Tag Archives: Dan Dzombak

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Countries Are Clamoring for U.S. Natural Gas

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By Dan Dzombak, The Motley Fool

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Around the world, countries pay two to five times more for natural gas than we do in the U.S., and they are clamoring for the U.S. to export it. It would be a win-win situation: U.S. producers would get higher prices than they would domestically, then they could turn around and use that money to drill for more natural gas and oil, boosting the U.S. economy.

Data in dollars per MMBtu. Source: FERC, Waterborne Energy

On Monday, Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Nirupama Rao wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal making the case for the U.S. to export natural gas.

In the video below, Motley Fool contributor Dan Dzombak explains his reasoning on how exporting natural gas would be a boon to the U.S.

Only time will tell what will happen with exports in the U.S. natural gas market. Despite that they are integral to the gas and oil industry, it’s easy to forget the necessity of midstream operators that seamlessly transport oil and gas throughout the United States. Kinder Morgan is one of these operators, and one that investors should commit to memory due to its sheer size – it’s the third-largest energy company in the U.S. – not to mention its enormous potential for profits. In The Motley Fool‘s premium research report on Kinder Morgan, we break down the company’s growing opportunity – as well as the risks to watch out for – in order to uncover whether it’s a buy or a sell. To determine whether this dividend giant is right for your portfolio, simply click here now to claim your copy of this invaluable investor’s resource.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, contentByline: “Dan Dzombak“, contentId: “cms.31264”, contentTickers: “NYSE:XOM, NYSE:CHK, NYSE:SD, NYSEMKT:LNG, NYSEMKT:CQP”,

From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/12/countries-are-clamoring-for-us-natural-gas/

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

This Company Is Fighting to Keep Your Taxes Complicated

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By Dan Dzombak, The Motley Fool

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We are less than a week away from the tax-filing deadline. Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to submit anything, your taxes were done for you — for free — and you just had to make sure nothing was wrong with them?

It’s not a dream. That’s the idea behind “return-free filings,” where the IRS would prepare your tax filing for you. While not everyone would qualify, those with simple taxes wouldn’t have go through all the hassles that come about every tax season.

One of the groups leading the charge against “return-free filings” is Intuit , maker of the popular tax preparation software TurboTax, an investigation by ProPublica found.

In the below video, Motley Fool contributor Dan Dzombak explains return-free filings and the arguments for both sides.

Taxes aren’t the only thing that need to be made simpler. Warren Buffett recently referred to another sector as “the tapeworm that’s eating at American competitiveness.” To find out more, check out The Motley Fool‘s free report: What’s Really Eating at America’s Competitiveness. Besides learning more, you’ll  discover an idea to profit as companies work to eradicate this efficiency-sucking tapeworm. Just click here for free, immediate access.

The article This Company Is Fighting to Keep Your Taxes Complicated originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Dzombak can be found on Twitter @DanDzombak or on his Facebook page, DanDzombak. He has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Intuit. 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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Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

One Step Closer to Exporting Natural Gas

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By Dan Dzombak, The Motley Fool

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Dow Chemical and other chemicals companies have been leading the fight against exporting liquefied natural gas, or LNG, as they want to take advantage of constrained natural gas prices.

They are especially worried of the U.S. exporting to Asia where LNG prices are tied to the price of oil. This week, though, Japan announced that the country is planning futures contracts for LNG in an effort to unlink the price of LNG from oil. This should alleviate one of the big fears of opponents of exporting natural gas from the U.S.

In the below video Motley Fool contributor Dan Dzombak explains why and how this situation brings the U.S. closer to exporting natural gas.

Only time will tell what will happen with exports in the U.S. natural gas market. No matter what happens, it’s easy to forget the necessity of midstream operators that seamlessly transport oil and gas throughout the United States. Kinder Morgan is one of these operators, and one that investors should commit to memory due to its sheer size – it’s the third-largest energy company in the U.S. – not to mention its enormous potential for profits. In The Motley Fool‘s premium research report on Kinder Morgan, we break down the company’s growing opportunity – as well as the risks to watch out for – in order to uncover whether it’s a buy or a sell. To determine whether this dividend giant is right for your portfolio, simply click here now to claim your copy of this invaluable investor’s resource.

