I’m skiing/conferencing later this week in Aspen, Colorado, and Countrywide Financial mortgage folks were supposed to be a hop, skip, and a mountain-range crossing away over at Avon, near Vail. Apparently, however, they learned of my cross-mountain presence, and they have canceled their ski sojourn. Countrywide Cancels Ski Trip…
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Jim Cramer came back from vacation and on CNBC’s MAD MONEY, he slammed Congress for taking more than a year now for holding up the Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR). We have earnings from both satellite radio providers this week and a full preview can be seen here where we ponder earnings versus “merger rulings” on importance. Stanford Research recently called for an approval here. Proxy forms Glass Lewis and ISS both advised a vote in favor. Barron’s has recently noted that there are concerns on this one. He wants to know why the…
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USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU) is one of more widely followed stocks that is in the group of companies et to benefit from the coming nuclear power surge in the coming years. There is just one problem, well two. The first problem is that this has already fallen some 60% from major highs over the last year. But the second problem is earnings and future expenses. The U.S. uranium enrichment company disclosed that its plan to build the second uranium enrichment facility on Piketown, Ohio to supply fuel to nuclear energy reactors could run about 50% over budget. It is starting…
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And the the growth trend will likely continue in 2008.…
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$$$ Vegetable Capital Ripens [Going Private]
$$$ Reminiscences of a Stock Operator: Maria Bello And Me [Tim Sykes]
$$$ What to Get for Your First Monoline Bailout …
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Thank Standard & Poor’s for the late-developing rally, after the credit-rating agency tweaked their outlooks on bond insurers such as MBIA and Ambac Financial Group.
The moves were substantial in their subtlety: MBIA’s financial strength rating of AAA was “r…
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Odyssey Marine Exploration, Inc. (NASDAQ: OMEX) has taken over a shipwreck site and it will pay out a 15% post-expense royalty for future findings. It was named the sole plaintiff in the in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina after a U.S. District Judge granted the Joint Motion from Odyssey Marine Exploration and BDJ Discovery Group, LLC for “Substitution of Plaintiff.” BDJ Discovery Group filed the original arrest action in 2005 against the Unidentified Shipwreck Vessel, its apparel, tackle, appurtenances and cargo located in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean approximately 12 miles off…
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We like to end every week with a special gift for our readers: we’re finding you a new job. So we spent part of the afternoon combing through our Career Center in search of the most interesting jobs. There are dozens to choose from, all categorized according to specialization. But one special one has been selected as our Job of The Week. Sadly, on Friday we had technical difficulties that prevented us from posting a job for you. But we’re back now, and so is the Job of the (last) Week. …
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How did InTrade do at the Oscars? Pretty well, it turns out. All the favorites - anybody trading above say 65 - won in their category. Immediately before the announcements were made, No Country For Old Men was trading in the low 70s for Best Picture, and the high 70s for Best Director. Javier Bardem and Daniel Day-Lewis were trading in the low 90s for Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor respectively.
When I chided my Hollywood insider friend (he was thanked by name from the stage!) for saying that Julie Christie was "a lock" for Best Actress, he replied that the Best Actress award was the "biggest upset of the night". But that’s not really true: Marion Cotillard was trading low 30s immediately before the announcements, while Tilda Swinton was actually a much longer shot for Best Supporting Actress, trading in the low teens.
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At some point soon investors are going to have to come to grips with the possibility that Goldman Sachs Group may disappoint the market. The investment-banking powerhouse’s quarter will end this week, and analysts of late have been reeling in earnings expectations due to concern about more write-downs than expected.
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Tri-Artisan Acquisition Corp. has filed to come public via IPO. It lists some 25 million units, with each unit being one share of common stock at $10.00 and an equal number of warrants with a $7.50 strike price. Underwriters have an over-allotment of 3.75 million shares. JPMorgan is listed as the lead underwriter and Lazard Capital Markets is co-manager. No proposed stock ticker was seen, but it intends to list on Amex. The company is a SPAC or blank check company. It says it won’t key on a specific prospective target industry, although it will intend to focus efforts on…
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(February 25, 2008 02:14 PM, by Bryan Caplan) Thinking about Cuba’s prospects reminded me of Sobel and Leeson’s neat chapter on "The Spread of Global Economic Freedom" in……
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addslashes(Top 10 Most Searched Stocks on TheStreet.com, February 25
Those watching the E! channel’s Oscar pre-show last may have noticed that Gary Busey interrupted Ryan Seacrest’s interview with Jennifer Garner by screaming “Ryan! Ryan Seacrest! I’ve been looking for you for years!” and proceeding to suck on Mrs. Affleck’s neck. Some of you may have wondered what that was all about. (Who would want to suck where Ben Affleck hath sucked?) The answer, not surprisingly, lies with SAC Capital.
The mainland’s equities will likely remain volatile in the coming months.…
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The mainland’s stock markets will likely remain volatile in the coming months.…
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Maybe a day makes all the difference world, at least with a hi-beta stock like LDK Solar Co. (NYSE: LDK) after a more than 50% haircut. LDK Solar posted earnings of $0.44 EPS on $192.8 million in revenues. First Call was at $0.51 and $183.1 million. As far as guidance, the company gave next quarter at $0.41 EPS to $0.45 EPS on $210 to $220 million in revenues, while estimates were $0.40 EPS and $219.7 million. It also gave guidance of $960 million to $1.0 Billion for all of 2008, while estimates were pegged at and $1.06 Billion. Shares of…
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The bond insurers have all rocketed today on the expectation that a bailout from the banks will be announced any time now. But this has hardly tempered the words of their critics. Everyone from Bill Ackman to Warren Buffett has criticized bond insurers for guaranteeing complex derivatives whose underlying risk they seem not to have understood. Even the core business of the insurers—guaranteeing municipal bonds—has come under fire.
In this month’s Portfolio, writer Jesse Eisinger argues that bond insurance is a racket, basically a tax-payer rip-off carried out by the collusion of bond insurers, Wall Street firms and credit rating agencies. It s a pretty extraordinary claim, for which Eisinger offers no real evidence other than the allegations of a Attorney General who hopes to be the next Eliot Spitzer and a claim that the ratings agencies consistently assign municipal bonds ratings that are too low.
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