Stocks Insurance: 2014

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Stocks To Watch For June 27, 2014

Related FINL Morgan Stanley Has Positive Outlook On Finish Line Walmart's Q1 Earnings & Revs Miss Ests - Analyst Blog Foot Locker Tops Views Amid Sales Growth (Fox Business) Related NKE Markets Slightly Lower As Bullard Hints Lower Rates Could Come Sooner Than Expected Nike Beats Q4 Views By $0.02; Revenue Gains 11 Percent Stock Futures Point to Open Near Record Highs (Fox Business)

Some of the stocks that may grab investor focus today are:

Wall Street expects Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL) to report its Q1 earnings at $0.21 per share on revenue of $394.47 million. Finish Line shares gained 1.54% to $29.60 in after-hours trading.

Nike (NYSE: NKE) reported better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Nike posted its quarterly earnings of $0.78 per share on revenue of $7.43 billion. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.75 per share on revenue of $7.34 billion. Nike shares jumped 2.95% to $79.13 in the after-hours trading session.

Analysts are expecting Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) to have earned $0.29 per share on revenue of $1.85 billion in the third quarter. Commercial Metals shares rose 0.78% to close at $18.09 yesterday.

Anadigics (NASDAQ: ANAD) cut its Q2 revenue forecast and announced its plans to lower its workforce by 30%. Anadigics shares dropped 6.73% to $0.97 in the after-hours trading session.

Analysts expect KB Home (NYSE: KBH) to report its Q2 earnings at $0.20 per share on revenue of $563.10 million. KB Home shares climbed 1.12% to $18.08 in after-hours trading.

DuPont (NYSE: DD) cut its profit guidance for the second-quarter and year. DuPont shares dropped 2.07% to $66.30 in the after-hours trading session.

Posted-In: Stocks To WatchEarnings News Guidance Pre-Market Outlook Markets Trading Ideas

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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Dow Dips Below 18,000, S&P Pulls Back from Record

It may have been a light day for trading, but U.S. stock indices ended it in the red with the S&P 500 pulling back from record levels and the Dow closing below 18,000.

Crude oil prices inched higher, rebounding slightly amid speculation that U.S. supplies fell last week, and gold prices rose to settle above $1,200 an ounce. Yet equity markets in Europe and Asia set a dismal tone for the day.

The Dow Jones Industrials fell 55.16 points, or 0.31% to end the day at 17,983.07. The S&P 500 declined 10.22 points, or 0.49% to close at 2,080.35 and the Nasdaq dropped 29.47 points, or 0.61% to end the day at 4,777.44.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) fell $1.12 per share, or 0.54% to close at $207.60.

Nevertheless, U.S. indices remained on track to notch another full-year of gains thanks to an improving economic outlook. For the year, the S&P has increased 12.6% and the Dow is up 8.5%.

As the WSJ reports:

The Dow is poised for a sixth straight year of gains. That is, in part, because the economic backdrop is better in the U.S. than in other countries, strategists say. The U.S. economy grew at a 5% annual rate in the third quarter, marking the strongest pace in 11 years. Data released Tuesday showed home prices rose in October, though the pace of gains slowed. The home-price index covering the entire U.S. rose 4.6% in the year ended October, according to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index report. That compares with a 4.8% rise in September.

The U.S. economy has recovered sufficiently for the Fed to begin weighing an eventual interest-rate increase. At the same time, growth concerns have prompted policy makers to introduce new stimulus in China and Japan, and have investors clamoring for more stimulus in the eurozone.

In corporate news, Civeo (CVEO) tumbled 55.2% to close at $3.92 after the company said it would slash spending and suspend its quarterly dividend amid the slide in oil prices.

Southwestern Energy (SWN) dropped almost 6.8% to $27.24, making it one of the worst performers on the S&P 500 index. The company announced plans to increase its planned capital spending to $2.6 billion in 2015. That contrasts with several announcements in recent weeks from energy companies that are reducing spending as oil prices fall.

NeuroDerm (NDRM) almost tripled in value to $18.14 during regular market hours after posting clinical trial results for its experimental treatment for Parkinson's disease.

XenoPort (XNPT) rose 5.41% to $8.77 after RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Yee reportedly said on CNBC late Monday that the stock was an "under the radar play."

Gold and copper producer Newmont Mining (NEM) climbed 3.6% to close at $19.2, making it one of the better performers on the S&P 500.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Oakmark's Bill Nygren on Oracle, Intel, Microsoft and Bank of America

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Detroit challenges young minds to improve city

Something cool is happening in Detroit.

It started last year with a real estate developer desperate to fill a 100-year-old urban industrial building he'd converted to lofts.

Then, corporate and non-profit executives got involved. They committed to creating entrepreneurial jobs within their organizations, perfect for eager and inventive young people.

Next, a group of 27 20-somethings moved to town and began to infiltrate the troubled city with new businesses, non-profits, community groups and most of all, with their ideas. In August came 30 more.

It is Challenge Detroit, an annual fellowship program inspiring entrepreneurism in almost every pocket of business and community in the Motor City. Though it can't make Detroit any less bankrupt, it's creating a sense of hope among the city's leaders and its young people.

Challenge Detroit has that altruistic vibe of Teach For America and the Peace Corps, and that's probably why it attracted 1,600 applicants in its first two years of operation. They're Ivy League graduates, urban planners, artists and MBAs, and they're coming from around the world.

The organizers match the men and women with jobs at General Motors, the Detroit Lions, DTE Energy, the United Way of Southeast Michigan, start-ups and more. One day each week, they come together to brainstorm solutions to the city's toughest challenges. They're tackling transit, public school enrollment, obesity, blight and homelessness.

But the individual stories are most compelling.

Take Ben Hershey, for example. After serving a year at the start-up hiredMYway, the Ohio State University urban planning graduate became so inspired by the start-ups in town that he started a production studio called Zoom Detroit to create animated videos to explain their products and services to the rest of the world. He's one of six fellows to create new Detroit-area businesses (one, a non-profit) after completing the program.