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; FoolAnalyticsData.push({ eventType: “TickerReportPitch”, contentByline: “Dan Dzombak“, contentId: “cms.29988”, contentTickers: “NYSE:XOM, NYSE:CHK, NYSE:DOW, NYSE:SD, NYSEMKT:LNG“, …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why the Dow Is Struggling to Hold On Today

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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Earlier today, it looked as if yesterday’s losses were behind us, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average had rallied more than 70 points in morning trading. However, it dipped into negative territory and then clawed its way back for a modest gain of 37 points, or 0.26%, by 3:15 p.m. EDT.

The obvious indecision in the market today stems from two countervailing factors. On the one hand, the Department of Labor reported today that significantly more Americans filed for unemployment last week than had been anticipated by economists. For the final week of March, 385,000 people submitted applications for unemployment benefits. That was 28,000 more than had filed in the prior week, and it greatly exceeded the expected figure of 350,000. According to an economist quoted by The Wall Street Journal, “Whether this is a genuine change in the trend or not, today’s data will undoubtedly only compound fears that growth is slowing significantly again.”

Alternatively, news that the Bank of Japan is initiating an aggressive policy of monetary easing spurred on the market‘s bulls. As I discussed earlier today, the Asian country’s central bank is making good on its promise to achieve a 2% rate of inflation after two decades of persistent deflation. To reach its goal, it has committed to doubling its monetary base “with a time horizon of about two years.” The news sunk the Japanese yen and sent the country’s primary stock index higher.

The best-performing stock on the Dow this afternoon is AT&T . As my colleague Dan Dzombak discussed earlier, rumors surfaced yesterday that the company may team up with its rival Verizon to buy Vodafone. Those rumors were subsequently denied. Today, however, Facebook introduced its new Facebook Home service, which will initially be featured exclusively on HTC phones offered by AT&T.

Alternatively, the worst-performing stock on the Dow is IBM . As noted earlier by fellow Fool Jessica Alling, the company has been fighting to ward off concern over a recently released study suggesting that Oracle is outperforming Big Blue when it comes to new chips and servers — two of IBM‘s strong suits.

Profiting from our increasingly global economy can be as easy as investing in the U.S. of A. The Motley Fool’s free report “3 American Companies Set to Dominate the World” shows you how. Click here to get your free copy before it’s gone.

The article Why the Dow Is Struggling to Hold On Today originally appeared on Fool.com.


John Maxfield has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of International Business Machines. 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 …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why the Dow (and banks) Are Getting Pounded Today

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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Here’s my favorite headline of the day: “Retail Investors Are Back! But Don’t Hit ‘Sell’ Yet,” courtesy of our friends over at CNBC. The point of the article is simple. It’s long been assumed by professional traders that the time to start selling out of a market is when mom-and-pop investors start getting in. If you haven’t already done so, I suggest you consider the implications of that.

With this in mind, it should be no surprise that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is tanking today. According to data cited in the article, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds recorded net inflows of $4.5 billion over the last week, adding to an already considerable influx since the beginning of the year. “It’s driven today by people who feel that they’ve been missing out, but we’re still in the early innings of retail investors coming back,” an analyst told CNBC.

Of course, the other explanation is that today’s triple-digit sell-off was triggered instead by a handful of disappointing economic releases. In the first case, payroll-processing company ADP reported that private-sector employment increased by only 158,000 jobs last month. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a gain of 200,000. And in the second case, the Mortgage Bankers Association said this morning that mortgage applications dropped last week by 4% despite the fact that mortgages rates declined as well.

While there’s probably some truth to both, the performance of the Dow’s banking stocks today certainly adds credibility to the latter. With about an hour left in trading, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are the index’s worst-performing components, down 2.5% and 3%, respectively. Given the importance of mortgages and the associated fees to these businesses, this should be no surprise. In the fourth quarter of last year, JPMorgan originated $51.2 billion in mortgages, while B of A notched $22.5 billion — though both were dramatically outdone by Wells Fargo.

