• Deluxe Earns 75 Cents Per Share
    Posted by on April 28th, 2011 at 8:42 am

    More good earnings news: Deluxe ($DLX) just reported Q1 earnings of 75 cents per share. The company had said to expect Q1 earnings of 68 cents to 73 cents per share. The Street was at 73 cents per share.

    Deluxe Corporation reported first quarter revenue of $349.8 million, up 4% compared to the prior year and at the high end of the Company’s previous outlook. Adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) from continuing operations of $0.75 exceeded outlook and compared favorably to $0.73 in the prior year. Adjusted diluted EPS for 2011 excludes losses on debt repurchases related to the retirement of a portion of the Company’s long-term debt due in 2012 and 2014. Adjusted diluted EPS for both periods excludes restructuring costs related to cost reduction initiatives. Adjusted diluted EPS for 2010 also excludes the impact of transaction-related costs associated with acquisitions. Earnings were better than the Company’s previous outlook for the current period due primarily to favorable product mix.

    Reported diluted EPS was $0.63 on net income of $32.6 million in the first quarter of 2011 and was $0.65 on net income of $33.4 million in the first quarter of 2010. Results for 2011 include pre-tax losses of $8.3 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, related to debt repurchases and $1.5 million, or $0.02 per diluted share, of restructuring-related costs associated primarily with infrastructure consolidations. Results for 2010 included restructuring and transaction-related costs of $0.6 million.

    “We delivered another strong quarter and are off to a solid start to the year,” said Lee Schram, CEO of Deluxe. “Both Small Business Services and Direct Checks grew over last year, while Financial Services was flat sequentially from the fourth quarter. Checks and forms both performed well against our expectations and services revenue grew 19 percent over the prior year. In addition, we took advantage of a favorable high yield bond market and strengthened our capital structure by refinancing a portion of our long-term debt.”

    And here’s their guidance:

    The Company stated that for the second quarter of 2011, revenue is expected to be between $340 and $348 million. Adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be between $0.66 and $0.71, including an estimated $0.02 per diluted share of higher interest expense primarily associated with the new 2019 senior unsecured notes. The second quarter outlook excludes $0.03 related to restructuring and transaction costs. For the full year, revenue is expected to be between $1.385 and $1.420 billion, and adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be between $2.90 and $3.10, including an estimated $0.05 per diluted share of higher interest expense primarily associated with the new 2019 senior unsecured notes. The full year outlook excludes $0.17 related to losses on long-term debt repurchases and restructuring and transaction-related costs. The Company also stated that it expects operating cash flow to be between $215 million and $230 million in 2011. Capital expenditures are expected to be approximately $35 million.

  • First-Quarter GDP Growth = 1.8%
    Posted by on April 28th, 2011 at 8:32 am

    The government reported that Q1 GDP growth was 1.8%. That’s pretty bad. Yesterday, Ben Bernanke discussed the economy and why it was weak last quarter. He said that it will probably improve later this year and that some of the problems right now are “transient.”

    Not that long ago, folks were expecting growth for Q1 of 4%; then it was 3%. Now it is just 1.8%.

    Household purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, rose at a 2.7 percent pace last quarter after a 4 percent gain in the final three months of 2010.

    The increase in consumer spending from January through March compared with a 2 percent median forecast in the Bloomberg survey. Purchases added 1.91 percentage points to growth.

    Government purchases fell at a 5.2 percent annual rate after a 1.7 percent decrease in the fourth quarter. National defense spending dropped at an 11.7 percent pace, the most since 2005. Federal government spending declined the most in 11 years.

  • Morning News: April 28, 2011
    Posted by on April 28th, 2011 at 7:34 am

    NYSE Euronext Keen on Deutsche Börse Merger

    German Unemployment Falls Below 3 Million to 19-Year Low

    Bank of Japan Rejects Easing Proposal, Shirakawa Wants To See Effects Of Previous Step

    Gold Strikes Record as Dollar Wilts

    Bernanke Starts Dialogue With Public, Pledges to Keep Stimulus

    DAX Index Rises; Deutsche Bank, BASF, Bayer Lead Stock Gainers on Earnings

    Why Johnson & Johnson Is Using Stock to Buy Synthes

    Dow Chemical Earnings Top Analyst Estimates as Prices Gain

    Shell Outshines Rival With Big Jump in Profit

    ConocoPhillips Profit Misses on Libya, Refinery Maintenance

    Exelon Is Said to Be Near $7.7 Billion Stock Deal for Constellation Energy

    CenturyLink Set to Acquire Savvis for $2.5 Billion

    Sanofi-Aventis Profit Slips As Generic Competition Weighs

    The Biggest US Economic Story Of The Year: The Federal Government Vs. Boeing

    Joshua Brown: Media: The Natural Gas Revolution Lives

    James Altucher: 10 Reasons Why I would Never Donate to a Major Charity (or, How to be a Superhero, Part 2).

  • Fiserv Increases Revenue But Misses Earnings
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 6:12 pm

    Fiserv (FISV) released their first-quarter earnings after the market’s close today. Their Q1 revenue was up 4% at $1.04 billion, but they missed Wall Street’s expected profit of $1.04 per share by two cents per share, earning $1.02 per share. Fiserv explained the miss by citing higher expenses. The good news is that they reiterated their full-year earnings forecast of $4.42-$4.54 per share.

