Company/Ticker Buyback Amount Other Details Tuesday 3/27 none reported Monday 3/26 American Express (AXP) 150 mln shares replaces prior plan Autonation (AN) $250 mln prior plan complete Last Week's Announcements Friday 3/23 Nike (NKE) 2.5 mln shares in Fiscal Q3 Thursday 3/22 none reported Wednesday 3/21 none reported Tuesday 3/13 Discover Financial (DFS) $2 bln over 2 years Health Net (HNT) $400 mln expands prior plan JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $15 bln PMC-Sierra (PMCS) $275 mln replaces prior plan US Bancorp (USB) 30 mln shares Monday 3/12 None reported Last Week's Announcements Friday 3/9 None reported Thursday 3/8 Plantronics (PLT) 1 mln shares prior plan complete Transact Tech. (TACT) 1 mln shares Wednesday 3/7 Autozone (AZO) $750 mln adds to prior plan Priceline.com (PCLN) $200 mln Tuesday 3/6 Qualcomm (QCOM) $4 bln replaces prior plan Monday 3/5 Applied Materials (AMAT) $3 bln over 3 years Covanta (CVA) $100 mln adds to prior plan Last Week's Announcements Friday 3/2 none reported Thursday, 3/1 CNO Financial (CNO) $100 mln adds to prior plan Nordson (NDSN) $100 mln adds to prior plan Wednesday 2/29 Dillard's (DDS) $250 mln adds to prior plan Lattice Semi (LSCC) $20 mln Principal Fin'l Group (PFG) $100 mln Teletech (TTEC) $25 mln adds to prior plan VMware (VMW) $600 mln adds to prior plan Tuesday 2/28 AutoNavi (AMAP) $50 mln over 1 year Mentor Graphics (MENT) $200 mln expands prior plan Monday 2/27 ANSYS (ANSS) 3 mln shares adds to prior plan XL Group (XL) $750 mln replaces prior plan Last Week's Announcements Friday 2/24 Aetna (AET) $750 mln adds to prior plan Interpublic (IPG) $300 mln adds to prior plan United Stationers (USTR) $100 mln adds to prior plan Thursday 2/23 Fiserv (FISV) 10 mln shares adds to prior plan Gap (GPS) $1 bln adds to prior plan Omnicare (OCR) $200 mln adds to prior plan Tim Horton's (THI) $200 mln over 1 year WebMD (WBMD) $150 mln dutch auction Wednesday 2/22 Rogers Comm. (RCI) $1 bln over 1 year Texas Roadhouse (TXRH) $100 mln replaces prior plan TJX Cos. (TJX) $2 bln adds to prior plan Towers Watson (TW) $150 mln Tuesday, 2/21 None reportedComments »
Monthly Archives: March 2012
Reports Says Fatal West Virginia Mine Disaster Could Have Been Prevented by Regulators
LOL: JPM Bank Reps Not Aware of Mortgage Settlement
“Mira Tanna, a housing advocate in Orlando, Fla., doesn’t expect everyone to know the details of the recently announced $25 billion mortgage settlement, but she was taken aback, she said, when two JPMorgan Chase employees who work directly with homeowners recently told her that they were not aware of the deal nor of their bank’s pledge to consider principal reduction for underwater borrowers.
A key provision of the national settlement, which resolves an investigation into wrongful foreclosures and other abuses in the “servicing” of home loans, requires Chase and four other big banks to write off about $10 billion in mortgage debt for underwater borrowers through principal reductions. The deal was announced about two months ago, and the banks said that principal reductions would become available beginning in March.
Two weeks ago, Tanna said she called the Chase Homeownership Center in Orlando to ask whether her client, a 75-year-old Orlando woman, might qualify for principal reduction. She needed an answer right away. The client, who asked that her name not be used in this story, had just been offered a loan modification by Chase with affordable monthly payments — about one-third of what she had been paying — but with a catch: a balloon payment of about $200,000 due when the loan matures in 2036. That’s much more than the $120,000 that the house is currently worth. The client had one week to decide whether to accept or reject the modification….”
