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24 hours ago — Todd Sullivan's - ValuePlays
BIOPeter Balash - Peter C. Balash, Ph.D., is senior economist at the United States Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has followed energy markets, energy security, and technology issues for NETL since 2002, focusing on the interacti...
Yesterday 5:45am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
While the numbers that come out of the BLS on employment and unemployment are the gold standard -- they're the ones that everyone uses -- there are some serious problems with the numbers. The most significant of these, to my mind, is what is known as the Birth/Death adjustment.This is an ...
Yesterday 5:40am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Almost lost in the news of the employment report for June was the initial claims data. There, the news was slightly more positive -- new claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 614,000 from last weeks revised reading of 630,000 (was 627,000).
The four-week average of new claims ...
Yesterday 5:30am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
International Rectifier (IRF) and Vishay Intertechnology (VSH) have finally settled their long-standing dispute. International Rectifier refunded $30 million in lieu of money paid by Vishay for the acquisition of its Power Control Systems (PCS) business.It was also made to license some ad...
Yesterday 5:12am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
HIT's Lithium-Ion Capacity ExpandsHitachi Ltd. (HIT), a Tokyo-based global conglomerate, is expected to supply advanced lithium-ion batteries to General Motors (GMGMQ) in 2010 for use in its gasoline hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV). The deal with GM will increase Hitachi's production capac...
Yesterday 5:00am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
On July 1, Wednesday, Flagstone Reinsurance Holdings Limited (FSR) offered to buy IPC Holdings Ltd. (IPCR), which Flagstone said is superior to the Validus (VR) offer.Flagstone has offered 2.638 of its common shares for each IPC common share plus $5.50 per share in cash, valuing IPCR at $...
Yesterday 4:49am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
TARP to Boost HIG's Capital PositionHartford Financial Services (HIG) announced that it has accepted all of the $3.4 billion approved under the Federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In return, the company will issue preference shares carrying a 5% dividend, with an option to purch...
Yesterday 4:37am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. (KMP) -- the largest independent owner and operator of petroleum product pipelines in the U.S. -- completed its first commercial shipment of bio-diesel through its Plantation Pipeline Company. The process, a technological breakthrough in transporting bi...
Yesterday 4:26am — SchaeffersResearch
Call buying has been the trend lately for KeyCorp (KEY) speculators. On Wednesday, traders on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) bought to open 2,359 calls on KEY, compared to just four puts. The bulk of the day's action was centered around the stock's September 6 call, where 7,110 ...
Yesterday 4:25am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Hotel Metrics Down, Others Finally Catching On
The second quarter of 2009 proved to be even more challenging than the first for hotel companies in the United States. And as it becomes increasingly clear that a recovery in the industry isnt likely to happen any time in the near term, ...
Yesterday 4:17am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Lindsay Corporation (LNN) reported fiscal third-quarter earnings of $0.42 per share, beating our expectations of $0.34 per share and market expectations of $0.25 per share. The company has been successful in cutting personnel as well as other operating expenses through its cost-reduction ...
Yesterday 4:13am — SchaeffersResearch
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan
(POT:
sentiment,
chart,
options)
has been popular in the options pits today, with call volume soaring to sky-high levels. The stock's July 120 call has seen more than 21,600 contracts change hands so far today, while its July 100, 110, and 130 c...
Yesterday 4:00am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Verizon Wireless (VZ) has finally confirmed that Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry Tour 9630, the highly anticipated 3G smartphone device, will hit the stores on July 12. Verizon will sell the Tour for $199.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer contract. Curr...
Yesterday 3:53am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
NII Holdings (NIHD), a provider of wireless services in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Peru, continues to be impacted by volatile economic conditions which largely contributed to the sequential decline in net subscriber additions across most of its markets in the last quarter.The company r...
Yesterday 3:44am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
SP ratings lowered ASM International's (ASMI) long-term credit rating from BB- to B+. The rating revision hinges on the rating agency's expectation of a prolonged downturn for semiconductor equipment companies.ASMI is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) offering semiconductor manufac...
Yesterday 3:39am — SchaeffersResearch
Traders on Wednesday rushed to buy calls on Halliburton Company (HAL). During the course of the session, option players on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) bought to open 3,297 calls on HAL, compared to 466 puts. In other words, speculative investors picked up seven times more bul...
Yesterday 3:35am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Positive outlook for the U.S. Online Education sectorThe outlook for the post-secondary education industry, especially the online segment, is positive. This industry is comprised of traditional public and private traditional colleges and universities, as well as a number of for-profit ins...
Yesterday 3:25am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
ProLogis Inc. (PLD), a publicly traded real investment trust (REIT), has recently sold most of its industrial buildings in North America for $561 million. The company had been marketing most of these assets for sale since late 2008 and expects to realize $200 million in net proceeds fro...
Yesterday 3:12am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Portable navigation device (PND) suppliers in deep waterDiscussions at the GPS-Wireless 2009 conference suggest a murky outlook for GPS providers this year. The PND market in particular is expected to stagnate. PNDs enjoyed very strong growth over the last few years, but increased competi...
Yesterday 3:00am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
SRS Labs (SRSL) has announced that its SRS Premium Sound is gaining popularity with several leading computer manufacturers such as Asustek Computer, BenQ Corporation, NEC Corporation, AOC Corporation (AOC), MSI Computer Corp. and Samsung.
Management reported that an increasing percen...
Yesterday 3:00am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Energizer Holdings (ENR), which ranks second after Procter Gamble (PG) in men's shave products, in June acquired the Edge and Skintimate shave preparation business from Johnson Johnson (JNJ) for an aggregate purchase price of $275 million. Through the acquisition, ENR will be adding sha...
Yesterday 2:51am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
Cardiovascular Systems, Inc. (CSII) recently announced that it has received the honor of being included in the Russell 3000 Index. The index measures the performance of the 3,000 largest U.S. companies by market capitalization. The constituents of the index will remain in place for a ...
Yesterday 2:38am — Zacks.com: Analyst Blog
On July 1, 2009, CombinatoRx (CRXX) agreed to merge with Neuromed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company based in Canada.As per the terms of the all-stock deal, CombinatoRx will issue approximately 36 million new shares to Neuromed shareholders. Initially, each ...