASH was written and distributed to Birinyi Associates clients in August of 2007. In it Mr. Birinyi questioned the rationale behind structural changes such
Gannon On Investing
- On a Return to Normalcy
- It might not feel like it, but yesterday marked the Dow’s return to normal. Normal valuations that is. A little under two years ago (December 2006), I wrote a series of posts on normalized P/E ratios. In my most important
- On Ben Graham, Bank Stocks, and Tom Brown
- I wrote a response to Jason Zweig’s column on Ben Graham and bank stocks. Now, Tom Brown of Bankstocks.com has done the same. I have to admit, Tom’s article is better than mine. Both take Zweig to task for his
- Festival of Stocks #99
- Welcome to the ninety-ninth Festival of Stocks. The Festival of Stocks is a weekly blog carnival dedicated to highlighting the best recent posts on stock market related topics. I am proud to present this weeks best entries to the Festival
- On a Starbucks Shuttered
- They say you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.I don’t know who they are; but I know of what they speak.I recently lost a coffee place (not a Starbucks). It was a traumatic experience.Last year, my eye doctor
- On Ben Graham and Bank Stocks
- Jason Zweig writes the Intelligent Investor column for The Wall Street Journal. I’m sorry to say this week’s column is especially unintelligent. When asked whether Graham would be buying financial stocks today, Zweig says no, and gives the following reason:
- Book Review: The Ten Commandments for Business Failure
- Review by Geoff Gannon
- Upcoming Festival of Stocks
- Attention Investment Bloggers:I’m hosting this week’s Festival of Stocks (on Monday).Please send me your best post of the last week.Thank you.
Value Discipline
- Ben Graham meets the Exchange Trade Note part II
- As discussed in the previous post, Nuveen has created an interesting Benjamin Graham based index. Here is a look at the Graham Small Cap Index constituents for the Benjamin Graham Small Cap Value ELEMENTS portfolio:A O Smith CorpAdministaff IncAdtran IncAlon
- Ben Graham meets the Exchange Traded Note
- Exchange traded notes (ETN) are a fairly new investment product that share some characteristics of exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. They are simply direct debt obligations issued by a bank or investment firm rather than an interest in a pool of
- Book Review-"Even Buffett Isn't Perfect"
- I am a complete sucker for investment books. My wife accuses me of owning several thousand books that have essentially the same title, usually some variant of Value Investing, valuation, or intrinsic value, or securities analysis. Of course, I have
- John Templeton- The Triumph of Optimism
- Sir John Templeton passed away yesterday. He died, much as he spent his life, peacefully.Geoff Gannon (and it is great to have him back in the blogosphere) has an extensive list of articles outlining Templetons life as well as a
- An Interesting Screen-Deteriorating Operating Margins and Increasing Capital Intensity
- As one would expect, deterioration in operating margins will occur in economic slowdowns. Marginal competitors frequently will try to clear inventories at ever lower margins in order to generate cash flow. I am particularly interested concerned if a company exhibits
- Recurring Revenues and Financial Services- The Competitive Moat of Fiserv
- In our last post, we discussed the notion of recurring revenues as it pertains to companies in the industrial sector. The genesis of this idea was a reaction to the prevailing wisdom of many investment strategists to find recurring revenue
- Recurring Revenues and Industrials
- Economic uncertainty generally steers investors toward steady eddy businesses such as foods, consumer staples, healthcare and utilities. But what investors should be seeking is recurring revenues, predictable and stable revenues with a high degree of certainty.Recurring revenues are highly desirable
NO DooDahs!
- Buy-A-Bank Bailouts
- The Hartford (HIG), a.k.a. “The Neutered Stag,” has pulled a fast one! They bought a bank, just in order to get bailed out.In some bizarre way, this multi-national, multi-billion-dollar insurer can buy some tiny, eleven-branch-having, single state bank off of
- Busy With Other Projects, Back Again Soon
- No description.
- Updates at The Rempel Report
- Still no Timing signalValue Portfolio updatePersonal returns for October 2008
- Piece of the Rock Randomosity
- Get it, baby! Get a piece of the rock! Prudential Financial (PRU) reported yesterday. Lots of ways to put lipstick on this pig, and turn a loss per share into a “
- The Solution To Inflation
- Some “PG-13″ language. Headphones? Direct link.
- The Credit Crunch Myth
- I think this paper did a creditable job of debunking four so-called “facts” about the credit crunch. “Myths about the Financial Crisis of 2008″ (PDF). Hat tip to Mises blog.