Comments »Dennis Rodman’s Lawyer Claims Baller is Broke and Can Not Pay Child Support
Bernanke Admits Supply Side Economics Is Not Working Due to Low Demand
Buffet’s Net Jets Gets Sued for $366 Million in Unpaid Taxes
Foxconn To Invest $1.6B In Sharp For Flat Panels, Maybe For The iPad? Maybe For Apple TV?
FLASH: Bristol Myers Reported to Offer $22 for Amylin Pharmaceutical; $AMLN Jumps 46%
Family Dollar Sees Profits Rise 11% on More Foot Traffic
Goldman: Oil Could Be in for a Huge Sell Off
“A new report from Goldman Sachs’s commodities research team points to an imminent oil sell-off—or at the very least, a noticeable pause in the rise of oil prices.
According to that research, oil prices generally decline amid softer U.S. economic data, and (though analysts stop short of saying it) often in a big way. And that’s just what’s happening right now.
Goldman analysts argue that a negative turn in their proprietary economic surprise indicator—US-MAP—will probably precede a drop in oil prices, just as it has in the past. And from the graph of that indicator versus WTI crude oil prices, they appear to have a point:
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-oil-futures-could-soon-see-a-sell-off-2012-3#ixzz1qPynRTe9
Comments »French Energy Company Total Tanks as Fears Arise Over a Possible BP Style Gulf Oil Leak
“Shares of French energy giant Total tanked 7% thanks to a gas leak from the company’s Elgin Franklin field in the North Sea.
Obviously investors are concerned about some kind of Macondo-like fallout.
JPMorgan analyst Nitin Sharma points out that Total has suffered an absolute loss of market value of $7.8 billion.
But Sharma thinks there are some major differences between BP’s Macondo spill and this gas leak.
While Total has said that they have noticed a sheen on the ocean’s surface, Sharma says natural gas will bubble to the surface and then disperse. The most crucial thing at this point would be to avoid an ignition point. “Most condensate (very light oil) will also evaporate into the air, helped by higher prevailing ambient temperatures. Macondo leaked light oil, which accumulated as slicks at the surface and then spread.”
Second, he says this has happened post-Macondo at a time when the industry is much better prepared to deal with a spill and capable of preparing a relief well.
Finally, Sharma says the Elgin Franklin field is much shallower water but the real problem will likely be when Total has to drill a relief well since their reservoir is deeper below the seabed than BP’s Macondo reservoir:
“The Elgin Franklin field is located in a water depth of 93m (305 feet). The Macondo well was drilled in a water depth of around 1,522m (4,993 feet). The main Elgin Franklin reservoir is high pressure, high temperature and located at a depth of around 17,400 feet (c.5,300m). The Macondo reservoir was 13,000 feet below the seabed – so Elgin Franklin’s reservoir is actually deeper (this may have implications for the time required to drill a relief well).”
The cause of the leak has not yet been found but Sharma maintains that the market is over-reacting to the news.”
Comments »Spike Lee Thought He Was Tweeting The Address Of Trayvon’s Killer, And Now An Elderly Couple Fears For Their Lives
Magic Johnson Group to Buy L.A. Dodgers for $2 Billion
“Basketball Hall of Fame member Magic Johnson and a group of investors that includes Guggenheim Partners Chief Executive Officer Mark Walter won the auction for the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers with a $2 billion bid.
The group was chosen yesterday by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt over billionaire Steve Cohen, who runs hedge fund manager SAC Capital Advisors LP, and Stan Kroenke, who owns the National Football League’s St. Louis Rams and Arsenal of English soccer’s Premier League. The sale set a record for the price of a U.S. professional sports team….”
