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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here's what Jim Cramer had to say on CNBC's "Squawk On The Street" Thursday. Demandware got an upgrade from Goldman Sachs and Cramer thinks "it's very much like ChannelAdvisor," which goes public today and he also likes. DWRE rose 3.1% on the day to $30.65. Diamond Offshore Drilling also received an upgrade from Goldman and Cramer believes "this one is very cheap." DO was unchanged at $70.87. Seagate Technology has been viewed as a value play by many, but Cramer disagrees, stating, "I don't see it." STX closed 1.9% higher at $42.99. Dollar Tree topped EPS estimates this morning and Cramer likes it, saying, "This is my absolute favorite!" DLTR was up 3.8% to $50.19. Target should be bought on weakness, according to Wells Fargo. "I don't see why," Cramer rebutted, disagreeing with the call. TGT was flat at $68.67. Diana Shipping is up roughly 40% year-to-date and Cramer indicates he likes the name, noting, "the shipping stocks have been red-hot this year." DSX closed at $10.23, up 1.2%. ...
Click to view a price quote on DWRE. Click to research the Computer Software & Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- SaaS cloud computing leader Salesforce.com saw shares tumble 4.27% to $43.73 in afterhours trading Thursday after reporting first-quarter results and outlook that either only matched or came in below estimates as its efforts to strengthen its presence in marketing software appears to going more slowly than expected.
The company produced second-quarter guidance of 11 cents to 12 cents a share, in line with estimates, on revenue of $931 million. Analysts, on average, according to Thomson Reuters were forecasting second-quarter revenue of $934.55 million.
Salesforce.com predicted fiscal year 2014 earnings of 47 cents to 49 cents a share on revenue of $3.835 billion to $3.875 billion, vs. expectations of 49 cents a share on revenue of $3.87 billion. ...
Click to view a price quote on CRM. Click to research the Computer Software & Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The Gap Inc. reported first-quarter results that topped analysts' expectations for both profit and revenue.
Gap posted a profit of $333 million, or 71 cents a share, for its fiscal first quarter ended May 4, increasing from $233 million, or 47 cents a share during the year-earlier quarter. The company posted revenue of $3.73 billion, an increase of 6.9% from a year earlier.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters on average expected the apparel maker to post fiscal first-quarter earnings of 69 cents a share on revenue of $3.68 billion. ...
Click to view a price quote on GPS. Click to research the Retail industry.Updated from 10:16 a.m. ET with settlement prices and comments
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Gold prices were popping on Thursday as traders bought the yellow metal against a massive selloff in Japanese stocks and other global equity markets.
Gold for June delivery at the COMEX division of the CME climbed $24.40 to settle at $1,391.80 an ounce. The gold price traded as high as $1,397.10 and as low as $1,355 an ounce, while the spot price was up $21.80, according to Kitco's gold index. ...
Click to view a price quote on GLD. Click to research the Financial Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the big winners among major financial names, on an otherwise weak day for the stock market.
Shares of Fannie Mae were up 15% to close at $2.10, while Freddie Mac was up 20% to close at $2.00. The two mortgage giants together are known as the government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, and were taken under government conservatorship in September 2008.
Fannie's shares have returned 708% this year, while Freddie's shares have returned 669%, as both companies have shown very strong profits. ...
Click to view a price quote on FNMA. Click to research the Real Estate industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Major U.S. stock averages dropped Thursday after a choppy trading session, as investors worried the Federal Reserve would scale back stimulus and China could be headed for a slowdown.
A better-than-expected jobless claims report gave way to worries that the labor market was indeed improving and would encourage the Federal Reserve to taper its bond-buying program. Manufacturing data in China indicated an unexpected contraction in manufacturing activity in the country, culminating into the steepest decline for the Nikkei 225 in Japan since the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear disaster in March 2011. The index closed down 7.3%.
"We had about a 3% intraday move to the downside from yesterday's high to today's low based upon what came out of the Fed yesterday," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors. Equities did retrace from their intraday lows by midday. "This market has gone vertically . . . and this is the most hated rally in the history of the stock market . . . and I expect down 3% some cash started to come into the market at the margin." ...
Click to view a price quote on ^DJI.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares have more than doubled over the past 10 trading days on heavy volumes, adding to big gains posted in March after the shares had been dormant for several weeks.
Professional investors who have long touted the junior preferred shares of the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) have shaken their heads in disbelief at the common stock rally, though at least one big fund focusing on distressed investments is now rumored to be trading the common shares. The senior preferred shares of the GSEs and 80% of the common stock are owned by the U.S. Treasury, which put Fannie and Freddie into conservatorship in Sept. 2008.
Despite a broad market decline on Thursday, Freddie Mac common shares were up 17.37% to $1.98 at about 2:30 p.m. EST and are up about 650% year to date. Fannie Mae shares were up 14.21% to $2.09 and are up more than 700% year to date. That compares to roughly 200% gains for preferred issues. ...
