Tag Archives: Credit Suisse

Why Google Should Buy Warby Parker – Before Jawbone

By Dan Munro, Contributor

Lot’s of speculation lately about the acquisition roadmap ahead for  – including 5 pretty good reasons why they might buy Jawbone by Simons Chase (from May here).  Simons summary version is this: 1.  Jawbone’s recent acquisitions (including BodyMedia for more than $100M) make it the largest company in the wearable+fitness+health space with 300 patents, tech talent accumulated through acquisition and years of experience with designing and selling wearables. 2.  The opportunity in fitness and monitoring is large and fast growing – but there is a bigger opportunity to impact global health in the long term. (cites Credit Suisse report – with coverage here) 3.  Kleiner is motivated for a big exit in a trendy space. 4.  Jawbone could enhance Google’s mobile and cloud strategy. 5.  Google’s philosophy is to organize the world’s data and do no harm. Numbers 1-3 make good sense, but 4 and 5 – at least to me – are still a tad fuzzy. For one thing, Google’s “Do No Harm” strategy was slightly derailed about 2 years ago when they settled with the Department of Justice to the tune of $500M.  The infractions involved the use of AdWords for promoting offshore pharmacies to sell prescription drugs here in the U.S. We definitely need lower cost prescriptions (Google’s logical intent), but not at the expense of unlicensed pharmacy’s that could (potentially) sell counterfeit or fake drugs. Something I wrote about at the time of the settlement (here). Hey, (relatively) small fine, no jail time – onward and upward. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Ex-Credit Suisse exec pleads guilty in NYC

A former Credit Suisse executive has pleaded guilty to conspiracy in New York City after his extradition from the United Kingdom.

U.S. citizen and London resident Kareem Serageldin (sehr-uh-GEHL‘-din) entered the plea Friday in federal court in Manhattan.

Serageldin was accused of distorting the value of mortgage securities in 2007. Prosecutors said he and others took actions that contributed to a $2.7 billion write-down in Credit Suisse‘s 2007 year-end financial results.

Last year, a New York grand jury indicted him on charges of conspiracy, false record-keeping and wire fraud. He pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to falsify books and records. Sentencing was set for Aug. 2.

Two other people in the case have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate. A British court approved extradition in January.

From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/EMoZX03jURo/

Credit Acceptance Announces Secondary Offering Price

By Eric Volkman, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Credit Acceptance will see big blocks of its shares change hands over the next few days. The company has specified the pricing of a previously announced underwritten public secondary stock common offering of $105.00 per share. Trusts associated with the firm’s founder Donald Foss, in combination with Karol Foss and people and entities connected with Prescott General Partners, aim to sell a combined 1.5 million of their shares. Additionally, the underwriters will have a 30-day option to buy up to an extra 225,000 shares.

Credit Acceptance anticipates that the offering will close on April 17. In the press release announcing the pricing, the company stressed that it will not receive any monies from the issue.

The joint book-running managers of the offering are Bank of America unit Merrill Lynch and Credit Suisse‘s Securities division.

The article Credit Acceptance Announces Secondary Offering Price originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Eric Volkman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/credit-acceptance-announces-secondary-offering-pri/

Minutes show Fed supports stimulus through midyear

A majority of Federal Reserve policymakers want to continue extraordinary bond purchases to help boost the U.S. economy at least through the middle of the year, according to minutes from the Fed’s last meeting released Wednesday.

But many members indicated they want to slow and eventually end the program before the end of the year, as long as the job market and economy show sustained improvement. The Fed’s purchases of about $85 billion a month in Treasury and mortgage bonds are intended to lower long-term interest rates and encourage more borrowing and spending.

The minutes of the Fed’s March 19-20 meeting were released at 9 a.m. EDT — five hours earlier than planned — after the Fed inadvertently sent them a day earlier to congressional staffers and lobbyists.

“One gets the sense that many Fed policymakers are anxious to start paring back the size of the … purchases as soon as the data allow,” Dana Saporta, an economist at Credit Suisse, said in a note to clients.

