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Posted
Jun 26 2008, 01:18 AM
by
Jon Markman
Rating:
It’s easy to imagine that the 25 best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index this year are all oil and gas producers, and the 25 worst-performing stocks are all banks and brokers. Yet as we near the halfway mark in 2008, it turns out that there are quite a few surprises in the mix of best and worst.
For instance, the No. 1 stock in the benchmark index this year isn’t an oil producer, but a coal miner, Massey Energy. It’s up 155% so far, rising to $89 from $35 as coal prices have soared in the wake of booming demand in China and India. The No. 2 stock is actually a discount retailer, Big Lots. It’s up 100%, from $15 to $30, as investors speculate it will get a big share of tax-rebate money from low-income Americans.
Most of the rest of the next best 15 gainers
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Posted
Mar 25 2008, 03:58 PM
by
Charley Blaine
Rating:
Al Copeland died on Sunday. You might not know the name. In Louisiana and certainly around New Orleans, he was about as well known as anybody both for the chicken you can get at Popeyes Famous Fried Chicken, the chain he started, and for his lavish, complicated and exuberant lifestyle.
He liked getting married. But all four of his marriages ended in divorce -- often acrimoniously. He liked Christmas. His house along Lake Pontchartrain in Kenner, La., was so lit up with lights at the holidays that airline pilots would use it to line up their approaches to the airport.
He liked fast cars and fast boats. He carried on a fun feud over the decor of one of his restaurants with no less than Anne Rice, the author of "Interview with the Vampire."
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Posted
Oct 25 2007, 12:28 AM
by
Jon Markman
There's an awesome story in the Wall Street Journal tonight about the guy who appears to have been a key driver of Merrill Lynch's disastrous decision to become No. 1 in the underwriting of collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs.
The story explains the birth of CDOs and how they were sold as a way for fund managers to obtain more dividend income with just a little extra risk during the mid-2000s when Treasury bill yields were low. It tells the tale through the perspective of pioneering salesman Christopher Ricciardi. The story explains how the exotic derivatives -- which heap leverage on top of leverage on top of leverage -- moved down the food chain from smart-money managers in Manhattan who may have really understood the risks they were taking, to European and Asian managers who didn't really understand them very well, and finally, near the end, to individuals who really didn't have a clue.
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Posted
Oct 24 2007, 04:28 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
The earnings announcement from Merrill Lynch found few friendly ears on CAPS. The company, which just three weeks ago revealed that it would be writing down $4.5 billion in loans, said, "Whoops, we actually meant $7.9 billion!"
I mean, come on Stan!
CAPS All-Star InvestorDeb summed it up really well:
Stan O'Neil bought a subprime lender at the top of the market. That's the good news...
The Oct. 5 pre-announcement was just WRONG at best, and DECEPTIVE at worst. Today, his comments on the conference call ruined the company's credibility, raising the question: are those running this company liars or just inept?
Would you want a company run by either?
Sounds like something I might say… Oh wait, I did!
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Posted
Oct 08 2007, 11:38 AM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
In the ongoing fessing-up process on Wall Street, Bank of America and JPMorgan are expected to join the parade of firms disclosing write-downs on mortgage and leveraged loans. At an estimated $2 billion-plus for JPMorgan and $1 billion for Bank of America, the losses are certainly not insignificant. However, for a $230 billion company like Bank of America the losses are relatively small, particularly when we look at some of the other firms that have been reporting.
I am still stuck on the losses reported at Merrill Lynch. Well in excess of $5 billion, these losses are quite significant for a $64 billion company. As I mentioned previously, the market seemed to digest these huge losses in part because it had been preparing itself for them for a while now.
Could losses like these really come out of the blue for Merrill? Well, the market didn't seem to doubt they were on the way -- Merrill's stock price dropped 19% between the firm's second quarter earnings release and early August despite the fact that Merrill beat analysts' second quarter earnings estimates. So how was Merrill itself out of the loop here?
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Posted
Oct 05 2007, 01:56 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
Even with many of the largest banks and investment banks reporting disappointing earnings and major portfolio write-downs, the flop that Merrill Lynch is expecting for its third quarter is impressive.
In a press release today, the company revealed that it would take a $4.5 billion (that's net of hedges) write-down on CDOs and subprime mortgages, and nearly another $1 billion on financing provided for non-investment grade lending -- including loans for LBO deals. The losses will push Merrill into the red for the quarter to the tune of $0.50 per share.
So many may find themselves scratching their heads as they see Merrill's shares up over 2% today. In fact, the firm's shares are up over 7% since the close last Friday. The news about Merrill's losses is certainly no secret -- there are plenty of other articles out today screaming the write-downs in the headlines.
Then is the press release some odd flavor of good news? Well, not exactly. The reason why we're not seeing catastrophic movements on the part of Merrill, Citigroup, Deutsche Banks and others that have revealed major write-downs is that the markets have been preparing themselves for this for months now.
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