Click to view a price quote on FNMA. Click to research the Real Estate industry.This column originally appeared on Real Money Pro at 9:55 a.m. EDT on May 23.
NEW YORK (Real Money) -- My next long purchase will be Apple , as the risk/reward ratio begins to move into positive territory.
While Apple remains a trading sardine not an eating (or investing) sardine, in my view, over the next six to 12 months, downside is $400 to $410 a share and upside is likely $500 to $525 a share -- though depending on the timing and context of new product release, this could be higher. ...
Click to view a price quote on AAPL. Click to research the Consumer Durables industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- TheStreet's Jim Cramer and Debra Borchardt teamed up to get to the bottom of Hewlett-Packard's most recent earnings report. "You thought they were going to miss big and they didn't," Cramer said. He also noted there were a lot of short-sellers in the name who expected some bad numbers because of Dell's recent woes. He said the HP 10% miss on revenue estimates was bad. Management also expects a lot of extraordinary cash expenses in the second half of 2013, but Cramer thinks that will have a minimal effect in the long term. He sees a turnaround under way at HP, but he also thinks now is not the time to get into the stock. "I think you've got to wait for Hewlett to come down," after the big jump in share prices, he advised. Borchardt thought the numbers looked a little "dodgy," but clearly investors are liking the stock and showing they believe in CEO Meg Whitman. Cramer said the venerable tech company is "no longer playing defense, they can now play offense." But in order to be an investment, the company needs worldwide growth and it simply does not have it, he concluded. Cramer's charitable trust, Action Alerts PLUS, does not own HP. --By Bret Kenwell in New York.
Click to view a price quote on HPQ. Click to research the Computer Hardware industry.MADISON, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- There isn't a day that goes by on Wall Street when certain stocks trading for $10 a share or less don't experience massive spikes higher. Traders savvy enough to follow the low-priced names and trade them with discipline and sound risk management are banking ridiculous coin on a regular basis.
Just take a look at some of the hot movers in the under-$10 complex from Wednesday, including Multiband (MBND), which skyrocketed higher by 24%; Transcat (TRNS), which jumped higher by 16.4%; Central European Media Enterprises (CETV), which surged higher by 16.2%; and MannKind (MNKD), which boomed to the upside by 16.2%. You don't even have to catch the entire move in lower-priced stocks such as these to make outsized returns when trading.
>>5 Trades to Take as Stocks Soar in May ...
Click to view a price quote on JASO. Click to research the Electronics industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- TheStreet's Debra Borchardt was here to talk about Hewlett-Packard's recent earnings report that has shares flying high today. Hewlett-Packard jumped in early market trading on the back of an upbeat second-quarter earnings report. The computer giant posted a profit of 87 cents per share, with analysts estimating a gain of only 81 cents per share. However, while the bottom-line numbers looked good, the top-line figures did not, with Borchardt noting, "revenue missed by a whopping 10%." Although that's usually a bad sign, investors did like that management raised its full-year outlook on the heels of cost cuts. Borchardt was quick to point out that guidance was still within the range that was provided earlier this year. Management added that the company would also see some extraordinary cash expenses from tax maneuvers and restructuring payments in the second half of 2013. However, the company did note that they were focusing more on corporate services than the personal PC market, with that market slumping 20% year over year. While the earnings report was a mixed bag, the price action clearly indicates that investors are buying into the turnaround story and believe in CEO Meg Whitman.
Click to view a price quote on HPQ. Click to research the Computer Hardware industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- I just got back from my annual trip to Las Vegas to attend ReCon 2013. At that event, which I call the Super Bowl of shopping centers, I interviewed the CEOs of many leading retail real estate investment trusts, and got to understand firsthand how the retail market is performing and got a feel for the pulse of the overall consumer landscape.
One of my favorite regional mall REITs is Taubman Centers. Not nearly as big as Simon Property Group -- the $86.6 billion gorilla (market cap) -- Taubman is a smaller sister with a total capitalization of around $11 billion.
As I learned at the ReCon conference, Taubman is one of the most active REIT developers today. The company has many new projects under way as it uses its healthy balance sheet (28% debt to market cap ratio). ...
Click to view a price quote on TCO. Click to research the Real Estate industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The tablet operating system wars are heating up once again. In case you missed the new Microsoft Windows 8 commercial, the 30-second spot takes direct aim at industry leader Apple's iPad.
Microsoft has turned the tables on Apple's iconic "Siri" ads. The ones where famous and not-so-famous people ask their iPhones questions and the mechanical female voice provides almost human responses. In this new ad Microsoft spoofs the original Siri ads and shows what Apple's voice control won't be able to accomplish.
...
Click to view a price quote on MSFT. Click to research the Computer Software & Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Tesla Motors deserves the attention it is getting after repaying all of its Department of Energy loans, but few in the hyperbolic business press are focusing on the right things.
