Author Archive

• NASDAQ Close to 10-1/2 Year High
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 10th, 2011 at 4:23 pm

  While the S&P 500 is still below its high from October 2007, that NASDAQ Composite ($COMPQ) closed today just inches from its highest close since December 12, 2000.

  Thanks to the news that Microsoft ($MSFT) is buying Skype for $8.5 billion, the NASDAQ closed today at 2,871.89 which is just 1.65 below the close from April 29, 2011.

  

• Sysco Looking to Make Deals
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 10th, 2011 at 10:54 am

  Thanks to yesterday’s huge move from Sysco ($SYY), our Buy List gained 1.04% yesterday compared with 0.45% for the S&P 500. For the year, the Buy List is up 11.67% to the S&P 500’s 7.05%.

  Sysco got as high as $32.76 yesterday but closed at $31.57. I was surprised by the magnitude of yesterday’s move, but sometimes the best stock to buy is the one you already own. Sysco also said that they’re looking to make acquisitions going forward.

  “We are also committed to looking for acquisition opportunities both in and beyond the core,” DeLaney said on a conference call today. “We are doing this mainly through building a pipeline of high-quality potential domestic acquisitions and also by looking at adjacencies and new geographies.”

  Sysco, which controls almost one-fifth of the restaurant- distribution industry’s more than $200 billion in sales, may look to Western Europe for growth as people there eat out more, said Jack Russo, an analyst at Edward Jones. Sysco has completed at least seven acquisitions in the past five years, the latest being the purchase of Nebraskan distributor Lincoln Poultry & Egg Co. last year.

  Our Buy List continues to do well today. Both Jos. A. Bank ($JOSB) and Wright Express ($WXS) are at new 52-week highs.

• Morning News: May 10, 2011
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 10th, 2011 at 7:30 am

  Merkel Says No Aid Decisions Until Greek Assessment Reports

  Unease About Greece Grows as S.&P. Downgrades Its Debt Again

  ECB’s Bini Smaghi-Debt Restructuring Would Be Suicide

  Yuan Forwards Rise for Second Day as Reference Rate Set Higher

  U.S., Chinese Firms Sign Solar-Power Pact

  Chinese Exports Hit Record for April

  Australia Shrinks Spending to Combat Mining-Fueled Inflation

  Crop Damage From Weather Growing as Cost of Grains Advances

  Oil Inventories Increase to Near a Two-Year High in Survey

  U.S. Gasoline Extends Gains as Mississippi River Threatens Refineries

  Bernanke’s QE2 Averts Deflation, Spurs Rally, Expands Credit

  Treasuries Hold Loss Before Debt Auctions; Gross Increases Bet on Decline

  Microsoft in Talks to Acquire Skype for $8.5 Billion

  Hertz Makes New Dollar Thrifty Bid of $2.1 Billion

  Joshua Brown: MicroSkype

  Howard Lindzon: Megatrends…Mobile, Social, Cloud, Global and REINVESTMENT

• StockTwits Partners With CNN
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 9th, 2011 at 3:12 pm

  Howard Lindzon, the Grand Poobah of StockTwits, had this announcement on his blog this morning:

  The team at Stocktwits has been relentless about our mission of ‘Real Ideas. Real Investors. Real Time‘ since we started in the fall of 2008. We believed that people would share ideas, their trades, market and life experiences, moods, wins AND losses. They have.

  We believed that if people shared, they would get heard. Today, our community will be heard a little further once again.

  StockTwits is pleased to announce a content partnership with CNNMoney!

  CNNMoney will feature editorial content from The StockTwits Blog Network, link directly to individual blogs and implement an advertising revenue share program.

  This is a complementary relationship all the way around.

  For the bloggers, it provides an opportunity to increase brand exposure and blog traffic while monetizing content.

  For CNNMoney, it provides access to an incredible variety of fresh, high quality content penned daily by real market pros.

  For StockTwits, it extends further our global platform from which curated real time, actionable market focused ideas emanate.

  For the Stocktwits community, the stream’s reach gets wider, and we believe… smarter and more efficient.

  The StockTwits Blog Network brings together the smartest market pros on the real time web and provides a platform for them from which they can build brand by sharing in depth actionable ideas.

  CNNMoney is the online home of Fortune, Money and serves as CNN.com’s exclusive business site. It attracts more than 13 million unique visitors per month on average (Comscore).

