Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
ERTS - covered my $60.50's for $60.57 loss of .07
Overall a good day but I left a lot of money on the table.
Oh Well,NEXT!!!!
Have a Great Weekend Everyone!
Nice Trade!!! eom.
I guess instead of posting about MER I should have been shorting it. Look at the time of my last post and then check the MER chart.
I didn't know my evaluations carried so much weight. LOL!!!
Hmmmmmm....
ERTS is an over bloated pig ready to roll over any minute.
Hey, you never know.
You shouldn't have posted it ;)
I didn't think it was that strong of a defense. They attacked the allegations and said it would violate company policy, but they never said they didn't do it.
I think we will eventually find out they did do it, but they will come up with a valid reason why they did it. I'm betting doing it to hide losses is against company policy. I thought they were choosing their words very carefully. But it worked, the stock went up - for now.
MER defending itself, market coming back with it...
11:53 MER Merrill Lynch: Details of response -Update-
This morning, an article in the Wall Street Journal about Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., (NYSE: MER), relying on unidentified sources, speculated about inappropriate transactions that "may have been designed" to avoid write-downs that "might have been" required earlier in the year. The story is non-specific and relies on unidentified sources. We have no reason to believe that any such inappropriate transactions occurred. Such transactions would clearly violate Merrill Lynch policy.
MER getting smacked on news...
Starting to sound a little like Enron...
Merrill Hiding Losses With Slick Deals?
Andrew Farrell, 11.02.07, 11:35 AM ET
Investors, still uncertain of brokerages' exposure to out-of-favor securities, continue scurrying for cover at any suggestion that exposure is worse than believed.
Shares of Merrill Lynch (nyse: MER - news - people ) fell $2.67, or 4.3%, to $59.52, in early trading, on a report that the brokerage masked its mortgage losses with deals with hedge funds. The transactions seem likely to draw the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In one deal Merrill reportedly sold $1 billion in assets to a hedge fund but the fund has the right to sell back the assets to Merrill after one year for a guaranteed minimum return. Such a transaction would effectively allow Merrill to take some of its assets, many of which are rapidly losing value, off its books at least temporarily.
The values of assets like mortgage-backed securities and short-term corporate debt have fallen sharply in the past year. This has forced many investors holding them to announce huge write-downs.
Merrill's deals, which were reported by the Wall Street Journal, come as banks and brokerages face concerns they aren't maintaining adequate capital levels despite the risk of their investments. A CIBC analyst said Thursday that Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ) will need to raise more capital, and possibly cut its dividend, for such a reason.
The comments by CIBC set off a sell-off in the sector Thursday. The sector took further punishment Friday. Shares of Bear Stearns (nyse: BSC - news - people ) fell $2.58, or 2.4%, to $105.36; shares of Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS - news - people ) fell $1.81, or 2.9%, to $60.61; and shares of Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ) fell $4.42, or 1.8%, to $235.79.
It's funny, you get all these idiots posting about ERTS's deferred revenues and how they are going to make a ton of money next year; I just want to bang on their head and say "Hello, McFly, the non-GAAP earnings numbers include all the revenue and they are still hardly making any money."
.
LOL!! Crongrats!!!eom.
I stopped trading it for a long time but at these valuations in this market I thought I'd take a shot. It's right up there with AMZN and CRM. No matter how much they beg to be shorted you just don't do it.
I actually had a nightmare last night that ERTS gapped open at $65 and ran to $70 in a matter of minutes. LOL. That should tell you something about my previous experience with it.
Somebody at BTRD keeps supporting big time on the bid everytime it looks like it is going to fall and I don't see them anywhere on the ask.
I hate ERTS! LOL. This is why I take partials. Downgraded to Sell with a target 25% below it's current price; they lower guidance for the year; the forward P/E is 60; the general market is down, and ERTS is still up over $2 near 52 wk high's.
Congrats on WYNN!!! Its always nice to end the week on a positive note.
ERTS Covered $60.90's @ $59.24 for $1.66 eom.
Wow! The street finally turns its back on ERTS...
Electronic Arts downgraded to sell at Deutsche Bank
By Steve Goldstein
Last Update: 6:45 AM ET Nov 2, 2007
Deutsche Bank downgrades Electronic Arts (ERTS 58.74) to Sell from Hold with a $45 tgt following earnings. The firm says the shares are reacting positively to fiscal 2Q upside (aided by forex gains and sell-in). With the stock up ~20% this year, firm says underlying earnings still have not moved up much (despite tail-winds of fx, distribution (EA Partners) revs and cost management
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Electronic Arts (ERTS) was downgraded to sell from hold at Deutsche Bank, with the broker saying its core growth lags the industry and its shares trade at a premium to rivals despite a weak line-up and market share losses. "In our opinion, the lack of major outperformance on unit volumes among a majority of EA's titles, especially with a growing fixed R&D expense base, represents the single most important hurdle for the company," the broker said.
