iconSeekingAlpha

Synopsys Inc. F4Q08 (Qtr End 10/31/2008) Earnings Call Transcript
Synopsys Inc. (SNPS)F4Q08 (Qtr End 10/31/2008) Earnings CallComplete Story »
Jo-Ann Stores, Inc. F3Q09 (Qtr End 11/01/08) Earnings Call Transcript
Jo-Ann Stores, Inc. (JAS)F3Q09 Earnings CallComplete Story »
Research in Motion Warns, But Do Individual Stocks Matter Anymore?
Trader Mark submits:So much for that early strength, but nothing matters until 3 PM. Things have gotten so dysfunctional in individual stocks that I have not looked at any of my watchlists since over a week ago. I have a
Diamond Foods, Inc. F1Q09 (Qtr End 10/31/08) Earnings Call Transcript
Diamond Foods, Inc. (DMND)F1Q09 Earnings CallComplete Story »
Research in Motion Warns
Trader Mark submits:So much for that early strength, but nothing matters until 3 PM. Things have gotten so dysfunctional in individual stocks that I have not looked at any of my watch lists since over a week ago. I have
A Back of the Envelope Look at Infrastructure
Trader Mark submits:Back in the old days, we used to look at individual companies, sectors, analyze industry data points, do comparative valuation analysis, read earnings reports with great interest, etc etc. Those were good times. Now, we wait every day
Tough Outlook for Commodity Indexes
Hard Assets Investor submits: Investors in commodity futures - and that includes all the people who own commodity futures ETFs - are in a world of hurt.Its bad enough that spot commodity prices are crashing. Oil is down nearly $100
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iconBlogging Stocks

A Twitter business plan: On the near horizon?
Filed under: Internet, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG)Today was a perfect storm for Twitter, the microblogging application led by Evan Williams (who created Pyra Labs and Blogger, selling it to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) in 2003 as blogging went bigtime). The company
No. 4: Rich people don't try to outstmart millions of other people looking at the same data
Filed under: Getting started, Rich in America, Personal financeThis post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See
No bids for Port Authority of NY/NJ bond offering shows credit crisis far from over
Filed under: Bad news, Financial CrisisIn another sign that the credit crunch has not disappeared, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey received no bids from investment banks to underwrite a taxable note offering.The Port Authority was trying
Sears (SHLD) manipulates market? Stay away from the stock
Filed under: Earnings reports, Bad news, Newsletters, Sears Holdings (SHLD), Stocks to SellDo corporate management teams and board of directors manipulate stock prices? You bet they do.Despite being charged to act in the
Closing Bell: Stocks rally; CEG, MRVL, RIMM, SNDK soar
Filed under: After the bell, Earnings reports, Deals, Market matters, Research in Motion (RIMM), Marvell Technology Group (MRVL), SanDisk Corp (SNDK)If you were watching the market today, it really felt like a mixed
Collectible Investments: Fancy Cancels
Filed under: Other issues, ColumnsCan investing and collecting go hand-in-hand? Yes -- especially if you are collecting coins, stock certificates, bank notes, or other rare items of value. Larry Schutts, an expert in investment-related collectibles, will review items of interest
Entrepreneur's Journal: Survival tips for your business
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Small businessFor many small business owners, the main focus is on survival -- not growing the business. And, with the freezing of the credit markets and the slowing
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iconThe Kirk Report

Our New Home
Yesterday was a big day for my wife and I as we finally closed the deal on the purchase of our new home. It was a very time-consuming and arduous process, but we feel good about it and have every...
No Help Wanted
Good morning. If youre looking for good news, youve come to the wrong place. Premarket futures are firmly in negative territory following disappointing data on employment. According to the ADP employment report, November nonfarm private employment fell 250,000, which was...
Earnings & Automakers
Good morning. Following the fourth-sharpest point decline in the Dow ever, premarket futures are showing a positive bias. Frankly, its been difficult to understand why the premarket futures are in rally mode other than for the big loss yesterday. Along...
Bear Market Beer
Will historic returns give way to additional gains? A preview of this weeks earnings & economic data Reports on both construction spending & manufacturing disappoint Its no time for the Fed to act like a bashful virgin. -Vincent Reinhart Governments...
Funny Money
I enjoy looking at political cartoons and in recent weeks they have certainly taken on a financial focus: My personal favorite is the very last one.
Cyber Monday
Good morning. Premarket futures are suggesting a weak start of the new week and month. Other than the acquisition of Mentor by Johnson & Johnson, the news wires are relatively quiet. Of course, focus remains on holiday shopping as preliminary...
A Thanksgiving Feast
The bears clearly went on Thanksgving vacation. After all, they have a lot to be thankful for in 2008! For the week, the S&P 500 rallied back +12.03%, Dow +9.73%, Nasdaq +10.92%, and the Russell 2000 +16.38%. Looking through the...
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iconFootnoted.org

