Browse by Tags

Sort by: Date | Rating | Most viewed | Most commented

• Four reasons to take Progressive for a test drive

  Posted Jun 12 2009, 03:10 PM by Minyanville
  Rating:
  Filed under: Palm, banking, AMD, McDonald's, Altria, Todd Harrison
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Any big plans for the weekend? Mine will be spent at 5 different sporting events: a gymnastics show, a softball game, and 3 soccer games. Oh, and toss a play in there for good measure. Busy parents out there can appreciate what I’m talking about.

  Asian stocks rose overnight. The Hang Seng was up 0.52% and the Nikkei was up 1.55%. Meanwhile, European stocks were in negative territory early this morning. And here in the US, we're currently trading lower.

  Here’s what I’m focused on this morning (besides my busy weekend plans):

  Progressive Corp (PGR):

  I think the Ohio-based auto-insurance company deserves a mention. Here’s why I like it:

  1. According to a release last night, its board of directors “approved a new authorization for the Company to repurchase up to 50 million of its Common Shares commencing on July 1, 2009.” It’s no accident (get it?) I dig this because it wouldn’t have done it unless it thought the company had the financial means to do it or the stock was a good value.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 4 comments) 1,940 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• More price hikes due for cigarettes

  Posted Mar 05 2009, 11:00 AM by Kim Peterson
  Rating:
  Filed under: Kim Peterson, Altria
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Will cigarette smokers have any money left for anything else? Altria Group (MO) says it will soon raise prices on Marlboro and other brands by 71 cents a pack. In less than a month, a federal excise tax will kick in to the tune of 61 cents per pack.

  The Altria price hike -- the third in as many months -- is a reaction to the new federal tax. Altria thinks cigarette sales could drop a bit, so it's increasing prices to make up for the loss. Now, analysts at Credit Suisse expect Altria's revenue to grow this year instead of decline.

  The average price for cigarettes will soon be above $5 a pack, according to Credit Suisse. That probably won't have much of an impact on smokers, the analysts said, since sales volume didn't really change in states where prices have already surpassed that mark.

  I wonder, then, what is the price level that will finally turn off smokers?   Read More...

  Discuss ( 2,254 comments) 226,067 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Cigarettes could soon cost more

  Posted Jan 29 2009, 01:30 PM by Kim Peterson
  Rating:
  Filed under: Kim Peterson, Altria
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Is it a good or a bad thing that cigarettes could soon cost more? Ask that question in a crowded room and you'll get passionate answers from all sides.

  It looks like a cigarette price hike is on the way, due in no small part to coming "sin tax" hikes as states try to raise more cash. The federal government is getting in on the act, too, proposing to increase cigarette excise taxes by as much as $1 per pack.

  As you can imagine, taxes were a hot topic on Altria's (MO) earnings call Thursday. Executives could only say that they can't predict what politicians around the country are going to do, so they're prepared for a wide range of scenarios.

  But a closer look at the numbers   Read More...

  Discuss ( 511 comments) 86,958 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Which stocks had an exceptional 2008?

  Posted Jan 02 2009, 07:38 AM by Kim Peterson
  Rating:
  Filed under: investing, Kim Peterson, food, Altria
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  A few stocks posted remarkable gains in all the carnage of 2008. The Wall Street Journal has a list of the biggest winners and losers.

  You'll never guess the top-performing big stock. Chilean fertilizer company Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM) took the honors after its shares rose 38%. UST (UST), a smokeless tobacco company being acquired by Altria (MO), was the second-biggest winner with a share spike of nearly 27%.

  Among smaller companies, vaccine developer Emergent BioSolutions (EBS) saw its stock quintuple after nabbing a huge contract to sell anthrax vaccine to the government, the Journal reports.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 3 comments) 8,826 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• The top stock picks for 2009

  Posted Dec 31 2008, 02:21 AM by Kim Peterson
  Rating:
  Filed under: investing, Amazon, Kim Peterson, McDonald's, Altria
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  

  It's hard to trust the crystal ball after the year we've had. Few people could have imagined the depths to which the global economy would plunge, or just how dramatic the financial meltdown would be.

  And we still haven't seen the full impact of the crisis, since all signs point to more volatility in the year ahead. It would be crazy to make any kind of market prediction in this environment, right?

  Yet even in all the chaos, a good stock shines through. There are some solid buys out there for 2009, and the experts on MSN Money, the Motley Fool and other sites are making their picks. Here's what they recommend:   Read More...

  Discuss ( 60 comments) 73,152 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• 7 high-yield dividend stocks for the current market

  Posted Jun 30 2008, 04:50 AM by Douglas McIntyre
  Rating:
  Filed under: Verizon, AT&T, gambling, Dow Chemical, Altria
  Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money

  Investors chase high dividend stocks with stable earnings when they are concerned about where to put their money.  Which dividends appear safest?

  We looked for stocks with dividend yields north of 4.5% (above 10-year T-Note) as the cut-off and those who are expected to see earnings remain ample to maintain the numbers.  We had to eliminate everything tied to financial stocks in this climate as many dividends there are trimmed.  We also had to eliminate anything tied to high volatility and anything tied to auto's.  We screened many others, but here are seven stocks with dividends that we think will either stay the same or grow in the coming year.

  24/7 Wall St. created a list of defensive stocks for 2008, and this is an update:    Read More...

  Discuss ( 15 comments) 94,693 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this