Posts Tagged profit
G.M. Is Still Hopeful for Payback to Government
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Business on Июнь 7th, 2011
The chief executive of General Motors said on Tuesday that he hoped the federal government would be able to sell its stake in the automaker soon, and expressed concern about the country’s economic recovery.
The executive, Daniel F. Akerson, said that G.M. was working to maximize its payback to taxpayers, but that the government did not make a bad investment even if it did not recover the full amount given to the company.
“At some level, the government’s got to decide: are they an investor or were they trying to save the industry?” Mr. Akerson told reporters ahead of G.M.’s first annual stockholder meeting since its 2009 government-financed bankruptcy.
A report last week by the White House National Economic Council concluded that the government would probably have to write off about $14 billion of the $80 billion spent rescuing the auto industry by the Bush and Obama administrations.
Mr. Akerson said that a G.M. liquidation would have saddled taxpayers with more than $17 billion in pension liabilities. G.M. has cut its pension shortfall in half since 2009, he said, adding that he wanted the plan to be fully financed during his tenure as chief executive. Read the rest of this entry »
Trump’s school faces investigation
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Business on Май 25th, 2011
The New York State attorney general’s office is investigating whether Donald Trump’s for-profit business school, the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative (formerly known as Trump University), is engaging in illegal business practices, the New York Times reports.
Trump’s is not the only company coming under the microscope — the effort is part of a broader inquiry into for-profit education, which is also examining Career Education Corporation, Corinthian Colleges, Lincoln Educational Services, and Bridgepoint Education.
But the school — which is known to charge up to $35,000 a course — has its share of unsatisfied alums. Last year four former students sued the company in a federal court in California, seeking class-action status. New York and Maryland also forced Trump to drop the word “university” from its title, prompting the name change. In 2010, the Better Business Bureau gave it a D-minus, its second lowest score, after getting 23 complaints. That has to hurt.
Recently, the school has suspended new classes in order to revise its curriculum. What could bring academic integrity back to “Trump U”? More of the Donald, obviously. “The one thing is that they really wanted me involved, instead of the teachers,” Trump said in an interview last week. Read the rest of this entry »
The Market Is In Bubble Mode Again
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Favourites, Fund Markets on Февраль 17th, 2011
The market is sending investors the wrong message. The more I watch it rise, the more concerned I get. While others applaud the market’s gains as a sporting event I think this is a new bubble pumped up by Federal Reserve policy and it’s destined to destroy investors’ savings again.
I think it is reckless and irresponsible and somewhat surprising given the recent memory of other disastrous bubbles in our economy. I am not a “perma-bear” as some of my brethren like to term anyone that doesn’t believe Apple is going to reach a $1 trillion market valuation. I am simply a realist that values equities more highly when the risk reward dynamic appears favorable. I think the notion of being “perma” anything is idiotic, as you should be a situational opportunist not a partisan market participant. I believe the market has moved heavily towards risk and I am moving into cash and shorting technology momentum stocks.
We have yet to accept the losses from the first Nasdaq technology bubble that ended in 2002. To make up for that disaster we have circulated through a series of asset bubbles in an attempt to avoid, or, at least, defer the inevitable pain.
Stock prices in the 90s rose to ridiculous levels as investor margin levels expanded dramatically driving stock prices higher. Along the way analysts found new and creative ways to value stocks to try to justify a “new paradigm” of the digital economy. Remember Dow 36,000? The Federal Reserve supported these efforts, at least tacitly, with accommodative policy until everything blew around 2001. Read the rest of this entry »
Microsoft Gets `Little Credit’ for Office Unit Gains Amid Windows Concerns
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Favourites, Trading Markets on Февраль 1st, 2011
Microsoft Corp. fell after a report showing a shortfall in Windows revenue raised concerns about demand for the operating system and outshined better-than- predicted second-quarter sales and profit.
Windows sales of $5.05 billion missed the $5.2 billion average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. That differed from the 55 percent gain in the Xbox unit, and numbers showing Microsoft’s Office and Server businesses topped projections.
The contrast suggests that Microsoft may be losing sales as customers opt for competing devices, such as Apple Inc.’s iPad or Macintosh computers, rather than a new Windows-based machine, said Tony Ursillo, an analyst at Loomis Sayles & Co. in Boston. As rival operating systems gain ground, Microsoft’s other products, such as Office, may also suffer, he said.
“The execution at this company has actually been pretty good over the last year,” said Ursillo, whose firm manages $150 billion, including Microsoft shares. “The stock has gotten very little credit for it because the market is worried about the continued erosion of the Windows franchise and the potential erosion of the Office franchise.”
Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, fell $1.12, or 3.9 percent, $27.75 at 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares lost 8.4 percent in 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Seven Stocks In Financial Sector For Next Year
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Investing on Декабрь 9th, 2010
Year to date (YTD), NYSE Financial Index is the third best performer, among the major NYSE indices, with a return of 25.9%. Those sub sectors (real estate services; thrifts and mortgage lenders) that pulled down the performance of finance sector in the year ago period seem to have recovered a major portion of their lost ground. Should you expect good times continue into 2011?
YTD financial sector (10.02%) has outperformed S&P 500 (7.79%) by nearly 2.23 percentage points and I see this margin widening further in 2011. The reason being most of the problems (capital shortage, asset value write downs, etc) that faced financial sector are nearly behind us. For the financial services industry, 2009 was among the toughest operating environments in many decades. The year 2010 has been relatively good and 2011 is expected to be better.