Still, a weak employment report released Friday is likely to make policymakers even more supportive of keeping the measures in place for the foreseeable future.

The report showed employers added just 88,000 net jobs last month. That was the fewest in nine months and much lower than the average of 220,000 jobs a month created from November through February.

The unemployment rate dropped to a four-year low of 7.6 percent last month. However, the rate fell only because more people stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.

In its statement after the last meeting, the Fed said the economy had strengthened but still needed its efforts to help lower high unemployment. In addition to continuing the bond purchases, the Fed stuck by its plan to keep short-term interest rates at record lows at least until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent.

The minutes indicated that many of the Fed’s members want to see sustained improvement in the job market — from a wide range of economic indicators — before making any decision to reduce the pace of purchases.

Stocks rose sharply after the minutes were released. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 16 points to 1,585 in midday trading — above its all-time

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Are Mobile Ad Prices Set to Skyrocket?

By Steve Heller, The Motley Fool

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According to Credit Suisse, user behavior between tablets and PC is strikingly similar, yet tablet ad prices remain 20% to 40% below what PC ad prices command. As marketers continue to embrace mobile advertising more wholeheartedly, it could mean a boom in mobile advertising prices across the board. In this video, Motley Fool contributor Steve Heller discusses why Google is in the best position to benefit from a mobile ad spending boom.

As one of the most dominant Internet companies ever, Google has made a habit of driving strong returns for its shareholders. However, like many other web companies, it’s also struggling to adapt to an increasingly mobile world. Despite gaining an enviable lead with its Android operating system, the market isn’t sold. That’s why it’s more important than ever to understand each piece of Google’s sprawling empire. In The Motley Fool‘s new premium research report on Google, we break down the risks and potential rewards for Google investors. Simply click here now to unlock your copy of this invaluable resource.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Should I Buy Serco Group?

By Harvey Jones, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

LONDON — I’m window-shopping for shares again, and there are plenty of goodies for sale. Should I pop Serco Group  into my basket?

Serco soars
Prisons and hospital outsourcing company Serco Group is on a roll right now. Its share price is up 10% in the last month, after it reported a 27% rise in full-year profits for 2012 to 302 million pounds. The market understandably likes this stock right now. Should I buy it?

Recent performance is particularly impressive, because I would have expected Serco Group to struggle at the moment. It does a lot of outsourcing for the public sector, both in the U.K. and U.S., and with government budgets under pressure, its bottom line should be under pressure. It was certainly squeezed in the U.S., which makes up 20% of its sales, where federal government spending cuts knocked 14% off organic revenues. Serco more than offset these losses by winning a record 5.8 billion pounds of new global contracts, while its order book rose nearly 7% to 19.1 billion pounds. Group revenue rose 5.7% to around 4.9 billion pounds. The dividend was lifted 20% to 10.10 pence. Investors were understandably happy.

Emerging profits
I’m happy to see that Serco generates more than 45% of total group revenue outside the U.K., up from 40% in 2011. Its Australasian, Middle Eastern, Asian, and African operations posted organic growth of 22% last year, as management seeks superior growth prospects and wider margins in emerging markets. This also helps offset political risk in the U.K. While Serco has benefited from the coalition’s welfare reforms, it constantly risks political backlash. In 2011, it was pilloried for driving prisoners to court in black cabs, while last month, the National Audit Office recently accused Serco of fiddling figures to hit performance targets at its out-of-hours GP service in Cornwall. Given the political dangers and shrinking public sector budgets, I’m glad to see Serco looking farther afield.

With a 31 billion-pound pipeline of new projects, management has good reason to be confident about the future. The board is even bullish about the U.S. opportunities, although it did warn that investors should only expect “modest improvement” in organic growth this year. On a current yield of 1.7%, some investors may be hoping for more income (others will be glad to see Serco plough the money back into its business). But the recent 20% hike, covered a generous 4.2 times, suggests there is scope for further dividend growth as profits rise.

