Disney Shares Nose Dive After Earnings Miss

“Walt Disney shares slumped in after-hours trading Tuesday after the Dow component posted earnings and revenue that missed Wall Street expectations.

The entertainment giant reported fiscal second quarter earnings of 49 cents a share. Disney earned 48 cents a share during the same period a year earlier.

Sales for the most recent quarter rose to $9.08 billion, up from $8.58 billion last year.

The company was seen earning 56 cents a share on revenue of $9.13 billion, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

Shares of Disney tumbled almost 3 percent in extended trading. Get after-hour quotes for Walt Disney here.

Investors appeared to be betting on the company during Tuesday’s regular session before the earnings report. Disney [DIS  43.91   0.81  (+1.88%)   ] was the top gainer among components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average Tuesday, closing at $43.91. Volume exceeded 10.6 million shares before the closing bell.”

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Via Briefing

Molycorp misses by $0.09, misses on revs (66.47 -5.13)
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $0.01 per share, $0.09 worse than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.10; revenues rose 768.1% year/year to $26.2 mln vs the $41.7 mln consensus. Independent forecasts1 estimate that global rare earth demand is expected to grow from 125,000 metric tons in 2010 to 185,000 metric tons in 2015, and to 280,000 metric tons in 2020. Our estimated capital expenditures of $781 million encompass the cost of restarting mining operations, the modernization and expansion of our Mountain Pass facility, and the addition of rare earth metal and alloy production capabilities. The Company plans to finance its remaining capital expenditure plan with its available cash balances of approximately $492.5 million as of March 31, 2011, and $130 million of proceeds from the issuance to Sumitomo of equity and debt, if that deal is consummated. We expect additional financing from anticipated revenue from operations, and some combination of traditional debt financing, project financing and/or government programs. The Company believes that revenue for the balance of the year will be sufficient to fund operating activities, which include corporate selling, general and administrative expense. The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan may have a short-term negative impact on market demand in the second and third quarters. The Company expects that demand should fully recover by the fourth quarter.

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Operator Refinery Capacity Description Restart
(in 000s
bbl/day)
UNPLANNED

CANADA

CARIBBEAN

Valero Aruba 235.0 Refinery was at planned rates
May 9 after restarting a
crude unit shut nearly two weeks
earlier to repair a leak.

EAST COAST

Sunoco Philadelphia 335.0 Refinery at planned rates after May
multiple outages, the co. said
on May 5.

GULF COAST

Chevron Pascagoula 330.0 One of two crude units experienced
MS an “isolated fire” early May 10 that
lasted about an hour. Co. declined
to comment on the status of the
unit and the refinery.

BP Texas City 437.0 Restart efforts continue; RHU May 7
TX trains restarted on May 7.

Several process units restarted May 1-7
a source said on May 2. It will
take several days for the plant
to reach normal rates. Power outage
on Apr 25/26 resulted in plant wide
shutdown.

Citgo Corpus 165.0 Coker unit shut for about six May 5
Christi, TX hours to repair a leak in a feed
line on May 5.

Valero Texas City 214.0 Refinery at normal rates on May May 3
TX 3 after plant wide shutdown
on April 26 due to a power failure.

Alon Big Spring 67.0 A ‘bad wire’ caused emissions at
TX sulfur recovery unit No. 2 May 9.

MIDWEST

Exxon Joliet, IL 238.6 Refinery operating normally after
an upset at a sulfur recovery unit
May 8, Co. said May 9.

Holly Tulsa, OK 125.0 Crude unit shut on April 22 for May 8-
Corp unplanned maintenance restarted; 15
refinery should return to normal
run rates in the week starting
May 8, the co. said on May 5.

ROCKIES

WEST COAST

Conoco Wilmington 139.0 Several processing units re- May 3
CA started and at normal rates on
May 3 after shut down on May 2
due to power dip.

PLANNED

CANADA

Suncor Edmonton 135.0 4 weeks of planned work starts
Apr 22 at one of two crude units
and associated equip.

