BoomBustBlog Research Hits Another One Out the Park! Google up nearly 10% after hours, true blowout earnings unlike JPM

by ilene - October 14th, 2010 6:49 pm

BoomBustBlog Research Hits Another One Out the Park! Google up nearly 10% after hours, true blowout earnings unlike JPM

Courtesy of Reggie Middleton

Bloomberg reports: Google Profit Beats Estimates as Companies Boost Ad Spending; Shares Climb

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) — Google Inc., owner of the world’s most popular search engine, said third-quarter profit increased as businesses spent more on advertising to attract online consumers. The shares jumped in after-hours trading.

Net income rose 32 percent to $2.17 billion, or $6.72 a share, from $1.64 billion, or $5.13, a year earlier, Google said on its website. Profit excluding some items was $7.64 a share, exceeding the $6.68 average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Google is benefitting from increased spending on search- based ads as it pursues opportunities in mobile communications and display advertising. Online spending is expected to account for 15 percent of total U.S. advertising this year, up from 12 percent in 2008, according to EMarketer Inc. in New York.

“The underlying strength in the core search business basically means advertisers are spending healthily on search,” said Clayton Moran, an analyst at Benchmark Co. in Boca Raton, Florida, who recommends buying the shares. “They beat on the top line and also on the bottom line.”

Google, based in Mountain View, California, climbed as much as 9.6 percent in late trading to $592.82. It closed at $540.93 at 4 p.m. on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have dropped 13 percent this year.

Excluding revenue passed on to partner sites, sales were $5.48 billion, topping analysts’ average estimate of $5.26 billion.

…

Display, Mobile

Google is seeking new revenue streams, including searches on mobile phones. Its Android software has surged in popularity among consumers, overtaking Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry to become the top smartphone operating system in the U.S. in the second quarter, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

Display advertising at Google is growing as its YouTube video-watching service attracts more marketers. The company said in May it had boosted the number of display advertisers 10-fold on YouTube.

“Our newer businesses — particularly display and mobile — continued to show significant momentum,” Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said in a…

Tags: Android, Eric Schmidt, GOOG, Google, JPM, mobile computing, RIMM, technology

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Long-Term Bullish Strategies Detected in Gamestop Corp. Options

by Andrew Wilkinson - October 4th, 2010 5:27 pm

 Today’s tickers: GME, CHE, PENN, JPM, MED, SLE & WYNN

GME - Gamestop Corp. – Bullish options strategies were initiated on the video game retailer today despite the 0.70% dip in the price of the underlying shares to $19.86. One long-term optimistic individual employed the use of a three-legged combination, selling puts to buy a call spread, in order to prepare for a rebound in Gamestop’s shares by April expiration. The investor purchased 3,000 calls at the April 2011 $20 strike for a premium of $2.13 each, sold 3,000 calls at the higher April 2011 $24 strike for premium of $0.72 apiece, and shed 3,000 puts at the April 2011 $16 strike at a premium of $0.81 a-pop. Net premium paid to initiate the spread amounts to $0.60 per contract. Thus, the trader is poised to profit should GME’s shares rally above the effective breakeven price of $20.60 by April expiration day. Maximum available profits of $3.40 per contract are safe in the investor’s wallet if the video game seller’s shares jump 20.85% over the current price of $19.86 to exceed $24.00 by expiration. Finally, a 3,000-lot October $20/$24 strike call spread traded around the same time as the three-legged transaction. Open interest in the near-term calls is sufficient to cover today’s volume. The investor responsible for the October contract activity may be rolling the spread up to the April contract and adding the short puts to provide additional financing on the bullish stance.