Tesla's DOE loan repayment, characterized in the media as a breakthrough in repaying taxpayer-backed alternative energy loans, actually speaks bigger volumes about the Elon Musk-run company's financial savvy as it nears a third year trading on public stock markets.
Musk, Tesla and its bankers Goldman Sachs , JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley should get the biggest praise for their canny use of a brief moderation in financial markets to improve the company's financial footing in coming years. ...
Click to view a price quote on TSLA. Click to research the Automotive industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Goldman Sachs has published a paper that debunks the idea that the biggest banks get an unfair funding advantage because they are considered "too big to fail"
The firm's public policy research unit, the Global Markets Institute, said in a May report titled "Measuring the TBTF effect on bond pricing" that recent studies overstate the funding advantages of so-called Too Big to Fail Banks.
According to the researchers' findings, the big banks enjoyed a slight funding advantage of about 6 basis points on an average between 1999 and 2007, which widened sharply during the crisis but has now reversed to a "disadvantage." ...
Click to view a price quote on BAC. Click to research the Banking industry.By Mitchell D. Weiss
NEW YORK (Credit.com)--The student loan crisis deserves all the attention it has attracted -- and more -- especially if we're serious about tackling this trillion-dollar tragedy in a comprehensive way. But let's not make the mistake of focusing all our good efforts on outcomes without addressing causes as well.
I'm referring to colleges and universities so under the gun to cover their bloated cost structures without jacking up tuition and fees even further that it's a wonder how they maintain minimum admission standards. It's also remarkable that as enrollment declines, demand for financial aid increases and endowment funds shrink, the higher education sector isn't confronting the institutional redundancies that are at the heart of this problem. ...
PITTSFORD, N.Y. (TheStreet) -- Bob White will tell anybody who'll listen that the Web is far from the world's first zillion-dollar trench to nowhere.
"It's 350 miles through swamps or what have you, built by hand. Folks considered it the eighth wonder of the world," White told me as he piloted the Sam Patch. "But these days, it's just us out here, using it for fun."
No, White's not piloting some riff of AOL's troubled hyperlocal news service, Patch. Rather, he's the skipper of a roughly 60-foot packet boat replica that takes groups of 40 or so paying tourists on day trips in this scenic west central New York State section of the Erie Canal. ...
A colleague forwarded some comments made by a Goldman Sachs analyst who was pointing out the impressive million-contract-per day average volume for S&P 500 (SPX) index options this month has come with unusually flat Put-Call skew and a steadily declining put/call volume ratio in the product, which is typically where the largest institutional money manager go to hedge.
SPX Daily Put/Call Ratio Source: Trade Alert View Chart ...
Click to view a price quote on SPY. Click to research the Financial Services industry.BOSTON (TheStreet) -- Some 10% of U.S. vehicles have their "Check Engine" lights on at any given time -- but half of drivers ignore the warning because they fear their cars will need expensive repairs, market watcher CarMD.com has found.
"People say: 'My car is driving fine' or 'This is just my dealer trying to stick it to me,'" CarMD's Kristin Brocoff says. "But if you ignore the problem, it's just going to snowball."
All U.S. cars built after the 1995 model year come with on-board diagnostic computers that constantly monitor some 80% of a vehicle's systems to uncover problems as soon as issues develop. ...
BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- The S&P 500 "suffered" the biggest correction of the month in yesterday's session, dropping 0.83% to close at 1,655 and change. Then again, anyone who thinks that an 83-basis-point dip in the S&P counts as a correction probably only started trading on May 1.
Mr. Market has been on a breakneck pace this month, racking up total returns of 4.8% since the calendar flipped over to May. Even factoring in yesterday's dip, that's an annualized 126% pace for stocks.
>>Warren Buffett's 5 Favorite Stocks for 2013 ...
Click to view a price quote on ADSK. Click to research the Computer Software & Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- TheStreet's Ross Kenneth Urken and "Mad Money" Research Director Nicole Urken sat down with Jim Cramer to teach him about Dropbox, the handy file-sharing application. Dropbox, which was founded by two MIT students in 2007, already has 100 million registered users and sees an average of one billion files uploaded per day. "You can do the horrible task of emailing it to yourself or putting in on a USB, but isn't it easier to just have all your files on the cloud?" Ross asked. Cramer asked why he should use Dropbox as opposed to using email or a competitor such as Google Drive. Ross understood where he was coming from, noting, "We have so many devices already, why add another?" But the Urkens explained some of the time-saving benefits to Cramer. Aside from making it easier on yourself to store and find documents, Dropbox becomes very helpful when working with a group of people or a team. The ability to share specific files or entire folders eliminates the arduous task of sending out individual emails and when you're working with multiple people or teams, this can save plenty of time. It finally hit Cramer when he realized that while Dropbox may only save you a few minutes here and there, a little bit of saved time can go a long way by the end of the day. --Written by Bret Kenwell in New York.
