Wall Street Cheat Sheet submits:
One of your favorite posts was when I covered Brazil in “Bright Signs of an Early Carnival for Traders Utilizing Brazilian ETFs“. So, with the Winter Olympics in full throttle, I want to shine the light on some safe and steady Canadian investments.
As of Thursday morning, the U.S., Germany and France lead the Olympics with the most medals per country, respectively. Meanwhile, this year’s Olympics host, Canada, is tied for 4th place. Canada may not be placing first in the Olympics, but they are economically benefiting from the attention on Vancouver and the wallets being opened in surrounding areas right now.
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China OTC Player submits:
By Platinum Tiger
For many who celebrate it, the Chinese New Year is all about food. With persistent talk of financial bubbles and with economic uncertainty all around, one thing we can be sure of is that Chinese people will continue to eat, especially for the holiday feast. In the spirit of the season I’ve laid out below a Chinese menu of PRC food stocks, some sweet, some sour, for you to chew on.
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Trade Radar Operator submits:
I ran my simple value screen against the Alert HQ database again Tuesday. This time I included stocks that are on the Trend Busters list as well as those that are on the Trend Leaders list.
The screen looks for stocks with a reasonable valuation but also charts that are looking particularly attractive. Here are the criteria used for my loose value determination:
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Invest With An Edge submits:
By Brandon Clay
A few weeks ago, we talked about cloud computing, a phenomenon some market observers believe to be the “next big thing” in the technology world. I mentioned some of the bigger players in cloud computing: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), IBM (IBM), Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT) among others. These are all solid names worthy of consideration for a portfolio. If you’re craving a little more growth from a cloud computing-related stock, look at Rightnow Technologies (RNOW).
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Stone Fox Capital submits:
You won’t hear that in the media reports today, though. It’ll all be about a larger loss then expected (more on that later) or blah blah this and that. In reality, Terex (TEX) continues to work through a deep and devastating recession in the heavy equipment market. One that has completely crushed end markets as revenues were down some 50% from the 2008 levels of $8.5B.
At the end of the press release though, TEX provided a nice little nugget: Revenue is expected to grow 25% next year to hit $5B, partially because of adding the port equipment but largely because of a return to growth.
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Value Expectations submits:
In the tables below ValueExpectations.com has provided a list of the favorite long and short equity ideas from professional money managers who participate in AFG’s Market Forecast Project (MFP) survey. The MFP survey is designed to keep investors updated on events that will affect the markets and economy, provide insight into how peers currently view the market, and enhance communication with clients by becoming more well rounded and knowledgeable about different aspects of the market. The list below contains MFP participants favorite investment ideas. The companies highlighted in grey are companies that were recommended as both a long and a short idea and the far right column denotes a company that was recommended more than once.