CHE - Chemed Corp. – Shares of the provider of hospice care as well as various consumer services such as plumbing and sewer cleaning via its Roto-Rooter segment slipped 2.00% to $55.34 as of 3:40 pm ET. Investors with a near-term bearish view on the stock appear to have sold 2,000 calls outright at the November $60 strike to pocket premium of $0.55 per contract. Call sellers keep the full premium received on the trade as long as Chemed’s shares fail to rally above $60.00 by expiration day next month. Investors could…

Tags: CHE, GME, JPM, MED, PENN, SLE, WYNN

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Bullish Player Acts on Gymboree Corp. Speculation with Ratio Call Spread

by Andrew Wilkinson - October 2nd, 2010 6:32 am

 Today’s tickers: GYMB, EQIX, JPM, SLV, STI, MBI, EEM, SNP & GDX

GYMB - Gymboree Corp. – One options player populating the retailer of children’s clothing and accessories waited until the twilight of the final trading day of the week to initiate a bullish stance on the stock. Gymboree’s shares surged as much as 21.425% at the start of the session to touch an intraday high of $50.44 on speculation the firm may put itself up for sale. The rumors drove implied volatility on Gymboree up 20.10% to 48.52% this morning along with the price of the underlying shares and spurred demand for options. Shares as well as volatility cooled somewhat by late afternoon, with shares up 16.5% at $48.40 and volatility higher by 13.5% to 45.85%, as of 3:00 pm ET. The patient bullish player looked to the February 2011 contract to establish a ratio call spread, purchasing 1,050 calls at the Feb. 2011 $48 strike at a premium of $4.80 each, and selling 2,100 calls at the higher Feb. 2011 $55 strike for a premium of $1.85 a-pop. Net premium paid to initiate the spread reduces down to $1.10 per contract. Thus, the trader is poised to profit should GYMB’s shares rally 1.45% over the current price of $48.40 to surpass the effective breakeven price of $49.10 by February expiration day. Maximum potential profits of $5.90 per contract are available to the ratio-spreader if the retailer’s shares surge 13.6% to settle at $55.00 at expiration. The greater proportion of sold calls expose the trader to losses should Gymboree’s shares explode higher to exceed the effective upper breakeven price of $60.90 ahead of expiration day in February. Analysts at Susquehanna raised their share price target on the stock to $60.00 from $48.00 after the Wall Street Journal’s website said bankers were looking into the possibility that Gymboree could be sold to private equity.

EQIX - Equinix, Inc. – The provider of global data center services appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner in…

Tags: EEM, EQIX, GDX, GYMB, JPM, MBI, SLV, SNP, STI

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M&A Monday – Goldman’s Golden Goose

by Phil - September 27th, 2010 7:18 am

Hope springs eternal at Goldman Sachs.

This morning our favorite Banksters goosed the EU markets by upping targets on international mining operators Kazakhmys, Lonmin and BHP and that got the European markets off to a flying start out of the gate, despite the fact that UBS had just DOWNgraded the same sector on Friday.  UBS said on Friday that the sector is facing difficult times concerning potential growth with government rulings on mineral leases and the proposed supertax on mining profits in Australia set to hinder metal-based stocks.

We also have a lot of M&A activity, also courtesy of GS, who are leading the resurgence this year with 225 deals to date worth $401.6Bn, accounting for about 20% of all activity going through Goldman’s sticky fingers.  In a sign of the times, however, GS only generated $961M in revenues as an M&A advisor as they cut a lot of discounts in order to land the top spot in dealmaking.  Although outdealt by GS, MS, Rothchild, JPM and DB all made more in fees than the Uncle Lloyd show.

In a sign of the end of times, GS’s London Headquarters has been taken over by lenders after the owner fell into receivership.  GS’s landlord, Antedon, is an offshore real estate firm that bought the building for $500M at the top of the market in 2007 and GS has locked up the building through 2026 at what seems to be not enough money to keep Antedon liquid – it would be very interesting to trace the web of deals that led to this massive default.  

Meanwhile, the consortium of Irish investors that own GS’s other London building are also bailing out, this action is coinciding with what Ireland’s Independent says is a campaign by Wall Street Hedge Funds to short sell Irish Government Bonds.  US hedge funds Groveland Capital and Corrientes Advisors are thought to have taken major positions against Irish debt. Giant €60bn asset-manager Pictet also revealed that it had earlier bet against Irish government bonds. JP Morgan is also thought to have taken a bearish position on Irish debt.  The International Monetary Fund estimated that up to €3bn of Ireland’s debt was being targeted by speculators through the uses of derivatives.

