Sunday, November 11, 2007

Weekend Stock Alerts: November 11, 2007


Sales of golf shafts and related products declined 22% in the third quarter 2007 from the comparable quarter of 2006 for golf equipment manufacturer Aldila, Inc. (ALDA-$17.29). Chairman & CEO Peter R. Mathewson said, “While we are disappointed in the third quarter results, historically it is our weakest quarter and we remained profitable in the quarter even as our sales declined significantly.”

On Tuesday, semiconductor equipment-maker Applied Materials (AMAT-$18.71) will
report earnings, providing another insight into how tech stocks are faring. Citigroup, which expects Applied to post an EPS of about $1.50 in fiscal 2009, raised its price target on the stock by $1 to $23 per share.

Plagued by
rumors of credit-market losses all week, Barclays PLC (BCS-$39.86) said on Friday that a $10 billion write-down is not imminent, and Britain's third-largest bank denied reports, too, of imminent resignations by senior executives.

The Blackstone Group L.P. (BX-$24.28) is expected to
post earnings of 30 cents a share on revenue of $765 million for the quarter ended in September, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. The private equity firm is slated to report third-quarter earnings on Monday, the firm's first full quarter of results since going public in the summer.

Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the largest individual shareholder of Citigroup Inc. (C-$33.10), regards the bank's
share price as ridiculous low and is not selling any shares, Fortune magazine quoted him as saying.

Bloggers are
talking up the shares of Crocs Inc. (CROX-$38.49), telling their readers “to take advantage of the recent weakness in the price of the edgy shoe retailer” and do some buying—adding that (supposedly) “potential future catalysts may move the stock upward shortly.”

Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC-$13.83), the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said in a U.S. regulatory filing on Friday, that if its
credit rating dropped below its current lowest rating, this would "severely," limit its access to the public corporate debt market and that could have repercussions on its business.

Dominion Homes, Inc. (DHOM-$1.26) announced a
third-quarter net loss of $15.3 million, or $1.86 per share, compared to net loss of $5.9 million, or $0.73 per share, in the same quarter a year-ago. Revenues for the quarter were $38.1 million from the delivery of 197 homes, compared to revenues of $64.9 million from the delivery of 338 homes in the comparable quarter previous year.

EchoStar Communications Corp. (DISH-$48.51) reported
third-quarter net income of $200 million, or $0.44 per share, compared to $140 million, or $0.31 per share, during the corresponding period in 2006. On average, 17 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of $0.43 per share for the quarter. The satellite-television broadcaster posted a 12.9% increase in revenues to $2.79 billion, slightly below the consensus revenue estimate of $2.81 billion.

E*Trade Financial Corp (ETFC-$8.59) said it had seen declines in the fair value of its $3 billion asset-backed securities portfolio that will
result in write-downs that exceed previous expectations included in the company's 2007 earnings outlook on Oct. 17, and investors should no longer expect those earnings levels in the fourth quarter for the online brokerage.

Coffee roaster Farmer Bros. (FARM-$22.21) posted a
first-quarter net loss of $0.9 million, or $(0.07) per share, compared to a net profit of $1.0 million, or $0.07 per share, in the same quarter last year, due to the higher average cost of green coffee and operating costs.

For the third quarter of 2007, GenTek (GETI-$32.09)
reported income from continuing operations of $8.6 million, or $0.75 per share, compared to income from continuing operations of $4.3 million, or $0.38 income per share, in the third quarter of 2006. The provider of inorganic chemical products and services said revenue in quarter fell to $151.3 million from $158.5 million a year ago.

Goldman Sachs Group (GS-$211.33) Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein may earn
a pay package of up to $75 million in cash and stock this year, the New York Post said on Sunday, citing sources inside the firm.

The trust that has a controlling stake in Hershey Co. (HSY-$41.04) on Sunday forced
a sweeping overhaul of the company's board amid dissatisfaction with the chocolate maker's recent results.

Intel Corp. (INTC-$25.15) plans to roll out its newest—and fastest—
generation of processors on Monday, flexing its manufacturing muscle with a sophisticated new process that crams up to 40 percent more transistors onto the company's chips

JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM-$42.31) may have to
write-down more of its loan portfolio due to faltering credit markets.

