“At the risk of jumping on the everybody’s-writing-articles-on-Apple-bandwagon, this article is offered at the request of a loyal reader.  Our objective is to put not only Apple’s valuation into perspective, but also what we believe to be the current undervaluation of technology stocks in general. ”

Full article

“Apparently many executives decided to sell shares right before the presidential election. This is not an assumption that anything is wrong in the companies because insiders can sell shares for a myriad of reasons. Some share sales are also just part of a planned sale and many are simply options being exercised.

Still, when you see big sales ahead of big events you have to wonder. Perhaps these insiders decided that stocks could only go further down after the election. Who knows for sure. Here are some of the big share sales we have seen from corporate insiders that came in the days immediately before the election. As a reminder, many insiders expect that the 15% capital gains tax is not going to be in effect even if a grand bargain is reached over the coming fiscal cliff.”

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Gapping up

QCOM +8.2%, HIMX +6.6%, LOCK +5.4%, TTMI +5.3%, DCO +4.2%, ITMN +3.6%,

SI +3.1%, IL +2.9%, ATVI +2.4%, XNPT +4.6%,  TTM +5.3%, PERI +5.1%, SD +8.3%,

Gapping down

PANL -35.5%, MITK -33.5%, MNST -13.9%, RP -7.6%, PAAS -6.6%, GHDX -5.9%, CNQR -5.2%,

SGEN -5%, MTZ -4.1%, NVTL -3.5%, GNC -3.4%, TS -2.8%, LGCY -1.9%, OSUR -1.8%,

PRU -1.6%, WFM -1.5%, HBC -1%,  AWI -0.8% , TPX -1.1% ,  HMC -2%, PSTI -10.8%, MTZ -4.1%,

“AT&T Inc. T -3.45% is laying the groundwork to phase out its old-fashioned telephone service.

The telecom company said Wednesday it wants to eventually decommission the technology behind its decades-old, copper-line phone network that currently covers 76 million homes and businesses in 22 states.”

Full article

$AAPL fell into bear territory yesterday, and is due for a bounce.

Full article

“(Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co said U.S. regulators have approved a plan for the bank to use its capital to buy back as much as $3 billion of its stock in the first quarter of 2013.

JPMorgan had suspended buybacks in May and submitted a new capital plan to the Federal Reservein August after containing its “London Whale” derivatives losses at about $6.2 billion.

The Federal Reserve told the bank on November 5 that it had approved the plan, JPMorgan said in a quarterly filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

The losing derivatives positions were disclosed by JPMorgan on May 10, more than a month after reports surfaced in the credit markets that Bruno Iksil, a London-based trader for JPMorgan known as the London Whale, had made massive bets in credit markets.

The approved plan provides for JPMorgan to continue paying its current quarterly dividend oncommon stock, the filing said.”

Full article

“NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s Corp. says a key sales figure fell in October, marking the first monthly drop in nearly a decade for the world’s biggest hamburger chain.

The company, based in Oak Brook, Ill., says global sales at restaurants open at least a year fell 1.8 percent for the month. The last time the figure dropped was in 2003. The figure is a key metric because it strips out the impact of newly opened and closed locations.

The fast-food chain says the figure fell 2.2 percent in both the U.S. and Europe. In the region encompassing Asia, the Middle East and Africa, it dropped 2.4 percent.

After year of outperforming its rivals, McDonald’s has seen sales slow recently as the company faces intensifying competition and a persistently weak economy.”

Full article

“HCA Holdings Inc. (HCA) and other hospitals will get more paying customers while insurers likeUnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) will see profits squeezed as U.S. President Barack Obamamoves to preserve the health-care overhaul he championed.

Obama’s re-election rallied shares of HCA Holdings Inc., the largest for-profit hospital company, by 9.2 percent at 12:17 p.m. while Community Health Systems Inc. (CYH) and Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) also gained on prospects for millions of newly insured patients being added to their admission rolls. UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. medical insurer, fell 4.6 percent, and WellPoint Inc. (WLP) and Humana Inc. (HUM) declined as the industry faces profit limits and new taxes to help pay for the coverage expansion.”

Full article

“NEW YORK (AP) — Major airlines are scrapping flights in and out of the New York area ahead of the second significant storm in little more than a week.

United, the world’s largest airline, is suspending most service here starting at noon Wednesday due to a winter storm forecast for the region. It warns that bad weather will likely cause more delays and cancellations throughout the Northeast.”

Full article

“BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Exxon Mobil has officially informed Iraq’s government it wants to pull out of a $50 billion oil project, tellingBaghdad in a letter it has started talks with other oil companies to sell its stake, senior Iraqi officials said.

Exxon’s decision to quit the West Qurna-1 oilfield will exacerbate tensions between Baghdad and the autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region, where Exxon has signed oil deals seen as more lucrative but dismissed by the central government as illegal.

Kurdistan has upset Baghdad by signing deals with foreign companies including Exxon, Chevron and Total . Kurdish officials say that right is enshrined in the constitution.