So, plenty of reasons to be cautious this week although it will be hard to cut through the fluff as our hedge fund heroes…

Tags: 5% Rule, AA, ACN, AM, APP, ATU, BLUD, COST, DB, Dollar, FDO, GS, HELE, JBL, JPM, MAR, MCK, MDRX, MON, MS, MU, PAYX, PEP, RT, SPY, STZ, UBS, UL, WAG, WOR, Yen, YUM, ZZ

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Banking on a Rebound?

by ilene - September 24th, 2010 8:07 pm

Banking on a Rebound?

Courtesy of Dr. Paul Price www.BeatingBuffett.com   

Bloomberg Businessweek showed an interesting chart today of the change in earnings of 10 large banks from the boom year 2006 versus the same company’s 2010 estimate.

Here are their respective share price performances from YE 2005 right through September 20, 2010:

As a group the shares behaved pretty rationally with the exception of the top three. JPM showed a 21% profit gain while dropping 1.48% in share price. GS saw a 6% decline in EPS while the shares rose 13.5%. HSBC’s share price dropped twice as much as their earnings over the full period.

Strictly based on the historical data it would seem that JPM and HSBC might offer good risk/reward propositions due to mispricing versus the actual results.

Dr. Paul Price

Disclosure: Author is long GS and MS shares and short GS and MS options.

Tags: Banks, EPS, HSBC, JPM, profits, share price

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Yentervention Wednesday – Kan Baffles Bulls

by Phil - September 15th, 2010 8:22 am

Kaaaaaaannnnnn! 

As we discussed yesterday, it was meet the new boss, same as the old boss in Japan as Naoto Kan’s re-election sent the Yen to new highs as he was considered the least likely candidate to back intervention.  Well surprise, surprise this morning as Japan officially intervened in the FOREX markets and sent the Yen down a full 2.5% as they used their Yen to purchase an undisclosed basket of currencies.   

Since the Dollar is up today against both the Pound ($1.55) and the Euro ($1.29), we can assume the dollar is one of those currencies and demand for Dollars means upward pressure on rates so that should be the end of the TLT bounce for the moment.  Stock boys want bonds to die so the money can come this way and bond boys want you to fear the stock market so you will let them hold your money (and charge you fees) at ridiculously low rates of interest.  That’s they Yin and Yang of the markets. 

“Investors were starting to doubt the government’s commitment to its pledge that it would take bold action,” said Yoshimasa Maruyama, a senior economist at Itochu Corp. in Tokyo. Kan and Noda in recent weeks repeatedly said that Japan was ready to take “bold” measures to stem the currency.  The Japanese government official said European and U.S. officials were informed of the move in an effort to avoid a negative reaction. It took a while to convince Europe because authorities there didn’t like the idea, the person said.

We’ll see if the stronger Dollar today puts pressure on commodities but we’re in pretty good shape as this rally, for a change, has not been led by commodities as the market is now flat to the August despite an 8% drop in oil prices (see USO on chart):

I often complain about rallies that are led by Financials and Commodities as those are things that suck money OUT of the economy and are not long-term drivers of growth.  The entire 2006-7 rally was this kind of rally and I bitched about it all the way up.  We also had housing back then, another type of commodity, but that’s so dead now it’s hardly worth mentioning, is it?  Actually housing is where we used a lot of commodities like lumber and copper etc.  33 months after the onset of the Great Recession, new home sales are still down 70% and non-residential construction is down 36% – that market is dead, dead, dead. 

We get housing starts next week but who really cares? …

Tags: ARNA, BAC, BCS, C, Dollar, GS, HBC, Housing, JPM, LFC, LYG, RBS, SQQQ, STD, TZA, USO, WFC, Yen

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Goldilocks and the 300,000,000 Bears

by Phil - August 14th, 2010 3:43 am

Talk about feeling outnumbered!

 As the guy in Airplane kind of said – "Looks like I pricked the wrong week to get bullish!"  Of course, as I often tell people I am neither bullish nor bearish – I’m rangeish – and our range is the 5% band between around Dow 10,200 and S&P 1,070, which takes us as low as Dow 9,690 and S&P 1,016 and as high as Dow 10,710 and S&P 1,123 before I really "flip flop" my positions.  Despite the fact that this is the range we predicted last October and is the range we’ve been in (other than a brief trip to 11,200, which we shorted the hell out of) all year – people still seem to find it necessary to call me either bullish or bearish as we navigate the channel.