ERTS - Covered my $62.28's @ $60.76 for $1.32 to reduce exposure and gain a little cushion.
ERTS Electronic Arts: Drive strong Q2; tgt raised to $70 - Nollenberger (58.74 )
Nollenberger says driven by sales of Madden, FIFA, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods, and MySims, ERTS delivered a very strong quarter. They note ERTS reported fiscal 2Q non-GAAP EPS of $0.27 on revs of $936 mln, ahead of their ests of EPS of $0.18 on $900 mln. FIFA in particular was very strong this year, selling 2.9 mln units, with growth of 18%. ERTS scored with MySims, which sold over one mln units and propelled ERTS to be the No. 1 third-party publisher on the Wii so far this year. Firm raises their tgt to $70 from $64.
Of coarse these guys don't mention valuation or the fact that the company lowered future guidance. "Wow, .27 vs. .20 we've got to raise our price target so we can dump this crap before everybody else does."
Wow! Hang Seng gapped down almost 1000 points on the open.
I don't pay much mind to U.S. futures because they change so much over night but right now the S&P is looking to gap down another 35 points on the open. I figured we'd be looking to bounce a little on the open.
I didn't like how ERTS finished in A.H. very strong, looks like it might pop a little more in the morning. I felt a little better after watching the taped edition of Fast Money. Jeff Macky pumped it at 5:20 and then he made it his trade of the day for tomorrow at the end of the show which explains the spike right after 6 PM. Still thinking the big boys crush it but not as confident right now.
By the way, the wind really kicked up here in Virginia around 2PM, hope you had a good sail.
Been shorting ERTS in A.H. they beat but guided down slightly for the year. Street loves them, I don't get it. They always talk about revenues pouring in from all the games out there, but someone is always developing a new game box and the technology is always improving and they always spend a ton of money on R&D and they never make it to the promised land.
I expect to hear the street gush about them in the morning but above $60 I'll still take a shot at them.
GAAP expecting losses, non-GAAP forward P/E about 60.
I think they should trade $30 to $40 but if I can get out at $58-$59 I'll be very happy.
Here you go, I'll save you the trouble, you can just copy and paste when appropriate.
FED printing fresh four year lows as I type!!!!!!
RAW
ERTS popping as CC ends. Shorted more @ $62.28 Not adding anymore. I'll play with these cards.
Wow! USU looks like it has a lot of upside potential. I haven't followed it recently, is the street is still concerned that they won't be able to finish their big project?
Thanks, just added some ERTS @ $60.90 it's still climbing going into the CC. Saving a little powder in case it really pops.
I missed LVS too. It was already so beaten down from the recent downgrade and WYNN results I was afraid bad news might not be bad enough. Guess I was wrong. LOL.
ERTS - Short @ $60.50 they beat for the Q but guided down slightly for the year ending in March 08
P/E around 60
But it is a street favorite and has been know to wear anti-gravity boots.
Back on the Macao Peninsula, the Sands Macao delivered a solid quarter. Our Rolling Chip volume increased 79.2% to $6.29 billion, compared to $3.51 billion in the third quarter of 2006, while third quarter visitor volume remained strong, with 2.34 million visits in the quarter, about the same number as the 2.37 million in the third quarter of 2006. In October, visitor volume at the Sands totaled 805,000 visitors, compared to 794,000 in October of last year.
Doesn't sound like exponential growth to me.
LVS and WYNN getting crushed in A.H. eom.
Even when they make the laws there are a lot of scum bags out there. I remember a few years back I was getting a second on my house for 150k. I let my wife take care of everything and I just showed up to sign the paperwork. The guy pointed out the monthly payment and the rate; I did simple math in my head and knew we were paying a higher rate than what was quoted. The guy kept insisting I was mistaken and kept showing me numerous places where it stated the rate. Only after I still refused to sign did he say, "You realize your monthly payment includes the life insurance don't you?" They had included a term life policy that would pay off the loan if anything happened to me.