Alternatively, the best-performing stock on the Dow this afternoon is Merck , up 1.6%. As my colleague Dan Dzombak observed earlier, the pharmaceutical company’s performance today comes on the heels of the government‘s surprise decision to expand, rather than contract, the amount of support it’s offering to Medicare Advantage customers. According to Dan, “While [the changes] don’t benefit Merck directly as they would health care plan providers, higher reimbursements should mean that drug revenue will not fall as previously expected.”

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This titan of the pharmaceutical industry stumbled into 2013 and continues to battle patent expirations and pipeline problems. Is Merck still a solid dividend play, or should investors be looking elsewhere? In a new premium research report on Merck, the Fool tackles all of the company’s moving parts, its major market opportunities, and reasons both to buy and to sell. To find out more, click here to claim your copy today.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Monster Car Sales Fuel Stocks

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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Stocks are broadly higher today on the back of impressive March auto sales and a positive development in the health care industry. With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 71 points, or 0.49%.

Fueling the generally positive sentiment on Wall Street were the sales figures from the nation’s largest automakers for the month of March. Ford reported an overall increase of 5.7% relative to the same month last year. Year to date, that figure comes in at 11%. Ford’s success was largely a function of SUV sales. While car sales declined by 0.2%, led by an 11.9% fall related to the Focus, demand for Ford’s Escape and Explorer models soared 27.6% and 32.5%, respectively.

Ken Czubay, Ford’s vice president of U.S. marketing, sales, and service, said in the company’s prepared remarks: “Customers are buying our all-new Fusion and Escape in record numbers, and we are working harder than ever to keep pace with demand for these fuel-efficient vehicles. Full-size pickup demand continues gaining momentum, outperforming the industry for the third consecutive month.”

General Motors reported equally impressive results, notching its best March sales in five years. Its performance owed largely to its Cadillac and Buick brands, sales of which were higher during the month by 50% and 37%, respectively. By comparison, the significantly larger Chevrolet division was roughly even compared with the same month last year.

According to the company’s prepared remarks, vice president of U.S. sales operations Kurt McNeil said:

GM delivered its best March sales in five years thanks to a strengthening economy and new products, and we are expecting our third consecutive increase in market share versus last year. Sales of smaller cars have been robust for some time. Trucks have improved in lockstep with the housing market and the strength of the crossover market signals that America’s families are more confident about their financial health.

Not surprisingly, shares of both companies are up by more than 1% in intraday trading.

Meanwhile, shares of UnitedHealth Group are leading the Dow higher today, up 4.9% at the time of writing. As my colleague Dan Dzombak discussed earlier, the move follows a surprise announcement last night by Medicare Advantage, a souped-up version of Medicare.

Earlier in the year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed cutting certain benefits that would flow through the enhanced health-insurance program. Its initial proposal included a 2.3% reduction in what the government pays to private insurance companies to administer the plans. This all changed with last night’s announcement, as the CMS now plans to increase the amount by 3.3% instead. Sorta makes you think they left out a negative symbol on the first go-around.

When President Obama was re-elected, shares of UnitedHealth and other health insurers fell immediately. Is Obamacare a death knell for health insurers, or is the market missing out on some of the opportunities the law presents? In this brand-new …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Avoid This Pharma Stock

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By Dan Dzombak, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Editor’s note: This article is a stock pitch made by a member on CAPS, The Motley Fool’s free investing community. The pitch is published unedited and is the opinion of the CAPS member whose pitch it is, in this case: zzlangerhans.

Each week I cull a top stock idea from the pitches made on CAPS, the Motley Fool‘s 180,000-member free investing community. Want your idea considered for this series? Make a compelling pitch on CAPS with a minimum length of 400 words. Want to follow the weekly picks? Follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

Company

AP Pharma

Star Rating (out of 5)

*

Industry

Health care

Market Cap

$177 million

 

AP Pharma Underperform Pick

zzlangerhans

Member Rating

99.66

Submitted On

3/26/2013

Stock Price At Underperform Recommendation

$0.63

Sources: S&P Capital IQ, Yahoo! Finance, and Motley Fool CAPS.

