Posted Mar 24th 2009 1:30PM by Steven Halpern
Filed under: International markets, Exxon Mobil (XOM), Newsletters, Halliburton (HAL), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Commodities, Oil, Stocks to Buy
"Many experts believe that oil prices are at unsustainably low prices now, and they expect a sharp rise in the commodity price as supply and demand come back into line again," says turnaround expert George Putnam.
In The Turnaround Letter, he suggests, "If oil does begin to rise again, the oilfield service stocks could rebound sharply." Here, he takes a look at large cap plays on a rebound within the oilfield services sector.
"We all know that oil prices have fallen dramatically from their highs in the summer of 2008. But different types of oil-related stocks have reacted quite differently to the price change in the underlying commodity.
"For example, while oil itself has dropped nearly 70% from its 12-month high, the stock of the largest integrated oil company, Exxon-Mobil (NYSE: XOM), is down only 26%, less than the stock market as a whole.
Continue reading Oilfield services: Four favorite turnarounds
Posted Jan 31st 2009 8:40AM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings reports, Starbucks (SBUX), Ford Motor (F), 3M Corporation (MMM), Halliburton (HAL), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Altria Group (MO), Black and Decker (BDK), ConocoPhillips (COP), Procter and Gamble (PG), Verizon Communications (VZ), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Amgen Inc (AMGN), Honeywell Intl (HON), Wells Fargo (WFC)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Ford, P&G, Wells Fargo, Starbucks, DuPont, Halliburton and others
Posted Jan 26th 2009 6:00PM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings reports, Pfizer (PFE), Halliburton (HAL), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Amgen Inc (AMGN), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Eaton Corp (ETN)
Here's a quick look at some of Monday's earnings results:
Netflix Inc.'s (NASDAQ: NFLX) fourth-quarter earnings jumped 45% percent to nearly $23 million, or 38 cents per share, which surpassed analysts' estimates. Revenue in the period rose 19% to $360 million. The company ended 2008 with 9.4 million subscribers, a gain of 718,000 customers from the end of September. Shares fell $0.29, less than 1% Monday.
Amgen Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AMGN) fourth-quarter profit grew 15% percent to $961 million, or 91 cents per share, mostly due to lower expenses. Revenue was $3.75 billion about the same as last year. Results included $60 million in restructuring costs a year ago. Shares rose $1.22, or 2.3%, but fell in after-hours trading.
Continue reading Monday earnings recap: Netflix, Amgen, Halliburton, Wyeth, Tyson
Posted Jan 26th 2009 4:20PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Earnings reports, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Market matters, Caterpillar (CAT), Halliburton (HAL), Economic data, Barclays plc ADS (BCS)