Watch and wait
Forecast earnings-per-share growth of 2% this year is disappointing, although it should rally to 10% in 2014. Revenues are expected to grow from 4.91 billion pounds in 2012 to 5.17 billion pounds this year and 5.47 billion pounds in 2014. Broker views are mixed. Credit Suisse is neutral, but JP Morgan Cazenove is overweight, and Liberum Capital and Espirito Santo both hail Serco a buy, the latter with a 7.10 pound target price. This stock looks …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Starwood to Float New Stock Issue

By Eric Volkman, The Motley Fool

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Starwood Property Trust will release 26.5 million shares of common stock in an underwritten public flotation. In addition, the company’s underwriters will be granted a 30-day purchase option for an additional 3.975 shares of the REIT.

The company didn’t specify the pricing of the new issue, nor did it say when the shares would be floated.

Starwood said it plans to use the proceeds of the issue to “originate and purchase additional commercial mortgage loans and other target assets and investments.” It added that it might use a portion of the monies to fund some of the purchase price of recent acquisition LNR Property.

The joint book-running managers for the offering are the Securities units of Wells Fargo, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank.

The article Starwood to Float New Stock Issue originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Eric Volkman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Wells Fargo. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don’t all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Even Jamie Dimon Pouts (Though He's Still Richer Than Mike Mayo)

By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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Just because Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase , is the most visible and highest regarded leader of a major Wall Street bank doesn’t mean that he’s immune from saying and doing stupid and immature things.

At an investors’ conference at the end of February, he boasted about why he’s so much richer than Mike Mayo, a bank analyst at Credit Suisse. And, no, as Reuters’ James Saft noted, it’s not because Dimon is better than Mayo at picking lottery tickets. The reason, according to Dimon, concerned Mayo’s intimation that Swiss lender UBS is perceived by some affluent customers to be safer than JPMorgan because the former has a higher capital ratio. While I don’t mean to dismiss Dimon’s completely illogical explanation, the reality has more to do with the fact that Dimon’s father landed him a job with Sandy Weill in 1982. But that’s water under the bridge.

What isn’t water under the bridge is the suggestion that Dimon might leave JPMorgan if he’s forced to give up his role as chairman of the board. It was revealed in the middle of last year that the nation’s largest bank by assets would have to take a roughly $6 billion loss tied to the trading of certain credit derivatives by the bank’s chief investment office. Multiple heads rolled, including the chief investment officer’s, Dimon’s annual pay was cut, and now shareholders are threatening to vote in favor of a proposal that separates the positions of chairman and chief executive officer — both Bank of America and Citigroup have done the same thing over the past few years.

But here’s the icing on the cake, according to an analyst quoted today by Bloomberg News: “If the board is forced by a shareholder vote to strip Jamie Dimon of his chairman’s role, then shareholders may find that Jamie Dimon decides to move on, maybe not immediately but within the year.”

Is that a bluff, blackmail, extortion, or an ultimatum? At this point, it seems more like an unsubstantiated rumor. But that being said, it’s a worthwhile reminder of how even Wall Street‘s best and brightest believe they are beyond reproach.

With big finance firms still trading at deep discounts to their historic norms, investors everywhere are wondering if this is the new normal, or whether finance stocks are a screaming buy today. The answer depends on the company, so to help figure out whether JPMorgan is a buy today, I invite you to read our premium research report on the company. Click here now for instant access!

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Ex-Credit Suisse exec pleads not guilty in NYC

A former Credit Suisse executive has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges in New York City after his extradition from the United Kingdom.

U.S. citizen and London resident Kareem Serageldin (sehr-uh-GEHL‘-din) entered the plea in federal court in Manhattan on Friday. He was released on $1.5 million bail. His lawyer has declined to comment.

Serageldin is accused of distorting the value of mortgage securities in 2007. Prosecutors say he and others took actions that contributed to a $2.7 billion write-down in Credit Suisse‘s 2007 year-end financial results.

Last year, a New York grand jury indicted him on charges of conspiracy, false record-keeping and wire fraud. Two other people in the case have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate. A British court approved extradition in January.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News

Have Gold Miners Lost Their Luster?