ModernGraham.com
- Valuation: NCI Building Systems Inc. (NCS)
- Company Profile: NCI Building Systems Inc. (NCS) (obtained via Yahoo Finance)NCI Building Systems, Inc. manufactures and markets metal products for the nonresidential construction industry in North America. The company’s Metal Coil Coating segment consists of cleaning, treating, and painting various
- Valuation: Olin Corporation (OLN)
- Company Profile: Olin Corporation (OLN) (obtained via Yahoo Finance)Olin Corporation engages in the manufacture and sale of chlor alkali products to commercial and industrial markets in the United States and internationally. It operates in two segments, Chlor Alkali Products and
- Valuation: EnPro Industries, Inc. (NPO)
- Company Review: EnPro Industries, Inc. (NPO) Company Profile: EnPro Industries, Inc. (obtained via Yahoo Finance) EnPro Industries, Inc. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and marketing of engineered industrial products. It operates through three segments: Sealing Products, Engineered Products, and
- Valuation: Sykes Enterprises (SYKE)
- Company Profile: Sykes Enterprises (SYKE) (obtained via Yahoo Finance)Sykes Enterprises, Incorporated provides outsourced customer contact management solutions and services in the business process outsourcing arena. Its solutions include customer assistance, healthcare and roadside assistance, technical support, and product sales. The
- ModernGraham Value Investing Search Engine
- We have just created the ModernGraham Value Investing Search Engine, powered by Google Search. Using this search engine, you can search through a number of websites that are focused on value investing. We believe this will be a very useful
- Valuation: Graham Corporation (GHM)
- Company Profile: Graham Corporation (GHM) (obtained via Yahoo Finance)Graham Corporation designs, manufactures, and sells vacuum and heat transfer equipment worldwide. Its products include steam jet ejector vacuum systems; surface condensers for steam turbines; vacuum pumps and compressors; various types of
- DJIA Analysis & Portfolios - 8-12-08
- Each Tuesday, we will be posting an analysis of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). In this analysis, we will show all components which pass our tests for the defensive and/or enterprising investor, our current valuation, and the previous day’s
Stock Market Beat
- Capacity Utilization: Total Industry
- St. Louis Fed: Series: TCU, Capacity Utilization: Total Industry
- Personal Income and Outlays
- Econoday Report: Personal Income and Outlays 31, 2008Personal income in September 2008 rose 0.2% from August. Real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) fell 0.4% and nominal PCE fell 0.3%. Real disposable personal income (DPI) rose 0.1% and nominal DPI increased 0.2%. The
- Retail Sales
- Economic Indicators.gov
- Interest Rate Spreads
- St. Louis Fed: Series: WBAA, Moody’s Seasoned Baa Corporate Bond Yield Series: WGS10YR, 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity RateAccording to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, Baa corporate bonds are yielding 4.56% more than 10-year Treasuries. The chart below shows
- Consumer Price Index
- 12-Month Percent Change in Consumer Price Index Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Capacity Utilization: Total Industry
- No description.
- Total Capacity Utilization
- No description.
Berkshire Ruminations
- Merger Arbitrage Mania!
- I haven’t heard a lot of discussion about this, so I thought I would put my thoughts down on this blog, because to me the phenomenon is pretty obvious. There is some serious value out there right now, and for
- Victory for Wooden Arrow Advocates
- It was a glorious evening yesterday when the U.S. Senate passed its version of H.R. 1424, the package of legislation representing Congress’ half-hearted attempt to stabilize the economy. It was glorious for all those of us who have striven so
- PS - Where's the hedge funds' bailout?
- As the day has worn on, I am getting convinced this is political because here is what Ive been told. Hedge funds are evil. Short sellers are evil. Even the SEC is evil - and that was before it decided
- Oh, so now it's the shorts' fault?
- Nothing surprises me these days. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t concern me. This short selling ban is, without question, the scariest thing to come out of the whole mess.And it is not that I don’t have perspective. The meltdown
- Thoughts on Anheuser Busch and InBev
- I have always had warm feelings towards Anheuser Busch. Growing up in the St. Louis area I couldn’t help it – afternoons at Grant’s Farm, countless Cardinal games at Busch Stadium and the occasional brewery tour. AB is all around
- USA Today
- There was a good article recently in USA Today about Warren Buffett that quotes me, among others. http://www.usatoday.com/money/markets/2008-06-04-warren-buffett_N.htm
- RBP Investing
- As some readers may know, I recently started writing a couple of new blogs. One is called RBP Investing. RBP stands for Required Business Performance and was developed by a company in New York called Transparent Value. RBP is a
Investment Ideas
- Permanent Shutdown
- Id like to announce my permanent hiatus from the blogging scene. Ive utilized the blog to leverage my knowledge and show my passion for the business, which has served me well, as Ive learned from this experience a great deal
- The Monday Edition- Fixed Income Strategy For This Week & Speculative Trade (ENCY)
- Ive finally got some spare time, so thought Id share my thoughts on one wild week were going to have.The price action in the US 10-year Treasury yields last week was extremely bearish as the bull channel in place since
- Buy MNT (Short-Term Trade)
- Rationale: 1) With 16% of its float sold short, or 6,537,400 million shares, with 4.3 days to cover and average daily trading volume (3m) of 888K, it will take 7.36 days to cover the entire position.2) On a fundamental level
- Stamp duty China impacts 1991-2005
- Yes, I know Im on a hiatus, but that doesnt mean I cant take a minute out to re-print something useful I received in the e-mail from someone who would rather not be named.Oct. 1991 - The Stamp Duty was
- Featured In Globe & Mail
- It is my first time in the Globe & Mail, which is Canadas NYT, and first time in print (no online version). Im thankful to God, GM and everybody else who takes time to come here. Ill sure miss you
- Blogging Hiatus: Internship Time
- For this summer, I had some good offers, thanks to God, from Barclays (Dubai), UBS (LA) but I chose a firm in the HF industry.I posted their name and a few clients, but have been advised by a friend to
- Hedging w/ Futures & Options: Bullish, Bearish & Neutral Strategies
- As you know, were in the third year of the presidential cycle, which on a historical basis has been quite bullish for the markets.The DJIA has risen 24 times and fallen 5 times in the 29 third calendar year of