Advertising designer Brandi Keeler is a Detroit native ! charged with re-creating the United Way volunteer experience and introducing an innovative thinking process to its staff. But she's since launched two community projects, Wi-Detroit, an initiative to get Wi-Fi access to all Detroit neighborhoods, and Detroit Bike & Brunch, a cycling and healthy lifestyle advocacy group.

Laurie Asava entered General Motors this year with a business hospitality degree, and is helping to create an internal innovation exchange in a new 10,000-square-foot creative space within the automaker's headquarters. Her boss, Dave Whitman, says she's introducing the corporation to ways to attract young professional employees and get more engaged in the creative community.

Together, the 2013 fellows helped to convert a vacant storefront in Detroit's once-popular retail corridor into a thriving event space.

Founders Doyle Mosher, a real estate developer, and Deirdre Greene Groves tell me it took five years to sell corporations on the idea, to convince them to create these new jobs and to give the young people free rein to create and innovate inside their organizations.

"It was challenging to find creative companies willing to recruit talent in a very different way, to take that risk," says Groves.

But half of the first fellows stayed with their companies, and 90% stayed in town. When the city's bankruptcy was announced just days before Challenge Detroit named its second fellows, the pair braced themselves for dropouts. All 30 fellows said yes to sticking it out.

"Great things come out of adversity, and that's what's happening here," Mosher says.

The program's intent, say Mosher and Groves, is talent recruitment, economic development, philanthropy and public relations. And Mosher has certainly filled up his lofts by now.

But the real result is a kind of entrepreneurism that's almost limitless. And it's letting everyone get involved.

"Detroit is a big city, but it's small enough where you can matter in it," says Keeler. "The wo! rk we're ! doing isn't government, but it has a big impact. The biggest aha I've had, is there's always room to work."

Laura Baverman is a Raleigh, N.C.-based business journalist covering start-ups and entrepreneurship for regional and national publications. She previously covered entrepreneurship for the Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett newspaper. Baverman can be reached via e-mail at lbaverman@gmail.comor Twitter @laurabaverman.

Laura Baverman, entrepreneurs columnist.(Photo: none)

Saturday, December 27, 2014

The All-American "Short Squeeze" No One Else Sees

Everyone knows the U.S. housing "recovery" has been resurrected on slippery ground. But now that we're finally about to slip - big time - no one sees it coming...

Then again, how could they?

The numbers are incredibly misleading...

According to the Commerce Department, new residential home sales in July fell a whopping 13.4% from their June sales pace. And sales in April, May, and June were all revised significantly lower.

Yet according to the National Association of Realtors, existing home sales (completed transactions that include single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and co-ops) increased 6.5%... to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.39 million in July, from a downwardly revised 5.06 million in June.

On the surface, the divergence is confusing. But not when you look below the surface, where the real money gets made.

As you'll see (before anyone else), the housing "recovery" is just one giant "short squeeze."

And you can make a flat-out killing the moment it ends...

Meet America's Biggest Home Buyers

The divergence in sales of new homes vs. existing homes can be explained as a function of three factors: investor interest, pricing, and potential appreciation.

In just the last two years, institutional investors, hedge funds, private equity firms, and real estate investment trusts have raised more than $18 billion and bought more than 100,000 single-family homes.

Blackstone Group L.P.'s Invitation Homes unit has spent over $5 billion buying more than 32,000 single-family homes. They are the largest owner of homes in the United States.

American Homes 4 Rent, which went public last month and is the second-largest single-family homeowner in the United States, has spent $3.4 billion buying up almost 20,000 single-family homes and said in their August earnings call that they're spending $100 million a month buying more homes.

These institutional buyers aren't buying new homes in bulk; they're buying existing homes in bulk... and one at a time.

New homes, built by giant national builders like Pulte, Lennar, and Toll Brothers, as well as new homes built by small regional and local builders, are priced according to their cost to build, with hoped-for profit margins added on. Generally, there isn't a lot of negotiating room on prices.

Additionally, new homes are financed by builders' banks who build cushions into their loans. And since loans are "new," they can remain outstanding a lot longer than old loans before banks have to classify them as "non-performing."

That gives builders of new homes greater pricing and staying power. In other words, builders aren't readily discounting their inventories to make them attractive to new home buyers.

On the existing homes' side of the street, there's a lot more room to negotiate...

A Crowd of Highly Motivated Sellers... Who Love Cash

Distressed property owners - banks holding foreclosures, beleaguered individual owners, and short-selling owners (those selling homes for less than their mortgaged loan values) - have all been eager to sell... especially for cash, which institutional buyers readily dangle in front of them.

While institutional investors often pay cash, they are in fact financing the cash they're laying out. With interest rates as low as they are, especially for corporate borrowers able to float their I.O.U.s in the bond market, amassing cash hoards against their stock-based equity collateral (via covenant-lite bond offerings) adds to their massive buying power.

New homes tend to appreciate based on "at-the-market" trends, while existing homes are often perceived as having inherently more room to appreciate. That's because many existing homes were previously valued significantly above current market prices. Homes in neighborhoods that once enjoyed solid appreciation rates but have been deeply discounted are desirable purchases on account of the "bounce-back in price" perception.

That's why existing home sales have held up better than new home sales.

Now let's look at house price appreciation trends, which have been robust to say the least.

Just keep in mind the impact the billions of dollars being applied to the market by institutions is having on pricing trends in the existing home market...

A Dangerous Double Dip Looms

The national median existing home price for all housing types was $213,500 in July, which is 13.7% above July 2012 and marks 17 consecutive months of year-over-year price increases, which last occurred from January 2005 to May 2006.

The median price rose at double-digit rates for the past eight months and is only 7.3% below the all-time record of $230,400, posted in July 2006. Two years ago, the median price was 25.7% below the peak.

