Archive for June, 2008

  • Danaher Raises Guidance
    , June 3rd, 2008 at 10:42 am

    Danaher (DHR) bumped up the low-end of its previous guidance today. For Q2, the company now sees earnings of $1.04 to $1.07 per share. The old range was $1.02 to $1.07 per share. That’s not a big change, but it’s always good to see a reiterating during the quarter.
    For last year’s second quarter, Danaher made 94 cents a share which was a penny better than Wall Street’s forecast. From its December high to its March low, the stock dropped by 24%.

  • The Black Swan Has Been Found
    , June 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 am

    The Elite Trader spots a very troubling chart pattern.
    (Via: Ritholtz.)

  • Leucadia says boosts Jefferies stake to 30 pct
    , June 2nd, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    Always keep an eye on what Leucadia (LUK) is up to:

    Leucadia National Corp, a holding company engaged in several businesses, disclosed on Monday it boosted its equity stake in U.S. investment bank Jefferies Group Inc to 30 percent.
    Leucadia, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in April it acquired a 14 percent stake in Jefferies for $434 million after the banking and trading firm, which focuses on mid-cap and small companies, reported a second straight quarterly loss.
    Those shares, combined with previously purchased Jefferies stock, gave Leucadia, a New York investment firm, a 20 percent stake.
    According to the latest filing, since April 21 Leucadia acquired an additional 17.7 million shares on the open market for $321.9 million, raising its stake to 48.6 million shares. That equates to a 30 percent stake as of May 14.
    In all, Leucadia says it has invested $794.4 million in Jefferies stock.

  • If You Have an Important Meeting Today
    , June 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 am

    From the Lancashire Evening Post:

    Biscuits ‘could be key’ to business deals
    The type of biscuit served in the boardroom could make or break a business deal, according to the world’s first “business biscuit study”.
    Some 80% of business professionals believe that the outcome of a meeting can be positively influenced by the choice and quality of biscuit on offer.
    The research was commissioned by hotel chain Holiday Inn who surveyed 1,000 business professionals across the UK about their boardroom biscuit habits.
    Snackers voted the chocolate digestive their favourite boardroom biscuit, followed by shortbreads and with HobNobs claiming the third spot. Jammie Dodgers and Bourbons completed the top five.
    The survey discovered that lawyers were most impressed by a good boardroom biscuit, closely followed by those in the media and marketing industry.
    Things are not so clear-cut on the etiquette of dunking, with 52% of business professionals frowning on the practice.
    And on the question of how many biscuits to take from the communal platter, most agree that two is the magic number.
    The survey discovered that nothing says business failure quite like a crumbly biscuit with nearly 30% admitting they would turn their noses up at a disintegrating digestive.