I suppose I have been HOPEFUL for the month (now heading into day 14) that we will finally make a little progress and establish a higher floor at our usual mid-points while, at the same time, the MSM have decided that we are all going to die.  That does make me kind of bullish by comparison doesn’t it?  We are mainly in cash and we are well hedged to the downside so, unless we are REALLY heading much, much lower, there is little profit in speculating to the downside, other than our quick trades.  As PT Barnum once said:

"A man who is all caution, will never dare to take hold and be successful; and a man who is all boldness, is merely reckless, and must eventually fail. A man may go on "’change" and make fifty, or one hundred thousand dollars in speculating in stocks, at a single operation. But if he has simple boldness without caution, it is mere chance, and what he gains to-day he will lose to-morrow. You must have both the caution and the boldness, to insure success." 

Balance is the key to long-term success and we’ve had many conversations about that in Member Chat.  Our goal is to be neither bullish or bearish but rather to sell premium to both the bulls and the bears when conditions permit us.  As Ravalos said Friday in Member Chat:

"Ever since I became member (actually before I became member I was already following your newsletter for quite some time) I find it hard for me to BUY PREMIUM. Over time, I’ve realized that buying the

…

Tags: AA, AAPL, ARNA, BAC, CAVM, CSCO, DIA, DOW, DXD, GLL, Hedging, HERO, HPQ, IDCC, IWM, JPM, JWN, MEE, MO, NAHB, NETL, NFLX, Option Strategies, QID, quantitative easing, S&P, SDS, SOX, SPWRA, STX, TBT, UNG, USD, XLF

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CFTC’s Bart Chilton On Financial Reform, Position Limits, and Curbing ‘Disruptive Practices’

by ilene - July 25th, 2010 1:13 pm

CFTC’s Bart Chilton On Financial Reform, Position Limits, and Curbing ‘Disruptive Practices’

Courtesy of JESSE’S CAFÉ AMÉRICAIN

Actions will speak much louder than words, especially given the many disappointments in the past from the SEC and CFTC. Position limits are a good idea. Let’s see how long banks like JPM and HSBC have to implement them if they are covered at all. And as for ‘disruptive practices’ in the market, I will be impressed if Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are ever called out for their abusive market practices in the US as they have been in Europe and Asia.

I like Bart Chilton, quite a bit actually. If he delivers on these promises, I will work for him to be elected or appointed to higher office. But after the great disappointment of Obama, it will take actions first to gain my enthusiasm.

I am all for you Bart, but now you must deliver. 

Here is an introduction to this presentation by Bart Chilton from another good guy, GATA’s Chris Powell:

"The member of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission who has been advocating imposing position limits on traders in the precious metals markets, Bart Chilton, has made a video explaining why he thinks the financial regulation law just enacted by Congress and President Obama promises great progress, particularly in making the commodity markets freer and more transparent. The law, Chilton explains, requires the CFTC to establish position limits and authorizes the commission to prosecute "disruptive trading practices." Chilton says he is especially pleased with that, because the commission’s market manipulation standards have failed almost completely for many years.

Chilton has been amazingly conscientious on the precious metals manipulation issue and has been amazingly responsive to gold and silver investors who have complained to the CFTC about market manipulation. He’ll need their support as the CFTC writes the position limits regulations required by the new law. The big commercial shorts are sure to be heard as the commission continues to take public comment, so gold and silver investors can’t let up yet."

Tags: Bart Chilton, commodity futures trading commission, financial reform, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPM, POSITION LIMITS

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Tech Wreck Tuesday – IBM and TXN “Disappoint”

by Phil - July 20th, 2010 8:13 am

Wheeeee – this is fun!

