• Concerns About ETFs
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    Good segment:

  • The Mess at Dean Foods
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    Last March, I highlighted Dean Foods (DF) as a potential value play. To be fair, I didn’t say to run out and buy it at $15. I said: “Dean is in rough shape right now, but if things start to turnaround by the middle of 2011, the stock could rally quite handsomely.”

    A few weeks later, Dean plunged after it badly missed its own forecasts. They had said to expect 25 cents to 30 cents per share, but they earned 23 cents per share. Never trust a stock that does that. The stock fell below $10.

    The stock is getting hammered again today:

    The company, which reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit after it cut prices to compete with private-label brands, saw its share price drop as low as $8.50, its lowest since 2001, when Suiza Foods bought Dean and took that name.

    Chief Executive Gregg Engles called Dean’s results “disappointing” and warned that price concessions will affect results well into 2011.

    “It is clear that a significant segment of customers… are cutting back on purchases of even basic items,” Engles said on a call with Wall Street analysts.

    He said retail prices for private-label milk were still far below historic levels. Dean Foods, based in Dallas, said butterfat prices rose 70 percent compared to a year earlier.

    Dean Foods would speed up its efforts to cut costs to deal with the rising prices, Engles said.

    Separately, Dean’s chief financial officer Jack Callahan is leaving for another company as of Nov. 30 and will be replaced by Chief Accounting Officer Shaun Mara.

    Callahan has been credited with running the company’s efforts to cut costs and his imminent departure raised some concerns on Wall Street.

    “It makes us wonder if the cost savings goals will be lowered,” Janney Capital Markets analyst Jonathan Feeney wrote in a note.

  • Baxter’s Dividend and Fiserv’s New High
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    I knew this week was going to be slow for market news, but it’s duller than I had imagined it would be. Coming after a week jammed with elections, the Fed meeting, the jobs report and more earnings, this week is a nice relief.

    The best news today is that Baxter International (BAX) decided to raise its dividend. That’s a nice vote of confidence by the board and it’s also a good present for shareholders. As I’ve said many times, I greatly prefer cash dividends over stock buybacks.

    Shares of Fiserv (FISV) also broke out to a new 52-week high today of $56.12. The stock gets ever closer to its all-time high of $59.59 reached three years ago. The stock is going for just 12.5 times next year’s earnings. I find it amazing that Fiserv is trading at the same valuation as the rest of the market. This is a company whose earnings climbed steadily during the recession. Earnings-per-share this year will be more than double the EPS from 2004.

  • Gold Surges to Record High
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    Gold is now down only 40% over the last 30 years (adjusted for inflation).

  • Alternative Investments
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 11:59 am

    Since 2002, what asset class has averaged 11% per year?

    Give up? I’ll give you a hint: fine wine!

  • Apple Hits New All-Time High
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 11:32 am

    Shares of Apple (AAPL) have been as high as $321.30 today. The stock is now up more than four-fold in less than two years.

  • JPMorgan Had Perfect Trading During Q3
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 11:02 am

    From Bloomberg:

    JPMorgan Chase & Co. racked up a perfect trading record for the second time this year, making money every day last quarter after accomplishing the same feat in the first three months of 2010.

    Cumulatively, the results mean the New York-based bank made more than $200 million on 12 days in the first nine months and lost money on only eight, JPMorgan said today in a regulatory filing.

    JPMorgan, the No. 2 U.S. lender by assets, follows Bank of America Corp. in reporting a perfect record for the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which makes the most revenue on Wall Street trading stocks and bonds, had losses in that business on two days during the third quarter while Morgan Stanley reported 10 losing days for the period.

    Trading revenue at eight of the biggest Wall Street firms declined an average 12 percent through September from the same period a year ago. Goldman Sachs generated 69 percent of revenue this year from trading, and said third-quarter trading results declined 36 percent. The seven days that New York-based Goldman Sachs made more than $100 million last quarter were the fewest since the fourth quarter of 2006.

    Morgan Stanley said yesterday it made more than $100 million on one day last quarter, versus 18 days in the third quarter of 2009.

    Morgan Stanley, also based in New York, had $1.43 billion in total sales and trading revenue for the third quarter, the lowest since the first quarter of 2009. Excluding losses and gains tied to its own credit spreads, Morgan Stanley generated $1.31 billion from trading fixed-income products, down 24 percent from the second quarter.

  • Baxter Raises Dividend
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 9:56 am

    Good news from Baxter International (BAX). Three weeks after releasing a very good earnings report, the company is raising its quarterly dividend from 29 cents to 31 cents per share.

    The dividend is payable on January 5, 2011 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 10, 2010. Going by today’s price, Baxter yields 2.4% which is just below the yield of the ten-year Treasury.

  • Morning News: November 9, 2010
    Posted by on November 9th, 2010 at 8:16 am

    Stock Index Futures Signal Early Dip

    Gold Hits Record on Euro Zone Debt Fears

    China and Germany Slam U.S. Policy before G20 Summit

    Fed Officials Voice Concerns about Bond Buying

    The Return of the Risk Arbs

    The Flash Crash, in Miniature

    Bankruptcy Filings Jump 14% in 2010

    Publishers to Get 70% of Sales on Kindle Device

    Barclays Profit Declines 76%, Says Capital Remains ‘Strong’

    BP May Pay Billions for `Missed Signals’ That Led to Disaster

    Ben Aronson’s ‘Risk and Reward’ Exhibition

  • Wheel of Fortune Solved With One Letter
    Posted by on November 8th, 2010 at 4:04 pm

    Way to go, Caitlin.

    Via William Wei