Gilead Sciences, A Proven Track Record
January 31, 2009
Gilead Sciences [GILD: 47.18, -0.29 (-0.61%)] pleased its investors yet again with another quarter of great earnings. The biotechnology company from Foster City, California has truly proven to investors that they can withstand the tough economic conditions across the globe, even offering high priced drugs; and even more importantly, has built up a respectable reputation on the Street as being a “staple” biotech holding Read more
Friday’s Market Recap (1/30/2009)
January 30, 2009
For the second day in a row, the markets tumbled on bad news that a plan to help banks of their money loosing assets may be put on hold. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.82% today closing at 8,000.86 while the Nasdaq and S&P decreased 2.08% and 2.28% respectively to levels of 1,476.42 and 825.88. Contrary to the market retraction, crude oil rose $0.20 settling at $41.64 while gold increased $23.0 to $929.50. Read more
(Yang’s) Yahoo! Posts A Loss
January 30, 2009
Yahoo [YHOO: 16.50, +0.14 (+0.86%)]reported a net loss of $303 million or $0.22 per share for the 4th quarter of 2008. This is a 32% decrease from last year’s 4th quarter earnings of $206 million, or $.15 per share. Yahoo said it would have earned $238 million or $0.17 per share if not for certain one-time charges, including a restructuring and “goodwill” impairment charge. This figure “beat” analysts’ expectations of $0.13 per share. Read more
Starbucks 1st Quarter Earnings
January 30, 2009
On Wednesday January 28th, 2009, Starbucks Corporation[SBUX: 25.56, +0.27 (+1.07%)] released first quarter fiscal 2009 earnings that disappointed many investors and the Street. Starbucks reported earnings per share of $0.09 o
n net income of $64.3 million. The company posted revenue of $2.62 billion. This is down 69 percent from net income of $208.1 million, or $0.28 per share a year earlier. Analysts projected earnings per share of $0.11 on revenue of $2.70 billion. Read more
Thursday’s Market Recap (1/29/2009)
January 29, 2009
The markets streak came to an abrupt stop as rising fears of a worsening economy are becoming more apparent as fresh and frightful data appeared. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.7% to a close of 8149.01 while the Nasdaq and S&P fell equally 3.24% and 3.31% respectively to closes of 1,507.84 and 845.14. Recent news of rising unemployment as well as falling new home sales makes it ever so apparent that the economies 14 month old recession may have no end in the near future. Reacting on this news, oil flat-lined gaining a mere $0.06, closing at $41.50 while gold was boosted $2.80 to $909.3 and copper remained unchanged at $1.45. Overwhelming large layoffs from companies like Starbucks Corporation [SBUX: 25.56, +0.27 (+1.07%)], Eastman Kodak Co. [EK: 6.00, +0.05 (+0.84%)] and Allstate Corporation [ALL: 31.27, +0.25 (+0.81%)] show the continuing market and economic weakness. Read more
Quick Thoughts On Coach
January 29, 2009
Coach [COH: 38.23, +0.41 (+1.08%)] reported earnings on Wednesday, January 21. Before I touch on the tough quarter they had, I would like to say that I still like the American accessory maker. Now that investors beat it down some more since the release, along with the majority of the retail sector, I like it even more at around the 15 dollar range. I will get into why I am preaching this long term value play after I go through their Q2 earnings. Read moreWells Fargo’s Nasty Results, Shares Rise
January 29, 2009
Wells Fargo’s [WFC: 30.55, +0.27 (+0.89%)] shares jumped after the bank reported earnings yesterday before the bell. For the period, Wells Fargo reported a net loss of $2.55 billion, or $0.79 a share, compared to last year’s net gain of $1.36 billion, or $0.41 a share. Their earnings swung to a loss on the back of a $5.6 billion, or about $1.20 a share, reserve that they set aside for bad loans. Additionally, revenue decreased by 3.8% during the quarter to $9.82 billion. Wells Fargo’s earnings severely missed analyst estimates on the Street, who were expecting earnings of $0.33 a share on revenue of $11.65 billion. Even with WFC’s strong earnings and revenue misses, their shares shot up more than 26% during the day on news that the U.S. government is working to create a “good bank, bad bank” structure. Read more
Bank of America: Earnings after Merrill Acquisition
January 28, 2009
Many stock holders were anxiously awaiting Bank of Americas [BAC: 17.27, +0.24 (+1.41%)] earning report that recently came out. In their latest earnings report, announced on January 16th, BofA did not fare well, as they posted net losses of $1.79 billion in the fourth quarter. They posted quarterly losses of $0.48 per share diluted, which comes after a third quarter that posted relatively low gains of just $0.15 per diluted share. This poor fourth quarter performance brought their total income to a mere $4.01 billion. They posted gains Read more
Wednesday’s Market Recap (1/28/2009)
January 28, 2009
The markets moved sharply upward on word of the Federal Reserve pledging to help the economy in any way possible. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.46% closing at 8,375.45, while the Nasdaq and S&P climbed 3.55% and 3.36% respectively to levels of 1,558.34 and 874.09. Positive crude inventories reported today boosted crude oil up $0.76 to $42.34 while gold decreased $11.40 closing at $890 an ounce. The Federal Reserve signaled that they will continue using unconventional tools in order to cushion the fallout of the economic crisis while also agreeing to keep the targeted range for the federal funds rate between zero and 0.25 percent. Officials are now focusing on new lending and asset purchase programs, and possibly purchasing government bonds. Read more
Verizon Shares Down On Wireless Growth and Pension Costs
January 28, 2009
The country’s largest wireless provider in terms of subscribers slightly missed analyst expectations with this morning’s earnings release. Verizon [VZ: 30.15, +0.22 (+0.74%)] shares were down over 5 percent during the day’s session as investors reacted to the numbers. Profits for the fourth quarter 2008 came in at $1.24 billion, or 43 cents a share, compared to $1.07 billion, or 37 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. On an adjusted basis, Verizon earned 61 cents a share compared to 62 cents a share a year ago. Earnings per share came in 1 cent below analyst’s expectations, according to Reuters estimates. Also, sales were up 3.4 percent to $24.6 billion from the same period in 2007, while analysts were looking for $24.74 billion.