Click to view a price quote on GOOG. Click to research the Internet industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Goodman Networks Inc., which provides engineering services to the telecommunications sector, said Wednesday, May 22, that it agreed to acquire Multiband Corp. for about $116 million in cash.Plano, Texas-based based Goodman, which is family owned, is going to pay Multiband $3.25 per share, valuing the target's equity at around $70 million. The buyer is also going to assume Multiband's debt and redeem its preferred stock.The purchase price represents a 26% premium over Multiband's Tuesday closing stock price of $2.58.The news sent Multiband's stock up 24% to $3.20 on Wednesday afternoon.Minneapolis-based Multiband, founded in 1975, provides installation services to satellite and cable providers. The company generates the majority of its revenue by completing about 20% of installations for DirecTV Group Inc.Multiband generated a 2012 revenue of $305.6 million compared to $300 million in 2011. The company operates 37 offices across 19 states.A Goodman spokesman said Wednesday that the acquisition will diversify the company's services into the cable and satellite sectors.Multiband got involved installing video services in single-family homes in 2008, when it acquired a 51% stake in Michigan Microtech Inc. from DirecTech Holding Co., a DirecTV fulfillment agent.In July 2012, Multiband reached a deal to acquire rival MDU Communications International Inc. for $42.6 million, but that deal was never completed. Multiband called it off as a result of the Goodman acquisition, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.Multiband has a 45-day go-shop period and will have to pay Goodman a breakup fee of up to $6 million if it agrees to another offer.Multiband said Wednesday that it considered a number of options before it agreed to be acquired by Goodman.After the deal is completed, Multiband will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Goodman and will continue to be led by CEO James Mandel.The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. It is not subject to financing conditions.Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC and Winthrop & Weinstine PA advised Multiband.Jefferies LLC, Credit Suisse (USA) Inc. and Haynes and Boone LLP advised Goodman.Multiband did not return calls Wednesday.
Click to view a price quote on MBND. Click to research the Telecommunications industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Children's Place spiked more than 9% early Thursday after the children's apparel retailer raised its fiscal-year guidance despite disappointing earnings.
Children's Place said net income fell 22% in the 13-week quarter to $19.3 million, or 83 cents a share. Net sales dropped 3.5% to $423.2 million. Comparable-retail sales declined 5.5%, the company said.
Analysts expected Children's Place to earn 61 cents a share on revenue of $416.6 million. ...
Click to view a price quote on PLCE. Click to research the Retail industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- On Wednesday, Federal Reserve chief Bernanke testified that it was premature to remove the stimulus on the quantitative easing measures, and stocks surged to new highs. Then in afternoon trading, the Fed minutes suggested otherwise, indicating that the FOMC discussed slowing down the QE purchases.
Stocks soured, with the major equity averages closing below their lows of Tuesday. Wednesday was thus a key reversal for U.S. equities and lower closes today and Friday will confirm the key reversals.
A key reversal day occurs when a market sets a new high for a move then closes below the prior day's low. A key reversal is confirmed by lower closes the next two days. The Dow Industrial Average set a new all-time high, at 15,542.40, on Wednesday, then closed at 15,307.17, below Tuesday's low at 15,325.68....
Click to view a price quote on ^DJI.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Did Saks Inc. hang a sale sign out for itself because of a hot market for luxury retail leveraged buyouts or because it's in the crosshairs of a strategic acquirer? Those were the possibilities Wall Street bankers and analysts kicked around after The New York Post broke the news Tuesday that the iconic New York department store has hired investment bank Goldman, Sachs & Co. to explore strategic alternatives. Also see: Tesla's Elon Musk: A Financial Wizard The Daily Deal has since confirmed Saks has hired the investment bank. But one retail sector investment banker said hiring Goldman was more likely a defensive response to an investor that recently and significantly increased its stake in the company.Saks spokeswoman Julia Bentley said in an e-mailed statement, "It is against our policy to comment on rumors or speculation."Southeastern Asset Management Inc., which has been invested in Saks for several years, has had the biggest run-up in its share ownership within the past month. In a regulatory filing on Dec. 10, the investment firm reported it had boosted its stake to 17.8%. Then, by April 26, the firm raised its share of the company to 19.3%.Although Southeastern is known to sometimes take an activist stance -- witness its pairing up with Carl Icahn to oppose Michael Dell and Silver Lake's $24.4 billion LBO for Dell Inc. -- a source familiar with the Saks situation said it was unlikely that the firm was directly behind a sale process.Southeastern declined to comment on its investment.Other major shareholders who have accumulated stakes in Saks, according to regulatory filings, include Diego Della Valle, the chairman of Tod's SpA, with nearly a 15.1% stake, as well as Italian bank Mediobanca Banca Di Credito Finanziario SpA, with about a 5.3% stake. Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, through his company Inmobiliaria Carso SA de CV, has a 15.4% stake.But one thing that could be motivating Saks is the potential buyout of rival Neiman Marcus Group Inc., which recently hired Credit Suisse Group to explore a dual-track initial public offering and sale.As Neiman shops itself, Saks too, could be looking to take advantage of the available pool of buyers being generated.And Saks has been considered a leveraged buyout target ever since Neiman Marcus was taken private in 2005 by private equity firms TPG Capital and Warburg Pincus LLC in a $4.7 billion deal. Also see: 5 Reasons the Housing Market Will Keep On Rising The financial crisis squashed takeover speculation, but with the buyouts of J.Crew Group Inc. and Gymboree Corp., both in 2010, practically every retailer was thought to be a possible target.While reports have Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP weighing buyouts and a merger of Neiman and Saks, an industry analyst said such a move was unlikely.Neiman and Saks have overlapping stores at a number of locations, so acquiring Saks to merge with Neiman Marcus would essentially be the equivalent of buying a competitor to shut it down, this analyst said. And the only businesses that would get any benefit from that would be competitors such as Nordstrom Inc., Macy's Inc., Bloomingdale's and Barneys New York Inc., the analyst added.Also, Steven Dennis, president of SageBerry Consulting LLC and a former executive and current shareholder of Neiman Marcus, said Saks' real estate portfolio would weigh against a Neiman combination because of the limited use for many of the locations if they were closed.On paper, Saks looks like a decent buyout candidate, with an enterprise value as a multiple of Ebitda of 9.5, and low debt, even at its current stock price of $15.52, up about 13.5% Wednesday after the news about a potential sale broke.Ebitda as of May 4 was nearly $266 million, cash was $20 million and total debt was $317 million. Its market cap was $2.24 billion, with an enterprise value of nearly $2.54 billion. Also see: Windows Ad Turns The Table On Apple But Dennis said that at 9.5 times Ebitda, Saks is now becoming expensive enough to give potential buyers pause, particularly because Saks is a fairly mature brand.Saks is often viewed by analysts as the dowdy rival to sleeker, hipper and better-operated competitors such as Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's and the ultra-cool Barney's.All the chatter about a sale of Saks comes against a backdrop of a bull market and luxury goods space, leading some to wonder whether the sector is reaching its peak in terms of sales, growth and valuation.Results this reporting season have "shown the negative relationship of inventories to sales growth for all companies other than Macy's," Credit Suisse analyst Michael Exstein said in a note Tuesday. "Saks putting itself up for sale may be another indication that we are getting closer to a cyclical peak for some retail stocks."
Click to view a price quote on SKS. Click to research the Retail industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The old maxim "waste not, want not" may be lost on U.S. men; a study says guys appear to be wasting big money by ignoring credit card rewards points.
This, despite the fact guys are likely to travel more and spend more, according to a survey from Manilla.com, a New York City account management company. The study says 70% of men surveyed report they travel once a week or more, far outpacing the 29% of women who say the same thing.
In addition, 64% of men participating in the study own at least one credit card generating rewards points, and 65% of that demographic say they have "wasted travel points and miles because they didn't realize they were about to expire." ...
Editor's Note: This article was originally published at 6:56 a.m. EDT on Real Money on May 23. To see Jim Cramer's latest commentary as it's published, sign up for a free trial of Real Money.
NEW YORK (Real Money) -- When you see almost any market down 7%, it's pretty shocking -- except, perhaps, in the case of Japan. For the Japanese market, which has been walked higher for months, a 7% decline may not be all that much. This was a market that had been up about 50% year to date, so you are talking about a correction that still takes it down only to a 39% gain for 2013. An artificial market with a real correction should not play havoc with the rest of the world. But when it's in conjunction with still one more disappointing -- not horrendous, but disappointing -- manufacturing number from China, the heated U.S. market can't shake it off.
It's funny -- if the Federal Reserve minutes hadn't been so questioning of Ben Bernanke's bond-buying program, we might actually have had a situation that could have been shrugged off with a 4% correction -- 1.5% from top to bottom Wednesday and then 2.5% if we are lockstep with Europe Thursday. Instead, though, that dreaded fear of Fed tapering is occurring as Europe remains in a recession and as China seems to be headed into a relatively severe slowdown. As a result, this may mean that a 5%-to-7% correction over several days makes more sense. ...
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Wednesday night, Jim Cramer said on "Mad Money" that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's policies had led to an imbalance in supply and demand, which created a shortage in stocks.
As Cramer explained. "As money pours into the market there simply aren't enough shares to go around. Think about how many shares have been taken out of the market. It's extraordinary,"
As Cramer also pointed out, the current environment is rooted in the notion that Bernake is "force feeding equities" and that has created a more lasting bull market for dividend growth investors. ...