At Tiffany’s, life is imitating art…
If your holiday shopping includes a trip to Tiffany & Co. (TIF) this year, you may have to wait a bit longer than in past years for a clerk to tie that perfect white bow around the signature blue box.Yes,
Too much BBQ for Pilgrim’s Pride…
There’s something about this song that I first heard in Florida called  “Too Much BBQ” by (mute the sound on your computer first) Big Twist and the Mellow Fellows that made me think of the bankruptcy filing by Pilgrim’s Pride
Some post-Thanksgiving turkey…
As footnoted regulars know, companies love to file juicy stuff on days like this past Friday — a day when few people are likely to pay attention. And while there were quite a few worthwhile SEC filings, this report from
Former Tyco execs watch portfolios grow while in prison…
It’s no secret that the markets have been in the dumps with the S&P 500 down over 41% year-to-date. Still, it’s good to know that some people are making money in the current market, even if those folks happen to
Gone fishing — seriously…
Every now and then, we come across something in a filing that just makes us slap our head and say, “What the heck were they thinking?”. And that’s exactly what happened when we skimmed the proxy that A. Schulman (SHLM)
Wal-Mart’s $1.1 million “associate”…
Friday’s announcement by Wal-Mart (WMT) that H. Lee Scott Jr. would be stepping down as president and CEO caught lots of people by surprise, according to the WSJ and others.While we don’t profess to know Wal-Mart all that intimately, we
Is Congress footnoted’s new competition?
Earlier this week, we saw various members of Congress outraged because the three top executives of GM (GM), Ford (F) and Chrysler took corporate jets to beg for $25 billion in money. What’s next, you might ask, will Congressmen (and
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iconTraderFeed

Bond Returns and Other Market Ideas
* A Look at Year-to-Date Returns - These stats from the Wall St. Journal are for the year through the end of November. What we find is that total returns on short-term taxable bond funds was -6.3%; on intermediate funds
Historical Patterns and Regimes: A Look at Bearish Momentum Days
One of the chapters of my new book (due out in the first quarter of 2009) explains how I use Excel and historical market data to identify possible short-term trading edges. Unlike some traders, I do not use these historical
Cumulative Money Flow for Dow Stocks
Recall that money flow takes the dollar value of each trade and multiplies that by the trade volume. This dollar
Indicator Update for December 1st
Site Seeing Excursion for a Sunday Eve
* More Linking to Come - When I began the Twitter blog within a blog, about 200 traders signed up for the free subscription and I was quite pleased. Now that the Twitter tweets include market stats, links to market
A Look at the Week's Stock Market Rally
Hats off once again to the fine Decision Point site, which separates out the common stocks from all the other
Themes of Recession and Deflation Continue to Dominate Markets
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iconRandom Roger's Big Picture

An Interesting Number Actually
Dennis Kneale (I know, I know) just gave out an interesting number.Since 1950 there have been 68 days where the Dow
Making Our Way Back
We flew back to Phoenix last night and are driving home to Walker this morning. Regular blogging to resume tomorrow.In the
Perfect Example
I often mention not worrying about things beyond our control. We are in Honolulu facing a serious delay, 90 minute late departure at best.There is some maintenance issue that will be fixed when it is fixed. I could be all
The Country That Was A Hedge Fund
A good read on what happened in Iceland from Fortune.
No title
First item is this article from the WSJ. Apparently the Pennsylvania employee pension has run into some trouble with a portable
Bad Things Happen In Nightclubs
Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress will face weapons charges after shooting himself in the leg at a nightclub Friday night. Burress
Very Sad News
Doris Dungey, 47, Financial Blogger Known as Tanta, - Obituary (Obit) - NYTimes.com
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iconTicker Sense

December 1st Blogger Sentiment Poll
The bloggers remain bullish, although bears are looking for the rally to end.   Blogger Sentiment Poll Participants:24/7 Wall St. (-) Ahead of the Ticker (+)
2008 EPS Estimates: Nobody Knows
With only one quarter left in the year, analysts are still uncertain about the outcome of 2008.  Shown below are the bottoms up 2008 EPS estimates for the S&P 500 and the ten economic sectors.  We have sliced these estimates
November 24th Blogger Sentiment Poll
The bloggers remain bullish.   Blogger Sentiment Poll Participants:24/7 Wall St. (N) Ahead of the Ticker (+) Carl Futia (+) Crossing Wall Street (+) Dash of Insight (-) Elliot
Don't Call the Bottom
The latest research report print and distributed by Birinyi Associates, Bear Market Strategy, analyzes and discusses every bear market of the last fifty years.  From this
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
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iconGannon 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.
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iconValue Discipline

Analysts in the Confessional
So why the lag in taking earnings estimates down? NBER yesterday declared the existence of recession, yet analysts continue to be reluctant to fess up and mark down their numbers.In an interesting article in Australias Business Spectator this morning, two
Staying in the Game
My sincere apologies to readers I have disappointed in my absence over the last several months. As our business has grown, time has certainly been at a premium and unfortunately, we have neglected our responsibilities to this blog. We hope
The Success Effect
  Business and investing is all about people. Great ideas are not just about numbers, and are not just about metrics. Developing an insight
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
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iconNO DooDahs!

Automotive Annoyances
A few things that bothered me yesterday about the news coverage of the pending bailout for domestic auto(loan)makers.“GM makes cars nobody wants” Vs. “GM sold __ million cars in the U.S. in the last __ years”“Nobody wants” is an exaggeration,
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 “

iconModernGraham.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
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iconStock Market Beat

Corporate Profits
St. Louis Fed: FRED GRAPH
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.
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iconBerkshire 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
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iconInvestment 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
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All credits go to the authors of these sites. Without their hard work Original Signal would not exist. Last updated on December 4th 2008 04:02 | Contact