Month: May 2012

It keeps getting worse for JP Morgan Chase. The big bank is currently down over 3% in early trading on news their trading loss might increase.According to the New York Times, the originally reported $2 billion trading loss has surged by at least $1 billion. JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said that the $2 billion in losses announced last week could double within the next few quarters depending to day-to-day market fluctuations.The overall health of the bank is currently strong, even with the additional losses. However, shareholders are worried that JP Morgan will cut its annual dividend to make up for losses. As of right now, the bank says there is no plan to do that. However, bank analysts are saying that if losses continue to rise the bank might not have a choice.

Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) reported positive earnings this morning. Posting an Q1 EPS of $1, topping estimates of $0.97. The company reported revenues of $1.72 billion, also above estimates of $1.69 billion. However, Dollar Tree’s outlook for the next quarter and beyond is not as spectacular. The company sees Q2 EPS 87c-93c vs. estimates of 95c, and Q2 revenues of $1.66 billion – $1.7 billion, vs. estimates of $1.7 billion.It also sees Q2 comps up in the low to mid single-digit range. Dollar Tree forecasts FY 2013 EPS of $4.74- $4.94, vs. its prior guidance of $4.65-$4.90 given on February 22nd, and estimates of $4.93. Investors are not happy with the lowered guidance. Dollar Tree is down 4% to $97.17.

This is what’s in the news for Thursday May 17, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports following the losses at J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), the White House is seeking to ensure a tough interpretation of a regulation designed to prevent banks from making bets with their own money. The Wall Street Journal also reports Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will move to end unlimited data plans, and will no longer allow customers to keep those plans when they upgrade to its 4G LTE high-speed mobile network. Reuters reports investors who want Facebook (FB) shares may have lost the opportunity as several firms including TD Ameritrade (NYSE:AMTD), Fidelity’s brokerage arm, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ:ETFC) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) Advisors stopped accepting orders Tuesday evening. Reuters also reports Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) thinks U.S. regulators are open to major telecom deals despite opposition to the AT&T (NYSE:T) deal, but Sprint will try to avoid doing a large deal until 2014, says CEO Dan Hesse. Finally, Bloomberg also reports gold demand in China may jump about 30% this year as rising incomes increase consumption, helping the country pass India as the world’s largest bullion market on an annual basis, according to the World Gold Council.

Acadia Healthcare (NASDAQ:ACHC) was upgraded from Hold to Buy at Deutsche Bank today. The stock closed yesterday at $16.51 on volume of 3.4 million shares, above average daily volume of 75,000.Acadia Healthcare share prices have moved between a 52-week high of $18.00 and a 52-week low of $14.40 and closed yesterday at 15% above that low price at $16.51 per share. Over the last five market days, the 200-day moving average (MA) has remained constant while the 50-day MA has remained constant. Acadia Healthcare has overhead space with shares priced $16.51, or 8.3% below the average consensus analyst price target of $18.00. The stock should find initial support at its 50-day moving average (MA) of $15.95 and further support at its 200-day MA of $15.95.SmarTrend is monitoring the recent change of momentum in Acadia Healthcare. Please refer to our Company Overview for the results of our proprietary technical indicators that have been scanning shares of Acadia Healthcare in search of a potential trend change.

Chico’s (CHS) today had its estimates raised by Oppenheimer (OPY) as the firm expects recent positive trends to continue and have a positive impact on earnings. A perform rating was issued.

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.

In trading on Thursday, precious metals shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 5.3%. Leading the group were shares of Mcewen Mining (MUX), up about 14.7% and shares of Pretium Resources (PVG) up about 11.5% on the day.

Walmart (WMT) announced that it earned $3.74 billion, or $1.09 per share, in its most recent fiscal quarter, versus $3.39 billion, or 97 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenue increased by 8.6 percent to $112.2 billion.

This is what’s in the news for Wednesday May 16, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Greece’s future in Europe’s common currency was in doubt after efforts to form a new government failed and the country’s political turmoil set off a dramatic increase in bank withdrawals. The Wall Street Journal also reports BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) backed away from its ambitious spending plans that would have led the company to invest about $80B on new projects over the next five years Reuters reports Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) added new positions in GM (NYSE:GM) and Viacom (NASDAQ:VIAB) in Q1, and lowered its stake in Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) 33%. Bloomberg reports JPMorgan Chase’s (NYSE:JPM) individual trades that led to a $2B loss weren’t monitored by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which said it didn’t expect to be notified about the positions. Finally, Bloomberg reports AIG (NYSE:AIG) CEO Robert Benmosche increased non-government-guaranteed residential and commercial-mortgage backed securities holdings by $11.1B since 2010 to $28.4B at the end of March.

Facebook boosted its IPO by 25% to 421.2 million shares from 337.4 million shares as holders chose to raise their offering to 241.3 million from 337.4 million, according to its ever evolving S-1 filing. The company still sees about $6.4 billion of net proceeds if the IPO prices at $36 midpoint. The company’s CEO will control about 55.8% of the voting power of its outstanding capital stock vs. the prior 57.3% control. Also of note, GM (NYSE:GM) announced it was no longer advertising on the platform, which has caused some concern over its business model.