    From their press release:

    “Our first quarter revenue growth is kicking off a good start to the year led by strong performance in our Payments segment,” said Jeffery Yabuki, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fiserv. “We are enhancing our sustainable revenue growth profile through a strong business model, market leading technologies and solid sales execution.”

    …

    Fiserv continues to expect 2011 adjusted internal revenue growth to be in a range of 2 to 4 percent. The company also expects 2011 adjusted earnings per share to be in a range of $4.42 to $4.54, which represents growth of 9 to 12 percent compared with $4.05 in 2010.

    “Given our results in the quarter and visibility into the remainder of the year, we are on-track to achieve our 2011 guidance,” said Yabuki.

    This is slightly disappointing but the important news is that their full-year guidance is unchanged.

  • AFLAC Earns $1.63 in Q1
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    Great earnings news for AFLAC ($AFL). Despite multiple freak-outs by the market, the company delivered the goods. For Q1, the company made $1.63 per share in operating earnings which beat Wall Street’s estimate by 11 cents per share.

    They also affirmed their full-year forecast.

    “With one quarter of the year complete, we continue to believe we are positioned for another year of solid financial performance. We still believe our goal for increasing operating earnings per diluted share is reasonable and attainable. I believe we’ve also done a very good job in managing our operations, including expense control. As the year progresses, we anticipate increasing our spending, particularly on marketing and IT initiatives. As we have said previously, given the continued low-interest-rate environment, especially in Japan, we expect to be at the low end of the 8% to 12% range for operating earnings per diluted share growth, excluding the impact of the yen. If the yen averages 80 to 85 to the dollar for the full year, we would expect reported operating earnings to be in the range of $6.09 to $6.34 per diluted share. Using that same exchange rate assumption, we would expect second quarter operating earnings to be $1.51 to $1.57 per diluted share.

    “We historically announce our earnings guidance for the following year at our May analyst meeting. Although we have not yet finalized our projections for 2012, it is likely that our expected rate of earnings growth next year will be lower than 2011 due primarily to portfolio derisking activities and the continued low-interest-rate environment in Japan. After the effects of derisking and low interest rates in Japan and the United States have been fully integrated into our financial results, we should expect to see the rate of increase in earnings begin to improve.”

    To anyone paying attention, this is exactly what they’ve been saying.

    This is very good news for AFLAC!

    AFLAC is trading at $53.81 in the after-hours market which is down 0.88%.

  • S&P 500 Offically Doubles from Closing Low
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 4:08 pm

    Today makes the bull market an official double going by the closing low.

    On March 9, 2009, the S&P 500 closed at 676.53. Today, the index closed at 1,355.66 which is a 100.38% gain in a little over two years.

    Two months ago, the bull market had doubled going by the intra-day low.

  • Becton Dickinson Drama
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 4:01 pm

    I, for one, thought Becton Dickinson ($BDX) had a solid earnings report and good guidance news. The stock, however, freaked out all morning.

    Ben Graham used to say that in the short run the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.

  • Bernanke Live!
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 2:17 pm


    Live Videos by Ustream

  • Three Stocks Up 20-Fold in Five Years
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    I thought this was interesting. Smart Money lists five stocks that have risen 20-fold over the last five years.

    The stocks are:

    Priceline.com ($PCLN) +2,129%

    Green Mountain Coffee Roasters ($GMCR) +2,217%

    Baidu ($BIDU) +2,513%

    I should add that during that time, Priceline dropped over 68%, Green Mountain Coffee dropped nearly in half and Baidu fell by over 76%.

  • Today’s Fed Annoucement
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 12:51 pm

    Same old, same old:

    Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in March indicates that the economic recovery is proceeding at a moderate pace and overall conditions in the labor market are improving gradually. Household spending and business investment in equipment and software continue to expand. However, investment in nonresidential structures is still weak, and the housing sector continues to be depressed. Commodity prices have risen significantly since last summer, and concerns about global supplies of crude oil have contributed to a further increase in oil prices since the Committee met in March. Inflation has picked up in recent months, but longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable and measures of underlying inflation are still subdued.

    Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The unemployment rate remains elevated, and measures of underlying inflation continue to be somewhat low, relative to levels that the Committee judges to be consistent, over the longer run, with its dual mandate. Increases in the prices of energy and other commodities have pushed up inflation in recent months. The Committee expects these effects to be transitory, but it will pay close attention to the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations. The Committee continues to anticipate a gradual return to higher levels of resource utilization in a context of price stability.

    To promote a stronger pace of economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate, the Committee decided today to continue expanding its holdings of securities as announced in November. In particular, the Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its securities holdings and will complete purchases of $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the current quarter. The Committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings in light of incoming information and is prepared to adjust those holdings as needed to best foster maximum employment and price stability.

    The Committee will maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and continues to anticipate that economic conditions, including low rates of resource utilization, subdued inflation trends, and stable inflation expectations, are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate for an extended period.

    The Committee will continue to monitor the economic outlook and financial developments and will employ its policy tools as necessary to support the economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with its mandate.

    Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Richard W. Fisher; Narayana Kocherlakota; Charles I. Plosser; Sarah Bloom Raskin; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Janet L. Yellen.