FeedPosted Nov 30th 2009 6:30PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Forecasts, Good news

It is no secret that the recession took its toll on retailers, and Guess Inc. (NYSE:
GES) was no exception. For the past three quarters the apparel retailer has posted lower year over year earnings, but the company broke the trend today posting third quarter earnings that were
higher than the same period last year.
The stock is trading sharply higher in after hours trading after the company posted 69 cents per share, which was in-line with analyst estimates. While the 69 cents was not able to beat out analyst estimates, it did mark a 2 penny increase over the 67 cents that it reported for the same period last year, and marked a record for third quarter earnings for the company.
Continue reading Guess earnings indicates strength for retailers
Posted Nov 30th 2009 6:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Housing, Financial Crisis

Many Americans, after a near decade of unsustainable overconsumption, often fueled by cash-out refis and HELOCs (home equity lines of credit), will spend the next five years (or perhaps longer) repairing their balance sheets.
And the repair of those balance sheets is something that's applauded by the bulk of economists: enticed by, among other factors, low interest rates and, in some cases, by false promises of a 'perpetually-increasing value of their home,' Americans borrowed too much, with predictable results.
But one thing the nation should not do, amid the understandable belt-tightening, is overact, and look unfavorably
on all credit and lending. Continue reading The chic-ness of excessive debt has faded (finally)
Posted Nov 30th 2009 5:40PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts
Shares of Guess Inc. (GES) rose in after hours trading following its report of financial results for the third quarter of its 2010 fiscal year, which ended October 31, 2009.
The Los Angeles-based apparel and accessory maker reported record net earnings of $64.1 million, compared to $64.0 million in the year-ago period. Diluted earnings rose 3.0% from a year ago to $0.69 per share, which topped the consensus forecast of $0.51 per share by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Continue reading Guess earnings top Q3 forecasts, offers rosy outlook
Posted Nov 30th 2009 5:20PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: International markets, Middle East, Scandals, Politics, Oil

It seems like almost every day Iran is in the news, and today is no different.
Oil prices have moved higher after reports that Iranian naval vessels had stopped a racing yacht with 5 U.K. nationals aboard.
Oil is up $1.30 a barrel to $77.35, and traded up as high as $78.00 earlier in the day.
Continue reading Oil prices head higher on Iranian controversy
Posted Nov 30th 2009 5:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Stocks to Buy

Advance Auto Part's (
AAP) stock has retreated about $7 since mid-summer, but I'm nevertheless reiterating my buy rating for the company, first recommended
on May 19, 2009 at a price of $43.38. Here's why.
Advance Auto's stock appears to be the victim of some tad-early, year-end, profit-taking by short-term institutional investors (IIs). AAP posted Q3 EPS
of 65 cents -- very close to the
First Call Q3 EPS estimate of 66 cents; AAP also reported a 4.7% increase in same store sales in Q3. The two data points helped AAP recover slightly from its $47 to $37 swoon, with shares now trading at/near $39.50, supporting the analysis that the preceding plunge has the look of selected institutions 'getting out, early' ahead of the December crush.
Continue reading Advance Auto Parts: Pull-back is buy opportunity
Posted Nov 30th 2009 4:40PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Management

In
a column that would seem more appropriate for a left-wing college campus news zine than The Wall Street Journal, McGill University professor
Henry Mintzberg offers a proposal for how to change compensation practices in America: get rid of bonuses.
Continue reading Get rid of performance-based compensation?
Posted Nov 30th 2009 4:20PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Staples Inc (SPLS)
Staples Inc. (SPLS), whose website had trouble keeping up with the crush of Black Friday traffic, is scheduled to discuss its third quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Tuesday, December 1, at 8:00 AM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.
During the three months that ended in October, Staples executives sold shares and the company was named one of the world's 100 hardest working brands. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the world's biggest office supply superstore operator to report that earnings for that period fell 9.5% from a year ago to $0.38 per share. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be 7.3% lower to $6.5 billion.
Continue reading Staples earnings preview: Shrinking profit seen as stock hits 52-week high
Posted Nov 30th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Amazon.com (AMZN), Amer Intl Group (AIG), Las Vegas Sands (LVS)