By Matt DiLallo, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

It’s been an awful start to the year for investors in gold miners. Shares of both Goldcorp and Gold Resource hit 52-week lows this week while many other gold miners have seen their shares dive this year. Take a quick look at this year-to-date performance chart of a basket of gold stocks and you’ll see what I mean:

GG data by YCharts

I hope you didn’t stare at that chart too long; it’s pretty brutal. What happened, and is now time to invest in these gold miners?

Lost its luster
Gold, which is viewed by many investors as a safe haven just hasn’t been needed in recent weeks. The precious metal hit a 10-month low earlier this week as signs continue to point to a strengthening economy. It’s also quite possible that we’re becoming immune to bad news.

European fears of a contagion from Cyprus eased almost as quickly as they flared up. Even sabre rattling from North Korea hasn’t seemed to strike too much fear into the markets when that country supposedly has the capabilities to wipe Los Angeles off the map.You’d think that would have people buying gold and running for the hills. 

Amid all this, overall investor interest in gold has fallen to the point that Credit Suisse has cut its price prediction for gold to $1,580 an ounce this year and $1,500 an ounce for next year. Given that gold is the contrarian’s investment of choice, now just might be time to be that contrarian and buy a gold miner. The hard part is determining which gold miner to buy.

Now on sale
While it hasn’t fallen as far as some of the names on my dismal chart from above, Goldcorp is viewed by many as being the gold standard when it comes to gold investments. That being said, if you like income you might want to look at Gold Resource as it pays a high monthly dividend. You’re options don’t end there — Barrick Gold offers investors the opportunity to invest in one of the world’s largest pure gold mining companies. As you can see, it gets complicated very quickly.

That’s why I think a lot of investors might be drawn to a company that simply enables you to profit from the price appreciate of gold. By taking away the operational risks that can tarnish the names I just mentioned, gold streamer Sandstorm Gold is a company that’s worth a deeper look. The company has a management team that’s experienced in streaming and a diversified production base that should yield long-term returns. 

Moving away from operational risks is more important than you’d think. Take Gold Fields for example, the company’s operations at its two mines in Ghana were halted recently after a strike broke out over a pay dispute. This isn’t the first time the company has been hit by labor unrest as a 23-day strike shut the company’s South African mines …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Colony Financial, Inc. Announces Pricing of Convertible Senior Notes

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Colony Financial, Inc. Announces Pricing of Convertible Senior Notes

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Colony Financial, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYS: CLNY) today announced the pricing of its public offering of $175,000,000 aggregate principal amount of its 5.00% Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 (the “Notes”) for total gross proceeds of $175 million. The Company has granted to the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $25,000,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes to cover over-allotments, if any. The Notes will bear interest at a rate equal to 5.00% per year, payable semiannually in arrears on April 15 and October 15 of each year, beginning on October 15, 2013. The conversion rate will initially equal 42.3819 shares of common stock per $1,000 principal amount of Notes, which is equivalent to a conversion price of approximately $23.60 per share of common stock, representing a 10% conversion premium based on the closing price of the Company’s common stock of $21.45 per share on April 4, 2013. The initial conversion rate is subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of certain events, but will not be adjusted for any accrued and unpaid interest. The Notes will mature on April 15, 2023. The offering is expected to close on or about April 10, 2013, subject to customary closing conditions.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to acquire its target assets in a manner consistent with its investment strategies and investment guidelines and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan are acting as the joint book-running managers for this offering.

The offering of the Notes will be made under the Company’s automatically effective shelf registration statement, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and prospectus, which have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Before you invest, you should read the applicable prospectus supplement and prospectus for more complete information about the Company and the offering. You may obtain these documents free of charge by visiting the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, you may obtain copies by contacting Goldman, Sachs & Co., at 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282,Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone at 1-866-471-2526 or by emailing prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com, BofA Merrill Lynch, at 222 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, Attention: Prospectus Department or by emailing dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC at One Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10010, Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone (toll …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Colony Financial, Inc. Announces Public Offering of Convertible Senior Notes

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Colony Financial, Inc. Announces Public Offering of Convertible Senior Notes

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Colony Financial, Inc. (the “Company”) (NYS: CLNY) today announced its plans to commence a public offering of $150,000,000 aggregate principal amount of Convertible Senior Notes due 2023 (the “Notes”). The Company also plans to grant to the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $22,500,000 aggregate principal amount of the Notes to cover over-allotments, if any. The interest rate, conversion rate and other terms of the Notes will be determined at the time of pricing of the offering.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to acquire its target assets in a manner consistent with its investment strategies and investment guidelines and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan will act as the joint book-running managers for this offering.