New home prices haven't risen as quickly. In 2009, after falling 6.6% from faltering 2008 prices, the median new home price was $216,700. As of July 2013 the median new home price is $257,200, which is an 18% increase over the 2009 price level.

In spite of the recent divergence in the pace of sales and rates of change in sales trends between existing and new homes sales, prices on both streets have risen steadily.

Given the rapid appreciation rates of both new and existing home prices and the outsized impact institutional buying has had on existing home sales price appreciation, unless inventories of new and existing homes drop precipitously, it's not only unlikely that the recovery in housing will continue, but it's likely to peter out and result in a double-dip backward slide.

Why? Housing has risen too far too fast off its floor given trends in economic growth, employment, interest rates, lending standards, mortgage money availability, and consumer confidence.

We're already seeing a back-up in pending sale contracts, refinancings, and new money purchase loans on account of the tick up in rates. Which, on a historic basis, are still very low. If rates continue to climb on the long end of the yield curve, buyers will balk. If rates tick up on the short end of the yield curve, banks will balk at lending. In other words, if the Fed does not continue to engineer a steep yield curve, then purchase money will become tighter and tighter.

There can't be any meaningful recovery in housing beyond the bounce we've seen unless lenders loosen underwriting standards and make loans plentiful.

The back-office mechanics that previously facilitated the robust velocity of mortgage money availability, meaning the ability of lenders to package, securitize, and offload loans from their balance sheets, are still clogged up.

Risk-retention rules pertaining to how much lenders have to retain on their balance sheets against loans they make, in the form of the as-yet unfinished qualified residential mortgage (QRM or QM) rules, will be an impediment to robust lending.

U.S. regulations and Basel rules are still being written, rewritten, and challenged by banks who argue that more stringent reserve ratios, leverage ratios, and risk-asset definitions will be too restrictive and will result in credit tightening. So far, the net result is that banks aren't inclined to flush mortgage conduits with money if they don't know how those loans will be accounted for by regulators.

The bottom line, again:

You can't sustain a robust housing recovery without banks' willing participation.

Then there's the economy, unemployment, and home purchaser confidence.

None of those metrics are encouraging.

While second-quarter GDP growth was revised to 2.5% from 1.7%, the pace of growth remains well below the expected 3% rate economists had projected for 2013.

Unemployment is still stubbornly high and may remain above 7% as the new structural level of unemployment becomes harder and harder to bring down.

Technology and productivity gains have eviscerated middle-management jobs, and Obamacare threatens to reduce the ranks of the fully employed in the future as companies opt for more part-time workers to reduce their mandated contributions under the new healthcare regime rules.

This Is a Classic Short Squeeze 5 Ways to Short the "Recovery" Capital Wave Forecast readers will have a chance to play housing's "double dip" in a number of ways.

But here are a few of the recommendations Shah will consider when it's time to move:

1. Shorting homebuilders like Pulte (PHM), Lennar (LEN), and Toll Brothers (TOL).

2. Selling short one or two majors while selling calls on homebuilder ETFs.

3. Buying puts on discretionary-based ETFs, especially the one that equally weights the stocks that make up its underlying portfolio -Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Discretionary ETF (RCD).

4. Buying puts on leveraged REITS that bet on mortgage-backed portfolios.

5. Shorting banks that haven't cleaned up the mortgage-backed securities bets on their balance sheets.

Last, but certainly not least, future homebuyers are witnessing the evaporation of their own potential equity build-up as rapidly rising prices are squeezing any cushion new buyers would have hoped to enjoy. As that appreciation gets ratcheted out of the market for new buyers, banks will increasingly demand more skin in the game on account of expected or hoped-for equity cushion build-up rapidly disappearing.

The rapid rise in home prics looks to me like a classic short squeeze.

Investors have bid up home prices off the floor so as to make rentals more expensive and force individual homebuyers to pay full price for whatever inventory is on the market.

Once the trade is fully priced and at new highs, on a relative time and appreciation basis, the buying power represented by the bottom-feeding institutional money will dry up, and only homebuyers in a solidly growing economy with greater employment opportunities and bankable confidence will be left to take prices higher and provide forward momentum for the recovery in housing.

As a trader, I say: "Good luck with that."

I'll be watching the trend rollover and will look to short the housing recovery in the not too distant future.

I'll let you know...

Friday, December 26, 2014

Going Feral: A Boomerâ€™s Advice for the â€˜Newâ€™ Retirement

Resignation letters, especially from teachers, are becoming a genre unto themselves and not infrequently go viral. Perhaps it is because they give voice to some deep sentiments that are true but impolitic to state until after one has tendered one’s resignation.

A new entertainingly written contribution to this burgeoning field of literature, a blog post by Penn State political science professor Philip Schrodt, has particular relevance to financial advisors as a case study in what the new retirement looks like, or could look like, for affluent boomer clients.

Schrodt’s post is not only going viral but is specifically counseling “going feral” — the post’s title — as a life and career move for late middle-age professionals.

Going feral is shorthand for neither retiring nor staying on as a tired, timeserving, tenured salary collector of declining relevance — or as Schrodt puts it in announcing his move to full-time consulting: “I’ve left to pursue other opportunities and get my fat Boomer butt out of the way.”

The lengthy but fun-to-read post essentially argues that boomers, by delaying retirement for longer stretches, are blocking the progress of young people struggling to ignite their careers while failing to use this stage of life to explore other opportunities.

“Why give up a sinecure that pays three or four times the median income and if you just want to do absolute minimum — and plenty of Boomers do — involves maybe 10 hours a week, if that?” Schrodt asks, noting that he is not leaving because of poor health or an inability to perform his job at a high level.

Rather, the reasons to go feral include quitting while you’re ahead. Schrodt points to one colleague who died three weeks after retiring but thinks boomers who stay on thinking retirement will hasten their demise are making a mistake. “Even Pope Benedict decided to retire when he didn’t have the strength to do the job well.”

And he says of his own aging: “The exhaustion following a three-hour class is physically painful; and waking up at 5 a.m. thinking about what needs to done for a class the next day is no longer my idea of fun.”

