FeedPosted Mar 1st 2010 5:40PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, Apple Inc (AAPL), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Market Matters, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, S and P 500, U.S. Bancorp (USB), Stock Picks
Yes it can. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B) can outperform Apple Inc. (AAPL) in 2010. That was my thesis in December (see Buffett's Berkshire vs Jobs' Apple for 2010?) and I still believe all the Apple hype in the world will still succumb to a solid value proposition in the long run.
While Apple was reaching new all time highs Berkshire was treading water through 2009. However, after a monster run-up Apple is taking a breather.
Continue reading Chasing Value: Berkshire Eating Up Apple -- Can It Continue?
Posted Jan 27th 2010 3:20PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management, Wal-Mart (WMT), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, Stocks to Buy, AOL (AOL)

If I was making my
2010 picks list today, I might have found a spot for Ross Stores (
ROST), the holding company for Ross Dress for Less. Analysts have a hold or market perform rating on the stock, but that is meaningless to me. What does have meaning is 20% sales growth in a dismal year, contributing to a PEG ratio of .75 and an under market P/E of 12.66 (averaging trailing and future figures).
These are very good numbers, however, in reviewing some of the data points with Raphael P., a helpful broker in the Pleasant Hill, CA Wells Fargo (
WFC) office, I was reminded that different financial sites have varying numbers. They usually vary by small fractions, as did the Wells data compared to the Aol (
AOL) Money and Finance site, so I would encourage investors to check multiple sources.
Continue reading Chasing Value: Ross Stores Discounting More Than Fashion
Posted Jan 22nd 2010 12:00PM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Financial Crisis

Banks have seen a hectic couple of days' of trading, thanks to a bevy of news. I thought it may be good to take a look at some earnings results from a few of the banks, and what it could mean for the economy going forward.
First, let's look at the earnings:
- JPMorgan Chase (JPM): earnings of 74 cents per share; expectations for 60 cents per share
- Citigroup (C): a loss of six cents per share; expectations for a loss of 33 cents per share
- Goldman Sachs (GS): earnings of $8.20 per share; expectations for earnings of $5.20
Continue reading What Do Earnings from the Big Banks Signal for the Economy?
Posted Jan 22nd 2010 8:06AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, Google (GOOG), General Electric (GE), Market Matters, McDonald's (MCD), Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Financial Crisis

U.S. stock futures were mixed Friday morning as investors mulled results from General Electric and others, and focused on the effects President Obama's plan to overhaul Wall Street would have on banks.
On Thursday, Wall Street suffered one of the worst day in month after the Obama administration announced a proposal to increase regulation on the financial industry. Despite several strong earnings, concerns over China's efforts to curb lending, a surprise increase in jobless claims and a drop in manufacturing amounted to the Dow industrials sinking 213 points, or 2%. The broader S&P 500 lost 1.9% and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 1.1%.
Continue reading Before the Bell: Stocks Headed for a Mixed Start
Posted Jan 21st 2010 11:30AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Starbucks (SBUX), Morgan Stanley (MS), Analyst Initiations, Wells Fargo (WFC)
Analyst Upgrades
- FBR Capital upgraded Wells Fargo (WFC) to market perform from underperform and raised its target on shares to $26 from $21 following the company's better-than-expected quarter.
- Deutsche Bank upgraded Starbucks (SBUX) to buy from hold following the company's better-than-expected Q1 results. The firm raised its target price on shares to $30 from $19.
- UBS upgraded Dreamworks (DWA) to buy from neutral, citing upside from its upcoming film releases. The firm raised its target to $50 from $35.
- Colgate (CL) was upgraded to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
- F5 Networks (FFIV) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
- Applied Industrial (AIT) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Stephens.
Continue reading Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades and Initiations: ADS, CL, DWA, MON, MS, SBUX, WFC ...
Posted Jan 20th 2010 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Bank of America (BAC), Coach Inc (COH), Wells Fargo (WFC)

PPI came in at +0.2% and the core PPI was unchanged. This sounded good, but China put the hex on the market by curbing its overextended businesses by asking lenders to stop making loans for the rest of the month. The dollar went higher on Greek woes again, and both the Greek impact on the US dollar strength and the China news took a bite out of commodity prices.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,583.73 -141.70 (-1.32%)
S&P 500 1,138.04 -12.19 (-1.06%)
Nasdaq 2,291.25 -29.15 (-1.26%)
Top Analyst CallsTop Day Trader AlertsContinue reading Closing Bell: Earnings, Dollar and China Make Bearish Trifecta (WFC, BAC, SIRI, FSLR, CREE, COH)
Posted Jan 17th 2010 12:30PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Citigroup Inc. (C), American Express (AXP), Bank of America (BAC), Bank of New York (BK), BB and T (BBT), Comerica Inc (CMA), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Fargo (WFC), SLM Corp (SLM), U.S. Bancorp (USB)
Last week, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) led off the coming parade of earnings from the big banks when it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter and full-year earnings, though its revenue fell short of estimates.
Plenty more earnings from the financial sector are due out this week. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipate fourth-quarter earnings growth from American Express Co. (AXP), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), Hudson City Bancorp Inc. (HCBK), SLM Corp. (SLM) and US Bancorp (USB).
Continue reading The Week in Preview: Q4 Earnings Expectations for the Financial Sector
Posted Dec 31st 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), AT and T (T), Wells Fargo (WFC)