The offering of the Notes will be made under the Company’s automatically effective shelf registration statement, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and prospectus, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Before you invest, you should read the applicable prospectus supplement and prospectus for more complete information about the Company and the offering. You may obtain these documents free of charge by visiting the SEC website at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, you may obtain copies, when available, by contacting Goldman, Sachs & Co., at 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone at 1-866-471-2526 or by emailing prospectus-ny@ny.email.gs.com, BofA Merrill Lynch, at 222 Broadway, New York, NY 10038, Attention: Prospectus Department or by emailing dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC at One Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10010, Attention: Prospectus Department, by telephone (toll free) at (800) 221-1037 or by e-mailing newyork.prospectus@credit-suisse.com, or J.P. Morgan Securities LLC c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, New York 11717 or by telephone at (866) 803-9204.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of any securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

About Colony Financial, Inc.
…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Should I Buy Intertek Group

By Harvey Jones, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

LONDON — I’m shopping for shares again, but there are plenty of good companies to choose from right now. Should I pop Intertek Group  into my basket?

Tek boom
It’s the quiet ones you have to keep your eye on. I’ve never paid much attention to quality and safety services specialist Intertek Group before, and now I’m kicking myself. This £5.6 billion company, which listed on the FTSE 100 in 2002, has delivered remarkably steady growth for the past five years. Is now the time to buy it?

Safety in numbers
Everybody moans about health and safety these days, but long-term investors in Intertek aren’t complaining. They have seen a whopping 230% share price rise in the past five years, and 40% over the past 12 months to £34.36. Recent results show little sign of a slowdown. Full-year results were strong, with management hailing strong earnings and organic revenue growth, and good margin progression. Revenue was up 17% to £2 billion, which means it has now doubled in the past five years. Profits before tax were up 19% to £308 million. Adjusted cash generated from operations rose 10% to £345 million. Earnings per share (EPS) were up 22%, as was the dividend, taking it to 41 pence.

Intertek has posted one of the most solid EPS growth figures I have seen for some time. It is double digit all the way for the past five years (38%, 22%, 10%, 20%, 22%), and the forecasts suggest this consistency will continue, if at a slightly slower pace, with a 14% rise this year and next. Both revenues and adjusted operating profits have shown similar steady upwards progression over the past five years. By the end of 2014, revenue should hit £2.49 billion. Continuing sterling weakness against the dollar will boost the value of its overseas profits once repatriated to the UK.

Your good health
The trend is your friend, they say, and Intertek — which carries out technical inspection services for the oil and gas, nuclear, renewable energy and agricultural industries — expects to benefit from the continuing rise in global energy demand. Its testing, inspection and certification services also operate across a host of retailing and manufacturing industries, giving it plenty of diversification. With 1,000 laboratories in more than 100 countries around the world, it has everything in place to take advantage of global growth opportunities.

Intertek is growing partly through acquisitions, completing six bolt-on purchases in 2012 for £40 million, cash down. Although when you exclude acquisitions, its organic revenue and profit growth rates aren’t quite as impressive, at 8.6% and 11.2% respectively (against 17.4% and 19.2%).

Interregnum
Despite strong recent numbers, and almost limitless growth potential, stock analysts have been wary of Intertek. Recent success has left it trading on a mighty 26 times earnings, and sunk the yield to 1.2%. That didn’t worry broker Credit Suisse, which recently lifted its target from £35.50 to £38.50, and stuck to its outperform rating, because …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Goldman and JPMorgan Are 2 Big Winners in the Banking Shakeout

By Alex Dumortier, CFA, The Motley Fool

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After suffering losses yesterday, stocks are bouncing back this morning, with the S&P 500 and the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.52% and 0.47%, respectively, as of 10:05 a.m. EDT.