CARIBBEAN

Hovensa St. Croix 350.0 Restarting distillate desulfurizer May
unit No. 4 in May, Co. said April
15. Unit was damaged by Feb. 11
fire and a replacement one was
brought online.
EAST COAST

PBF Delaware 210.0 Plant expected to start up in 2nd Q
in 2Q of 2011. 2011

PBF Paulsboro 185.0 Refinery up and running after May 4
NJ recently concluding planned
turnaround maintenance, the co.
said on May 4.

Sunoco Philadelphia 335.0 Refinery operating at planned May
PA rates after multiple outages,
the co. said on May 5.

GULF COAST

Lyondell Houston, TX 270.0 FCCU rate cut on Apr 22 follow-
Basell upset. Unit status remains un-
unclear on May 3; the co. won’t
comment.

Motiva Port Arthur 285.0 Expansion project to increase 1Q
throughput capacity by 325,000 2012
b/d, to 610,000-b/d, slowed.
Completion now seen 1Q
2012, from 2010.

Pasadena Pasadena, TX 56.0 FCCU, 56,000-b/d, will be taken
out of service Feb. 28 for 44 days
days planned work. Co. preparing
statement regarding the FCCU on
May 2.

Valero McKee TX 170.0 Vacuum unit turnaround planned for
first half of 2012, co. said.

Expansion project announced on
March 2011 to increase crude oil
throughput by 25,000 b/d to
195,000 b/d.

Valero Norco, LA 250.0 Turnaround maintenance at FCCU mid-May
and alkylation unit seen ending
by mid-May, the co. said on
April 26. Work began on 3/7.

Hydrocracker project will pro- 2013
ceed and be completed in late
2013, the co. said on 7/27/10.

Upgrade project to build 2012
a new diesel hydrotreater
unit moved from 2010 to
4Q 2012.

Valero Port Arthur 325.0 Hydrocracker project will pro- 2012
TX ceed and be completed in late
2012.

MIDWEST

BP Whiting, IN 405.0 Turnaround will start at the End-May
end of March at Reformer No. 4
and alkylation unit for 60 days,
source said on Mar 25.

Turnaround at Pipestill 12 de-
layed by 3 months; it was sup-
posed to begin in November, a
source said on Mar 25.

Frontier Cheyenne, WY 47.0 Refinery to return to targeted May 8-
run rates week starting May 8 15
after undergoing equipment up-
grades, the co. said on May 5.

CVR Coffeyville 115.7 Periodic turnaround will take place
KS in two phases beginning in Fall 2011
and completed in Spring 2012.

Tesoro Mandan, ND 58.0 Total crude-oil processing capa- 2nd Q
city to increase by 17% to 68,000 2012
b/d by 2nd quarter 2012.

WEST COAST

Conoco Carson, CA 139.0 Planned maintenance under way at
Phillips unspecified units the co. said
on April 25. Traders said work
is being performed at a crude
an coker unit.

Tesoro Anacortes 120.0 Planned maintenance under way May 2

since April 29 expected to con-
clude on May 2; no impact to
production.

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Via Briefing:

Needham raises their CVLT tgt to $44 from $37 saying they believe CVLT is demonstrating strong vision as a leading provider of next generation data and information management software. Firm says factors which should drive growth include: improving macro/IT spending and evidence of datacenter refresh projects; growing percentage of CVLT sales in these enterprise class deals; new product cycles (Simpana 9); strong growth in non-backup (ADIM) products; and new strategic distribution relationships.

