• 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.

  • J&J to Buy Synthes for $21.3 Billion
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 9:10 am

    This is going to be a busy day for the market. After the close, we’re going to get earnings reports from AFLAC ($AFL) and Fiserv ($FISV). Also, the Federal Reserve will be wrapping up its meeting and Ben Bernanke will hold the Fed’s first-ever news conference.

    Also, it’s now official: Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) is going to buy Synthes for $21.3 billion.

    Johnson & Johnson will buy Synthes for 159 Swiss francs per share — that’s 103.35 Swiss francs in JNJ stock and 55.65 francs in cash. Considering the size of J&J’s cash balance, I would have preferred they had used as much cash as possible.

    The deal still needs to be approved:

    It’s unclear whether Synthes’s public shareholders, many of whom now are aggressive hedge-fund traders who move in once a company is in play, will be satisfied with the price J&J is offering for market growth. Many have argued privately in recent days that Synthes is worth at least 165 francs a share.

    If completed, the Synthes purchase would be J&J’s largest acquisition to date. In 2006, it bought Pfizer Inc.’s consumer health-care business for $16.6 billion. Since then, the company, which has nearly $28 billion in cash and securities, has typically eschewed large deals in favor of a “string of pearls” approach, shelling out as much as a few billion dollars for companies. At the same time, J&J aims for dominant positions in its main markets of consumer products, pharmaceuticals and medical devices and diagnostics.

  • Morning News: April 27, 2011
    Posted by on April 27th, 2011 at 7:41 am

    Japan Debt Outlook Cut to Negative by S&P as Quake Rebuilding Adds to Debt

    Dollar Slips Before Fed Decision; Stocks Rise, Greek Bonds Drop

    Silver Steadies, Gold Perky Ahead of Fed Decision

    Crude Rises as Europe Economic Data Boost Demand Optimism, Pressure Dollar

    Johnson & Johnson to Buy Synthes for $21.3 Billion

    Barrick Gold to Buy Equinox for $7.66 Billion, Topping Offer by Minmetals

    Credit Suisse Braces For Second Shareholder Revolt

    Amazon.com Forecast Misses Estimates After Spending Growth

    Whirlpool’s First-Quarter Earnings Advance, Boosted by Energy Tax Credit

    Health Insurer WellPoint Raises Full-year View as Profit Beats

    BP’s Net Profit Rises

    Barclays Capital Profit Drops by 33% in ‘Challenging’ Market

    China’s Huawei Sees $100 Billion Revenue in 10 Years

    Paul Kedrosky: Sony: Massive Network Security Lapse

    Joshua Brown: re: Banner Ad Brain Drain

    Aflac Finds Its New Duck on the … Web

  • S&P 500 Earnings Are Tracking at $22.71
    Posted by on April 26th, 2011 at 10:28 pm

    Wendy Soong at Bloomberg has a nice summary of earnings season so far — and things are looking good.

    Of the 500 companies in the S&P 500, 193 have reported so far. Earnings are on track to come in at $22.71. Some context: On March 31st, Wall Street was expecting earnings of $22.13 so we’re ahead of expectations. For Q1 in 2010, the S&P 500 earned $19.38.

    For all of 2011, I’d say $100 is too high, but we might come very close. I think $97 or $98 is within reach.

    Well…unless something unexpected happens.