Stocks Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Crackerjack Finance

Ukraine is dependent on Russian energy sources; an unsustainable co-dependence, which is now set to change. In fact, Europe, more focused on green initiatives, is woefully behind the US with respect to energy independence. Putting aside the environmental arguments, geopolitical events have a way of focusing policy actions, and just this past week, there has…

It is well known how the Facebook (FB) IPO is setting up to be the flop of the decade. Stunning that one of the profound technological/media companies of a generation is now such a historically awful IPO. There are plenty of negatives stemming from the debacle including: Continued disillusion from retail investors who heavily participated…

Heinz (HNZ) had an Analyst Day on Thursday last week with about four hours of management presentations and Q&A posted on the investor relations section of the Heinz website. This presentation is a wonderful way to understand the Heinz business model and appreciate the strategic vision of the company. Heinz stock had a relatively strong…

Sears Holdings pre-reported Q4 results which showed a rapid deterioration yesterday. The most alarming item in the press release was the rapid deterioration in sales trends at both Sears and Kmart. Sears comparable store sales trends ran -3.3% in the YTD period (which is a month away from the full year) while the trends through…

We all knew it was coming, a spectacular IPO at a high valuation, for one of the world’s most innovative and intriguing companies. After many years of capturing young people’s internet time around the world, Facebook is moving closer to an IPO, reportedly valued at a $100 billion. The company may potentially file before year-end…

Long live Mickey Mouse! Walt Disney reported strong results last night which reflected broad strength across the economy. Disney has diversified exposure to discretionary spending with its parks, media properties, and international businesses. A consistent theme through earnings season has been broadly solid corporate earnings and DIS is another example of this from a large…

Lyondell Bassell Industries is a manufacturing company producing chemicals, fuels, and polymers used for clean fuel, construction materials, automotive parts and medical equipment. LyondellBasell announced a shareholder-friendly $2.6B special dividend ($4.50/share). I believe this reflects management’s confidence in the company’s financial condition and substantial free cash flow in the medium and long term. Management indicated…

McDonald’s posted an excellent set of results this morning and the quality of the reported earnings was very high because it came at an abnormally high tax rate. McDonald’s global same store sales came in at 5.0%. The results continue to confound many analysts and investors who fear that McDonald’s growth is not sustainable –…

Intel is a polarizing stock that most technology investors have a strongly positive or strongly negative opinion on. Taking a step back, Intel was clearly a premier growth stock of the 1980’s and 1990’s. An investment in Intel in 1986 at a price of $0.40 (not a typo) appreciated 100x by the end of 1999.…

IBM posted a solid third quarter result that exhibited 16% earnings per share growth and enabled the company to slightly raise full year guidance (from $13.25 to $13.35). IBM has been beating quarterly consensus results by some 2-4% in consistent fashion. The 1.8% beat for the third quarter is likely causing most of the sell-off…

Q3 earnings were reported after the close of market as earnings seasons kicks off. Google’s stock price has been volatile based on market fluctuations, Department of Justice concerns, fears about losing focus after the announced deal to acquire Motorola, and fear that a recession would slow search and display revenues. The above fears failed to…

Ruby Tuesday (RT) is one of the largest players in the US bar and grill segment. The restaurant chain consists of 841 restaurants with the vast majority of the restaurants company operated and 95 franchised. The secular trends have been working against the bar and grill segment based on healthy lifestyle trends and consumers moving…

Yum! Brands (YUM) released results after the close of market yesterday. Yum is the world’s second largest quick service (fast food) restaurant after McDonald’s and operates the KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver, and A&W Restaurant franchises. Yum is an important company I follow because of the exceptionally strong gearing to China. This…

Nike (NKE) reported an excellent set of results after the close last night. Headline earnings were $1.36 vs a street consensus of $1.21 (12.4% beat). I listened to the Nike earnings conference call and was really impressed with the strong business trends relative to the obvious dislocations we are seeing in the market and talk…

A number of news reports have been out regarding the new exclusive apparel and home line designed by Missoni for Target (TGT). The Italian designer is very well regarded in the fashion world and Target getting an exclusive launch of this magnitude speaks to the credibility of the merchandising team and the power of the…

Google announced on its Google Blog, that they have finalized a deal to acquire restaurant reviewing company Zagat. The company was founded in 1979, and grew over time as more cities and restaurants have been added to the network. Zagat has also been adding venues such as hotels, bars, shopping centers and others in recent…

Guess – Q2 Earnings 8/25/11 Guess (GES) reported Q2 earnings last night after the close with results at the higher-end of the company plan coming into the quarter. The knee jerk reaction in the after-hours was a selloff in the shares. Guess is one of the consumer sector’s best positioned companies and any weakness in…