Goldman and JPMorgan: More for you and me!
Last week the Financial Times reported that Dow component JPMorgan Chase was likely to wrest the top ranking in the first-quarter M&A league table from Goldman Sachs for the first time in two years.

While M&A is a capital-light business, both banks are capitalizing on the aftermath of the credit crisis, in which numerous international competitors are shrinking other areas of their activity. So says Gary Cohn, Goldman president and chief operating officer and a likely successor to CEO Lloyd Blankfein. At a press briefing in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cohn gave a frank assessment of the competitive state of the industry: “We are seeing the big international banks, outside of ourselves and JPMorgan, really taking pretty substantial steps back from the market and we haven’t seen that in the entire history of banking.”

He had no problem naming names, either: “If you look at what a UBS is doing or what a Credit Suisse is doing and the fact they have publicly announced they’re cutting their risk-weighted assets, they’re cutting their balance sheet, they are getting out of certain businesses, they are getting out of certain jurisdictions.”

In October, UBS announced that it would cut 10,000 staff, effectively withdrawing from the fixed-income business, which was not deemed profitable enough under new, stricter capital requirements. As such, the remaining business becomes more attractive for remaining participants. The process Cohn is highlighting is basic economics: As supply (competition) decreases, prices (profits) increase. He did, however, remark that local institutions were providing stiffer competition in markets such as Brazil, Singapore, Tokyo, and Hong Kong.

In summary: As international banks retreat from parts of the securities industry, JPMorgan and Goldman are the biggest beneficiaries. Despite this, as of yesterday’s close, Goldman’s shares were valued at a minimal 7% premium to their tangible book value, which suggests that investors expect little to no economic profit. Before you conclude that this is an obvious underpricing, you may want to consider that Warren Buffett recently gave up the option to purchase $5 billion worth of Goldman shares at $115, or roughly a one-fifth discount to their current price.

With big financial institutions still trading at deep discounts to their historic norms, investors everywhere are wondering if this is the new normal or if finance stocks are a screaming buy today. The answer depends on the company, so to help you figure out whether Goldman Sachs is a buy today, I invite you to read our premium research report on the company today. Click here now for instant access!

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Dell's Takeover Is Good News for Apple

By Alex Dumortier, CFA, The Motley Fool

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Today’s was a tough session for stocks, with the S&P 500 falling by a little more than 1%, the index’s largest daily decline in over a month. Meanwhile, the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average lost roughly three-quarters of a percentage point.

Reflecting those losses, the VIX Index , Wall Street‘s fear gauge, shot up by more than 11% to close above 14. (The VIX is calculated from S&P 500 option prices and reflects investor expectations for stock market volatility over the coming 30 days.)

Reading between the lines
Is Apple the big winner in the ongoing saga of Dell‘s bid to go private? Not exactly. Let’s be clear: Apple is not involved in the transaction. Nevertheless, investment bank Credit Suisse believes the case Dell’s board has made to shareholders in support of Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell‘s leveraged buyout offer highlights the reasons Apple is superbly positioned to capitalize on consumer trends affecting the technology sector. On March 29, Dell filed a proxy statement calling on shareholders to approve Silver Lake Partners and Michael Dell‘s offer.

In a research piece published on Barron’s website today, Credit Suisse wrote:

We continue to believe that Apple (AAPL) is a beneficiary in the shift to mobile computing highlighted in Dell’s filing. In a multidevice world, we see Apple as materially advantaged compared to peers as the company simultaneously addresses the PC, tablet and smartphone markets.