He claimed he included a disclaimer with the info he gave my wife. We went through all the paperwork. It wasn't there. he said he included it because it was required by law and my wife must have lost it. Possible, but I really doubt it. I told them to rewrite the loan that I didn't want the insurance.
The guy then pulls the check out of his desk and waves it under my nose saying if they had to rewrite the loan it would take another 3 to 4 weeks for me to get my check. I tore up the paperwork and walked out. Oh yeah, I was 32 years old and healthy (of course they never gave me a physical or I would have known something was up so they didn't know that) the $150k term policy was only $198/month. If they had only tacked on the $20/month that it should have cost I probably would have missed it.
Hmmmm...you have to wonder how big the problem really is?
These two stories raised my eyebrows today...
10:06 Fed injects $41 bln in repos; largest since credit crisis began - DJ
and...
09:20 The next worry: bond insurers - BusinessWeek Online
BusinessWeek Online reports an exotic form of bond insurance could be the next hidden hazard to blow up in the global credit minefield. An obscure co called ACA Capital (ACA) might spark the explosion. The crisis is spreading from Wall Street to a less well known corner of the financial world, that of the bond insurers. Anxiety has focused on ACA Capital and MBIA (MBI). Also mentioned in the story as receiving a lucrative source of revs from credit default swaps include: AIG and ABK.
Grabbed some UVE for a short swing @ $7.71. It's a Florida Insurance company that is down the last few days because of Noel. They should report in a week or two. I think once the storm passes (with no sudden left turns) the stock moves back up into earnings.
Thanks, I'll be watching LVS too. eom.
Grabbed some UVE @ $7.71 thank you Noel. eom.
Covered WYNN @ $158 for $2.50 eom.
Reuters ran this headline on WYNN about 30 minute ago...
UPDATE 1-RESEARCH ALERT-Brokerages raise targets on Wynn Resorts
You had to read the entire article until at the bottom they finally told you that even after being raised two of the price targets were well below where it was currently trading, one was right above, and only one was higher; and the four ratings were 1 Buy, 2 Holds, 1 Sell
LOL!!!!
11:33 PRVT Private Media CEO buys 1 mln shares at $3.30 (3.47 +0.08)
WYNN - Short more @ $161.50 for $160.50 ave eom.
WYNN - Short Again @ $159.50 eom.
WYNN - Stopped out @ $158.40 for $1.93 gain. eom.
Nice catch! I think they have about $39 per share in cash, but of course all that could disappear fast.
Wow! Housing knocked an entire point off GDP. Would have been 4.9% with housing backed out according to Briefing.
It will be interesting to see if good news is good for the market or if we dive because of fears of no more rate cuts.
WFMI - I agree with Zacks call today and will be looking to build a short position if it runs into earnings. I believe their fast growth is behind them and a forward PE of 32 is high for a supermarket...
Zacks Bull and Bear of the Day Highlights: LifeCell, Whole Foods Market, Power Integrations and ValeroLast update: 10/31/2007 6:00:01 AMCHICAGO, Oct 31, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Zacks Equity Research highlights LifeCell Corp. (LIFC) as the Bull of the Day and Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI). as the Bear of the Day. In addition, Zacks Equity Research provides analysis on Power Integrations (POWI) and Valero (VLO). Full analysis of all these stocks is available at . Here is a synopsis of all four stocks:
Bull of the Day: Our Bull of the Day recommendation is for LifeCell Corporation (LIFC). LifeCell Corporation is a leader in the development and commercialization of human-derived, tissue-based products for use in reconstructive, urogynecologic, and orthopedic surgical procedures. The company's leading product, AlloDerm, continues to gain acceptance in the surgical tissue replacement market. We are also excited about the prospects of Strattice, a xenograft product, which is scheduled to hit the market in the fourth quarter of 2007. We see the company posting strong top-and bottom-line growth over the next few years thanks to Strattice, and recommend the shares up to the $49 level.
Bear of the Day: Our Bear of the Day recommendation is for Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFMI).
We reiterate our Sell rating on Whole Foods ahead of the company's fiscal fourth quarter earnings report, which is scheduled for November 20. We continue to believe that Whole Foods' future growth will be less profitable than in the past, and the company will be more reliant on new stores openings and acquisitions to drive its overall growth. Despite its decelerating, less profitable growth, WFMI shares are trading at nearly 32x our fiscal year 2008 EPS estimate. That represents a P/E-to-growth rate of 2.0x. This premium multiple is simply not justified, in our view. We think a more appropriate multiple is 20x our fiscal year 2008 EPS estimate or $30.