Integrity is another reason for voluntarily discontinuing a long career: “In order to get tenure at any place worth getting tenure, you’ve got to publish garbage can models, and lots of garbage can models, and that is not going to change any time soon.”

And bureaucracy is another—Schrodt describes Penn State as having “a North Korean governance model without the transparency.” He adds that “in any large institution, most of the rules exist to make someone else’s job easier—or CYA.”

The newly free former professor also cites modern advantages that obviate the need to rely on the established institutions that employ boomers: the computing power in his phone alone makes his university unnecessary and he no longer needs to visit the library adjacent his campus office because he can all the reference material he needs free on the Web.

A key argument Schrodt makes concerns the equity of remaining in a professional position that both keeps him from doing things he might otherwise never do while keeping younger people who need the opportunities he is essentially hogging. For example, an academic journal accepting his paper means that it is not publishing the paper of a younger faculty member who needs the credit. What’s more, he finds that most older tenured professors do not contribute significantly to research—only a few outstanding scholars who are “fabulously productive” and with whom it is hard to compete.

Finally, Schrodt points to the cynicism that occurs “when you find yourself beginning to feel sympathetic with many of the stereotypical negative things people say about academia,” describing the transience and irrelevance of various trendy ideas.

His advice to his fellow place-holding boomers: “It’s a magical world: let’s go exploring.”

Thursday, December 25, 2014

3 FTSE Shares Hitting New Highs

LONDON -- With the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE ) having spent the last two weeks steadily falling from the 13-year high of 6,876 points it set on May 22, we might be forgiven for thinking there would be no new records set by any of our big companies anytime soon. But even though the index has now fallen 446 points (6.5%) from its peak to 6,430 points as I write, we are indeed still seeing some companies reaching new heights.

Here are three from the various indexes that have set 52-week records this week.

ASOS (LSE: ASC )
Shares in online fashion supremo ASOS reached a 12-month high of 4,025 pence on Tuesday, lifting them by about 140% over the past 12 months. In the couple of days since, the price has dropped to 3,817 pence, but that's still a remarkable performance over the year.

Despite a fall in earnings per share last year after several years of double-digit rises, there's a return to earnings growth forecast for the year to August 2013, with a rise of about 60% predicted. But based on the current share price, that puts the shares on a P/E of a rather heady 80!

Kingfisher (LSE: KGF )
Kingfisher, the owner of the U.K.'s B&Q and Screwfix brands, is perhaps not the kind of company we might consider a highflyer. But the shares have gained nearly 30% over 12 months to reach a high of 354.5 pence on Tuesday before slipping back a bit to today's 341 pence.

With a 6% rise in EPS forecast for the year to January 2014, Kingfisher shares are on a less stratospheric forward P/E than ASOS of just 14.5, which is close to the FTSE long-term average of about 14. There's also a dividend yield forecast of about 3%.

IG Group (LSE: IGG )
Volatile markets are good for firms like IG Group Holdings, the financial-markets bookmaker, and it shows. The share price is up 35% over the past 12 months to a new peak on Tuesday of 605 pence -- and today it's not far behind that, on 591 pence.

Third-quarter figures released on March 12 were solid, with revenue growing 18% and ahead in all regions -- U.K. revenue was up 15%, with Europe providing growth of 22%. The firm did offer a caution that "a degree of uncertainty exists around consumer sentiment more broadly." We should have our next update on June 11 and full-year results on July 23.

Finally, if you're looking for high-performing top-drawer shares that should take you all the way to a comfortable retirement, I recommend the Fool's special new report detailing five blue-chip shares. They'll be familiar names to many, and they've already provided investors with decades of profits. But the report will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your hands on these great ideas -- they could set you on the road to long-term riches.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

A defiant Sony scrambles to find a way out for 'The Interview'

Sony exec 'considering' on-demand release NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Will any company step up and help Sony Pictures show the world "The Interview?"

This weekend the embattled movie studio is in active discussions with potential distribution partners, figuring out if there's a way forward for the film that provoked a crippling cyberattack, an FBI investigation and a presidential critique of the company.

Netflix (NFLX, Tech30), YouTube and major movie theater owners are not commenting.

But CNN's Fareed Zakaria, who interviewed Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton on Friday, said later on CNN that he came away with the sense that "Sony intends to release this movie in some form, relatively soon. I don't think we're talking about six months from now. This movie will be seen."

What was just a lousy comedy a few short days ago is now a symbol of two essential American values -- freedom of expression and freedom from fear.

On Tuesday, the hackers that previously stole terabytes of data from Sony's servers explicitly targeted the Christmas release of "The Interview" by issuing a message that invoked 9/11. They warned Americans not to venture to movie theaters playing the film.

Sony then signaled that movie theater owners could back out of plans to screen the film if necessary -- and they did just that, like a series of falling dominoes.

The owners were concerned that families would forgo holiday season trips to the movies due to safety concerns and hurt every big Christmas film release, not just "The Interview."

So on Wednesday, with virtually nowhere to show the film, Sony canceled the Christmas release. (Lynton told Zakaria that the studio tried and failed to find a digital distributor, so it ruled out an immediate online release, too.)

Backlash to the decision was ferocious.

On Friday, President Obama echoed the feelings of many in Hollywood when he said Sony had made a mistake: "We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States."

Obama also openly worried about the possibility of producers and distributors "engaging in self-censorship because they don't want to offend the sensibilities of somebody whose sensibilities probably need to be offended."

Speaking to Zakaria shortly after the president weighed in, Lynton said he essentially agreed wit! h the president -- but that Sony (SNE) couldn't go it alone.

"We don't have that direct interface with the American public," Lynton said. "So we need to go through an intermediary to do that."

Theoretical distributors include theater chains like AMC and Regal, if they're willing to reverse their prior decision; cable video-on-demand operators like Comcast (CCV) and Time Warner Cable (TWC); subscription streaming sites like Netflix and Amazon (AMZN, Tech30); and movie rental services like iTunes by Apple (AAPL, Tech30).