But Baghdad says only the central government can control oil policy.

Iraq’s cabinet also said on Wednesday it was expelling Turkey’s state-owned TPAO from its exploration block 9 oilfield but denied that the measure was prompted by any proposed move by the Turkish company into Kurdistan.”

Full article

“BERLIN (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co may scrap more plants and lay off more workers in Europe as the euro zone debt crisis continues to exacerbate the auto sector’s overcapacity.

The situation in European markets remains “very volatile”, Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said at a conference in Berlin on Wednesday, two weeks after the company announced it was cutting 6,200 jobs and production capacity in the region.

“We don’t know whether it (European economy) will stabilize or hit bottom or not because it’s continuing to decrease,” said Mulally.”

Full article

“Leading U.S. retailers expect a 3.7% increase in holiday same-store sales, according to a new survey by BDO USA.

“While we haven’t returned to pre-recession levels of optimism, retailers are gearing up for what looks to be a promising holiday season,” said Doug Hart, partner in the retail and consumer product practice at BDO. “Still, consumers have more choices than ever, and retailers are looking to avoid showrooming by curating a mix of exclusive and top-selling products to get consumers in their door or on their site.”

Full article

“(Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co on Tuesday said it was expanding lending, treasury management and other services for corporate customers in Canada as the No. 4 U.S. bank by assets adds to its international reach.

The San Francisco-based bank said it received regulatory approval for the expansion in September. The bank previously had select businesses in the country, but under its new license will now have commercial banking, global banking, commercial real estate and energy banking businesses in Canada.”

Full article

Gapping up

ENOC +15.6%, WTW +9.5%, CTRP +9.2%, JIVE +7.1%, THO +7.1%, MM +6.8%,

MYGN +6.1%, MED +5.5%, LF +4.3%, CLNE +3.4%, PVSW +3.2%, MT +1.9%,

AKS +1.5%,  CMG +1.3%,  LRCX +1.2%,

Gapping down

Z -22.8%, SREV -18.3%, ESRX -14.4%, BSFT -10.3%, SNHY -8.9%, ENS -7.7%,

TRLA -4.2%, WMGI -4.1%, TS -1.3%,  ERIC -2.5%, AWC -6.5%,

“A judge in a U.S court has dismissed a case brought by Apple against Google-owned Motorola Mobility. Apple had complained Motorola was seeking excessive royalties for standards-essential patents. It’s another small blow for Apple in its legal war against Android. The patents in question are among the 17,000 acquired by Google when it bought Motorola Mobility last year – to bolster Android against legal attacks.

According to the BBC, Motorola sought 2.25 percent of the price of Apple products that use some of its patents — but Apple was only prepared to pay $1 per device.”

Full article

“Apple is exploring how to drop Intel chips in favor of its home grown chips, Adam Stariano, Peter Burrows, and Ian King at Bloomberg report.

According to their report, Apple’s engineers are confident they can make their own chips that are powerful enough to power laptops and Macs.”

Full article

“Whereas it is relatively easy to track the progression of the “developed world” deep into the twilight rabbit zone hole (in bizarro metaphore-land speak) of no total debt/GDP return as defined by Reinhart and Rogoff (where anything above 80% sovereign leverage is more or less the game over line for one country, let along the entire Western world) courtesy of day to day updates of total debt in the US (103% debt/GDP) and its comparably indebted peers, when it comes to world’s growth dynamo – China – it is next to impossible to get a sense of just how big the debt hole is for a country whose economic data has been and continues to be one massive goalseeked, G.I.G.O. blackbox.”

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From $NFLX

Gapping up

RHP +3%, RIG +2.1%, ALXN +1%, BHP +0.9%, SXL +0.8%, QCOM +0.4%,

CBS +0.9%,  TGT +1.4%, MNKD +3.5%, DOV +1.7%, BMRN +27%,  TRQ +3.6%,

KBW +17.1%, NTE +19%, TSLA +4.1%, TM +2.4%, ROK +2.3%, ROG +2.2%,

AWR +1.7%,

Gapping down

 SLW -3%, HBC -2%, NKA -1.5%,  RDN -7.1%, LYG -1.5%, DB -1.3%, ING -1.3%,

ITUB -1.3%, TOT -1.4%, E -1.4%, BP -0.9%, RDS.A -0.7%, XOM -0.3%,

PBR -3%, ELP -2.7%, CPL -2.6%, GFA -2.4%, SID -2.3%, RIO -1.6%, SAN -1.3%,

MTW -4.7%, SLW -3%, HBC -2%,

“Apple Inc. the world’s most valuable company, is suddenly in a rut.

• A new report says 75% of smartphones out there are Android phones, and only 15% are iPhones.
• For the first time ever, iPhone customer loyalty is declining.
• Scott Forstall was suddenly booted from the company last week. He was the creator of iOS,  Apple’s most prolific inventor, and a former “CEO-in-waiting.”
• The stock is cratering. It’s down to $576 after peaking above $700 in min-September.

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