As such, the broker sees nearly 40% in the shares from today’s closing price:

With strength of iPhone/iPad sales, we see calendar 2013 and 2014 earnings per share of $46.23 and $56.37. We reiterate our $600 price target with the stock remaining our top pick for the next 12 months. Apple trades on 8.0 times our calendar 2014 EPS, which is inexpensive given the 11% growth we expect over calendar 2012-2014 and net cash per share of $145.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs‘ enthusiasm for Apple has tempered, as the influential broker removed the stock from its “Conviction Buy” list yesterday and cut its price target by 13%. Apple had been on the list since Dec. 2010. Note, however, that the stock remains a buy, and, at $575, Goldman’s revised price target isn’t much below Credit Suisse‘s $600 target. In fact, the latter figure is the median price target among 46 analysts surveyed by Thomson/ First Call.

 

With much of our digital and technological lives almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies, will Apple really be the main beneficiary? Find out “Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks?” in The Motley Fool’s latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged by the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.

The article Dell’s Takeover Is Good News for Apple originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Alex Dumortier, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned. You …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Battle for Dell risks customer confidence, analysts say

With Michael Dell still battling to get his US$24.4 billion buyout deal approved by shareholders, his company needs to avoid a long, drawn-out battle that could erode customer confidence, analysts say.

Dell recently released details about counteroffers to the proposed purchase by Michael Dell and equity investor Silver Lake, who have offered $13.65 per share to take the company private. The deal was announced February 5, and several counteroffers are pending.

Some signs suggest the proposed deal could fall apart, with some big Dell shareholders, including Yacktman Asset Management and Southeastern Asset Management, opposing the buyout on the grounds that it undervalues Dell.

Counteroffers include a proposal by equity firm Blackstone Group, which approached Southeastern Asset Management and TPG about possible alternative bids. The current offer by Silver Lake and Michael Dell included a $2 billion loan from Microsoft, and debt financing commitments from Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse, and RBC Capital Markets.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Are These 2 Banks Taking a Jumbo Risk?

By Amanda Alix, The Motley Fool

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There’s no doubt that housing is recovering, and prices are rising faster than analysts anticipated — a whopping 8.08% in January, compared to one year previous.

One sector that is red-hot is the luxury home market, which has spurred a resurgence of jumbo mortgages, those megaloans that are considered too big and risky to garner backing by Fannie and Freddie. Not only are these large loans being offered by the likes of JPMorgan Chase and First Republic Bank , but they are being securitized and sold to yield-hungry investors at a quickening pace.

Once considered too hot handle
Jumbo loans were everybody’s darling in the salad days of 2005 to 2006, when the pace of origination allowed for $1.2 trillion worth of securitizations each year. After the financial crash, securities featuring these outsized loans — generally those over $417,000, except in tonier areas where the limit may be $625,500 — stalled, but they began gaining again last year. Securitization reached a post-crash high of $3.5 billion in 2012, and has reached $2.1 billion so far this year.

At first, ambitious mortgage REIT Redwood Trust , sometimes partnering with Credit Suisse, was the lone entity packaging jumbos into mortgage-backed securities and raking in the profits selling them to yield-starved investors. Now, JPMorgan, with partner EverBank Financial , is offering a bundle of these tasty MBSes, backed by nearly $1 billion in these extra-large loans.

Although these MBSes are not backed by any government agency, ratings agencies consider them less risky than you might think — for a couple of reasons. Most of these loans are made to wealthy people with high credit scores, and down payments are typically high, around 65%. So far, the reputation of many of these loans has held up, at least in Redwood’s case. The mREIT has picked its loans well, and not one has defaulted since 2010.

Interestingly, the MBS sales by JPMorgan and First Republic feature jumbo loans originated by both those banks. This is something new, as previous sales, like those of Redwood, contained loans purchased from other originators. Everbank, which serves customers primarily via the Internet, is also offering some of its own homemade loans.

Less risky, this time around?
The very fact that these loans are not insured by Fannie and Freddie make them more risky than agency mortgages, but otherwise, the risk profile is lower now than a few years ago.

In the aftermath of the housing crash, high-end homes saw their values plummet, just like mid-priced homes. The first quarter of 2009, according to Bloomberg, saw a spike in luxury-home foreclosure of 127%, though values have stabilized since then. Indeed, according to the numbers cited above, prices are actually rising.