Rumors abound at apparel and shoemaker Kenneth Cole Productions (KCP-$18.99) that the company’s founder, chairman, and chief executive may have
to step aside and relinquish day-to-day control to a different executive.

Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF-$10.52)
posted a second-quarter loss of $(0.47) per share, $0.15 worse than the Reuters Share-net consensus of ($0.32); revenue rose 57.4% year/year to $343.5 million, up from the $280.2 million consensus. The Company noted that revenue growth was driven by strong theatrical box office results and television production revenue gains in the quarter.

Merck & Co. (MRK-$55.93) agreed to pay $4.85 billion to
settle most lawsuits (about 85 percent of the outstanding claims) stemming from the painkiller Vioxx, which the drugmaker withdrew in 2004 after a study showed it raised the risk of heart attacks in some patients.

Jim Cramer told viewers of his
“Madd Money” TV show Friday that McDonald's Corp. (MCD-$58.31) is loaded with American growth and European growth," important qualities for a stock that is expected to weather a market storm. Additionally, there's a catalyst to buy McDonald's, Cramer said: "There's an analysts' meeting next Tuesday, and if I were you, I'd get in ahead of this meeting."

Diversified media enterprise The New York Times Company (NYT-$18.54), which shed less-profitable circulation and increased some prices in the last year, lost 4.5 percent of its weekday circulation (to less than 1.04 million) of its name-sake newspaper and 7.6 percent of its Sunday circulation (to 1.5 million), according to figures released by the
Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Research In Motion (RIMM-$113.22) is in
a good position to keep dominating the business and professional smart phone market, according to Investors Business Daily.

The
rejection by Rio Tinto plc (RTP-$478.35) of a $140 billion all-share offer from BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP-$75.81) is likely to trigger rival bids from resource companies awash with cash from record commodity and stock prices, analysts said.

Exposure to the fast-expanding Chinese economy and
strong petrochemical demand makes Shanghai Petrochemical Co., Ltd. (SHI-$65.15) a BUY, according to Zacks senior equities analyst Paul Raman, CFA.

The Shaw Group Inc. (SGR-$71.45), a provider of services to the energy, chemical, and environmental and infrastructure industries;
First Solar (FSLR-$206.85), which manufactures thin-film solar photovoltaic (PV) modules for primarily large-scale solar-power projects; and, MEMC Electronic Materials (WFR-$71.22), a silicon solar panel components maker—three stocks for investors looking to “go green,” said Jim Cramer on CNBC's “Stop Trading!” segment last Friday.

Barron's, in its November 12 edition, suggests Internet security and info loss prevention software provider Symantec Corp. (SYMC-$16.90) could
spark the interest of potential acquirers like International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) or Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ).

Package delivery company United Parcel Service Inc (UPS-$70.71) said on Sunday it expects
to handle 22 million packages on its peak day ahead of the holidays this year, an increase of less than 5 percent from its forecast of 21 million in 2006.

Wachovia Corp. (WB-$40.65) the fourth-largest US bank by assets, on Friday estimated that the value of its subprime mortgage-related securities had fallen $1.1bn last month. It said
loan-loss provisions would be increased by as much as $600m in the fourth quarter due to “dramatic declines” in home values.

Watts Water Technologies Inc. (WTS-$28.32) announced a
stock repurchase agreement under which the water valve manufacturer will buy back up to 3 million shares of its Class A common stock.

The stock price of Whirlpool (WHR-$75.44) hit a 52-week low Thursday. According to Longbow Research analyst David MacGregor, shares of the world's largest appliance manufacturer have
suffered from the misperception that Whirlpool is tied solely to U.S. housing fortunes; but just 18% of Whirlpool's U.S. shipments are linked to new residential construction. The bargain-basement prices could offer buyers of Whirlpool stock over 70% upside in the next 12 months, based on the average analyst target price.

Editor David J. Phillips does not hold a financial interest in any of the stocks mentioned in this article. The 10Q Detective has a Full Disclosure Policy.

1 comment:

Neil said...

By clicking on the RSS icon on your page, I tried to add your feed to my MyYahoo page. Yahoo, however, added the 10 Questions Podcast by Kareem Mayan.

I was able to add your feed to a Google home page.

I can't imagine what is going wrong, but you might want to check.

Neil
http://www.financial-gauges.com