This Week’s Pitch:

I’ve watched from the sidelines as AP Pharma stock ran and sagged ahead of the APF530 PDUFA, likely the result of a self-fulfilling prophecy of the “run-up” enthusiasts. As always, it is good to be an early adopter of manufactured momentum plays in low float stocks and painful to be late to the party. Getting back to fundamentals, I see AP as a prime candidate for a post-PDUFA decline regardless of outcome. In my mind, the company’s goose was cooked when results of the phase III trial indicated that APF530 was equivalent but not superior to the standard of care Aloxi. The smart money abandoned the stock and the next few years were a blur of CRL, time and resource-consuming studies, and dilution. The penny stock share price masks a startling 193M market cap, the result of a massive dilution last July that suggests the company is already looking ahead to their next act after APF530. Even if approved, APF530 is unlikely to become a significant player in the generic-dominated CINV market.

While you can certainly make huge gains in biotech and pharmaceuticals, the best investing approach is to choose great companies and stick with them for the long term. The Motley Fool‘s free report “3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich” names stocks that could help you build long-term wealth and retire well, along with some winning wealth-building strategies that every investor should be aware of. Click here now to keep reading.

The article Avoid This Pharma Stock originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Dzombak can be found on Twitter @DanDzombak or on his Facebook page, DanDzombak. He has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Home Prices Send Stocks Higher Despite Other Ominous Signs

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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Blue-chip stocks are considerably higher today after data showed that home prices are continuing their upward ascent. According to Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller home price index, prices increased in January by 8.1% on a year-over-year basis. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast a rise of 7.9%. On the heels of this, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up by 92 points, or 0.64%, with roughly an hour left in the trading session.

The news about home prices came amid a flurry of economic reports. Data released from the Department of Commerce today also showed that sales of new homes fell 4.6% last month to a seasonally adjusted 411,000. Economists had predicted a rate of 415,000. And in the same report, the number of new homes listed for sale increased to 152,000 at the end of February. That is the highest figure since 2011.

Shares of homebuilders are nevertheless lower. While prices are up, this is likely a reflection of the slight miss on new-home sales. Hovnanian is faring the worst, down 3% at the time of writing, followed by PulteGroup, KB Homes, and Toll Brothers, all of which are off by less than 1%.

Separately, a press release from the Conference Board, a private research group, suggests that confidence among U.S. consumers is waning. The firm’s consumer sentiment index declined to 59.7 in March, down from a revised reading of 68 in February. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a reading of 67.5.

According to Lynn Franco, the group’s director of economic indicators: “The loss of confidence, particularly expectations, mirrors the losses experienced this past December and January. The recent sequester has created uncertainty regarding the economic outlook and as a result, consumers are less confident.”

Needless to say, the news isn’t helping the Dow’s largest retail stock, Wal-Mart , which is down by 0.2% in afternoon trading. Paradoxically, however, as my colleague Morgan Housel has noted, there seems to be a loose inverse relationship between the strength of the overall economy and Wal-Mart’s same-store sales. If things continue to deteriorate, in turn, that could actually bode well for the retail giant.

Finally, orders for durable goods rose 5.7% last month. This was the highest level since September, and it follows a 3.8% drop the prior month, according to the Department of Commerce. As my colleague Dan Dzombak noted, there was particular strength in the transportation market, particularly with regard to aircraft, “where new orders jumped by 22%.”

With this in mind, it should be no surprise that shares of Boeing are soaring today. Additionally, as fellow Fool Dan Carroll observed, the aerospace company’s flagship 787 Dreamliner successfully completed a two-hour test flight to assess changes made to its battery. The state-of-the-art plane has been grounded since experiencing trouble with the batteries earlier this year.

Want to learn more about Boeing?
Boeing is a major player in a multitrillion-dollar market in which the opportunities are …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The 2 Companies That Led Today's Rally

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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On an otherwise quiet day in terms of economic news, stocks are nevertheless up considerably thanks to better-than-expected earnings reports from consumer darlings Nike and Tiffany . With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is higher by 83 points, or 0.58%.

Shares of Nike are surging 11.6% after the company reported that its fiscal third-quarter earnings beat expectations. Analysts were particularly impressed by its performance in China. According to Bloomberg News, orders for the Nike brand in the world’s second-largest economy increased last quarter after contracting during the two preceding time periods.