Sony Pictures has a video streaming site of its own, Crackle, but it's free for users and doesn't have the capability to charge customers to watch a movie. Charging for "The Interview" would help Sony recoup some of the movie's $44 million budget.

One of the studio's sibling divisions, Sony Computer Entertainment, has another route to consumers: the PlayStation Store, which lets owners of the video game console rent or buy movies via the Internet. The company has declined to comment on whether it might choose to release "The Interview" there.

You can buy a Sony-style hack

Of course, Sony -- and any company that helps it release the film in the future -- has to consider the risk of further intrusions by the hackers and further leaks of the stolen data they already have.

In a threatening message to executives on Thursday night, an anonymous hacker said Sony was "very wise" to cancel the film and claimed they would "ensure the security of your data unless you make additional trouble."

Releasing the film in some form would presumably be considered "additional trouble."

But among all the emotions that are spilling forth from Sony's leaders -- anger, fear, frustration -- a new one has emerged: defiance.

Lynton told Zakaria t! hat "we'r! e trying to weigh the options as to how we can get this" released.

Disappointment inside the studio about the lack of support from other major Hollywood players is beginning to subside.

After weeks of almost nothing but silence, The Motion Picture Association of America spoke out forcefully on Friday, following the FBI's statement that North Korea was behind the late November cyberattack.

Lynton, who was in New York on Friday night, awoke on Saturday morning to a front-page New York Times column that expressed "disgust" at the "readiness of theater owners and Sony to cave in to far-fetched threats."

But there was also this call by the New York Daily News editorial board: "Patriotism demands: Show the movie and show it now."

Meantime, the studio released another movie on Friday -- the highly-anticipated "Annie." It had leaked onto illegal film-sharing web sites after the cyberattack, but it is still expected to earn tens of millions of dollars.

"It's a rare bit of good news for Sony," The Hollywood Reporter said, for a studio that needs some.

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Earnings Scheduled For December 23, 2014

Related WAG Keep an Eye on These 5 Stocks for December 23, 2014 #PreMarket Primer: Monday, December 22: White House Struggles To Respond To Sony Hack Making Money With Charles Payne: 10/22/14 (Fox Business) Related CALM Top 4 NASDAQ Stocks In The Food-Major Diversified Industry With The Highest Dividend Yield Keep an Eye on These 5 Stocks for December 23, 2014 Making Money With Charles Payne: 10/13/14 (Fox Business)

Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) is expected to report its Q1 earnings at $0.75 per share on revenue of $19.50 billion.

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: CALM) is projected to post its Q2 earnings at $0.85 per share.

CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ: CAMP) is estimated to post its Q3 earnings at $0.23 per share on revenue of $63.26 million.

Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets

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Monday, December 22, 2014

Friday’s Analyst Moves: Nike Inc, Altria Group Inc, QUALCOMM, Inc, More (NKE, MO, QCOM, More)

Before Friday’s opening bell, a number of big name dividend stocks were the subject of analyst moves. Below, we highlight the important analyst commentary for investors.

Two Firms Bullish on Nike

Following Thursday’s after hours earnings release, Nike Inc (NKE) has been upgraded from “Neutral” to “Buy” at Janney Capital. The upgrade is primarily due to sales growth and strong cash flow. The firm has a $93 price target on NKE.

Sterne Agee boosted its price target on Nike to $95 as the company is seeing higher orders throughout the world. NKE has a dividend yield of 1.20%.

Altria Upgraded at BofA/Merrill

Altria Group Inc (MO) has been upgraded from “Neutral” to “Buy” at BofA/Merrill. The firm has also boosted estimates on MO and has given the company a $50 price target (suggesting an 11% upside). MO has a dividend yield of 4.61%.

BMO Capital Lowers Estimates on QUALCOMM

BMO Capital has cut estimates on QUALCOMM, Inc. (QCOM) through 2015 as the company is seeing lower royalty sales. The firm has an $86 price target on QCOM, suggesting a 15% upside. QCOM has a dividend yield of 2.25%.

Jefferies Lowers Estimates on 3M

Jefferies has lowered its price target on 3M Co (MMM) to $164, suggesting a 15% upside. The firm has also cut estimates on the company due to reduced lower end market demand. MMM has a dividend yield of 2.40%.

Nomura Raises PT on Kohl’s

Nomura has raised its price target on Kohl’s Corporation (KSS) to $68, suggesting an 11% upside. The firm has also boosted estimates on the retailer following recent checks. KSS has a dividend yield of 2.54%.

Wunderlich Starts Harley-Davidson at “Hold”

Wunderlich has started coverage on Harley-Davidson Inc (

Sunday, December 21, 2014

21st Century Fox – Gushing Cash, But Little Else to Love (FOXA)

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21st Century Fox (FOXA) shares rose sharply in morning trades after the media company posted better-than-expected results a day after withdrawing its bid for Time Warner (TWX) and announcing a $6 billion share repurchase program.

The market wasn’t too happy with 21st Century Fox pursuing rival Time Warner for $75 billion. FOXA stock lost as much as 11% in the weeks after news of its pursuit of TWX leaked out.

By that measure, Time Warner spurning 21st Century Fox was the best outcome for FOXA stock.

But, hey … pumping $6 billion into stock buybacks surely helped give FOXA stock that lift, too.

However, perhaps the biggest catalyst for the rally was that fiscal fourth-quarter earnings easily eclipsed analysts’ estimates, driven by record movie profits. 21st Century Fox beat Wall Street expectations by a very comfortable 4 cents a share, earnings 43 cents per share even as poor ratings hurt the broadcasting business.

Anyone holding FOXA stock should be very thankful for film franchises and the cable business, which now includes the YES Network.

“The company’s strong financial performance was driven by sustained affiliate revenue increases at our cable networks and record fourth quarter contributions at our filmed entertainment segment on the strength of global box office successes X-Men: Days of Future Past, Rio 2 and The Fault In Our Stars,” Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch said in a press release.