Click to view a price quote on HTA. Click to research the Real Estate industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's Congressional testimony Wednesday left the market gyrating in schizophrenia and confusion. In his opening remarks, he seemed to emphasize that the recovery is still fragile and QE has been helpful, thus implying continued QE. Equities (SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF), bonds (iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF), and gold (SPDR Gold Trust ETF) all exploded.
Then, during Q&A he started talking about discussing scaling back asset purchases in the coming FOMC meetings. All markets promptly turned tail and closed in red. In order to parse Bernanke's seemingly self-contradictory remarks properly, it helps to take a step back first and set up the proper context.
Here's how QE is supposed to work: you inject liquidity, or, as in the case of Abenomics QQE (Quantitative-Qualitative Easing), liquidity and base money, into the economy, force up inflation expectation and intimidate people into spending. Never mind the poor folks without means of effective inflation protection, e.g., retirees relying on life savings and workers with little bargaining power. Also see: Stock Tip Truth-O-Meter >> ...
Click to view a price quote on TIP. Click to research the Financial Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Tuesday's Tim Cook Should Tell Congress to Kiss His Ass goes down as my most well-received Apple article to date.
This Tweet best captures the essence of the reaction and might be one of the best compliments I've ever received:
@rocco_thestreet Great article.You wrote what we all were thinking.I think I felt the emotion of a man with two beers in him watching tv- Shamus (@laundra1) May 22, 2013 ...
Click to view a price quote on AAPL. Click to research the Consumer Durables industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In Part 1 of this series, I expose the absurdity of indie artist Blake Morgan's criticisms of Pandora .
But it's not merely an absurd rant Morgan continued on Bloomberg Radio, it illustrates how emotionally charged music industry propaganda dupes guys like Morgan into wasting time lamenting issues that have little, if any, impact on their day-to-day existence or careers as singers/songwriters.
Who in their right mind blasts Pandora over minuscule amounts of royalty money while effectively ignoring the injustice struggling musicians have to deal with, on the ground, on a daily basis? Pandora pays what it is supposed to pay, as per mandate and negotiated deals, to parties who then distribute those payments. ...
Click to view a price quote on P. Click to research the Media industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- TheStreet's Jill Malandrino sat down with Pam Patsley, the CEO of MoneyGram International , to discuss what the company is working on and why shareholders should pay attention. Pricing pressure has been a key focus point for MoneyGram investors, especially with Wal-Mart deeply discounting a similar service.
"We love growing market share and we love expanding margins," Patsley told Malandrino. Patsley said her company is focusing on alternative channels. Those include going online, using a mobile application or a kiosk to transfer money. The focus has really been on self-service and creating an easy-to-use system for customers, she said. When asked what separates Moneygram from its competitors, Patsley told Malandrino, "we have a brand message that resonates with the consumer. Convenience is so important."
Moneygram focuses on building a network that customers can send and receive money however they prefer, (bank-to-cash, cash-to-cash, bank-to-bank, etc.). When it comes to financing, Patsley said that retiring old senior notes and securing new financing will save Moneygram around $28 million per year in interest. ...
Click to view a price quote on MGI. Click to research the Financial Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Investors late to the bank stock rally may prefer to load up on "cheap" bank stocks, but not all of them are necessarily bargains.
According to KBW analyst Christopher Mutascio, investors have been buying stocks that trade at low price-to-tangible book multiples on the premise that such stocks would have more upside as they are currently "under-earning."
"That may or may not be the case," the analyst wrote, adding, "Some banks may be 'cheap' on a P/TBV measure because they have materially lower-than-peer profitability today and in the future. So their discounted P/TBV multiple may be justified and warranted." ...
Click to view a price quote on KEY. Click to research the Banking industry.P/>NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Teenage clothing retailer rue21 has agreed to be bought by private equity firm Apax Partners in a $42 a share deal that values the company at $1.1 billion.
The buyout agreement comes amid consistent demand since the Great Recession by cash rich private equity firms to invest in popular apparel firms and retail outlets. Rue21's takeover follows a near $1 billion buyout agreed to by TrueReligion earlier in May and speculation that Saks Fifth Avenue may be taken over or merge with Neiman Marcus.
Were shareholders to agree to Thursday's deal, it would mark the second time Apax Partners would own rue21. Apax Partners took control of rue21 in the wake of its 2003 bankruptcy and it took the company public six years later. ...
Click to view a price quote on RUE. Click to research the Retail industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- General Electric has made great progress in shrinking GE Capital, and CEO Jeff Immelt on Tuesday said the company was considering spinoffs through public offerings as a way to meet its goals.
GE reported first-quarter operating earnings of $4.059 billion, or 39 cents a share, increasing from $3.567 billion, or 34 cents a share, during the first quarter of 2012. GE Capital contributed profit of $1.927 billion, or 47% of the parent company's operating earnings. Also see: GE Beats Estimates, Revenue Falls >>
Immelt has long stated that GE's goal is to grow its industrial earnings and shrink GE Capital sufficiently to have the conglomerate deriving 70% of earnings from its industrial business. ...