In addition, the sporting-goods company’s gross margin increased 30 basis points to 44.2%. “Nike is firing on all cylinders,” an analyst quoted by Bloomberg said. “They’ve been talking about, for several years now, expecting gross margins to eventually turn. And now it looks like that has played out.”

Shares of Tiffany & Co. are similarly up following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings release. While its bottom-line figure rose by only 0.7% on a year-over-year basis, it was weighed down by “headquarters relocation costs,” noted The Wall Street Journal. The market nevertheless responded favorably after the company reiterated its full-year guidance, even though it’s forecasting an underwhelming first quarter. According to Michael J. Kowalski, Tiffany’s chairman and chief executive officer:

These quarterly sales results were consistent with the holiday trends we had issued in early January. While financial results in fiscal 2012 were disappointing due to lower-than-expected sales growth and pressures on gross margin, we continued to maintain a longer-term focus on strengthening global awareness of the Tiffany & Co. brand and on further developing compelling product offerings.

Best- and worst-performing Dow stocks
In terms of Dow stocks, the index’s best-performing component today is Hewlett-Packard , which is up 2.9% in afternoon trading. As my colleague Dan Dzombak noted this morning, the ailing technology company held its annual shareholders meeting earlier this week. Among other issues on the agenda was a highly contested vote on whether three of the company’s directors would be re-elected to the board after proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended they be removed. While all three “squeaked by” with favorable votes of 54% to 58%, as Dan observed, “Typically, votes with less than a 70% majority are looked upon unfavorably.”

Alternatively, the worst-performing stock on the Dow this afternoon is UnitedHealth Group , down by 1.1% at the time of writing. Scanning the news, there doesn’t appear to be a specific catalyst to explain the weakness. Despite this, according to fellow Fool Matt Thalman, a “massive amount of uncertainty” continues to plague health care stocks as the industry adapts to Obamacare and changes to proposed payments under Medicare. It’s for this reason that Matt implores new investors to “stay away from the company until its future is clearer.”

Want to learn more about UnitedHealth Group?
When President Obama was re-elected, shares of UnitedHealth and …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Jobless Claims Fall; so Did the Markets

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By Matt Thalman, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

As investors focus more of their attention on the issues in Europe, the markets slid lower, even on the heels of positive U.S. economic data. Lower-than-expected jobless claims, strong PMI numbers, and home prices and sales increasing, weren’t enough to keep the markets in the green. For more information on each indicator, check out my Fool colleague Dan Dzombak’s article, where he goes into each indicator with further detail.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 90 points, or 0.62%, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.83%, and the NASDAQ fell 0.97%. And only five of the Dow’s 30 components managed to close the day in the green.

A few Dow winners
Shares of Coca-Cola rose by 0.5% today, as the markets moved lower. On Tuesday, I noted that Coke was a classic defensive stock and, as investors become more concerned with the market‘s direction, they will start to shift into the soda king. While I believe that was part of the rise today, the other part is likely due to the announcement that Coke will be cutting its work U.S. workforce by 750 employees. The move comes after Coke decided to change the number of distribution regions from seven to three. This move should allow the company to lower costs and become even more efficient.

More positive economic data on the housing market, which was released this morning, likely caused shares of Home Depot to rise 0.1% today. First, the FHFA home price index showed that, on a seasonally adjusted basis, home prices rose by 0.6% in January, while the previous reading was an increase of 0.5%.

The other data point came from the National Association of Realtors, which reported homes sales in February rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.98 million, up from 4.94 million in January.  

The other three Dow winners of the day where Wal-Mart , which saw shares rise by 0.19% and UnitedHealth, which gained 0.33%. Investors also added 0.41% to Verizon’s stock price. All three companies will benefit from a stronger housing market and a lower unemployment rate. But of the three, Wal-Mart is likely the best positioned to benefit from a recovering jobs market.

More foolish insight

Coca-Cola’s wide moat has helped provide its shareholders with superior gains in the past, but the company faces some new threats to its continued market dominance. The Motley Fool recently compiled a premium research report containing everything you need to know about Coca-Cola. If you own or are considering owning shares in the company, you’ll want to click here now and get started!

var FoolAnalyticsData = FoolAnalyticsData || []; …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Avoid This Biotech Stock

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By Dan Dzombak, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

Editor’s note: This article is a stock pitch made by a member on CAPS, The Motley Fool’s free investing community. The pitch is published unedited and is the opinion of the CAPS member whose pitch it is, in this case: zzlangerhans.