| Market Forecast Project #7 Long Equity Ideas |
| Ticker |
Company |
Sector |
MKT Cap ($Millions) |
# Votes |
| AAPL |
APPLE INC |
Technology |
$180,559 |
2 |
| ABX |
BARRICK GOLD CORP |
Energy and Extraction |
$35,300 |
|
| AMGN |
AMGEN INC |
Health |
$59,787 |
|
| AMMD |
AMERICAN MEDICAL SYSTEMS |
Health |
$1,411 |
|
| APA |
APACHE CORP |
Energy and Extraction |
$34,734 |
|
| ATSC |
ATS CORP |
Miscellaneous |
$58 |
|
| AUXL |
AUXILIUM PHARMACEUTICALS |
Health |
$1,554 |
|
| AWH |
ALLIED WORLD ASSURANCE HLDG |
Financials |
$2,272 |
|
| BAC |
BANK OF AMERICA CORP |
Financials |
$154,306 |
|
| BG |
BUNGE LTD |
Consumer Non Durable |
$8,112 |
|
| BRK.B |
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY CL B |
Financials |
$177,497 |
|
| C |
CITIGROUP INC |
Financials |
$77,051 |
|
| CDCS |
CDC SOFTWARE CORP. ADR |
na |
$289 |
|
| CERN |
CERNER CORP |
Health |
$6,353 |
|
| CHRW |
C.H. ROBINSON WORLDWIDE |
Transportation |
$8,991 |
|
| CMG |
CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL, INC. |
Consumer Services |
$3,175 |
|
| CNU |
CONTINUCARE CORP |
Health |
$252 |
|
| CVM |
CEL-SCI CORP |
Health |
$131 |
|
| EEP |
ENBRIDGE ENERGY PART LP |
Utilities |
$5,097 |
|
| EMC |
EMC CORP |
Technology |
$34,799 |
|
| ENTR |
ENTROPIC COMM INC |
Technology |
$241 |
|
| EQT |
EQT CORP |
Utilities |
$6,010 |
|
| ERF |
ENERPLUS RESOURCES FUND |
Energy and Extraction |
$3,948 |
|
| F |
FORD MOTOR CO |
Consumer Durable |
$38,587 |
|
| GILD |
GILEAD SCIENCES INC |
Health |
$42,782 |
|
| GOOG |
GOOGLE INC A |
Miscellaneous |
$171,586 |
2 |
| HGR |
HANGER ORTHOPEDIC GROUP |
Health |
$540 |
|
| HPQ |
HEWLETT-PACKARD CO |
Technology |
$115,542 |
|
| HRS |
HARRIS CORP |
Technology |
$5,791 |
|
| HUM |
HUMANA INC |
Financials |
$8,318 |
|
| IILG |
INTERVAL LEISURE GRP |
Miscellaneous |
$735 |
|
| ING |
ING GROEP NV |
Financials |
$20,878 |
|
| INSP |
INFOSPACE INC |
Miscellaneous |
$370 |
|
| INTC |
INTEL CORP |
Technology |
$108,673 |
|
| JNJ |
JOHNSON & JOHNSON |
Health |
$175,562 |
|
| KEY |
KEYCORP |
Financials |
$6,510 |
|
| KFT |
KRAFT FOODS INC CL A |
Consumer Non Durable |
$42,032 |
|
| LNC |
LINCOLN NATIONAL CORP |
Financials |
$7,694 |
|
| MCD |
MCDONALD’S CORP |
Consumer Services |
$70,374 |
|
| MDS |
MIDAS INC |
Consumer Services |
$117 |
|
| MET |
METLIFE INC |
Financials |
$28,493 |
|
| MHP |
MCGRAW-HILL CO INC |
Consumer Services |
$11,195 |
|
| MMM |
3M CO |
Capital Goods |
$57,699 |
|
| MON |
MONSANTO CO |
Basic Material |
$42,287 |
|
| MSFT |
MICROSOFT CORP |
Technology |
$254,807 |
2 |
| NGD |
NEW GOLD INC |
Energy and Extraction |
$1,683 |
|
| NHWK |
NIGHTHAWK RADIOLOGY HLDG |
Health |
$98 |
|
| NOVA |
NOVAMED INC |
Health |
$89 |
|
| NVR |
NVR INC |
Capital Goods |
$4,002 |
|
| NYB |
NEW YORK COMMUNITY BNCRP |
Financials |
$5,313 |
|
| ORA |
ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES INC |
Utilities |
$1,620 |
|
| PEP |
PEPSICO INC |
Consumer Non Durable |
$95,640 |
|
| QCOM |
QUALCOMM, INC. |
Technology |
$66,341 |
|
| RFMD |
RF MICRO DEVICES INC |
Technology |
$1,097 |
|
| RIG |
TRANSOCEAN |
Capital Goods |
$28,080 |
2 |
| RIGL |
RIGEL PHARMACEUTICALS |
Health |
$479 |
|
| RRC |
RANGE RESOURCES CORP |
Energy and Extraction |
$7,622 |
|
| SNPS |
SYNOPSYS INC |
Technology |
$3,145 |
|
| STAA |
STAAR SURGICAL CO |
Health |
$133 |
|
| TD |
TORONTO DOMINION BANK |
Financials |
$51,352 |
|
| TEVA |
TEVA PHARMACEUTICAL LTD |
Health |
$52,705 |
2 |
| TGT |
TARGET CORP |
Consumer Services |
$38,067 |
|
| TNS |
TNS INC |
Consumer Services |
$581 |
|
| UEPS |
NET 1 UEPS TECHNOLS INC |
Consumer Services |
$792 |
|
| UTR |
UNITRIN INC |
Financials |
$1,446 |
|
| VMW |
VMWARE INC |
Technology |
$18,591 |
|
| WNC |
WABASH NATIONAL CORP |
Consumer Durable |
$91 |
|
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Jim Van Meerten submits:
