Archive for September, 2010
Trading Oil? Consider OXY a Proxy
Oil stocks and the price of oil itself can trade differently. A lot depends on profitability, of course, and whether a company has already “pre-sold” its production through futures contracts. For example, if a company has already sold its next year’s output at $85, then it might not benefit much if crude oil prices soar [...]
Would Daily Options Be an Option for You? (CBOE)
First it was monthly options. Then came weekly options expiration dates. If there is a way to bet on it, Wall Street will figure out a way to butcher it further it seems. Soon, the options world may get to digest daily options expiration dates. Really? Yes, really. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday [...]
Is Stock Picking Dead?
I keep hearing various pundits on CNBC and elsewhere observe that “it’s not a stock picker’s market.” Even The Wall Street Journal laments that “macro forces” seem to trump individual stock performance. So is it a stock picker’s market? Of course it is. Or not. It depends which stocks you pick. First, let me be [...]
BP Shakeup Aimed at Regaining Trust
It seemed it was only a matter of time until BP plc (NYSE:BP) replaced Andy Inglis, the head of its Upstream business. Inglis was the man ultimately responsible for the company’s Gulf of Mexico operations when the Macondo well exploded and killed 11 workers and destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. The company’s new CEO, [...]
Kodak: Snapshot of a Former Growth Stock
After reading Mike Raneri’s post on what the markets were like in 1987, I took a look at some of the stocks that were in the Dow back then. It seems as if one of the biggest losers over the 23 years since has been Eastman Kodak (EK). Interestingly enough, Kodak split three-for-two the very [...]
Part Stock, Part Option: Ford Convertible Preferreds
To some investors, preferred stocks are just plain boring. That’s because they tend to trade a lot like like bonds. They often have higher yields than a company’s common stock, but the dividends are fixed – so preferreds are sometimes considered a hybrid between a stock and a bond. While common shareholders might get regular [...]
More “Weekly” Options on the Way (CME, CBOE)
Data and opinion on just how successful the new weekly stock and index options are is still a work in progress. Opinion aside, the recent CBOE Holdings (NASDAQ: CBOE) move to introduce weekly stock options in addition to regular “old-way” options that expire on the third Friday of each month is about to get some [...]
Research in Motion Launches PlayBook Tablet (RIMM)
Hoping to beat the rush to get a tablet device on store shelves, Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:RIMM) has announced the launch of a 7-inch tablet the company calls the PlayBook, and that is expected to reach stores early in 2011. That’s right, at least 3 and possibly as many as 6 months in the [...]
LDK Solar Gets Loan to Drive Growth
China’s state-owned China Development Bank Corp. has just made another massive loan in the country’s burgeoning solar PV industry. The bank has agreed to lend $8.9 billion over five years to LDK Solar Co. Ltd. (NYSE:LDK). According to the company, the loan will support “long-term growth initiatives and corporate development plans.” Upon the news of [...]
Petrobras Completes Largest Share Offering Ever
Brazilian oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE:PBR), commonly called Petrobras, priced and sold some $67 billion worth of shares in the largest ever public share offering. Demand was so great, according to The Wall Street Journal, that the company could have sold $140 billion worth. The Brazilian government took about $43 billion of the offering [...]