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No. Ticker % Change
1 CKXE 22.58
2 TRAK 20.23
3 CPE 19.42
4 SREV 18.71
5 MED 16.43
6 SPA 16.31
7 PTRY 13.96
8 GENE 12.82
9 ARCI 12.63
10 FFHL 12.57
11 YAVY 12.50
12 TRNX 12.41
13 PERF 12.24
14 FOSL 12.21
15 TGI 12.03
16 DF 11.84
17 ZLCS 11.16
18 HELE 10.50
19 SNHY 10.20
20 MR 10.17
21 BLKB 10.04
22 MDVN 9.63
23 YONG 9.59
24 GNOM 9.49
25 LFT 9.33
—————————–
No. Ticker % Change
1 BMTI -34.95
2 HEAT -27.30
3 PAL -27.03
4 NSPH -22.87
5 PANL -17.91
6 RCON -17.79
7 LEXG.OB -17.16
8 MOBI -16.29
9 USNA -15.19
10 MNKD -13.86
11 AERG -12.80
12 HRZ -12.64
13 VRML -11.68
14 ETM -11.08
15 USAT -11.02
16 AMCN -10.80
17 ENER -10.57
18 GAIA -10.46
19 CIIC -10.05
20 IIG -9.90
21 BSX -9.66
22 ITMN -9.62
23 BID -9.58
24 DIOD -9.56
25 IOSP -8.50

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Ticker CKXE, parent of American Idol, sold out to Apollo Global for $509 mill.

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Everyone with a series 7 or right to manage money is bearish on bonds. However, despite the prevailing sentiment, they’ve managed to outperform over the past three months. Here are some 3 month performance stats, excluding dividends, of some of the more prominent closed end bond funds.

No. Ticker 3-month Return Watchlist
1 RCS 14.53 Risk Appetite
2 BBF 9.25 Risk Appetite
3 TLT 8.76 Risk Appetite
4 MLN 8.04 Risk Appetite
5 PWZ 7.48 Risk Appetite
6 TIP 7.24 Risk Appetite
7 AWF 6.16 Risk Appetite
8 MNE 5.62 Risk Appetite
9 PCY 5.21 Risk Appetite
10 BWZ 5.14 Risk Appetite
11 EMB 4.83 Risk Appetite
12 LQD 4.79 Risk Appetite
13 EVV 4.72 Risk Appetite
14 EIM 4.16 Risk Appetite
15 PGF 3.96 Risk Appetite
16 PEY 3.81 Risk Appetite
17 PGX 3.80 Risk Appetite
18 GHI 3.79 Risk Appetite
19 MBB 3.67 Risk Appetite
20 PFF 3.52 Risk Appetite
21 CYE 3.52 Risk Appetite
22 PCK 3.31 Risk Appetite
23 JNK 2.77 Risk Appetite
24 PHB 2.75 Risk Appetite
25 HYG 2.68 Risk Appetite

Data provided by The PPT

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Specifically to MGM Detroit, their revenues are up 5.2%, or $52.2 million from this time last year.

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“While some in the financial community have grown complacent since the financial crisis ended in 2009, star economist Nouriel Roubini says more catastrophes will follow.

That’s because the banking system hasn’t really changed, with the “too big to fail” system still in place, he tells The Independent of London. “We’ll see more financial crises,” Roubini predicts.

“We cannot avoid them until there is a more radical reform of the banking system.”

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“Richard Bernstein of Richard Bernstein Advisors and Bob Doll of BlackRock were on CNBC yesterday to discuss the markets and their outlooks.  Bernstein, once a notable bear at Merrill Lynch, has been very bullish over the course of the last few years.  He sees the USA as being a far stronger economy than most are giving it credit for.  Doll, a long time bull, is still a super bull….”

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“U.S. wholesale inventories climbed in March as businesses saw a sharp increase in sales, suggesting parts of the economy are growing firmly, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday.

Inventories rose 1.1 percent in the last month of the first quarter, slightly above economists’ forecasts. But sales jumped 2.9 percent, more than double the median projection in a Reuters poll.

At $392.01 billion, sales were at their highest since June 2008, just as the U.S. credit crisis was morphing into a broader phenomenon that pushed the world into recession.

The sales to inventory ratio, which offers some hints of the state of demand, fell to 1.13, matching June 2008 lows. The U.S. economy expanded just 1.8 percent in the first quarter, but is expected to grow around 3 percent for 2011 as a whole.”