It looks like the success of Redwood has encouraged others to jump into a rejuvenated jumbo-loan game, which, though less perilous than several years ago, still holds risks. Hopefully, investors who also dive in will do so with their eyes wide open.

With …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Investors Did a Run on These 3 Stocks

By Rich Duprey, The Motley Fool

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With the terms it placed on Cyprus, the eurozone has its template for future bailouts in place, and depositors in countries with their own shaky finances will be wary about bearing the brunt of the next crisis.

Some stocks had shaky weeks of their own, even though they’re unrelated to the global financial problems. Don’t to running over the cliff with them like a bunch of lemmings, as this could just be a temporary situation. So let’s first see whether they had good reason to fall, as panic-fueled routs can sometimes lead to excellent buying opportunities.

Falling off a cliff
Shares of iron ore miner Cliffs Natural Resources fell 14% earlier this week to levels it hasn’t seen since the recession, as analysts at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse drastically cut their price targets. Following the miner’s just-as-dramatic slashing of its dividend by 76%, the analysts at both investment houses cut the stock by more than 60% from their previous price target. Morgan Stanley dropped Cliffs’ shares to $14 a stub, and Credit Suisse took it down to $10.

On the bright side, Goldman Sachs raised its outlook from “sell” to “neutral,” but that was hardly enough to outweigh the pall hanging over the miner. In general, analysts expect its iron ore business to be cut in half in 2013 and its pricing power to come under tremendous pressure. Earlier this month, Cliffs announced that it was idling its Quebec iron ore pellet plant to meet the market‘s lower demand.

With the global steel industry wobbling despite expectations that Chinese production will increase 4% this year, Cliffs’ largest customer, ArcelorMittal , is melting down as well. The world’s largest steelmaker accounts for 17% of Cliffs’ total revenues and a third of its U.S. business and has seen its stock lose a quarter of its value in 2013.

Last fall, I believed that most of the risk had been priced into Cliffs’ own stock, but shares are down 58% since then and don’t seem to have reached bottom yet. While it amounts to a bit of closing the barn door after the cows have escaped, I’ll be closing out my outperform rating on Motley Fool CAPS.

Big pay day
Easy come, easy go, or so say investors in American Apparel , which saw their stock jump more than 12% the other day on no company-specific news and then give a good portion of it back for pretty much the same reason. There was, however, an article that appeared in the trade rag WWD that the retailer’s chairman and CEO was being richly rewarded this year with a pay increase from $800,000 to $2 million cash. While sales rose 6% in the most recent quarter, company losses narrowed only slightly.

The stock, however, has more than doubled since the start of the year and has nearly tripled from its 52-week low. After the stock wallowed in penny-stock status because of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Pinnacle Foods Shares Rise on Market Debut

By Eric Volkman, The Motley Fool

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Pinnacle Foods has had a successful first day of trading on the stock exchange. The company’s shares were up by 11% over their issue price in after-hours trading, changing hands for $22.20 after hitting the market at $20.

Pinnacle, which produces, markets, and distributes a line of frozen food offerings, said it will net roughly $545.2 million from its listing. With those funds, it will retire chunks of its debt.

Barclays, Bank of America subsidiary Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and UBS‘ investment bank unit were the joint book-running managers for the issue.

The article Pinnacle Foods Shares Rise on Market Debut originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Eric Volkman has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Bank of America. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Swiss papers say US eyes tax info in Liechtenstein

Swiss media report that U.S. prosecutors are poised to step up their probes of wealthy U.S. tax evaders using the tiny principality of Liechtenstein.

Zurich daily newspapers Neue Zuercher Zeitung and Tages-Anzeiger say the U.S. Justice Department has requested statistical data on U.S. clients of Swiss banks with interests in companies or foundations in Liechtenstein.

The reports Wednesday each describe the prosecutors’ request for information by the end of this week as a potential new front in the long-running U.S. probe into more than a dozen Swiss banks, including UBS and Credit Suisse and private banks such as Wegelin & Co., which is closing after admitting to helping American tax cheats.

The papers describe the letter as an informal request that could lead to a formal tax probe.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News