Shares of BP recovered over the past week. At least, BP shares recovered from 52-week oil spill low (as well as a new 14-year low) that was touched on Friday, June 25, when fears spiked that Hurricane Alex would shut down BP’s oil spill containment effort.
By far the largest block of survey votes pinned an acceptable “buy” BP value at $25, with 28% of survey respondents saying that if BP hit that mark, it would signal the time to place a long bet.
Many potential BP buyers, has even lower expectations for the stock. Approximately 17% of survey respondents said they would buy BP at $20. Another 19% of survey takers indicated that BP shares would have to dip below $20 before they became interested in the stock.
Lurking beneath all of the reluctance to step up and take a bet on BP is the view demonstrated by 17% of survey takers: hurricane fears might be overblown, these votes said, but when it comes to BP, hurricanes or no hurricanes, the stock is ultimately headed for bankruptcy.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly edged above 11,000 Friday, but finished just below the mark, as promising economic data and waning Greece debt fears helped power the assent, while investors began looking to company earnings next week.
The Dow, which finished the day after adding 70 points, or 0.6%, to 10,997, crossed the 11,000-point threshold near the closing bell for the first time since September 2008. The S&P 500 improved 8 points, or 0.7%, to 1194, while the Nasdaq went ahead by 17 points, or 0.7%, at 2454.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq also led the other major averages for the week, adding 2.1%. The S&P gained 1.4% since last Thursday’s close, while the Dow picked up 0.6%.
Fannie Mae FNM 0.79, +0.05, +6.76%) posted a loss for the second quarter of $14.8 billion, or $2.67 a share, compared with a loss of $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share in the same period last year.
Net revenues were $5.6 billion and fair value gains were $823 million, Fannie Mae said in a regulatory filing.
The mortgage entity said the $12.5 billion increase in net loss in the period was driven by a $13.4 billion increase in credit-related expenses, which “more than offset a $1.7 billion increase in net interest income.”
The results were “adversely affected by the ongoing deterioration in the housing and mortgage markets, the economic recession and rising unemployment,” Fannie Mae said.
Fannie Mae said its request submitted Thursday for an additional $10.7 billion in aid follows a $19 billion infusion from Treasury in June, and a $15.2 billion infusion in March.
Sprint Nextel Corp., Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. led telecommunications stocks broadly higher in Wednesday trades as the U.S. market forged ahead.
Stocks got a boost from Intel Corp., the chipmaking giant. The company reported better-than-expected results, though sales still fell sharply from the year-ago quarter and Intel reported a net loss.
In early action, Sprint climbed 3%, while Motorola and Nokia each gained 4%.
AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. also rose about 1% each.
Lowe’s Cos.’ (LOW) fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 22% amid continued weak demand for big-ticket items.
The world’s second-largest home-improvement retailer after Home Depot Inc. ( HD) nevertheless raised its fiscal-year earnings view but narrowed its outlook for revenue.
Continue reading Stocks to Watch – Lowe’s Cos (LOW)
New Jersey Resources(NJR) is an energy-services company that provides retail and wholesale energy services to customers in New Jersey and other states from the Gulf Coast to New England and Canada.
The numbers: Fiscal second-quarter revenue declined 20% to $938 million as net income and earnings per share surged 183% to $36 million and 83 cents, respectively. The debt-to-equity ratio remained low at 0.63, but a quick ratio of 0.43 indicates a weak cash position. Margins improved significantly, with the operating margin climbing 443 basis points to 6.2% and the net margin jumping 272 basis points to 3.8%.
The stock: New Jersey Resources has fallen 6% in 2009, in line with the performance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The stock trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13 and offers an attractive 3.4% dividend yield.
For the past three months, small stocks were the big story. Small-cap funds gained 21.5% on average in the quarter, led by small value’s 22.2% rise. Standouts included Aegis Value Fund /quotes/comstock/10r!avalx (AVALX 6.82, -0.23, -3.26%) , up 48.5%, and Wasatch Micro Cap Value Fund /quotes/comstock/10r!wamvx (WAMVX 1.72, -0.05, -2.82%) , up 40%.
Large- and midcap offerings followed with their own strong showings.
Large-cap funds collectively added 16.2%, with large-blend and large-value each up 16.4% and large-growth up 15.6%. Among the top performers were the hardest-hit funds of 2008, such as Vanguard Capital Value Fund /quotes/comstock/10r!vcvlx (VCVLX 6.62, -0.18, -2.65%) , up 39.1%, Yacktman Focused Fund /quotes/comstock/10r!yaffx (YAFFX 12.59, -0.36, -2.78%) , up 36.9%, Legg Mason Value Trust /quotes/comstock/10r!lmvtx (LMVTX 28.64, -1.05, -3.54%) , gaining 29.4%, and Longleaf Partners Fund /quotes/comstock/10r!llpfx (LLPFX 18.90, -0.52, -2.68%) , rising 26.6%.
Continue reading Low-Quality stocks with high gains
Amazon.com (AMZN 83.00, -0.03, -0.04%) ended relationships with online affiliates in Rhode Island to avoid a new sales tax law in that state, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site. Recently, Rhode Island passed a law requiring companies to collect a sales tax on products sold through online-marketing affiliates. On Friday, Amazon reportedly ended affiliate programs in North Carolina as that state was seeking to adopt a similar tax
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL 69.35, +3.36, +5.09%) said that its fiscal third-quarter profit rose to $201.1 million, or $1.26 a share, from $139.1 million, or 85 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue increased to $1.05 billion from $835.2 million last year. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research estimated a quarterly profit of $1.12 a share on revenue of $1.04 billion.
Dell Inc. (DELL 13.87, +0.01, +0.07%) is reportedly developing a pocket-sized electronic device for accessing the Internet. The Wall Street Journal said that Dell is creating the device to run on Google Inc.’s Android software, which is currently used by T-Mobile in mobile phones and is expected to become widely deployed in other devices. The Dell device is said to be slightly larger that Apple Inc.’s /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 141.90, -0.07, -0.05%) iPod touch and could go on sale in the second half of the year.
KB Home (KBH 14.77, +1.13, +8.28%) is expected to report a second-quarter loss of 64 cents a share, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Shaw Communications (SJR 16.97, +0.31, +1.86%) is forecast to post earnings of 26 cents a share in the fiscal third quarter, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet Research.
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