Just as we were getting used to write about how bad trading has been, today came around and was positive throughout. The housing data from existing home sales sent the markets up, despite mostly dismal news from the industrials. Bank stocks had yet another up day.
Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,116.03 +38.47 +0.48%
NASDAQ: 1,489.46 +12.17 +0.82%
S&P 500: 836.57 +4.62 +0.56%
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst DowngradesContinue reading Closing Bell: Stocks end higher after housing data; CAT, XOM, HAL, BCS, BRK.A
Posted Jan 26th 2009 8:08AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Pfizer (PFE), Starbucks (SBUX), McDonald's (MCD), Caterpillar (CAT), Halliburton (HAL), Walgreen Co (WAG), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), American Express (AXP), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Amgen Inc (AMGN), Tyson Foods'A' (TSN), Texas Instruments (TXN), Barclays plc ADS (BCS)
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced a
deal to acquire rival
Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) for $68 billion, or $50.19 a share, a 15% premium to Friday's close of $43.74. This cash-and-stock deal is the largest in the drug sector since 2000 and many see it as a precursor to a flourishing M&A season as the credit markets are slowly starting to improve. Pfizer also reported a 90% profit drop for the fourth quarter due to charges. PFE shares declined 3.4% in premarket trading, while WYE shares gained nearly 5%.
Barclays (NYSE: BCS) shares surged in London Monday after the
firm reassured investors in a letter to shareholders it didn't need more capital. But France's
BNP Paribas said it would take more cash from the government following a 1.4 billion euro ($1.8 billion) loss in the latest quarter. Finally,
ING (NYSE: ING), the Dutch financial services firm, also received government aid as it is expected to announce it had a net loss of 3.3 billion euros in the fourth quarter, that it would cut 7,000 jobs, and that its CEO would step down. BCS shares gained over 44% in premarket trading and ING's gained over 19%.
Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and
McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) are two Dow components set to report earnings this morning. CAT said its
fourth-quarter profit fell to $661 million, or $1.08 a share, from $975 million, or $1.50 a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue rose 6% to $12.9 billion. For 2009, Caterpillar gave a a much lower guidance than analysts had expected, $2.50 vs. $4.35 EPS. CAT also said it would slash 20,000 jobs. CAT shares fell over 11% in premarket trading.
Meanwhile, MCD delivered what at first glance seems to be
better-than-expected earnings of 87 cents vs. 84 cents. It even plans to invest $2.1 billion of capital to open about 1,000 new McDonald's restaurants.
American Express (NYSE: AXP) is the third Dow component tor report quarterly results after the close of trading today and is expected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 20 cents a share.
Continue reading Stocks in the news: PFE, WYE, BCS, CAT, MCD, PHG, WAG, SBUX, S ...
Posted Jan 9th 2009 8:25AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Yahoo! (YHOO), Halliburton (HAL), Best Buy (BBY), Chevron Corp (CVX), Coach Inc (COH), KB HOME (KBH), Palm Inc (PALM)
Chevron (NYSE: CVX) warned late Thursday of significantly lower fourth-quarter earnings than in the previous quarter. This isn't surprising as there has been a steep drop in energy prices from the record oil prices in the prior quarter. Chevron also said it experienced narrower refining margins, but didn't give any estimates.
Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) may be
naming a new CEO as soon as next week, according to
The Wall Street Journal. Ex-Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz is the leading candidate. YHOO shares traded 3.7% higher in premarket action.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) reported total revenues for the fourth quarter ended November 30, 2008 were $919.0 million, down from $2.07 billion for the year-earlier quarter, and a
net loss of $307.3 million, or $3.96 per diluted share. Analysts had expected a fourth-quarter loss -- excluding any charges -- of
$1.23 a share. KBH shares were nearly 3% higher in premarket trade.
Continue reading Stocks in the news: CVX, YHOO, KBH, BBY, COH, SBL, HAL, PALM ...
Posted Nov 3rd 2008 6:11PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: International markets, Bad news, Rants and raves, Scandals, Halliburton (HAL), Politics, Presidential elections, Oil

The elections are upon us with less than 24 hours before the polls open. Our current president George W. Bush has sat by as the economy went from good to bad to worse and his reputation and political standing went with it.
I have voted Republican and I have voted Democrat. I vote for the person, not the party. As the nation ponders who will be sitting in the Oval Office in 2009 I am quite confident that I am not alone. From day one I have felt that Dubya was in the White House because of dear old dad, the senior being far more qualified than junior. Junior became the front man for ideologues more intent on forcing their will upon others after a very dubious election result than all else.
From what I have seen and read, GWB has never been a great success at anything but politics, and now that reputation is toast too. While history has been kind to some past presidents allowing at least partial redemption -- Truman as direct, honest and a strong leader, Nixon on foreign policy issues, and most recently Carter as a humanitarian -- our current president has little to show for his eight years.
Continue reading Toast: The Bush legacy
Posted Nov 3rd 2008 8:11AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Wal-Mart (WMT), PepsiCo (PEP), General Motors (GM), Motorola (MOT), Market matters, Viacom (VIA), Halliburton (HAL), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Citigroup Inc. (C), Boeing Co (BA), Carnival Corp (CCL), Ciena Corp (CIEN), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Economic data, Goodyear Tire and Rubber (GT)

