Ball Corp Earns 89 Cents per Share
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 30th, 2015 at 7:14 am

Ball Corp. (BLL) missed by five cents. The company earned 89 cents per share for Q2.

Ball Corp. (BLL) on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $160.4 million.

The Broomfield, Colorado-based company said it had profit of $1.13 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, were 89 cents per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of five analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 94 cents per share.

The metal packaging company posted revenue of $2.17 billion in the period, surpassing Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.12 billion.

Morning News: July 30, 2015
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 30th, 2015 at 7:03 am

Spain’s Economy Grows at its Fastest Rate Since Beginning of 2007

Greek PM Suggests Party Referendum to Overcome Split in Syriza

Pentagon Awards $4.3 Billion Contract to Modernize Health Records

Royal Dutch Shell Cuts Its Way to a New Look

Dollar, Bond Yields Rise on U.S. Rate Hike Bets

Deutsche Bank Profit Jumps as Securities Unit Tops Estimates

It’s Amazon’s World. The USPS Just Delivers in It

Boeing Says Ex-Im Bank Demise May Force It Offshore

Procter & Gamble Sales Fall for Sixth Straight Quarter

Time Warner Cable Profit, Revenue Miss Estimates

Nokia Profit Grows as Network Division Leads Turnaround

Brazilian Miner Vale Posts $1.68 Billion Profit

Stanley Black & Decker Lifts Outlook

Cullen Roche: Three Bearish Charts

Howard Lindzon: Patterns Repeat…Breadth is Bad…But it Remains a Market of Stocks

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Fiserv Earns 95 Cents per Share
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 29th, 2015 at 4:19 pm

Yet another earnings beat. Fiserv (FISV) just reported Q2 earnings of 95 cents per share. That was one penny better than estimates, and it’s up from 81 cents per share in last year’s Q2. Revenue rose 4%.

“We executed well in the quarter which led to solid financial results,” said Jeffery Yabuki, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fiserv. “Our results for the first half of the year are in-line with our expectations, and reflect our commitment to delivering high-quality revenue growth, margin expansion and excellent free cash flow.”

More importantly, Fiserv reiterated their full-year range of $3.73 to $3.83 per share. That’s an increase of 11% to 14% over last year’s profit of $3.37 per share. Their six-month profit is up to $1.83 from $1.63 per share last year. Fiserv is on track to grow earnings by double digits for the 30th year in a row.

The shares rose 2.5% today and are just below their 52-week high.

Today’s Fed Statement
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 29th, 2015 at 2:02 pm

Here it is:

Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June indicates that economic activity has been expanding moderately in recent months. Growth in household spending has been moderate and the housing sector has shown additional improvement; however, business fixed investment and net exports stayed soft. The labor market continued to improve, with solid job gains and declining unemployment. On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources has diminished since early this year. Inflation continued to run below the Committee’s longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and decreasing prices of non-energy imports. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; survey‑based measures of longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable.

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace, with labor market indicators continuing to move toward levels the Committee judges consistent with its dual mandate. The Committee continues to see the risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market as nearly balanced. Inflation is anticipated to remain near its recent low level in the near term, but the Committee expects inflation to rise gradually toward 2 percent over the medium term as the labor market improves further and the transitory effects of earlier declines in energy and import prices dissipate. The Committee continues to monitor inflation developments closely.

To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the Committee today reaffirmed its view that the current 0 to 1/4 percent target range for the federal funds rate remains appropriate. In determining how long to maintain this target range, the Committee will assess progress–both realized and expected–toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation. This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments. The Committee anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen some further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium term.

The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction. This policy, by keeping the Committee’s holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions.

When the Committee decides to begin to remove policy accommodation, it will take a balanced approach consistent with its longer-run goals of maximum employment and inflation of 2 percent. The Committee currently anticipates that, even after employment and inflation are near mandate-consistent levels, economic conditions may, for some time, warrant keeping the target federal funds rate below levels the Committee views as normal in the longer run.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Janet L. Yellen, Chair; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Lael Brainard; Charles L. Evans; Stanley Fischer; Jeffrey M. Lacker; Dennis P. Lockhart; Jerome H. Powell; Daniel K. Tarullo; and John C. Williams.

