Month: April 2012

Capital One Financial (COF) today had its estimates increased by Oppenheimer (OPY) after the company announced a solid quarter. An outperform rating was issued on the stock.

As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy — they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

Hasbro Incorporated (HAS) announced its quarterly dividend of 36 cents per share, an increase of about 20% over its prior dividend in January of 30 cents. The dividend will be payable on May 15, 2012 to shareholders of record at the close of business on May 1, 2012.

In trading on Monday, water utilities shares were relative leaders, down on the day by about 0.4%. Leading the group were shares of Pure Cycle (PCYO), up about 5.6% and shares of Consolidated Water (CWCO) up about 3.1% on the day.

This is what’s in the news for Friday, April 20, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Ford (NYSE:F) says it would build its fifth car factory in eastern China as part of a plan to double its production capacity and sales outlets in the country by 2015, a $5B bet overall on a challenging market. Reuters reports Dupont (NYSE:DD), Dow Chemical (NYSE:DOW), and other chemical firms are working with automakers after a German chemical plant explosion cut a significant supply of a nylon resin used in brake and fuel systems. Reuters also reports French financier Vincent Bollore could raise his stake in Vivendi (PINK:VIVHY) to 5%, becoming the group’s largest shareholder, and possibly take a seat on its board, says newspaper Le Figaro. Finally Bloomberg reports GE (NYSE:GE) is seeking $6B in contracts in Australia by the end of the decade as it taps the country”s growing role as a supplier of LNG, iron ore and wind power.

Investors are ringing in the new trading week pushing stocks lower due to weak European data and anxiety over how the region will tackle its debt crisis, Good morning, this is Sayoke Murase with the Week Ahead Market Report for April 23, 2012. In overseas trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average was lower by about two tenths of a percent and the Hang Seng was lower by about 1.8 percent.

Manpower (NYSE:MAN) reported Q1 EPS of $0.50, beating estimates by $0.15.Revenues in the quarter were flat year-over-year at $5.1 billion, beating estimates by $130 million.Gross margins were 16.6%, vs. its February 2nd forecast 16.6%-16.8%.The company sees Q2 EPS of $0.68 – $0.76 vs. estimates of $0.74.

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that large futures speculators decreased their overall US dollar long positions last week while euro positions declined for a second straight week to the lowest level in two months.

Non-commercial futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, decreased their total US dollar long positions to $22.6 billion on April 17th from a total long position of $23.2 billion on April 10th, according to the CFTC COT data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

Individual Currencies:

EuroFX: Currency speculators decreased their sentiment for the euro currency for second consecutive week as euro net short positions or bets against the currency increased to 118,125 contracts on April 17th from the previous week’s total of 101,364 net short contracts. Euro positions are now at the lowest level since February 21st when short contracts totaled 142,159. .

The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity. Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, where as a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar. The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.

GBP: British pound sterling positions rose last week and continued to show a steady improvement over the last five weeks. British pound positions saw a total of 13,051 net short contracts on April 17th following a total of 18,784 net short contracts registered on April 10th.

JPY: Japanese yen speculative contracts improved last week as Yen positions rose to a total of 57,803 net short contracts reported on April 17th following a total of 66,084 net short contracts on April 10th. Japanese yen positions have been at the lowest level in years for the past four weeks.

CHF: Swiss franc speculator positions declined last week after improving for the previous two weeks. Speculator positions for the Swiss currency futures registered a total of 13,762 net short contracts on April 17th following a total of 9,919 net short contracts as of April 10th.

CAD: Canadian dollar positions jumped higher after declining the previous week. Canadian dollar positions rose to a total of 38,028 net long contracts as of April 17th following a total of 27,967 long contracts that were reported for April 10th. CAD positions are now at their highest position in just about a month as positions are just below the March 20th level of 42,315 contracts.

AUD: The Australian dollar long positions advanced after declining for two consecutive weeks. Australian dollar positions increased to a total net amount of 48,421 long contracts on April 17th after declining to 39,429 net long contracts reported as of April 10th. The AUD speculative positions on April 10th were at their lowest level since long positions totaled 32,637 on December 27th 2011.

NZD: New Zealand dollar futures speculator positions jumped higher for a third consecutive week. NZD contracts increased to a total of 11,939 net long contracts as of April 17th following a total of 7,170 net long contracts on April 10th. NZD contracts are now at their highest level since March 13 after falling on March 27th to the lowest level for New Zealand dollar contracts since January 3rd when contracts equaled 2,436 net long positions.

MXN: Mexican peso speculative contracts fell lower for a second consecutive week. Peso long positions decreased to a total of 46,101 net long speculative positions as of April 17th following a total of 68,600 long contracts that were reported for April 10th.

COT Currency Data Summary as of April 17, 2012
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar

EUR -118125
GBP -13051
JPY -57803
CHF -13762
CAD +38028
AUD +48421
NZD +11939
MXN +46101

Schlumberger (NYSE:SLB) reported Q1 EPS of $0.98, inline with estimates.Revenues in the quarter rose 21.7% year-over-year to $10.6 billion, topping estimates of $10.5 billion.The company maintained its positive view on international markets, and sees rig count growing to over 10% in 2012.The company’s segment revenues were as follows; North America came in at $3.4 billion, vs. estimates of $3.49 billion; Latin America revenue came in at $1.75 billion, vs. estimates of $1.75 billion; Euro/CIS/W. Africa revenues came in at $2.61 billion, vs. estimates of $2.51 billion; ME/Asia came in at $2.06 billion, vs. estimates of $1.53 billion.The company also repurchased 4.4 million shares in the first quarter for $324 million.

When the company releases its first quarter financials next week, it could experience something it hasn’t in almost seven years—a loss.