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Spreads have eclipsed $14, or 14%.

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“Japan’s earthquake in March has significantly impacted the supply status of the hard drive industry and the effect is expected to persist in May with two of the top-5 makers – Western Digital and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) already seeing tight supply.

Although the hard drive industry’s upstream chip suppliers Texas Instruments and Renesas Electronics have both been aggressive restoring their capacities after the disaster, sources from hard drive makers estimate that the supply gap of the hard drive industry will still have difficulties to be fully recovered in the second quarter.”

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Yeah, but at least it’s better than full on depression no ?

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“Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., increased his bet against U.S. government debt in April just as Treasurys had their biggest rally in eight months.

Pimco’s $240.7 billion Total Return Fund had minus 4 percent of its assets in government and related debt, versus negative 3 percent in March. Cash and equivalents, the largest component, rose to 37 percent of holdings from 31 percent. Mortgage bonds declined to 24 percent from 28 percent, the Newport Beach, California-based company said on its website.

Gross, 67, has been warning that the threat of inflation will be bad for Treasurys even as other investors snapped up the securities. U.S. government debt returned 1.15 percent in April, the most since August, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch data. Yields will stay low, Jim Caron, the New York-based global head of interest-rate strategy at Morgan Stanley, wrote in a report.”

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“Editor’s note: Keith Jurow is the author of the MVP Housing Market Report.

I’ve asserted in previous writings that buyers paying all-cash for properties have been keeping some of the worst bubble markets from collapsing. Inside Mortgage Finance, which surveys roughly 3,000 brokers each month and issues a monthly report, revealed at the end of March that a record 33.7% of property purchases nationwide were all-cash.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) conducts an Investment and Vacation Home Buyers Survey annually. The latest survey covering 2010 found that a record 59% of investors paid all-cash for their property. That figure was only 32% in 2006 and a mere 17% in 2004 according to previous NAR surveys.”

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Up 8.74%  @$33.40

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Upgrades

CROX – Crocs target raised to $26 at Stifel Nicolaus

RAX – Rackspace target raised to $50 from $45 at Stifel Nicolaus – following earnings

RIO – Rio Tinto PLC initiated with a Buy at RBS

ROSE – Rosetta Resources target raised to $65 from $55 at FBR Capital

CSCO – Cisco Systems initiated with Buy at BGC Financial

MR – Mindray Medical upgraded to Outperform at Oppenheimer

CEPH – Cephalon reinstated with a Neutral at Goldman

XRX – Xerox raises 2012 EPS guidance ahead of analyst day; could be a positive stock catalyst today

BHP – BHP Billiton initiated with a Buy at RBS

CRAY – Cray target lowered to $8.50 from $10 at Needham

VRX – Valeant Pharmaceuticals reinstated with a Neutral at Goldman

SAM – Boston Beer Co upgraded to neutral from underweight at HSBC

Downgrades

BID – Sotheby’s downgraded to Accumulate at Craig Hallum

ADM – Archer-Daniels trading lower; weakness attributed to tier 1 firm downgrade

BOBE – Bob Evans initiated with a Hold at Miller Tabak

VE – Veolia Environnement downgraded to Add from Buy at WestLB

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Gapping Up

MED +10%, IDTI +4%, RST +3.1%,CRH +1.7%, SLV +1.6%,CRAY +8.6%, GOLD +1.1%, SSRI +1.1%, MT +1.1%,NBG +5%, SLW +2.4%, CCL +2.2%, PLOW +2.1%,YONG +4.9%, CMFO +4.6%,ATVI +1%, EGLE +1%

Gapping Down

RAX -2%, AVNR -1.9%, DHX -7.7%, NSPH -21.5%, AVNR -1.9%, CLNE -1.6%, PDLI -1.2%, MNKD -15.9%,DCIX -5%, ASEI -4.3%, PANL -4.1%, SIRO -2.9%, OPNT -2.1%, WIBC -7.1%, NRF -5.9%,CLNE -1.6%, PDLI -1.2%

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