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Posted
Apr 14 2008, 02:58 PM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Early indications from companies like Wachovia and General Electric show that the last half of March may have been tougher on bank earnings than Wall Street expects. Bloomberg recently reported that Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Wells Fargo could all miss consensus estimates. But by how much?
A look at the spread of Q1 estimates gives some hint about how far off actual numbers could be compared with investor expectations. At Citigroup, among 15 analysts polled by First Call the average EPS estimate is a loss of $.95. But, the lowest estimate is a loss of $2.24. At JP Morgan, the average figure from fourteen analysts is $.66, but the worst case is a loss of $.11. For Wells Fargo, twenty-three analysts have an average forecast of Q1 EPS at $.57, but the low number is $.45.
The huge discrepancy among the numbers should be troubling to shareholders because recent information would argue that share prices for most banks and brokerages may still be way too high.
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Posted
Mar 04 2009, 03:13 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Using the U.S. government’s count, about 2.4 million people lost their jobs in America last year. That does not include people who have been jobless for an extended period and are no longer looking for jobs. In January, another 598,000 people were put onto the streets by their employers, moving the unemployment rate up to 7.6%.
According to MarketWatch, the average forecaster thinks the economy shed 640,000 jobs last month. Some of the estimates are well over 700,000. The impression that the employment situation is getting worse was confirmed by Ben Bernanke’s comments testimony to the Senate yesterday.
Analysts may admit to a frightening February unemployment rate, but most either believe that the economy is going to get better or don’t want to say in public what they think. While it is comforting to claim that the February numbers will be a bottom for employment erosion, that may not be the case. The joblessness rate could thunder higher between now and year-end.
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Posted
Aug 24 2009, 04:02 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Steve Jobs worked at Apple (AAPL) for $1 a year in 2000, just before the launch of the iPod, which completely changed the company’s fortunes and made him astonishingly wealthy. Lee Iaccoca worked for $1 in 1978 when he took charge of crippled Chrysler.
The dollar-a-year tradition has fallen on hard times. The most recent apostle of the practice was Edward Liddy who took the chief executive’s job at American International Group (AIG) when it was deeply troubled. He had been the head of Allstate (ALL), so he probably did not need to make several million dollars. Liddy took the job as a public service, an action which seems to be both anachronistic and idealistic. Liddy worked hard to restructure the insurance company, but was derided mercilessly by Congress because AIG executives received large pay packages on his watch. The irony of this issue was that Liddy had nothing to do with the compensation agreements. Liddy was replaced by Robert Benmosche, the former chief executive of MetLife (MET). Benmosche presumably is wealthy enough to work for nothing, but insisted on being paid $7 million. The taxpayers who own 85% of AIG are appropriately enraged that AIG let Liddy leave.
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Posted
Jun 24 2008, 01:05 AM
by
Charley Blaine
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
If you're a GE shareholder, you've probably been pondering the idea since April 11, when the company shocked investors around the world by reporting a first-quarter profit decline that absolutely no one expected.
Since then, there's been chatter in blogs (See this from George Yared) and message boards about whether Immelt's tenure should end. Some posts are on MSN Money.
The New York Times noted on Sunday that Wall Street seems to have fallen out of love with GE. Douglas McIntyre, a Top Stocks partner blogger, says the company is in need of a major change in direction. "It's a dog of a stock," he wrote this week.
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Posted
Dec 31 2008, 06:00 AM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
If you have not had the opportunity to work with the MSN Money Stock Screener, you should. It provides for a great ways to find investment ideas that could, after some research, turn up winners. The first component of the research process for The Disciplined Investor's QuantaFundaTechna approach uses screens to focus on purely quantitative measures to find stocks that meet a variety of conditions.
A simple example of a screen that has been relatively successful over time is known as The Dogs of the Dow. The group of 10 stocks is now set for 2009. Here is the list:
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Posted
Oct 02 2008, 10:52 AM
by
admin
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
At a time when the country is obsessing over the need for a $700 billion fix for the economy, billionaire investor Warren Buffett is positioning himself to be one of its biggest beneficiaries.
Not that Buffett needs bailing out. Instead, he's doing what he does best: Buying assets on the cheap when he perceives he has an advantage. As BusinessWeek points out, Buffett is doing what investors like John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan have done in crises past, propping up faltering institutions.
But as he does so, Buffett, via his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, is playing salesman to average investors, even as he gets deals they could only dream of. Look at the GE deal: Buffett's buying $3 billion in perpetual preferred stock from General Electric. Buffett's investment has a 10% dividend -- $300 million a year -- and GE can’t undo the deal for three years. Buffett also gets the right to buy $3 billion in GE common shares at a price of $22.25. So he can sit back and watch the GE stock chart, and if it hits $45, for instance, he can double that $3 billion without having risked an extra dime.
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Posted
Mar 12 2008, 12:17 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
I've been spending way too much time on Hulu, the new video joint venture from News Corp. and General Electric's NBC Universal that opened to the public today. Now before you gag on word of yet another video site, I dare you to visit Hulu and not get sucked in. It's that easy, and it has set the standard for watching television shows and movies online. Hulu has full-length streaming episodes from around 250 television series, including "Arrested Development" and "Prison Break." So far, it has 100 films. That's not enough content to make it the be all and end all of video sites, but it's a good start. What makes Hulu stand out in a crowded field is its design and ease of use. No wonder the site has been getting so many raves. Shares of News Corp. and General Electric rose slightly more than a percentage point today.
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Posted
Nov 24 2008, 09:28 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
We were suckered into believing the bailout would only cost $700 billion. Turns out the government is set to lend at least $7.4 trillion to rescue the financial system, says Bloomberg. That's half the value of everything produced in the country last year. How is this possible? In an impressive bit of investigative reporting, Bloomberg went out and collected data from the Fed, the Treasury and the FDIC to figure out the full extent of the government rescue effort. I suspect not even the government has done this kind of research on its spending programs. How does the government blow through $7.4 trillion? Here are the ways:
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Posted
Feb 18 2009, 08:35 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
I often write about outrageous executive bonuses on this site. So it's appropriate that I take a moment to applaud General Electric (GE) chief executive Jeffrey Immelt for turning down his 2008 bonus.
This is no small chunk of change. Immelt gave up a long-term performance award worth $11.7 million. He's not headed to the poorhouse by any means, though, since he still got a $3.3 million base salary plus $2 million in equity awards.
Immelt could have taken the bonus, and no one would have complained much. But he said the company's lackluster performance caused him to give up the cash.
GE's earnings fell 22% last year, and its lending arm was hit particularly hard.
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Posted
Aug 20 2009, 12:22 PM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
With the Obama administration planning to wind down the popular $3 billion cash-for-clunkers auto rebate program, there is already talk of a similar program to encourage the purchase of new appliances.
The "cash-for-washers" program will start late this fall and will provide incentives for buyers of energy efficient appliances, furnaces, and air conditioners. Total funding of $300 million comes from the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier in the year. Rebates are expected on reach upwards of $200. To quality, purchasers must buy Energy Star certified units; trading in old models won't be necessary. Expect more details sometime in October.
Bing: More on Energy Star
Naturally, this is great news for appliance makers like Whirlpool (WHR) and General Electric (GE), which have struggled as consumers have cut back purchases of high priced items and new-home construction has stalled. But what impact will it have on the economic recovery?
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