Click to view a price quote on GE. Click to research the Industrial industry.span.style4 {font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; } span.style5 {font-size: 10px}
By Jonathan Moreland, founder of Insider Insights and author of Profit From Legal Insider Trading.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It is a victory for common sense. Tracking the trading behavior of company executives, directors and large shareholders in the stocks of firms they're registered in as "insiders" has proven to be profitable, according to both academic studies and (more importantly) the experience of professional investors. ...
Click to view a price quote on RH. Click to research the Retail industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Better not lose your best gal's smartphone.
It could lead to a cold streak in the bedroom.
Research from AVG Technologies, a mobile Internet services firm, shows women would give up sex rather than lose their mobile phone for a week. ...
Click to view a price quote on FB. Click to research the Internet industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures were paring losses after a better-than-expected jobless claims report, but were still pointing to a negative open as investors continued to worry that the Federal Reserve may be heading for a wind-down of quantitative easing. Furthermore, manufacturing data in China indicated an unexpected contraction in manufacturing activity in the country.
All overseas markets were down on the developments, with the Nikkei 225 in Japan suffering its steepest drop since the aftermath of the tsunami and nuclear disaster in March 2011, closing down 7.3%.
Despite the intraday market pressures, "the tenets of the bull market remain intact: strong earnings and corporate balance sheets, shrinking equity supply and little yield in fixed income alternatives and cash," said Jordan Waxman, managing director and partner at HighTower HSW Advisors in New York. "We are looking for opportunities in cyclical names and industries, which are now historically very cheap to the consumer staples stocks we had been buying into the new year." ...
Click to view a price quote on ^DJI.DETROIT (TheStreet) -- Tesla is calling itself "the only American car company to have fully repaid the government," but Chrysler said that's a stretch.
"Short memory or short-circuit?" asked Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri late Wednesday, on a company blog.
"The information is unmistakably incorrect," Ranieri wrote. "It's pretty well-known that almost exactly two years ago -- May 24, 2011 -- Chrysler Group LLC repaid (in full and with interest) U.S. and Canadian government loans more than six years ahead of schedule." ...
Click to view a price quote on TSLA. Click to research the Automotive industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Starwood Hotels got an upgrade to "buy" from Bank of America Thursday as analysts at the bank cited the potential "for a significant return of capital."
Starwood's price target also got a lift from the bank's analysts, to $84 from $70. The analysts also see the potential for asset sales "later in the cycle."
Hotel stocks have underperformed the market year to date, as revenue per available room (RevPAR) -- a closely watched industry metric, has been "volatile," according to Bank of America's analysts. ...
Click to view a price quote on HOT. Click to research the Leisure industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified on Wednesday in front of Congress explaining that the Fed may or may not rein in quantitative easing in upcoming sessions, based on the future economic situation. That brought a much needed pullback to equity markets, and introduced further uncertainty over the state of the economy for the rest of 2013.
Meanwhile, earlier this week,Home Depot released strong earnings and raised its outlook. The company believes that the housing market, if not the entire economy, is on the rebound.
The first chart below is of Home Depot over S&P Equal Weight ETF. The pair shows the relative strength of Home Depot versus equity markets over a two-year span. ...
Click to view a price quote on HD. Click to research the Retail industry.This column originally appeared on Real Money Pro at 7:47 a.m. EDT on May 22.
NEW YORK (Real Money) --
"Led by declines in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) decreased to -0.53 in April from -0.23 in March. Three of the four broad categories of indicators that make up the index decreased from March, and none of the categories made a positive contribution to the index in April." ...
Click to view a price quote on SPY. Click to research the Financial Services industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- CHANGE IN RATINGS
Atwood Oceanics was upgraded at Goldman Sachs to buy from neutral. $68 price target. Earnings growth appears on the verge of acceleration, Goldman said.
Boise Cascade was upgraded at DA Davidson to neutral from underperform. Valuation call, based on a $30 price target, DA Davidson said. ...
Click to view a price quote on BCC. Click to research the Materials & Construction industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Here are 10 things you should know for Thursday, May 23:
1. -- U.S. stock futures were pointing lower on Wall Street Thursday on worries that the Federal Reserve may be heading for a wind-down of quantitative easing. Furthermore, manufacturing data in China unexpectedly contracted.
...
Click to view a price quote on HPQ. Click to research the Computer Hardware industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Delta will open its new $1.4 billion John F. Kennedy terminal on Friday, strengthening its case to be considered New York's leading airline.
"We are and should be the preferred airline out of New York," said Gail Grimmett, Delta's senior vice president for New York. "We have a great hub out of LaGuardia, which is the preferred airport for local traffic, where we serve 48 of the top 50 business markets (all but Fayetteville and Oklahoma City) and now we have the international hub at JFK.