Morning News: July 29, 2015
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 29th, 2015 at 7:02 am

Russia Ends Foreign Currency Purchases in Boost for Easing

Strengthening US Economy Bolsters Case For Rate Rise

After Killing Twitter Stock Gain, Dorsey Wins Praise

Amazon Unveils Drone Traffic Control System at NASA Centre

Anthem Results Top Expectations

Northrop Beats Q2 Profit Expectations, Lifts Target For Full Year

Belgium’s Solvay Pays $5.5 Billion For US Composite Materials Firm

Altria Nudges Guidance Higher as Revenue Rises

LG Electronics Misses Forecasts as Profits Slump

Mylan Gets European Regulator’s Approval for Perrigo Deal

Alibaba to Invest $1 Billion in Cloud Computing Over Next Three Years

China-Tied Hackers That Hit U.S. Said to Breach United Airlines

In Hideaway for Brazil’s Rich and Famous, a New Scandal Emerges

Jeff Carter: The Myth of the Robotic Investor

Joshua Brown: Actually, Gold RISES After Rate Hikes Begin

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Earnings from AFLAC and Express Scripts
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 28th, 2015 at 8:16 pm

After the closing bell, we had two more Buy List earnings reports. AFLAC (AFL) reported Q2 operating earnings of $1.50 per share. That was two cents below expectations. The weak yen knocked off 14 cents per share.

For Q3, AFLAC sees earnings ranging between $1.40 and $1.53 per share. For the full year, AFLAC’s projects earnings of $5.88 to $6.17 per share. Wall Street had been expecting $1.48 and $5.97 per share. That assumes the yen averages 120 to 125 per dollar.

Express Scripts (ESRX) made $1.44 per share which beat by four cents. For Q3, they offered guidance of $1.41 to $1.45 per share. Wall Street was at $1.43.

ESRX also raised their full-year range to $5.46 to $5.54. The old range was $5.37 to $5.47 per share. This is the second time this year, they’ve revised full-year guidance. In April, they narrowed the range by two cents at both ends.

Ford’s Best Profit in 15 Years
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 28th, 2015 at 2:14 pm

Public Storage Continues to Rally
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 28th, 2015 at 10:41 am

Four years ago, I highlighted Public Storage (PSA). The stock has continued to rally. Here’s a description:

If the attic or garage are packed, Public Storage can help. The real estate investment trust (REIT), is one of the largest self-storage companies in the US. It operates more than 2,250 storage facilities comprising some 146 million sq. ft. of storage space in the US and more than 190 facilities in Europe (through its Shurgard Europe affiliate). The firm’s self-storage properties, located in densely populated areas, generate more than 90% of the company’s sales. Public Storage, which was founded in 1980, also rents trucks, and sells moving supplies such as locks, boxes, and packing supplies. It also owns about 42% of publicly traded PS Business Parks, an office building REIT.

The stock reached a low of $6.25 per share in 1990. Today, it’s at $203 per share. But that doesn’t include the quarterly dividend which has risen from 20 cents in 1990 to $1.70 per share today. That means PSA was yielding 12.8% at its 1990 low. With dividends, the stock is up 100-fold in 25 years.

So many people waste their time trying to find the “next Apple” or “next Google.” Few people think about the “next Public Storage.”

Or the current one for that matter.

Ford Beat by 10 Cents per Share
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 28th, 2015 at 7:13 am

Good news from Ford Motor (F) this morning. The automaker beat Q2 estimates by 10 cents per share.

Ford Motor Co second-quarter earnings widely beat Wall Street expectations, based on the continued strength of its North American sales.

Ford maintained its full-year 2015 forecast of an operating profit of between $8.5 billion to $9.5 billion.

Ford made a net profit of $1.89 billion, or $0.47 per share. There were no one-time items and the 47 cents per share beat analyst expectations of 37 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Ford’s quarterly revenue of $37.3 billion also beat expectations of $35.34 billion.

The stock is up near $15 this morning which is a 3% rise.

Morning News: July 28, 2015
Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on July 28th, 2015 at 7:04 am

British Economy Bounces Back Due to Rebounding Services Activity, Industrial Output

China Shares Fall Again as Beijing Scrambles to Calm Markets

Analyst Who Predicted Bottom for Shanghai Stocks Sees Further 14% Plunge

Ford Posts 44% Jump in Profit

Toyota’s Global Sales Dip 1.5% in First-Half of Year

U.S. Forces Fiat Chrysler to Buy Back Trucks in Rarely Used Move

BP Reports Second-Quarter Loss as Oil Spill Settlement Takes Toll

DuPont Cuts Full-Year Outlook on Weak Farm Sales

Pfizer Revenue Falls 7%

Sanofi to Join Regeneron in Quest to Unleash Immune System on Cancer

Hikma Pharmaceuticals to Buy Generic Drug Maker Roxane

How David Taylor Should Manage His Own Onboarding As Procter & Gamble’s New CEO

Honeywell to Buy Elster for $5.1 Billion

Roger Nusbaum: Markets Wilt in Summer Heat

Cullen Roche: The MV=Py Myth

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