Whether FOXA can replicate that success going forward is the great unknown for all media companies, especially with American Idol contributing to poor ratings and results at Fox Broadcasting. Indeed, television was the only division to report a year-over year decline in operating profit for the final quarter, hurt by lower ad sales.

American Idol and X-Factor are more than showing their ages. Replacing them is a crapshoot.

Record box-office receipts in the quarter also set 21st Century Fox up for tough comparisons at this time next year.

Hey, that’s how it goes with a hit-driven business.

FOXA Stock Delivers the Cash, But…

That said, FOXA is swimming in cash, even after selling its satellite assets to BSkyB. The company expects to generate free cash flow in 2016 of $8.1 billion, down from $9 billion before the loss of the satellite contribution.

That bodes well for capital plans. There’s ample firepower left to buy back shares after the current authorization runs its course. And the meager dividend yield of 0.7% has plenty of room for a raise — 21st Century Fox has a payout ratio of just 18%.

One way or another, anyone holding FOXA stock can expect it to return even more cash to shareholders.

At the same time, FOXA stock gets no premium at all for its market-beating long-term growth. FOXA stock fetches 15.3 times forward earnings with a long-term growth forecast of the same amount. For comparison, the S&P 500 also trades at about 15.5 forward earnings, but analysts peg the market’s long-term growth at less than 10%.

On a relative basis, FOXA stock looks like a bargain … but that doesn’t automatically make it a buy.

It’s hard to believe Murdoch has really given up on Time Warner — not this quickly. He has a track record of pursuing targets for many years before making an offer they can’t refuse.

The TV division desperately needs new hits and box office is notoriously fickle, and 21st Century Fox can easily afford a deal that tops $80 billion.

Just don’t be surprised if the market punishes it for overpaying.

FOXA stock has been a volatile money-loser for most of the year. And with so much uncertainty from M&A to programming, it’s not going to get a higher multiple anytime soon.

As of this writing, Dan Burrows did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Investing: When Time Really Is Money

You have probably often heard this business dictum: "Time is money!"

It's meant to light a fire under employees who miss opportunities to sell more or otherwise help a business grow. More than most people, a business owner understands completely how inertia actually costs capital, while energy expended can grow it.

When it comes to retirement investing, we are far removed from the actual making of the money. It can all seem mystical. Put money into an investment. Wait. Take money out.

What happened in between? To put it simply, your money grew because of time.

Growing capital

Businesses issue stock and bonds in order to raise capital. They then use that capital to make more. For them, stock is just another way to borrow.

If the business succeeds, its earnings grow. The number of investors who want that stock rises, and thus the stock price rises as well.

Businesses also generate cash, money which many of then distribute back to shareholders in the form of dividends.

Added together, capital appreciation (a rising stock price) and dividend payments equals total return. The only reason people buy and hold stocks is because, historically, the total return for stock ownership has been higher than straight lending, such as through a bond.

That rate of return varies, of course, but here's the thing about long-term investing. You're going to be at it long term. All you really need to do is make sure that your risk levels are appropriate to your goals, and that your return is both reasonably high and reasonably steady.

The steadiness comes from own a mix of stocks, bonds and other asset classes, together in the form of a portfolio. Rebalancing — selling investments that have gained and using the proceeds to buy the ones that are "on sale" in comparison — is a nifty way to pick up extra return you otherwise miss.

Magnifying money

Now the tricky part: The longer you invest, the more money you have. Why? Because all of your incoming cash, as rebalanced gains, interest payments and dividends — magnifies your portfolio through compounding.

If you double your money from $1 to $2, the next double the total jumps to $4, then $8. Compounding is how retirements happen, and time is the motor that drives the whole thing. Time literally is money.

How can you harness time? First, save enough. Second, invest it prudently. Third, wait. Compounding is a powerful force, and it's the way you can assured of reaching your retirement with more.

Friday, December 19, 2014

USDA Monthly Cattle On Feed Report For December 1

The USDA's Monthly Cattle on Feed report for December 1, 2014, showed that Cattle on Feed was 101 percent of December 1, 2013.

Cattle placed in November was 96 percent of November 1, 2013, and Cattle Marketed for November was 89 percent of December 1, 2013. The data came pretty much as expected.

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Thursday, December 18, 2014

Cuba poised to join the Internet age

Obama: It will be 'easier' to travel to Cuba NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Millions of Cubans could soon be able to get online.

Internet access in Cuba is heavily restricted and the cost is well above what most Cubans can afford. Just 5% of Cubans have unfiltered access to the Internet, according to Freedom House, a watchdog group.

But all that could change now that President Obama has begun easing decades-old trade restrictions with the Communist country.

The White House will begin allowing telecommunications companies to help upgrade Cuba's telecom and Internet service. It is also allowing the export of certain devices and software that will help expand Internet use on the island.

Obama said U.S. sanctions on Cuba over the past 50 years "have denied Cubans access to technology that has empowered individuals around the globe."

"So I've authorized increased telecommunications connections between the United States and Cuba," he continued. "Businesses will be able to sell goods that enable Cubans to communicate with the United States and other countries."

As part of the landmark deal, U.S. contractor Alan Gross was freed after being held by the Cuban government since 2009. Ironically, Gross was arrested after traveling under a program to deliver satellite phones and other communications equipment to the island's small Jewish population.

Cuban officials charged he was trying to foment a "Cuban Spring." In 2011, he was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Just 5% of Cubans have unfiltered access to the Internet. But that could change now.

Only one quarter of Cuba's 11 m! illion inhabitants have access to the Internet, according to the International Telecommunication Union. That puts Cuba slightly ahead of Swaziland, Kyrgyzstan and El Salvador in terms of Internet penetration.

But most Internet users in Cuba only see information available on a government controlled intranet, which consists mainly of a national email system, domestic websites and some foreign websites that are supportive of the Cuban government.