Comments »Gapping Up and Down This Morning
Gapping up
ZZ +16.5%, RBN +10%, NLST +5.7%, FRO +4.8%, NOK +3.7%, QDEL +2.8%, FDO +1.3%,
AUQ +1.1%, CNC +1%, CLR +0.9%, PRGS +0.8%, TEA +0.8%,
Gapping down
SNX -9.5%, EXFO -4.5%, JOSB -3.6%, DG -1.2%,
Comments »U.S. Equity Preview: SNX, ZZ, RBN, & PVH
PVH Corp. (PVH) : The owner of the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein brands said its adjusted earnings in the fiscal year ending in January will be $6.10 to $6.20 a share, compared with the average analyst estimate of $6.10 a share.
Robbins & Myers Inc. (RBN) : The Dayton, Ohio-based fluids-management company said second-quarter sales were $255.9 million, exceeding the average analyst projection of $238.8 million, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Sealy Corp. (ZZ) : The mattress maker that is 45 percent owned by private-equity firm KKR & Co. reported first-quarter net sales of $312.3 million, beating the average analyst projection of $301.7 million, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Synnex Corp. (SNX) : The distributor of computer products said second-quarter adjusted earnings won’t exceed 91 cents a share. Analysts estimate earnings will be 95 cents per share in the period, according to the average in a Bloomberg survey.
Comments »Upgrades and Downgrades This Morning
Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) Cut to Neutral at Piper Jaffray.
A123 Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE: CIM) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
DirecTV, Inc. (NASDAQ: DTV) Raised to Buy at Citigroup; Reiterated as Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Freescale Semiconductor Holdings (NYSE: FSL) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Hatteras Financial Corporation (NYSE: HTS) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) Started as Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
NVIDIA Corporation (NYSE: NVDA) Raised to Market Perform at JMP Securities.
Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Reiterated as Buy and raised target to $180 at Canaccord Genuity.
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) Cut to Sector Perform at RBC.
Weight Watchers International Inc. (NYSE: WTW) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Comments »In Play and On the Wires
Durable Goods: Prior -3.7%, Market Expects +2.1%, Actual +2.2%
A New Book Suggests Stocks are Over Priced by 50% and That Buy Backs are Keeping Markets Afloat
“U.S. stocks are overpriced by 50 percent but corporate buying is keeping them up, at least until there is a decline in the U.S. fiscal deficit, Andrew Smithers, the author of the book “Valuing Wall Street: Protecting Wealth in Turbulent Markets” wrote in a recent research note.
Other analysts, such as Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill, said they were optimistic about the prospects for stock markets as the world economy was on the mend due to good data on the U.S. economy….”
Comments »New Research Suggests China Really is in the Year of the Dragon That Breathes Fire Upon Growth
“The data so far from China in 2012 has been a major disappointment for the global economy.
One thought we had was that the typical January-February Lunar New Year slowdown was exaggerated thanks to it being the Year Of The Dragon, and that because of that the rebound would come harder/sooner than people expected.
But so far that theory isn’t being born out.
Barclays analyst Gayle Berry recently visited China, and met with various industrial firms, and came back with some grim news: Things are weak, and it’s not just a matter of the Lunar New Year.
Here is our summary of Berry’s key points:
- Demand for copper in China remains weak, and the outlook for the rest of the year doesn’t look so great.
- Some manufacturers cranked up production in January/February in anticipation of a rebound in Q2, but “demand has been softer than they expected.”
- Appliance demand is weak thanks to slow construction and poor real estate sales.
- Copper inventories are rising.
Bottom line:
Overall, we believe Chinese demand in the short term is likely to disappoint before beginning on a recovery trajectory later in Q2. Subsequently, we think that imports will weaken until bonded stocks are run down to more normal levels, possibly in Q3 12. With the market already expecting a drop in Chinese imports, we doubt this alone would have a significant negative impact on LME prices. That’s more likely to be determined by the market’s evaluation of how long imports will weaken for and whether it’s the result of short-term dislocation or longer lasting core weakness. The LME backwardation meanwhile is likely to continue unless Chinese exports are big enough to begin offsetting the draws in LME inventories, in our view.
So there you go.”
Comments »