U.S. stock futures were somewhat higher Monday morning as investors put October -- one of the worst months ever -- behind them and braced for the impact of the presidential election. A slew of economic data will be released this week, including September construction spending and the October release of the ISM index due today after the market opens. Global stocks were generally higher even as
oil slipped again.
PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) said Monday it will
invest $1 billion in China over the next four years. The beverage company wants to expand local manufacturing capability, research and development and sales force.
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) -- the company has been in the process of trying to find a way to merge with Chrysler. While we didn't hear much about the merger so far from the United Auto Workers union, it seems
it
intends to play a key part in it and has has retained an adviser to help with workers' concerns should the merger occur, the
WSJ reported.
Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) saw its 27,000 machinists resuming work Sunday after a 57-day strike that shut down production. Because of logistics, it will take
several weeks before Boeing is running normally. The company missed at least 70 deliveries as a result of the strike. Seems it may miss more until production is properly under way. Boeing was
downgraded to Conviction Sell from Neutral by Goldman Sachs, saying investors should sell into the strength from the resolution of the machinists union strike.
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of election; BA, PEP, C, GM, MA, WMT, HAL, MOT, CSIQ ...
Posted Oct 24th 2008 2:10PM by Peter Cohan
Filed under: Management, Competitive strategy, Halliburton (HAL)
This post is part of a feature on companies and products that our bloggers think are in need of a makeover. See all 26.
Remember Dick Cheney? He hasn't emerged from his spider hole since shooting his buddy in the face at a quail hunt. But last time I was in Washington, I was walking along the street near George Washington University Hospital and suddenly all the cars disappeared and an armada of police cars and black suburbans whizzed by. I was later told that it was Cheney getting his stent checked up.
Prior to his stint in the administration of the 43rd president, It turns out that Cheney's heart beat for Halliburton (NYSE: HAL). In 2004, for example, taxpayers provided Halliburton's KBR subsidiary with $7 billion to provide services in Iraq while it took hundreds of millions of dollars in improper charges. With its 2% profit over costs, the more taxpayer money Halliburton spent, the higher its profits. Fortunately, Halliburton spun off that pesky KBR subsidiary in April 2007.
But it has other problems. The SEC is investigating Halliburton for paying bribes in Nigeria; its KBR subsidiary did a lousy job replacing bolts on an undersea pipeline that will cost Halliburton up to $220 million; the SEC investigated Halliburton for bogus contract revenue accounting; it settled asbestos litigation; a competitor of Hallburton accuses it of antitrust violations; and it received a $108 million judgment for dumping hazardous waste.
Continue reading Makeover needed: Halliburton
Posted Oct 20th 2008 8:14AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), General Motors (GM), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Market matters, Halliburton (HAL), American Express (AXP), Chevron Corp (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), Mattel, Inc (MAT), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Texas Instruments (TXN), Economic data, Anadarko Petroleum (APC), SanDisk Corp (SNDK)

U.S. stock futures jumped higher Monday morning as investors gain more confidence in the different government actions taken to stabilize financial markets. Global shares advanced overnight following
measures taken worldwide. Indeed, the three-month
U.S. dollar LIBOR, a measure of the rate at which banks lend to each other, dropped to 4.06% from 4.42%.
Also, investors will be keeping an eye on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testimony before the House Budget Committee on the economic outlook and financial markets at 10:00 am EST, same time as the release of the September leading indicators.
As OPEC prepares for a
production cut and oil rose to above $74 per barrel,
earnings season on Wall Street continues in full swing this week:
- Ericsson AB (NASDAQ: ERIC) shares are rising over 18% in pre-market trading after it posted a better-than-expected third-quarter profit due to cost cut measures and a sales surge.
- Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) reported third-quarter results this morning. Mattel's income rose, but not enough and it missed expectations.
- Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) reported a 14% drop in third-quarter profit, but it beat expectations.
- Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) swung to a loss in the third quarter, but managed to beat earnings expectations by a penny excluding charges. Revenue in the quarter rose 24%.
- SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK), American Express (NYSE: AXP) and Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) report third-quarter results after the closing bell.
Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks headed higher; ERIC, GM, MAT, SNDK, HAL, EXC, YHOO, AAPL, XOM ...
Posted Oct 16th 2008 9:10AM by Jim Cramer
Filed under: Exxon Mobil (XOM), McDonald's (MCD), Halliburton (HAL), S and P 500, DJIA

All my career, the sentiment indicators have worked. When you get anything near minus 10 on the oscillator, you have to be silly not to buy. When you get anything approximating 35% bulls on the Investors Intelligence survey, you have to buy.
We have almost double that negative on the oscillator and half as many bulls as that pathetic number.
Sentiment has become meaningless. It is incredible.
If we are going into a severe recession, some of the selling makes sense, but not all of it. As we pull back to 8500 on the Dow, we will be looking at stocks that are yielding 6% to 7% that are solid and can't be shaken. We will be finding stocks at prices that we will look back and think it was impossible to believe.
And then there will be another cohort where we will buy and then watch them go down again, because business is so soft.
I want to reiterate that the stock market for now is just plain broken. You can't have
Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:
OXY) down 15% like it is nothing. The company should be losing money with that kind of decline. Remember when I said on Monday that you can't have
ExxonMobil (NYSE:
XOM) ) go up 10 because it can go down 10 just as easily?
Well, here we go.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Sentiment can't measure this broken market
Posted Sep 29th 2008 1:00PM by Sheldon Liber
Filed under: Rants and raves, Competitive strategy, Exxon Mobil (XOM), Halliburton (HAL), Avon Products (AVP), Tiffany and Co (TIF), Coach Inc (COH), ConocoPhillips (COP), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA), Politics, Presidential elections, General Dynamics Corp (GD)