Today's bits of economic activity hardly mattered in the grand scheme of the markets. Traders were watching more out of Dubai and the U.A.E. than they were watching what Federal Reserve districts had to say today. Iran also sent oil prices higher by detaining a British cruising race yacht and five Britons, and the added political fallout added to the gains in oil today. Stocks were weak for most of the day, but Dubai comments that $26 billion needed to be restructured (rather than $60 billion) helped in the final hour of the day.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 10,295.11 -14.81 (-0.14%)
S&P 500 1,095.63 +4.14 (0.38%)
Nasdaq 2,144.60 +6.16 (0.29%)
Top Day Trader AlertsTop Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: Dubai almost stole the day (AMZN, LVS, AIG, SOMX)
Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:40PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Stocks to Buy

I'm reiterating my buy rating for Johnson & Johnson (
JNJ), first recommended
on May 20, 2009 at a price of $55.87.
Much-maligned JNJ is on the mend: look for revenue growth in the company's pharmaceutical unit, despite some sales erosion to generics. Meanwhile, new orthopedic and cardiovascular products should help the company's medical device unit perform adequately in 2010. The key wildcard? Consumer product sales: personal care products face rough sledding due to the recession-induced reduction in U.S. households and the 'frugal consumer' trend. But the latter two are not enough to blot out the positive overall story.
Continue reading Johnson & Johnson is undervalued
Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:20PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Wal-Mart (WMT), Best Buy (BBY), Sears Holdings (SHLD)

Last week, I talked about my recent purchase of GameStop (
GME). I put forth my
reasoning on the trade, mentioning the Christmas shopping season as being a potential catalyst for capital appreciation.
Well, the trade has gone horribly wrong this bleak Monday session. In case you didn't hear the news, the video-game chain sold off in a big way. As I write this, shares are off by a buck, and are priced at $24.32. The low on the day is $23.75. Volume, while not in panic-mode, is above average, and I expect it to possibly accelerate toward the end of the day.
Continue reading Trade update: GameStop down today -- sell out?
Posted Nov 30th 2009 3:00PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Industry, China

Here's another sign of a rapidly-revolving global economy. Prior to globalization, exotic travel/vacation destinations wanted to lure Americans, Europeans, and the Japanese, due to higher incomes in these developed world economies.
Exotic locales still want those tourists from the developed world, but they're now seeking another lucrative customer: tourists from China.
Continue reading The new top prize in the travel biz: Chinese tourists
Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:40PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: China

Well, you can't blame him for trying. Him being European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and his effort to convince China to remove its essentially fixed-rate currency system for the yuan, and let the yuan's value be determined by market forces.
China wasn't buying. Trichet was unable to convince China's Premiere Wen Jiabao to let the yuan float, Bloomberg News
reported Monday, something that many economists agree would result in the yuan strengthening from its present 6.83 yuan to the U.S. dollar to about 5 yuan to the dollar, or to an even stronger level.
Continue reading ECB's Trichet fails to convince China to let the yuan float
Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:20PM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newsletters, Commodities, Oil, Stocks to Buy, Green Stocks, Obama Picks
In his The Long and Short Stock Advisor, growth stock specialist Sy Harding looks to Kaydon (NYSE: KDN), a maker of custom-engineered aerospace, defense, medical and wind-energy products.
He explains, "Kaydon's revenues (and stock price) held up well through most of last year before succumbing to the plunging economy.
"As with most companies tied to the economy, Kaydon's earnings declined in 2008 and so far in 2009, resulting in a decline in the stock price. However, the company is seeing improvement so far in the second half of the year.
Continue reading Wind power and stimulus funds boost Kaydon (KDN)
Posted Nov 30th 2009 2:00PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news

When Fred Joseph came on board Drexel Burnham Lambert back in the mid 1970s, the firm was fairly small. But he met a young trader at the firm he considered to be brilliant: Mike Milken. Yes, this was the beginning of a major transformation on Wall Street, which would lead to the decade of deals during the 1980s.
Unfortunately, over the weekend, Joseph
died. He was 72.
A Harvard MBA, Joseph got his first break on Wall Street when he joined E.F. Hutton in 1963. Seven years later, he moved over to Shearson Hammill and and eventually became the chief operating officer.
Continue reading '80s dealmaker Fred Joseph dies
Posted Nov 30th 2009 1:40PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Costco Wholesale (COST)

I'm placing a hold on Costco's (
COST) shares, first recommended on
May 19, 2009 at a price of $47.21.
The hold is primarily due to valuation - P/E of 24 - and the possibility of a pull-back in shares in December, due to year-end profit-taking by short-term institutional investors.
Continue reading Costco: Hold shares
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