So, here is the question: do you want to complain that the stock market closed out 2009 on a down day, or do you want to talk about how the DJIA was up 20% and the S&P was up 24% going into today? Exactly! Today was marked by very light trading volume, as you always see on the New Year's Eve trading session, and by profit taking in many major stocks. Today's drop in jobless claims was the lowest since summer of 2008.
Today's unofficial closing bell numbers:
Dow 10,426.46 -122.05 (-1.16%)
S&P 500 1,114.97 -11.45 (-1.02%)
Nasdaq 2,269.15 -22.13 (-0.97%)
Continue reading Closing Bell: Bad Close, but One Heck of a Year (T, IRM, WFC, YRCW, BIOD, AAPL, GE)
Posted Dec 29th 2009 5:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Getting Started, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Wells Fargo (WFC), Chasing Value, S and P 500, Stocks to Buy, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI)

If there ever was a stock that was hiding in plain sight, it is that of Berkshire Hathaway (
BRK.B) which is capitalized at a tad over $150 billion and run by
"my pal Warren" and his pal Charlie. That's Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger, perhaps the most successful investors in five generations.
Berkshire Hathaway, a textile mill, was Buffett's first turn-around play. He was successful and started generating significant amounts of free cash-flow that allowed him to invest in other things. Those investments also paid off and eventually the original enterprise became the namesake of today's diversified giant holding company.
I selected BRK.B for numerous reasons and believe it will easily beat the market next year as has been it's history.
Continue reading Chasing Value: 2010 -- #1 Berkshire Hathaway
Posted Dec 23rd 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Intel (INTC), Home Depot (HD), Market Matters, Altria Group (MO), Bank of America (BAC), BB and T (BBT), Fortune Brands (FO), Lowe's Cos (LOW), Wells Fargo (WFC), Union Pacific Corporation (UNP), Cramer on BloggingStocks, U.S. Bancorp (USB)
The Street.com's Jim Cramer says that he's making it his mission in 2010 to call out people in the media who provide no value.
Have you ever noticed that with every good housing report there are endless caveats:
1. Prices are still down year over year.
2. The home tax credit of $8,000 moved the house, and that will go away.
3. Home mortgages are artificially low because of the Fed.
4. Banks have more foreclosures on their balance sheets than before.
5. Foreclosures continue to occur.
6. Everything will slip back to imbalance when the credit goes away.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Endless Caveats Don't Make You Any Money
Posted Dec 19th 2009 11:40AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Adobe Systems (ADBE), Best Buy (BBY), Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW), Research in Motion (RIMM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), General Mills (GIS), NIKE, Inc'B' (NKE), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Starwood Hotels Worldwide (HOT), Wells Fargo (WFC), Rite Aid Corp (RAD)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:
- Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) shares rose after lower Q4 earnings and revenue beat analysts' expectations.
- Best Buy Inc. (BBY) shares sold off despite better-than-expected Q3 results due to the lower gross margin.
- Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) warned that Q4 earnings would come in lower than the Street view
- Discover Financial Services (DFS) shares were up after it reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings.
- First Solar Inc. (FSLR) offered a solid 2010 outlook but the consensus EPS estimate is high in the range.
- General Mills Inc. (GIS) strong Q2 results included better-than-expected earnings and a rosy outlook.
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Best Buy, Discover, General Mills, Nike, Oracle, Rite Aid, Take-Two ...
Posted Dec 15th 2009 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Analyst Initiations, Wells Fargo (WFC)
Analyst Upgrades
- Deutsche Bank upgraded Wells Fargo (WFC) to buy from hold as it believes the TARP repayment should remove uncertainty and that the company will report strong Q4 results. The firm raised its target price on shares to $36 from $29. Keefe Bruyette upgraded Wells Fargo to market perform from outperform following the TARP repayment and raised its target on shares to $28 from $24.
- Wells Fargo believes News Corp's (NWS) newspaper and TV station segments are finally outperforming budget, while cable nets continue to perform well. The firm upgraded shares to outperform from market perform and has a $16 to $17 Valuation range.
- BofA/Merrill upgraded Starwood Hotels (HOT) to buy from underperform as they expect "strong cyclical recovery in lodging earnings" in late 2010. The firm raised its target to $40 from $25.
- ArcelorMittal (MT) was upgraded to buy from neutral at UBS.
- JA Solar (JASO) was upgraded to hold from sell at ThinkEquity.
- Acxiom (ACXM) was upgraded to overweight from equal weight at Stephens.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: CBS, H, HOT, MT, NWS, WFC, XTO ...
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