Well, it’s fun when you have disaster hedges anyway.  I already sent out an Alert to Members this morning reminding them that there’s no point in having disaster hedges if you don’t use that money to buy on the dips, though.  Yesterday we added downside, leveraged plays on SDS (2) and DXD and our focus short was on NFLX (last week it was MA, and that went very well) along with our usual DIA Mattress play.  That shifted us a bit negative as we failed to hold our watch levels and now we are sadly looking all the way down to those low closes of:  Dow 9,686, S&P 1,022, Nasdaq 2,081, NYSE 6,434, Russell 590, SOX 332 and Transports 1,905 as a possible re-test if things get really ugly.  

On July 3rd I laid out "5 Plays that Make 500% if the Market Falls" and, fortunately, we didn’t need them as we took off on Monday but they are still good plays and a little cheaper now than they were when we last tested our bottoms.  If you are not well-protected – I strongly suggest you read this post and at least be ready to initiate a hedge if we can’t turn this morning around.  As with most day’s lately – it’s all about copper and the $3 line…   

That being said, I do think we will turn this morning around eventually - because IBM is down $7 and the Dow moves about 8 points per $1 of component value so that’s hitting the Dow for 56 points all by itself.  IBM’s earnings were great but revs missed, in large part due to currency issues.  BRIC revenues were up 22% for the company, despite the crap exchange rate. 

TXN got whacked too on their report that profits nearly tripled on a 42% jump in revenues (not kidding).  "Demand has continued very solid and very broad-based," said Ron Slaymaker, the company’s vice president of investor relations.

Mr. Slaymaker said the biggest positive surprise in the period was stronger demand from companies that buy industrial equipment, which have rebounded much slower than consumers from the recession. One notable area of weakness, he added, was sales of chips used in cellphones. TI has long been a major supplier to handset-maker Nokia Corp., which in June lowered its second-quarter forecast.

The company reported net income for the period ended

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Tags: ATHR, BAC, BK, C, DIA, DXD, GS, IBM, IWM, JPM, MA, NE, NFLX, PEP, PKG, SDS, STLD, TNA, TUP, TXN, UNH, WFC, WFT, WHR, ZION

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FinReg Friday – Goldman Gets a Wrist Slap and BP Stops the Flow!

by Phil - July 16th, 2010 8:24 am

Dip, what dip?

I didn’t see any dip, what dip are you talkin’ about? Oil spill?  I don’t see no oil spilling, do you?  Goldman did what?  They’re regulating who?  Fuhgeddaboudit!  That’s right markets, move along, nothing to see here.  In fact, exactly as we predicted since the market first started dropping – it’s all just noise in between options expiration days, a way to traumatize the retail suckers who run in and out of positions under the direction of their chosen media messiahs.  Clearly most market analysis is nothing more than "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."

If you think this chart looks a little like someone is laughing at you – you are not being paraniod.  This smiley face pattern is bought to you by the chart painters at GS and the rest of the Gang of 12 and their media lapdogs who push and pull the markets around on a daily basis.  I asked back on the 6th, when I very accurately called for a "Turnaround Tuesday – Will CNBC Apologize to America?" as I pointed out the ridiculous degree of negativity that had contributed to the mini crash, which I had predicted on Monday the 21st, when my 9:40 Alert to Members said:

Good morning! 

I have to go with my gut initially and stick to our plan, which is roll up the USO and DIA short plays (rolling the open puts to higher strikes) and, if the Dow holds 10,500 and USO holds $36 ($80 oil), we’ll have to sell June puts and roll our puts to a longer month – hoping for a post-holiday sell-off. 

Upside levels are 50 dmas at:  Dow 10,600, S&P 1,140, Nasdaq 2,350, NYSE 7,130, Russell 683, SOX 366 (already over), Transports 2,130, Oil $78 and Gold $1,200 (already over).  Anything less than that is just a move to the top of our range and then we can expect a nice pullback by Wednesday.

Obviously, it’s a great time to add some disaster hedges, I now like selling TZA $6 puts for .45 and buying the TZA $6/8 bull call spread for .50 and that’s net .05 on the $2 spread so even if you have to margin $3,000 for 10 short TZA puts, the $450 you collect plus another $50 buys you $2,000 worth of downside insurance.  

I like those DIA June

…

Tags: BAC, BP, C, CBSH, GE, GS, JPM, SNE, TM

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