A Disturbance in the Farce Corporate revenues and earnings have been weak for quite some time. In big cap stocks this has been masked by the stock buyback effect, which supports earnings per share, even if the underlying trend of a business sucks. Unfortunately, stock buybacks are a horrible use of capital when stocks are…
Morgan Stanley Better-Than-Expected Results Morgan Stanley (MS) reported its second-quarter earnings while shares climbed in the market. Figures were well above analyst´s estimates, led by an increase in the fee for trading and brokerage services. Net revenues reached $9.74 billion beating expectations of $9.1 billion and posted earnings of $1.81 billion or $0.85 per share, or…
The headlines for existing home sales claim “Buyers have come back in force, leading to the strongest past two months in sales since early 2007“. Our analysis of the unadjusted data shows that home sales did rebound – but that the rolling averages did not improve. Overall, existing home sales appear to continue in the…
<<Read Part 1: Are Your Pension(s) Safe? Why It Is Worth Keeping An Eye On Them Introduction In the first part of this two part series, I explained how the pension investment industry worked and why pension holders should keep an eye on them. I pointed out: “Pensions” often get sold a bill of goods by companies wanting…
In his July 17th Blog, Let’s Get Real About Gold, author and Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig likened investor interest in gold with the “Pet Rock” craze of the 1970’s, when consumers became convinced that a rock in a box would provide continuous companionship, elevate their social standing, and give them something hip to talk…
Abbott Laboratories (ABT – Analyst Report) reported second-quarter 2015 earnings of 52 cents per share, up 6.12% year over year, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 50 cents. Abbott Labs generated sales of $5.2 billion in the second quarter of 2015, up 2.2% year over year (on a reported basis) and in line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate….
E-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) is slated to announce second quarter 2015 earnings results on Thursday, July 23, after market close. Several factors are expected to be included in Amazon’s earnings report, including Prime Day sales and an update on Amazon Web Services (AWS). As such, Wall Street analysts have been weighing in on Amazon…
The best bets are now being laid by bears. You’ve no doubt noticed gold’s recent tumble. Bullion prices have plunged through key support levels to reach five-year lows at the $1,100 level. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Money managers have been climbing aboard the short gold train for several weeks, breaking down speculative…
The US Treasury sold $25 billion of one-year T-bills at an interest rate of 33 bps yesterday, the highest since June 2010. It appears the short-end of the yield curve is increasingly pricing in ‘liftoff’ sooner rather than later (and the long-end is responding by rallying – lower in yield – as medium term growth expectations…
There are a number of great companies in the market today. By using the ModernGraham Valuation Model, I’ve selected five undervalued companies with a low beta reviewed by ModernGraham. A company’s beta indicates the correlation at which its price moves in relation to the market. A beta less than 1 indicates a company is less volatile than the…
