Archive for July, 2013

• CA Technologies Beats Earnings
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 24th, 2013 at 4:41 pm

  After the bell, CA Technologies ($CA) reported earnings of 78 cents per share, four cents better than Wall Street’s consensus. That’s up from 63 cents per share in the same quarter one year ago (the first quarter of their fiscal year).

  “I am pleased with our performance in the first quarter and the start we made to fiscal year 2014,” said CA Technologies Chief Executive Officer Mike Gregoire. “We did better than expected on the revenue line and were able to capitalize on organizational efficiencies, expense management and a tax benefit to drive earnings growth. Our cash flow from operations was down, but that was expected and we are confident in meeting our full year outlook in all areas.

  “We are beginning to make progress in driving efficiencies across our business, getting traction in SaaS, Mobility and new customer acquisition, as well as improving the overall competitiveness of our products,” Gregoire said.

  For the full-year, CA expects earnings to range between $2.90 and $3.00 per share. Wall Street had been expecting $2.99 per share. The stock got as high as $30.30 per share today which is a new 52-week high.

• Ford Surges on Strong Results
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 24th, 2013 at 10:17 am

  Ford Motor ($F) has done it again. Net earnings for Q2 jumped 19% to $1.2 billion. Revenues rose 15% to $38.1 billion. This was Ford’s 16th-straight profitable quarter. On a per-share basis, Ford made 45 cents which easily beat the 37-cent estimate Wall Street had.

  Once again, North America was the main driver of results. Ford made $2.3 billion in North America thanks to rising truck sales. F-Series sales rose 26% in Q2. And once again, Europe was the weak line in Ford’s business chain. The automaker had a pre-tex loss of $348 million in the Old World.

  The good news is that Ford offered improved guidance for the rest of the year. They now see pre-tax earnings clearing $8 billion for the year. Before, they said they had expected to hit $8 billion. In Europe, Ford said they expect to lose $1.8 billion instead of the earlier projected $2 billion.

  Ford also had a blow-out quarter in Asia. The company makes a big deal about this, but Asia is a very small part of their business. The stock has been as high as $17.49 this morning which is a two-and-half year high.

• Morning News: July 24, 2013
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 24th, 2013 at 6:48 am

  China Manufacturing Weakens Further as Slowdown Deepens

  Weak Yen Not Enough for Japan Exporters as China Slows

  CFTC Skips Votes, Bitcoin Ponzi, SAC E-Mail

  Defense Firms Weathering Budget Cuts More Easily Than Expected

  Apple Plots Return to Growth After Coping With Aging Lineup

  Ford Motor Company on a Big Roller Coaster

  LG Electronics Profit Falls 8%

  Discover Financial’s Profit Jumps 13% in 2Q

  Cisco Acquires Sourcefire for $2.7 Billion

  PacWest to Acquire CapitalSource in $2.3 Billion L.A. Bank Merger

  Volvo Shares Rise as Truck Orders Top Forecasts

  Panera Bread Earnings Miss Wall Street Estimates

  Crimingal Indictment is Expected for SAC Capital Advisors

  Joshua Brown: And Then Everyone’s Models Were Trashed in One Month

  Cullen Roche: Interest On Excess Reserves isn’t Keeping Inflation Low

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• CR Bard’s Outlook for Q3
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 23rd, 2013 at 10:11 pm

  From today’s earnings call:

  Now moving to financial guidance. For Q3, we are expecting constant currency sales growth between 1% and 3%, excluding any royalties from Gore. Our original sales guidance for the year was 0% to 3% growth, excluding the Gore royalties, and we expect to be squarely within that range. With respect to the Gore timing, as Tim said, we still expect cash in hand prior to the end of 2013.

  From an EPS standpoint, excluding items affecting comparability, we see the third quarter in the range of $1.37 to $1.41 per share. To be clear, this guidance reflects the fact that we don’t expect to have final resolution of the Gore matter this month. And as we previously discussed, that reduces adjusted EPS by about $0.30 per share for the quarter.

  With respect to full year EPS guidance, we’ll be in a better position to update you once we have seen the rulings from the District Court. Also, I’ll just finish by reminding you that in conjunction with the announcement of the divestiture of our EP business, we told you that would be about $0.05 dilutive to 2013 EPS assuming a late Q3 close.

• CR Bard Earned $1.42 Per Share for Q2
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 23rd, 2013 at 4:18 pm

  Here come the earnings. CR Bard ($BCR) just announced Q2 earnings of $1.42 per share for Q2. That’s four cents more than expectations. Revenues rose 2.3% to $759.9 million which beat expectations by $9.8 million.

  Timothy M. Ring, chairman and chief executive officer, commented, “Our operating results this quarter exceeded our expectations. We continue to focus on the execution of our investment plan, which we believe will shift the mix of our portfolio to faster growing products and geographies and contribute to long-term sustainable leadership positions in our markets.”