On a broad level, we can classify financial sector into 10 sub sectors namely — Consumer Financial Services, Insurance (Accident & Health), Insurance (Life), Insurance (Miscellaneous), Insurance (Prop. & Casualty), Investment Services, Misc. Financial Services, Money Center Banks, Regional Banks, and S&Ls/Savings Banks.
Since life insurance sector is yet to return to positive territory, I will avoid picking stocks from this sub sector. Read the rest of this entry »
Thursday’s biggest gaining and declining stocks
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Fund Markets on Октябрь 28th, 2010
The following stocks were making major moves in the U.S. stock market Thursday:
Advancers
3D Systems Corp. (TDSC) shares jumped 23%, rallying after the 3-D printer maker reported third-quarter earnings of 23 cents a share compared with 4 cents in the year-earlier period.
Dassault Systemes SA’s (DASTY) U.S.-listed shares advanced 8.5%. The Paris producer of product-design and other software reported third-quarter net income rose 44% on 38% higher revenue and revised higher its full-year outlook. More on Dassault.
Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) shares jumped 11% after the imaging company reported a narrower-than-anticipated loss of 16 cents a share for the third quarter. More on Kodak.
ExamWorks Group Inc. (EXAM) shares rose 7% following the launch of the medical-exam company’s initial public offering. More on ExamWorks IPO.
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) shares added 9.3%. Late Wednesday, the provider of electronics-manufacturing services reported net income of 18 cents a share for the second quarter ended Oct. 1, up from the prior year’s 2 cents. Adjusted profit would have been 23 cents a share, up from the prior year’s 13 cents. Quarterly sales reached $7.42 billion from $5.83 billion. A survey of analysts by FactSet Research produced consensus estimates of 20 cents of profit on $6.97 billion of revenue. Read the rest of this entry »
Citigroup, Inc. Helps Propel This ETF Higher
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Fund Markets on Октябрь 20th, 2010
«Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C: 4.135, -0.035) reported a surge in quarterly profit Monday as credit-loss provisions fell, but revenue dipped as the company’s consumer-lending and investment-banking businesses weakened. Citigroup (NYSE:C: 4.135, -0.035) said its third-quarter net income came in at $2.17 billion, or 7 cents a share including preferred dividends. That compares with a profit of $101 million in same period a year earlier, when it reported a per-share loss of 27 cents,» John Spence Reports From MarketWatch.
«Last year’s third-quarter per-share loss was related to the U.S. government’s exchange of preferred securities for new common stock of Citigroup (NYSE;C). The transaction boosted the bank’s capital, but cut income available to common shareholders by more than $3 billion and left the government owning more than a quarter of the company. The government has been selling its stake in Citigroup (NYSE:C) this year, but it remains a major shareholder. Meanwhile, Citigroup (NYSE:C) is trying to sell or unwind businesses it doesn’t want, leaving it a leaner, overseas-focused bank,» Spence Writes.
«Overall, I am very pleased with the progress we are making,» Citigroup (NYSE:C) Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said in a statement. «Our unique footprint and strong presence in the emerging markets have us well aligned for the growth trends we see globally.»
Erik Oja, a financial analyst at Standard & Poor’s Equity Research, highlighted a big drop in third-quarter provisions versus the second quarter, describing it as a positive. «We see improvements on track, and we keep our $5 target price,» Oja added in a note to investors. Read the rest of this entry »
Japanese export growth slows again in August
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Trading Markets on Сентябрь 28th, 2010
Japan’s growth in exports slowed for a sixth consecutive month in August, another signal that the nation’s economic recovery is running out of gas, while the yen remains at a persistent 15-year high against the dollar.
Exports climbed 15.8 percent on an annual basis, compared with a peak 45.3 percent surge in February.
The slowdown in exports comes amidst moves by the Bank of Japan to intervene to soften the strengthening yen, while a political dispute with China keeps growing.
Exports to other Asian countries, which represent for more than half of Japan’s total export business, rose 18.6 percent, significantly slower than the 23.8 percent increase in July.
Exports to China grew by 18.5 percent in August, down from a 22.7 percent annual increase in July.
Meanwhile, Japanese exports to the U.S. rose by 8.8 percent from a year earlier, far below the 25.9 percent climb recorded in July. Read the rest of this entry »
Could The Recession Be Retreating?
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Trading Markets on Сентябрь 22nd, 2010
Starting in 2008, 10% of the country’s largest companies to cut costs and opted to stop contributing to their employees’ 401(k) plans. Reducing health care costs weren’t an option, because this takes months of planning. Pension plans couldn’t be stopped quickly. And laying off employees would still mean an expense in paying out severance.
Many smaller companies are still reluctant to reinstating employer matching until there is further confirmation that the economy has recovered. Employers don’t want to reinstate a match, just to have to suspend it again next year. Robert Ferris, representing Honeywell International Inc., said that they don’t plan to increase it «until there is greater certainty in the economy».
However, FedEx Corporation just announced that they would restore the matching fund contributions to its employees’ 401(k) plans, starting in January of 2011.
When the recession started, FedEx saw an alarming drop in shipping volume as customers chose cheaper shipping options. FedEx reacted by reducing $3 billion in costs through layoffs (of which this article’s author was a victim), management pay cuts, and suspending the 401(k).
The company’s revenue has been rebounding for the past year. In fact, FedEx has recently raised its profit outlook for the first fiscal quarter, as well as for the year. Read the rest of this entry »
Свежие комментарии