Month: May 2012

This is what’s in the news for Tuesday, May 15, 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports Macy’s (NYSE:M) is building a network of online-sales distribution centers around the country in the backrooms of its stores, responding to a distribution war going on in the retail business increasingly being won by Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN). The Wall Street Journal also reports Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) will launch a low-cost smartphone running its newest mobile operating software, as the company that dominates Internet searches in China looks to shore up its presence in the mobile-device field. Reuters reports President Obama said the trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) illustrated the need for Wall Street reform and warned that the same kind of error at a less stable bank may have required government intervention. Reuters also reports Macquarie Group, Principal Financial Group (NYSE:PFG) and Singapore’s United Overseas Bank are among suitors that submitted bids for ING’s (NYSE:ING) Asian asset management business that may be worth $500M-$600M, sources say. Bloomberg reports Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) and TPG Capital are among global firms being pushed aside as preferred investors in China as investments by Chinese firms jumped to $7.8B last year. Finally, Bloomberg reports Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMLN) has attracted suitors that include Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) and Sanofi (NYSE:SNY), which signed confidentiality agreements on the drugmaker’s sale process.

Lam Research (LRCX) was downgraded today by JP Morgan (JPM) to underweight from neutral with a price target of $35, as the firm expects slower growth during the second half of the year. Shares are lower by about 4.9 percent.

Barclays (BCS) was upgraded today by UBS (UBS) from neutral to buy with a price target of $13.85, as the firm believes that the stock is attractive at current price levels. Shares are higher by about one percent.

In trading on Wednesday, precious metals shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 2.2%. Leading the group were shares of Seabridge Gold (SA), up about 6.3% and shares of Silvercorp Metals (SVM) up about 6.2% on the day.

Chico’s (CHS) announced that it earned $53.6 million, or 32 cents per share in its most recent fiscal quarter, versus $45.9 million, or 26 cents per share, in the same period last year, beating analyst estimates of 30 cents per share. Revenue increased by 21 percent to $650.8 million, beating estimates of $628.1 million.

First job finances with Rick Reagan 5-16-12

Statoil (STO) was upgraded today by UBS (UBS) from neutral to buy with a price target of $29.98 as the firm believes that the company’s financial and operational performance has improved. Shares are lower by about four tenths of a percent.

Amazon. om (AMZN) was upgraded today by Credit Suisse (CS) to outperform from neutral with a price target of $270, as recent investments made by the company should start to pay off and add to earnings soon.

Jim Hanna: Don’t Let Divorce Derail Your Finances

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.