"But it's not just the breadth of network that's important," Grimmett added. "It's the customer service you get. It's the experience you get. It's the service on board that you get. One thing Delta has learned over the years is that you can never stop investing in the customer or the customer experience." ...
Click to view a price quote on AAMRQ.PK.Check out Jim Cramer's latest trading recommendations on "Action Alerts Plus".
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- "Mad Money" Research Director Nicole Urken met with TheStreet's Jim Cramer to talk about the interview with Whole Foods Market CEO Walter Robb, conducted on "Mad Money" Tuesday. Urken told Jim that a lot of investors had given up on the name, but when Whole Foods reported earnings, it showed that growth had resumed, margins were solid and comps were doing really well. "Walter Robb is one of the great CEOs of the era," Cramer added. Robb told Cramer, during Tuesday's television interview, that he believes Whole Foods can open 1,000 stores. Although currently there are only 350 stores, Cramer believes the company can do more than Robb's estimate, "I think they can put up 1,200," he said. Cramer continued by saying there's a lot of room for expansion and that cost cutting along with supply chain management is making the company very attractive for long-term growth. Along with the two-for-one split at the end of May, Cramer says that all of these catalysts have poised the stock for another big move to the upside. Urken added that Whole Foods isn't even available in a lot states yet and that there's a lot of growth ahead. They also have "really great execution by management," she concluded. ...
Click to view a price quote on WFT. Click to research the Energy industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) - It's been 13 days since The New York Post's Mark DeCambre broke the news that Bloomberg reporters allegedly used proprietary information from the company's terminals to write about investment bankers, including those at Goldman Sachs.
In a media feeding frenzy fueled in part by Schadenfreude, the Post has beat a steady drum. The U.S. tabloid of Rupert Murdoch's sprawling News Corp., the Post can't seem to get enough of a story that places rival Bloomberg uncomfortably in the spotlight.
Also see: Bloomberg Privacy Breach Angers Wall Street Traders ...
Click to view a price quote on NWSA. Click to research the Media industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The purpose of this article is to sort out some of the main arguments for and against electric cars.
For reference and clarification, by "electric" I hereby mean both pure electric cars and those accompanied by an on-board generator, such as the Chevrolet Volt or the upcoming BMW i3. Basically, any car that plugs into a wall in order to store energy in a battery that will (help) drive the car.
1. "Electric cars save money on gasoline." ...
Click to view a price quote on GM. Click to research the Automotive industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Pitted against consumer outrage over controversial comments its CEO made seven years ago about why the teen retailer doesn't make its clothing in large sizes, Abercrombie & Fitch issued an apology this week and pledged to take steps to show their commitment against bullying as well a more welcoming store culture.
The apology was in response to an online petition on Change.org that has garnered as of press time 70,000 signatures since May 8 calling for Abercrombie's CEO Mike Jeffries to apologize for comments made to Salon.com in 2006, but that recently resurfaced.
"We welcomed the opportunity to meet with Cali Linstrom, Benjamin O'Keefe, Darryl Roberts of America the Beautiful Teen Empowerment Series and Lynn Grefe, President & CEO of the National Eating Disorder Association to learn about the work they are doing. We look forward to continuing this dialogue and taking concrete steps to demonstrate our commitment to anti-bullying in addition to our ongoing support of diversity and inclusion," Abercrombie said. ...
Click to view a price quote on ANF. Click to research the Retail industry.NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- It's no secret that the bull market over the last several years has been fueled by the loose monetary policies and aggressive quantitative easing of the Federal Reserve. Investors around the globe closely monitor every word of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's speeches in order to divine the next big opportunity in their investment portfolios. Often his remarks have an immediate and profound effect on major markets, which is why it is important to pay close attention to key segments of the economic landscape.
From my own experience watching the markets and trading for my clients' portfolios, I have often seen big moves made in a very short time, based on even the hint of a policy shift from the Fed. These swift swings can be either positive or negative for your portfolio, depending on your asset allocation and response to change. By monitoring these four ETFs you can get ahead of the curve and potentially avoid any long-term pitfalls on the road to prosperity.
Stocks ...
Click to view a price quote on SPY. Click to research the Financial Services industry.
North Korea says willing to take China's advice to start talks By Ben Blanchard and Sui - Lee Wee BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea is willing to take China's advice and enter into talks, Chinese state television cited an envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong - un as saying, following weeks of tension on the Korean peninsula after the North's latest nuclear test.
(yahoo.com)
Google brings new features and display to Drive for Android Drive can now recognise text in scanned documents thanks to optical character recognition (OCR) technology, meaning you can search by the contents of the document to find it later.
(itproportal)
Woolwich attack: David Cameron raises prospect that terrorists were known to MI5 David Cameron has raised the prospect that the terrorists who killed a soldier in Woolwich were known to the British security services.
(telegraph)
Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail) ready to install.