• Two Stories to Highlight
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 23rd, 2013 at 11:43 am

  We’re coming up on noon, and the stock market opened just a tad higher, but we’re currently just a tad lower on the day. Volatility has really dropped lately. This morning, the $VIX was at its lowest level since April 12.

  I have two small stories that I want to highlight. One is that Ford ($F) has announced it will hire 3,000 salaried employees which includes 800 white-collar jobs at HQ; “Global employment is up to 175K from a recession-low of 158K.”

  The other is that Wells Fargo ($WFC) is crushing it in mortgage lending.

  When a Wells Fargo stagecoach rolled through lower Manhattan two years ago to mark the rebranding of former Wachovia Corp. bank branches, some New Yorkers laughed. Rival bankers weren’t among them.

  The San Francisco-based bank has become the dominant U.S. mortgage lender, grabbing an unprecedented 28.8% share of all home loans issued nationwide last year, up from 11.2% in 2007, the year before it bought Wachovia. Its home-loan production hit $524 billion last year, the largest annual total ever for one lender and greater than the output of the next five largest lenders combined, according to the publication Inside Mortgage Finance.

  In the lucrative Manhattan market, Wells issued almost 20% of new home loans—almost equal to the volume of its two biggest competitors together, according to real-estate research firm CoreLogic Inc. In San Francisco, it made 21% of new loans, in Los Angeles, 12%, and in Dallas, 9%.

  “They are dominating the retail space because they are huge, and because there is so little competition from other big banks that have pulled back,” says Alan Rosenbaum, chief executive of GuardHill Financial Corp., a New York-based mortgage bank.

• Tech Has Badly Lagged
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 23rd, 2013 at 9:33 am

  Since April 2012, the tech sector has badly lagged the rest of the market. Here’s the Tech Sector ETF ($XLK) compared with the S&P 500.

  

• Half Expecting Tapering in September
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 23rd, 2013 at 9:11 am

  The U.S. stock market looks to rise again today thanks to news from China that authorities there are looking to help their economy avoid a hard landing. Media in China is reporting that the government will increase investment in railroad projects to offset slowdowns in important industrial sectors. Of course, by a slowdown in China, they mean 7% growth instead of 10%.

  The big news today on Wall Street is that investors are on the edge of their seats waiting for Apple ($AAPL) to report earnings. It’s no surprise that a lot of folks love seeing Apple fail. Over the last few quarters, Apple’s growth rate has slowed down dramatically.

  So far, 113 companies have reported earnings this season. Of that, 73% have beaten on earnings and 52% have beaten on sales. That’s pretty good. The only major outlier has been tech where earnings have been pretty bad. Tech has badly lagged the market for the last year.

  Netflix ($NFLX) looks to open lower this morning by about 3.4% after a disappointing earnings report yesterday. I honestly don’t get NFLX. As I look at it, the stock is vastly overpriced.
  According to a recent Bloomberg poll, half of economists expect the Fed to pare its bond purchases in September down to $65 billion per month from the current rate of $85 billion. Also, half of economists (not sure if it’s the same half) think the Fed will wrap up its bond buying by the middle of next year.

  Fifteen percent said tapering will start in October and 28% said it will be December. Interestingly, the yield on the 10-year bond has fallen lately. The yield had gotten as high as 2.72% two weeks ago. Yesterday, the bond closed at 2.49%.

  I think one of Bernanke’s goals has to been to hammer away at the idea that bond purchases are a completely separate policy from interest rates. It’s taken Wall Street some time to get the message, but it’s come through.

• Morning News: July 23, 2013
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 23rd, 2013 at 6:35 am

  Japan is Slipping

  BRIC Bust Seen in Emerging Market Discontent With Growth

  Mandela’s Wealth-Sharing Dream Fades in South Africa

  Home Sales Take A Breather, But Prices Hit Five-Year High

  New Powers Invoked to Curb a High-Speed Trading Feint

  Telefónica to Buy E-Plus of Germany From KPN

  UBS Reports Higher Profit, U.S. Mortgage Bond Settlement

  Vivendi in Talks to Sell Maroc Telecom Stake to Etisalat

  Strong Quarter for Netflix, but Investors Hit Pause

  McDonald’s Grilled by Investors

  DuPont Says May Sell Or Spin Off Paint Pigments Business

  A Towering Fine for Naught, as the S.E.C. Tracks Cohen

  Grants, Scholarships Now Play Leading Role In Paying For College, Topping Mom And Dad

  Jeff Carter: What Would You Do To Improve Business TV?

  John Hempton: It Was the Night Before Christmas…Falsifying Bill Ackman’s Herbalife Thesis

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• AFLAC Breaks $60
  Eddy Elfenbein, July 22nd, 2013 at 12:24 pm

  In early 2011, shares of AFLAC ($AFL) got above $59 but were never able to crack $60. Today, they finally did.

  

  AFLAC has been as high as $60.15 today. The last time the stock was over $60 was September 2008.