Cuba opened a new fiber-optic cable in 2013, which helped improve Internet speeds and wireless access at a few locations. But the nation's Internet and cellphone business has been dominated by the state-owned telecommunications company, Etecsa.

So, will American telecommunication companies jump at this opportunity.

It's too soon to tell.

AT&T (T, Tech30) and Sprint (S) declined to comment, while Verizon (VZ, Tech30) said it remains focused on its U.S. customers.

Vodafone, the British telecom giant, and Mexico's American Movil are among the other companies that could also be eyeing expansion in the Cuban market. T-Mobile (TMUS) did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Friday, November 21, 2014

MannKind’s Afrezza Remains in Sanofiâ€™s Plans, RBC Says

Yesterday, Sanofi hosted a seminar on new medicines in Cambridge, Mass., and RBC’s Adnan Butt and team note that MannKind’s (MNKD) inhaled insulin Afrezza “featured prominently enough.” They summarize the highlights of the presentation:

Reuters

MannKind's partner reiterated prior guidance that a commercial launch is planned for 1Q:15. Some had feared this timing could be retracted. In terms of pricing, Sanofi underscored that the benchmark could be rapid acting, injectable insulin, which is in line with our forecasts…

Focus on patients driving demand also important. As part of launch prep, Sanofi has conducted patient preference studies which show 60% of those starting insulin and 57% of those who need more insulin liking Afrezza's profile. The market opportunity could be meaningful given 66% of patients resist moving to injected insulin with the period of resistance being ~5 years. Patients described as the initial candidates for Afrezza include those who are on two or more oral agents and resisting moving on to injectable insulin and those who need meal-time insulin, where combined patient populations could be ~3M. Even adjusting for smokers or those with pulmonary disorders shows the opportunity remains sizable but where
greater Street confidence could require execution for a few quarters post launch.

Among other highlights: Sanofi demonstrated how much easier Mannkind’s Afrezza is to use compared to Pfizer’s (PFE) infamous flop Exubera, Butt said, and that Sanofi was in negotiations with the FDA over post-approval studies that could expand Afrezza’s use.

Shares of MannKind have dropped 0.7% to $6.11 at 1:52 p.m. today, while Sanofi has risen 0.8% to $46.95 and Pfizer has fallen 0.4% to $30.31.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Amazon's quirky Echo is Siri in a speaker

ECHO... Echo... echo... NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Amazon's making another foray into the electronics business.

The online retailer unveiled a new personal assistant device Thursday called Amazon Echo.

The Echo essentially puts a Siri-like voice-controlled service inside a portable speaker. In addition to playing music, it connects to the Internet to do things like answer questions, provide news updates and set personal reminders for you.

Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) says Echo is built with microphones using noise cancellation and "far-field voice recognition," allowing them to pick up voice commands at normal speaking volume from across the room.

Could this be Amazon's 'House of Cards?'

Bizarrely, Amazon is forcing prospective Echo owners to request an invitation before they can buy the product. It's selling for $199, or $99 for Amazon Prime members.

The question is whether it's worth shelling out that money for a product that basically does the same things as the voice command systems for iPhone and Android.

If you're a Prime member in the market for a new portable speaker, it might be worth a look. But like this year's crop of smartwatches, this may be another case of a product that you can render superfluous by simply taking your phone out of your pocket.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Fat pensions for outgoing lawmakers

Kay Hagan will receive a pension after serving just one term in the Senate. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) More than a dozen members of Congress were defeated on Tuesday night. But taxpayers will still have to keep sending most of them checks.

Members of Congress are eligible for a pension after just five years in office, so that means senators qualify for one after a single six-year term. But most can't start drawing full payments until age 62.

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North Carolina's Kay Hagan, for instance, lost her first bid for reelection. For senators and representatives with only six years in office, the annual pension is about 10% of annual pay -- in Hagan's case, that's $17,400 a year based on her annual salary of $174,000.

Colorado's first term senator, Mark Udall, also lost Tuesday. But he'll be paid about $47,000 a year since he also served five terms in the House.

Senior members with 32 years in office can earn 80% of their pay, or about $139,000 a year.

This year there are nine members of Congress leaving with 80% pay.

Many of them are already in their 80's, so they probably won't draw a pension for many years. But West Virginia's Nick Rahall, who was defeated Tuesday after serving 19 terms in the House, is only 65.

The pensions that lawmakers get are defined benefit plans, which means they are guaranteed to be paid a certain sum for as long as they're alive. Another perk: These benefits increase with the cost of living. Both are features that have become rare in private sector retirement plans.

While most former members of Congress have to wait until age 62 to start drawing their pension, those with 20 years of service can start receiving payments at 50.

Members of Congress also have a retirement savings plan similar to a 401(k), which matches up to 5% of what they contribute to it.

Georgia's Jack Kingston, age 59, is leaving the House after 11 terms following his defeat in the Senate primary. With 22 years in Congress, he'll be eligible for a pension of $62,640 starting next year.

Top Performing Industries For November 4, 2014

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At 11:30 am, the Dow dropped 0.29% to 17,315.57, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index moved down 0.68% to 2,004.07 and the NASDAQ composite index fell 0.74% to 4,604.65.

The industries that are still afloat in the market today are:

Gold: The industry gained 17.94% by 11:30 am. The top performer in this industry was NovaGold Resources (NYSE: NG), which gained 4%. Gold futures fell 0.04% to trade at $1,169.30 an ounce.

Conglomerates: This industry moved up 8.21% by 11:30 am. The top performer in this industry was Lydall (NYSE: LDL), which gained 2%. Lydall is expected to report its Q3 earnings on November 5, 2014.

Property Management: This industry jumped 6.35% by 11:30 am. The top performer in this industry was AmBase (OTC: ABCP), which rose 2.4%. AmBase shares have gained 2.52% over the past 52 weeks, while the S&P 500 index has surged 14.46% in the same period.