Each day when I screen on
Barchart for the stocks that are hitting new highs, Micrus Endovascular (
MEND) keeps coming up. When I sort for frequency, this stock had 14 price advances in the last 20 trading sessions and had 4 in the most recent 5 days. It has enjoyed a 31.51% price increase in the last month. Barchart’s 13 technical indicators hit a buy signal on all 13 indicators for a 100% buy rating.
Micrus Endovascular Corporation is a medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets implantable and disposable medical devices used in the treatment of cerebral vascular diseases.
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eChristian Investing submits:
Home Depot (HD) is scheduled to report its fourth quarter results before the market opens on Tuesday, February 23rd. Based on analysis from EarningsPreviews.com, Home Depot is expected to report better than expected quarterly results that exceed Wall Street’s consensus expectations.
Analyst Expectations
We are forecasting revenues of $14.23 billion and EPS of $.19. This would represent a 3% decline in revenues from last year’s $14.61 billion in the same period. The current analyst consensus estimates calls for revenues of $14.06 billion and EPS of $.16.
Earnings Analysis
Given the positive signs of stabilization in the housing markets, we are expecting significant improvement over last quarter’s 8% year/year sales decline. Low interest rates and improving consumer sentiment appear to be drawing customers back to the HD stores.
Wall Street’s consensus estimates for fiscal 2011 appear to be too conservative. Severe winter conditions across much of the nation may weigh on first quarter results. However, that could result in pent-up demand as we enter the key spring and summer months.
Stock Performance
In 2009, Home Depot shares gained over 25% and the stock outperformed the 19% gain in the Dow Jones industrial average. Despite the broader market selloff, Home Depot stock is also up nearly 4% since the beginning of 2010.
Valuation
Home Depot is now trading at 17.5x consensus 2011 EPS estimates. This is a slight premium to the relative valuations of its peer group. Home Depot offers investors a nice 3% dividend yield and upside earnings potential as the housing market continues its recovery.
Recommendation: Buy with an $35 price target.
Disclosure: No Positions
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Today we are going to talk about a trade idea that many would not consider at this point in time. You may have heard of John Templeton’s motto "the best time to invest is at the point of maximum pessimism". Of course, no one really knows when that point of maximum pessimism actually is until it has past.
The chart of the Euro firmly suggests that a downtrend is in place, beneath the scenes something is at play. To us it appears ripe for a small spot of speculation.
Let’s walk through what we can see.
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Robert Castellano submits:
Applied Materials (AMAT) just announced an outstanding Q1. Along with the announcement came conjecture by some industry analysts regarding Applied’s market positions in the semiconductor equipment industry. [Read Applied Materials F1Q10 earnings call transcript here.]
While I will not know Applied’s rankings for 2009 for another few months after I collect revenue breakouts from the company and all its competitors, we can take a look at the trends over the past 20 years to try to see how Applied is positioning itself against its competitors, particularly Novellus (NVLS) in the vacuum space.
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Investing, Long Term Investment, stock market | admin February 18, 2010 | 
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