Analysis Topic: Companies Analysis
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Investing in Booming Chinese Food Stocks / Companies / Agricultural Commodities
By: Money_and_Markets
Tony Sagami writes: As a teenager, I couldn't wait to get off the family vegetable farm. While the rest of my friends were joyriding around town, swimming, and otherwise having tons of fun, I was always working.
But attitudes sure do change over time. Now I live in Montana to recapture that rural lifestyle that I hated so much as a teenager.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
S&P500 Corporations Board and Executive Compensation Payments / Companies / Corporate News
By: Richard_Shaw
Executive compensation and board largess with high paid executives is a hot topic recently. That spurred us to look comprehensively at some factual comparative data on the total cost of boards of directors and top executive teams among the S&P 500 companies (proxy SPY or IVV).
For that purpose, we utilized the corporate governance database provided by The Corporate Library ( www.TheCorporateLibrary.com ) which tracks corporate actions, including executive compensation, and ranks public companies on several dimensions of corporate governance.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Northern Rock Turns Into a Pebble on Huge Loss / Companies / UK Banking
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The government propaganda machine were in full swing today emphasing Northern Rock's repayment of £9.7 billion of the approx £27 billion borrowed, whilst at the same time announcing losses of £585 million over the past 6 months, against a profit of £296 for the same period last year, prompting the government to make an equity injection of £3.4billion, which basically means that loans have been replaced by a high risk equity investment the value of which is subject to market pricing, which given that Northern rock is making an annualised loss of over £1 billion equates to virtually zero. Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Citigroup Posts Loss on Credit Cards and Fantasy Balance Sheets / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Shedlock
In what is likely to be the shape of things to come across the board, Citigroup Posts Loss on Credit-Card Securitizations .Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc. reported its first loss since at least 2005 on credit-card securitizations, signaling that risks may be growing in a business that generated $3.5 billion of revenue in the past three years.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
SEC Selective Short Selling Protection Ensures Survival of the Unfittest / Companies / Government Intervention
By: John_Mauldin
It is indeed a very interesting time in which to live, especially watching the financial markets. The disconnect among authorities, regulators, companies and investors is almost too much to comprehend. There are no precedents for the turmoil we are in. This week we read an essay by a name familiar to readers of Outside Box, Michael Lewitt of Hegemony Capital Management ( www.hegcap.com ). As usual he offers us some very cogent comments on the continuing efforts by those in authority to bail out the system, along with insights on the deal by Merrill and the woes at GM. It is a very interesting letter, so I will stand aside and let Michael jump in. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 04, 2008
Derivatives Deleveraging Forcing Lehman's to Sell Assets at a Big Loss / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Shedlock
Reuters is reporting Lehman may have to raise capital if sells assets . Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is expected to follow in Merrill Lynch & Co Inc's footsteps and sell a lot of risky assets at a loss. But shedding the assets may create another headache for Lehman -- the need to raise large amounts of new capital, including common equity.
Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, August 04, 2008
Get Ready for the Corporate Earnings Meltdown / Companies / Corporate Earnings
By: Mike_Stathis
I'm not talking about the banks or even the retailers. We all know they will continue to slide. I'm talking about everything else. With no real median wage growth since 1999, and soaring inflation for gas, food and healthcare, it's obvious consumers have had much less to spend. Not only has that hurt savings rates (including retirement contributions) but it's also affected consumer spending. But don't expect things to get better by Fall. In fact, I'm expecting the earnings meltdown to begin for much of the remaining sectors in the S&P 500.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Credit Crunch Reaches Downward Spiral Critical Mass / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Shedlock
Some might not recognize it, but Yes Virginia, There Is A Credit Crunch. Let's look at a few examples of the credit crunch in action. Bloomberg is reporting MGM, Dubai Fall Behind on $3.5 Billion Loan for Las Vegas Plan .
MGM Mirage and Dubai World are late in raising as much as $3.5 billion for their $11.2 billion CityCenter project in Las Vegas because banks saddled with debt to casinos and hotels are wary of making new loans.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Banking Stocks Buying Opportunity of a Lifetime or Capital Destroyers? / Companies / Banking Stocks
By: Richard_Shaw
Banks are a bundles of questions these days. We wrote on July 15 , just before the second quarter reports, that the next week would be a big week, and it certainly was.
Are the banks the buying opportunity of a lifetime, or a treacherous value trap that will destroy your capital?
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Bennigan's Restaurant Chain Is Bankrupt, Faces Chapter7 Liquidation / Companies / Corporate News
By: Mike_Shedlock
The Wall Street Journal is reporting Bennigan's, Steak & Ale Close, File for Bankruptcy Protection .National restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have closed their doors and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, shuttering more than 300 locations and letting go of thousands of employees.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Dark Investment Pools May Render Traditional Market Analysis Ineffective / Companies / Market Manipulation
By: Money_Morning
Keith Fitz-Gerald writes:"Why don't my traditional analytics work as well anymore?"
