Author Archives: Darren Marchal

Bear Of The Day: Midcoast Energy (MEP)

Midcoast Energy Partners (MEP – Snapshot Report) has seen significant estimate downgrades over the past ninety days.  This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) has had its stock estimates significantly trimmed for the next two quarters and for Fiscal 2014 & 2015. The table below shows the estimate revisions for Midcoast Energy from the past 90 days for the…

EC The Russian

Winston Churchill famously said of Russian foreign policy that it was “…a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”  What people leave out is what followed. Churchill offered an answer:  “… perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.” And so it is. Like most crises, the crisis Russia is experiencing is…

What Becomes Of The Broken Market

The November industrial production data reported yesterday shows no slowdown yet in US oil and gas production, and as goes oil and gas, so goes the US economy. There’s more data and analysis below, but in honor of the occasion I wrote new lyrics for that great old Temptations classic, What Becomes of The North Dakotans….

FedEx Earnings Miss Estimates On Soft Sales In Q2

FedEx Corporation’s (FDX – Analyst Report) second-quarter fiscal 2015 (ended Nov 30, 2014) earnings of $2.14 per share fell well short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.22 per share. The earnings miss was primarily attributable to lower-than-expected revenues in the quarter. Moreover, results were hurt by higher aircraft maintenance expense. The earnings miss resulted in the…

Stocks Bounce But Credit & Crude Continue Slide

Hope abounds once again this morning. Stocks are up (albeit off their overnight highs) thanks to AUD/JPY and the Ruble is ‘stabilizing’. However, the two crucial factors for recent volatility – crude prices and credit spreads – continue to slump. WTI crude is back below $55 (trading as low as $54.60 this morning) and HY credit spreads have…

Cold War 2.0: The Old Maid Card Option

The latest tell comes as Gunvor, the #5 gold trader is getting out of the biz basically admitting large scale fraud. Their reason demonstrates why Austria may try and repatriate their gold.  It is too late for that.  Per Bloomberg, “Gunvor executives decided to abandon the precious metals trading business partly because of difficulties in finding…

E

Since 2010, the best scoring names in our weekly mid cap reports have outpaced the S&P 400 by an average 4.43% in the following year. The best performers from our list from 1 year ago are KNX up 77%, ILMN up 76%, IRF up 57%, LVLT up 55%, and AAP up 47%. The best mid…

Will New Smartphones Lift Microsoft?

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is not planning to unveil any flagship Windows Phone at next year’s MWC conference, which will take place in Barcelona from March 2 to March 5. Prior to the big event, Microsoft will reportedly release a low-end smartphone that will be used primarily to tap into emerging markets. The new low-end smartphone, Lumia…