Archive for 2007

  • SEI Investments Announces Stock Split, Boosts Dividend
    , May 23rd, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    Good news from SEI Investments (SEIC). The company announced a two-for-one stock split for next month. SEIC also raised its dividend from 12 cents a share to 14 cents a share.

  • Medtronic’s Earnings
    , May 23rd, 2007 at 11:15 am

    Medtronic (MDT) reported earnings of 66 cents a share for its fiscal fourth quarter.. This was four cents ahead of analysts’ expectations. Some analysts, however, believe the higher earnings were due to a strong sales effort near the end of the quarter which will only hurt sales this quarter.
    The company said that it expects sales to rise in the low single digits next year, and EPS a little faster.
    I don’t see why this stock has barely moved in four years. Here’s a look at MDT’s sales and earnings for the past few quarters:
    Quarter………..EPS………….Sales
    Jul-01…………$0.28………..$1,455.70
    Oct-01………..$0.29………..$1,571.00
    Jan-02………..$0.30………..$1,592.00
    Apr-02………..$0.34………..$1,792.00
    Jul-02…………$0.32………..$1,713.90
    Oct-02………..$0.34………..$1,891.00
    Jan-03………..$0.35………..$1,912.50
    Apr-03………..$0.40………..$2,148.00
    Jul-03…………$0.37………..$2,064.20
    Oct-03………..$0.39………..$2,163.80
    Jan-04………..$0.40………..$2,193.80
    Apr-04………..$0.48………..$2,665.40
    Jul-04…………$0.43………..$2,346.10
    Oct-04………..$0.44………..$2,399.80
    Jan-05………..$0.46………..$2,530.70
    Apr-05………..$0.53………..$2,778.00
    Jul-05…………$0.50………..$2,690.40
    Oct-05………..$0.54………..$2,765.40
    Jan-06………..$0.55………..$2,769.50
    Apr-06………..$0.62………..$3,066.70
    Jul-06…………$0.55………..$2,897.00
    Oct-06………..$0.59………..$3,075.00
    Jan-07………..$0.61………..$3,048.00
    Apr-07………..$0.66………..$3,280.00

  • Refiner Stocks
    , May 23rd, 2007 at 10:36 am

    Here’s a look at Valero Energy (VLO), Holly (HOC) and Frontier Oil (FTO) since October 2002. The flattish gold line at the bottom is the S&P 500 (in other words, the bull market).
    refiners1.gif

  • Shanghai Bubble Watch
    , May 23rd, 2007 at 10:23 am

    When I used to be a sales assistant, I remember one day telling a client that her stock was up just one day after she bought it. She asked me, “how often do they change the price?”
    At first, I wasn’t sure what to say. I mean, in capitalism “they” change the price nearly every second. Maybe she thought that some guys simply adjusted the price a few times a day. It’s amazing how many people don’t get the markets on any level.
    The AP reports that many Chinese investors have little idea what their stock market is about:

    Respondents to the survey were mainly office workers, 60 percent of whom had monthly salaries of 3,000 yuan ($390) or less, the firm said.
    Despite their interest in the market, few respondents said that had negatively affected their jobs, with 45 percent saying they felt “reinvigorated” at work through investing in the market.
    Among other conclusions, nearly 75 percent of respondents said they were using their bank savings to finance stock buys, underscoring concerns about the possible ripple effects of any market downturn.
    Yet just 32 percent said they were reinvesting their market earnings, while 68 percent said they used profits to pay bills or buy cars and apartments.

  • Department of Irony
    , May 23rd, 2007 at 9:42 am

    The new head of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development is….
    Zimbabwe?

    Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, with acute shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline, medicines and most other basic goods. Official inflation is running at about 2,200 percent annually, the highest in the world.

  • Guess This Stock
    , May 22nd, 2007 at 2:04 pm

    Here’s a blatant ripoff of a feature at the Kirk Report: Can you guess what stock this is?
    image472.png
    Here are some clues:
    It’s up nearly 100-fold in the last 19 years (plus another seven-fold with dividends).
    The stock currently pays a 4% dividend.
    It’s based in the U.S., but half the company is owned by a French company.
    Give up? The answer is…

    (more…)

  • The Science of Central Banking
    , May 22nd, 2007 at 12:12 pm

    Here’s a very odd story. The Bank of China recently raised interest rates by 18 basis points and its one-year deposit rate by 27 basis points. Strange that both numbers are divisible by nine. Strange, but no accident. You see, in China, all interest rates set to multiples of nine. Would you believe it has to do with the abacus?
    No, really.

  • Putin Wants Oil Revenue for Stock Market
    , May 22nd, 2007 at 10:45 am

    Here’s an unpleasant headline:

    Putin wants oil revenue to go into Russian stock market
    President Vladimir Putin urged the Russian government Monday to bolster the country’s flagging equity market by pumping surplus oil revenue into stocks.
    The government should consider buying Russian blue chips with excess oil revenue instead of foreign securities, Putin said at a cabinet meeting in Moscow that was broadcast on NTV television.
    Chris Weafer, chief strategist at Alfa Bank in Moscow, said, “You would expect to see that money going into companies like Rosneft, Gazprom and VTB Group rather than the broader market.” Weafer added, “The danger is trying to achieve a valuation target, which would only be a short-term fix.”

    It could be worse. The last time Russia had surging revenue from the high price of oil, the country put it to work. In Afghanistan.

  • Earnings Since 2000
    , May 22nd, 2007 at 9:37 am

    Here’s the S&P 500, along with its earnings, since 2000. The earnings line is in gold and it follows the right scale. The left and right scales are at 15-to-1, so when the lines cross, the market’s P/E ratio is 15. Since the market peaked seven years ago, earnings are up 70%.
    image471.png

  • It’s Official: CBS Snags Wallstrip
    , May 22nd, 2007 at 9:36 am