Diversified Electronics: This industry rose 4.20% by 11:30 am ET. The top performer in this industry was Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ: AEIS), which gained 5.4%. Advanced Energy reported upbeat Q3 results

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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Google Calendar now auto-creates events and appointments from Gmail

The new Google Calendar is now available for Android devices. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) Google Calendar is becoming more like a personal assistant.

A new version of the popular calendar app is now available for users of the new Android Lollipop operating system, Google announced Monday.

The biggest new feature is that the app can now scan your email and automatically create new events based on incoming messages. That means when you do things like buy concert tickets or book a flight, they'll show up right away on your calendar.

The events will update on your calendar if you receive additional emails about them -- for example, a notification that your flight's been delayed.

The new Calendar app will also make auto-complete suggestions based on previous events, and it automatically includes photos of where the event will take place.

The app will work on all devices running Android 4.1 or later, with an update coming in the Google Play store within a few weeks. The company says it's still at work on a version for iPhone.

Google (GOOGL, Tech30) also recently released a new version of its Gmail mobile app, which now lets you manage accounts from alternative email providers. Lollipop, meanwhile, is available for a handful of new devices, and will become available more widely in the coming months as hardware makers incorporate it into their designs.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

HealthSouth (HLS) Stock Declining in After-Hours Trading Following Earnings Release

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- HealthSouth (HLS) shares are down 1.5% to $39.94 in after-hours trading on Monday after the company released its third quarter earnings results after the closing bell today.

The country's largest owner and operator of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals reported a 5.8% increase in consolidated net operating revenues to $596.9 million, ahead of analysts expectations of $595.2 million.

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Earnings for the period were 53 cents per diluted share, 4 cents better than the consensus analysts expectations.

However, the company's shares are declining after it narrowed its full year earnings guidance to between $2.24 and $2.27 per diluted share from its previous expectations of $2.25 to $2.31 per share. TheStreet Ratings team rates HEALTHSOUTH CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of B. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation: "We rate HEALTHSOUTH CORP (HLS) a BUY. This is driven by several positive factors, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, increase in stock price during the past year, expanding profit margins and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income." Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows: You can view the full analysis from the report here: HLS Ratings Report HLS Chart HLS data by YCharts

STOCKS TO BUY: TheStreet Quant Ratings has identified a handful of stocks that can potentially TRIPLE in the next 12 months. Learn more.

Friday, October 24, 2014

CBS All Access and HBO Go Aren't Good Reasons to Cut Your Cable Cord

CBS All Access isn't the game-changer unbundlers hoped it would be. Source: CBS

Recently, both Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX ) HBO and CBS (NYSE: CBS ) gave a glimmer of hope to the cord cutting and unbundling subset looking to cut pay-TV providers out of their lives. Both companies joined Hulu Plus and Netflix by offering a stand-alone, streaming product for their content. There's just one problem...if this is the future of television, consumers appear to be better off sending checks to their pay-TV providers.

Specifically, the issue is one of pricing and value: The two new entrants pricing is structured in such a way that it appears they do not want to compete against cable providers. Rather, it appears they are looking to add incremental revenue and are pricing the product in a manner that actually encourages a pay-TV subscription. In addition to providing streaming services, the unbundlers hoped for a value proposition from these channels. Sadly, it appears they're not going to get it.

HBO is not attacking its "bigger" opportunity
Time Warner's CEO Jeff Bewkes appeared to fire a shot across the bow to pay-TV providers at a September Goldman Sachs investor conference. When discussing HBO Go, its current Internet offering only available with a pay-TV subscription, he appeared to tip this hand to an Internet-only offering [emphasis added]:

Up until now, it looked like the best opportunity was to focus on HBO through the existing affiliate system... The broadband-only opportunity up until now wasn't ... at the point where it would be smart to move the focus from one to the other. Now the broadband opportunity is quite a bit bigger.

This was noteworthy considering last year at that conference he identified HBO's main opportunity as the 100 million pay-TV subscribers rather than the less than 10 million without pay-TV. However, if a recent report from The Information is correct, HBO plans to price the service at $15 a month -- generally more than the cost through pay-TV providers. A survey from The Diffusion Group, by way of Fierce Wireless, reported that only 6% of broadband users who don't subscribe to pay-TV were interested in HBO if the service was priced at $15 or more per month.

Will HBO keep the Go brand for its Internet-only service? Source: HBO

Although HBO may pay lip service to this new opportunity, the pricing appears to contradict this. Matter of fact, the pricing appears to be designed not to anger its pay-TV partners rather than provide value to unbundlers and cord cutters.

CBS All Access is still too expensive
Although CBS priced their All Access service at roughly $6, it is still too expensive when one considers the value provided by pay-TV. For perspective, the FCC estimates basic cable only averaged $64.41 in 2013. If CBS' price becomes the average price of a channel, subscribers can only purchase 10 unbundled channels; the average U.S. household watches 17 channels. In addition, you lose the optionality of new programming and discovery under an unbundled scenario. The end result could be fewer programs with higher costs.

CBS also faces problems in its All Access network by the exclusion of NFL programming. The NFL and other live sporting events are a powerful moat against cord cutting and the league appears to be on the side of pay-TV providers. The league has been reticent to cut pay-TV providers out of the process, but has deals with DirecTV and Verizon for limited streaming of games.

Final thoughts
Although many feel the pay-TV model in its current form is unsustainable -- myself included -- CBS and HBO haven't provided the value necessary for mass defection. Right now, Hulu Plus appears to have the right plan with its "mini bundle" of programming from ABC, Fox, and NBC for nearly $8 a month. If these channels are looking to entirely cut cable out of the process, I'd like to see a mini bundle of all these Internet-based services with an attractive price.

Get paid while your cable company suffers
You know cable's going away. But do you know how to profit? There's $2.2 trillion out there to be had. Currently, cable grabs a big piece of it. That won't last. And when cable falters, three companies are poised to benefit. Click here for their names. Hint: They're not Netflix, Google, and Apple.