  Exciting times.

• More “Bernanke Warns”
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 9th, 2011 at 1:28 pm

  These are from the past few weeks.

  Bernanke warns that regulators must avoid burdensome rules when enacting financial reform

  Bernanke warns: US deficit ‘not sustainable’

  Bernanke warns of inflation risks

  Stocks fall as Bernanke warns about oil prices

  Bernanke warns of catastrophe if debt limit not raised

  Bernanke warns against steep U.S. budget cuts
  
  Bernanke Warns on Debt-Limit ‘Chaos’

  Ben Bernanke warns US of risks from weak house prices and ailing banks

• S&P 500 to Hit Record Earnings
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 9th, 2011 at 12:54 pm

  We’re already nearly halfway through the second quarter and it looks like we’re going make record earnings for the S&P 500.

  In Q2 of 2007, the S&P 500 made $24.06. Wall Street currently expects the S&P 500 to make $24.21 this quarter. The stock market, however, is still a long way from its record high close of 1,565.15 from October 9, 2007.

  Wall Street expects the S&P 500 to make $98.55 this year and $112.06 next year.

  

• Sysco Soars
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 9th, 2011 at 10:13 am

  Wow! I felt pretty sure that Sysco ($SYY) was going to report good earnings today but I had no idea the market would be so pleased. The stock has surged as much as 11.4% today.

  

• WSJ Table on CEO Compensation
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 9th, 2011 at 9:30 am

  The Wall Street Journal has a cool table today on CEO compensation at 350 top companies. Oracle‘s ($ORCL) Larry Ellison pulled in $68 million while Steve Jobs at Apple ($AAPL) made nothing.

• Sysco Earns 44 Cents Per Share
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 9th, 2011 at 8:51 am

  Good news this morning. Sysco ($SYY) just reported fiscal Q3 earnings of 44 cents per share which was three cents more than Wall Street was expecting. The shares look to open about 5% higher.

  This was a surprise to traders but not to me. I said on Friday’s CWS Market Review that I was expecting earnings from Sysco of 43 cents per share.

  Here are some more details:

  Sales were $9.8 billion, an increase of 9.1% from $8.9 billion in the third quarter of fiscal 2010.

  Operating income was $427 million, including a $36 million charge related to the withdrawal of an operating company from a multi-employer pension plan (MEPP). This result was $5 million, or 1.1%, lower than last year’s third quarter.

  Diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $0.44, including a $0.04 negative impact related to the MEPP withdrawal discussed above, and a $0.02 tax benefit related to the recognition of deferred tax assets. This result was 4.8% higher compared to $0.42 in last year’s third quarter.

  This is welcome news for Sysco especially since they had a poor earnings report three months ago. In February, SYY reported fiscal Q2 earnings of 44 cents per share which was three cents below estimates. At the time, I said I was disappointed by the quarter but ultimately, I felt that the problems were manageable. That appears to be correct.

  Sysco has earned $1.42 so far is the first three quarters of their fiscal year. They’re on track to earn about $1.97 for the year. We haven’t heard any guidance from the company, but I think they can earn $2 per share next year.

  I said that Sysco could be a $30 stock, and it may be one before the day is out.

• Morning News: May 9, 2011
  Eddy Elfenbein, May 9th, 2011 at 7:27 am

  Iran Bases Budget on Oil Around $81.50 Per Barrel

  HSBC May Take Three Years to Meet Cost-Reduction Goal After Expenses Surge

  Euro Holds No. 1 Spot as EU Shows Resolve on Greece Debt

  Goldman Sees Commodity Recovery as Slump Erases $99 Billion

  Gold, Silver Prices Recover After Carnage

  Hedges Clip Gas Producers’ Earnings

  U.S. ‘Underwater’ Homeowners Increase to 28 Percent, Zillow Says

  Seeking Business, U.S. States Loosen Insurance Rules

  Apple Usurps Google as World’s Most Valuable Brand

  Hertz Makes $2.36 Billion Bid for Dollar Thrifty

  Alkermes to Buy Elan Unit for $960 Million

  Unilever Learns What Happens When Foreign Corporations Try To Raise Prices In China

  How to Shrink the Deficit

  When Should You Fire Your Mutual Fund Manager?

  If You Have the Answers, Tell Me

  Who Will Be The Next Osama Bin Laden? Top Counterterror Expert Sizes Up the Candidates