If John McCain wants my vote he must dump Sarah Palin and fast. Judging by
the latest polls showing Barack Obama moving ahead and gaining traction, I'm not the only one that feels this way. The outcome of the election is key to investors worried about a range of issues including the $700 billion federal bailout of Wall Street.
Obama may lack the experience I would hope to see in a presidential candidate but to quote a friend and fellow McCain supporter "Sarah Palin is an idiot and the only way she should be allowed in the White House is if she buys a tour ticket." This is not a unique sentiment given the
Sarah Palin must go stance taken by conservative columnist Kathleen Parker of the Los Angeles Times. She says her cringe reflex is being exhausted.I do not like Obama's proposals on capital gains taxes, a windfall oil profits tax, new government programs and several other issues, but the idea of Palin being second-in-command is a joke. And speaking of jokes, if I have misjudged, and McCain and Palin win the election, then Oprah will be surpassed as the wealthiest female in the entertainment industry. The new titan will be 30 Rock and former Saturday Night Live star Tina Fey who will be racking up fat paychecks based on the
never ending material supplied by Palin.
Continue reading Get serious John McCain, dump Palin now.
Posted Sep 5th 2008 1:49PM by Elizabeth Harrow
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Halliburton (HAL), Commodities, Oil

Goldman Sachs shook up its
ratings on the oil-services sector today, and made a notable adjustment to its "conviction buy" list --
Halliburton (NYSE:
HAL) was ousted from the roster in favor of
Transocean Inc. (NYSE:
RIG). The brokerage firm still maintains a "buy" rating on HAL, but it's pretty obvious that the stock is now playing Jan Brady to RIG's Marcia.
So, why does Goldman prefer RIG to HAL? The former is more strongly levered to oil than the latter -- and, going forward, the analysts expect strong fundamentals and heightened oil prices to support "oilier" stocks. In a note to clients, Goldman said, "... we continue to expect a healthy oil-services spending environment through 2010, supported by low reinvestment rates and secular trends to more complex, high-margin drilling services."
Despite the bullish "buy" ratings on both securities, Goldman tempered its optimism by trimming its price targets on the duo. HAL's forecast was slashed from $63 to $58, while RIG's was trimmed from $189 to $178. The new price targets represent a 44.5% premium from HAL's closing price yesterday, and a 47% increase from RIG's Thursday settlement.
Continue reading Transocean bumps Halliburton from Goldman's conviction buy list
Posted Sep 5th 2008 9:06AM by Allan Halprin
Filed under: Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Apple Inc (AAPL), Dell (DELL), McDonald's (MCD), Halliburton (HAL), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Money and Finance Today, Altria Group (MO), Boeing Co (BA), Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW), Research in Motion (RIMM), Oracle Corp (ORCL), QUALCOMM Inc (QCOM), Genentech Inc (DNA), Mexico, Freep't McMoRan Copper (FCX), Garmin Ltd (GRMN)
In the News:
Stocks: Buy 'Em Like BuffettS&P turns up 49 attractive names with its newest stock screen that tracks the Berkshire Hathaway honcho's investing criteria. Among the attractive stocks are Alcon, Charles Schwab, Freeport-McMoran, Garmin, Genentech, Halliburton, J&J, McDonald's, Microsoft, Novo-Nordisk, Oracle, Qualcomm & Research in Motion.
Stock Screen: Buy 'Em Like Buffett See:
List of 49 Stocks
Thursday's Market Meltdown: What the Pros Are SayingWhat market strategists and Fed officials had to say about Thursday, September 4th's stock plunge. PIMCO's Bill Gross, S&P's Chris Burba and Miller Tabak's Tony Crescenzi speak out.
The Market: What the Pros Are Saying
Continue reading Stocks: Buy 'em like Buffett, what the pros are saying about Thursday's meltdown & retirement wreckers - Today in Money 9/5
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