It's a question I get a lot. But chances are, it's not your analytics that have broken down. It's your execution that's not keeping up.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Ratchet Provisions Soak Merrill Lynch, Will Sink WaMu / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Shedlock
It was just 5 days ago in Death Spiral Financing at WaMu, Merrill Lynch, Citigroup that I wrote about ratchet provisions and how they would bite companies that agreed to them. Here is the key snip:
The investors in the equity raise would have their investment “protected” by a provision which states that should the bank afterwards raise money at a lower price than what they paid, these investors would be compensated retroactively by having their initial investment priced at this lower price, thereby being issued new shares for free. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, July 28, 2008
US Banks in Death Spiral- Check Your Bank NOW! / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Money_and_Markets
Martin D. Weiss writes: The truth may be unthinkable, but the reality is undeniable: Much of our nation's financial structure is collapsing, and our government's only response is phony money, bogus bailouts and a litany of false promises.
Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson, the FDIC and the U.S. Congress say they can do it all.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, July 27, 2008
US Banks Going Straight to Hell on $1.5trillion Eventual Loss / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Alex_Wallenwein
NAB, National Australia Bank, was just forced to write down over ninety percent of its exposure to US mortgages via so-called SIV's or conduits last Friday, to the order of $830 million dollars.
This was by no means a matter of choice for NAB. The bank had just issued and sold $850 million worth of new debt paper. Buyers of that debt are now screaming bloody murder. They are asking why this information, which surely must have been known to the bank at the time of the debt sale, was not disclosed to the market beforehand. They are now demanding their money back or some other way to back out of the deal. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Bernanke's, Paulson's, Bair's, and Cox's Banking Crisis Next Step / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Shedlock
The Fed, the FDIC, the SEC, and the treasury department are all in panic mode. Here are the key players: Ben "Helicopter Drop" Bernanke is Fed chairman. Sheila Bair, the "Bureaucrat's Bureaucrat", is the FDIC chairman. Henry "Sound Dollar Policy" Paulson is Secretary of the Treasury, and Christopher "Big Squeeze" Cox, Chairman of the SEC, is on a selective campaign against nudity. Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, July 25, 2008
US Banking Crisis Warning: Uninsured Depositors At WaMu Are Asking For Trouble! / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Shedlock
Anyone with uninsured deposits (those exceeding FDIC limits) at Washington Mutual are begging for trouble. If you work for a corporation that has its payroll or large corporate account (above the FDIC limit) at WaMu and you want to get paid, you better get this message to corporate headquarters right away: WaMu Slumps as Gimme Credit Cites Liquidity Concern .
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Cash Rich Non-US Companies Trading in the US / Companies / Corporate Earnings
By: Richard_Shaw
In this time of difficult credit conditions, it could make sense to evaluate companies with plenty of cash. One way to measure cash is to subtract all liabilities and see if there is any cash left (Net Cash).
If a company has Net Cash, they could pay off any and all debts and other reported liabilities, and have money left over.
Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 24, 2008
US Auto Industry in Meltdown as Ford Loses Record $8.7 Billion / Companies / US Auto's
By: Nadeem_Walayat
The Ford motor companies stock price fell sharply by more than 10% following news of a worse than expected second quarter record loss of $8.7 billion, this follows a first quarter profit of $100 million. Ford has been witnessing a near meltdown in sales from a year earlier with auto sales down 28%, and truck sales down 36%, as following the surge in gas prices the once profitable SUV's have now become a liability by clogging up dealer forecourts with unsold inventory and thus contributing to the sales meltdown.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Beware the Stocks Bear Market Dividend Trap / Companies / Dividends
By: Money_Morning
Alexander Green writes: For years, investors have bemoaned the low dividend yield on stocks. But with the market down roughly 20%, the yield on the S&P 500 Index is up to 2.25%. That doesn't sound terribly rich, I know, but it is only slightly less than the average money market is paying right now.
In the short term, you may sleep a lot better with a big chunk of money tucked safely away in cash. But in the long run, you may lose sleep. After all, your biggest risk as an investor is not market risk - the inevitable rise and fall of your stock portfolio from week to week - but shortfall risk, the possibility that good health and steady inflation may cause you to outlive your investment portfolio.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Death Spiral Financing at Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, WaMu... / Companies / Credit Crisis 2008
By: Mike_Shedlock
Reuters is reporting WaMu has $3.33 bln loss, may be cut to "junk" . Washington Mutual Inc, the largest U.S. savings and loan, posted a $3.33 billion second-quarter loss on Tuesday as souring mortgages forced it to set aside more money for loan losses.
"We are planning for continued softness in housing for the next several quarters," Chief Executive Kerry Killinger said in an interview. "The capital that we have in place is sufficient to manage through this period. We have no plans at this point to raise additional capital."
Read full article... Read full article...