Each week, I cull a top stock idea from the pitches made on CAPS, the Motley Fool‘s 180,000-member free investing community. Want your idea considered for this series? Make a compelling pitch on CAPS with a minimum length of 400 words. Want to follow the weekly picks? Follow me on Facebook or Twitter.

Company

Chelsea Therapeutics

Star Rating (out of 5)

*

Industry

Biotechnology

Market Cap

$128 million

 

Chelsea Therapeutics Underperform Pick

Submitted By

zzlangerhans

Member Rating

99.56

Submitted On

3/12/2013

Stock Price At Underperform Recommendation

$2.00

Sources: S&P Capital IQ, Yahoo! Finance, and Motley Fool CAPS.

This Week’s Pitch:

Chelsea is definitely the soapiest soap opera of biopharma. It’s virtually impossible to keep track of the multiple trials, the changing endpoints mid-trial, the dubious and equivocal trial results, the company’s nebulous plans for regulatory submissions, and the company’s confusing descriptions of FDA communications regarding their trials and regulatory submissions. The only consistent outcome is that the binary catalysts constantly seem to find the market wrongfooted.

I think once again the market is taking Chelsea in the wrong direction, enthusiastically bidding up the share price on news that the FDA has reversed itself and stated that study 306B has the potential to serve as the basis for a Northera NDA resubmission. Of course, there’s a big difference between serving as the basis for an NDA submission and the basis for an NDA approval. And the market seems to have forgotten that the 306B topline data was actually pretty bad, with no evidence of statistically significant benefit beyond the first week of treatment.

…The FDA has shocked me before, for example by reversing themselves and approving Vanda’s Fanapt a few years ago. But in general I find it wiser to go with the FDA‘s usual approach to this type of weak NDA application rather than to bet on the black swan.

Foolish bottom line
While this CAPS All-Star thinks you should avoid Chelsea Therapeutics, one of our top health care analysts has a stock you won’t want to avoid. Our brand new free report explores the scourge of rising health care costs and identifies a company poised to profit from one of the problem’s eventual solutions. Just click here for free, immediate access.

The article Avoid This Biotech Stock originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Dzombak can be found on Twitter @DanDzombak or on his Facebook page, DanDzombak. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Dow's Winning Streak Continues

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

Filed under:

March has been good to blue-chip stocks. Since the beginning of the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has closed higher in every trading session. Assuming it does so again today, that will make it 10 straight days of gains. According to Yahoo! Finance, that adds up to the Dow’s longest winning streak since 1996. As of 2:55 p.m. EDT, the Dow is up 60 points, or 0.4%.

Today’s rally was fueled by news that the employment picture is continuing to improve. The Department of Labor reported this morning that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week fell by 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 332,000. The median estimate of economist surveyed by Bloomberg predicted an increase to 350,000. According to The Wall Street Journal, it’s generally held among economists that the labor market is improving when claims are below 400,000.

In terms of individual stocks, technology giants Hewlett-Packard and IBM are leading the Dow higher in afternoon trading, up 2% and 1.6%, respectively. As my colleague Dan Dzombak noted earlier, the British Serious Fraud Office recently opened an investigation into HP‘s claims that U.K.-based Autonomy defrauded HP into acquiring the software company. Meanwhile, as fellow Fool Jessica Alling pointed out, IBM is riding the waves of positive publicity related to its work for the city of Boston. In addition, IBM‘s strong presence in cloud computing and data analytics has positioned it well to exploit the opportunities that will inevitably spring up in the sector.

Heading lower, alternatively, are shares of retailing giants Wal-Mart and Home Depot . Because there doesn’t seem to be a specific impetus for either of these companies being down today, it’s possible that they’re suffering by association with the likes of J. C. Penney and Sears, two failing industry giants. As three of our top analysts discussed earlier today, the former is hanging to life by a thread, while the latter is doing only marginally better.

Beyond this, there’s also reason to believe that both of these companies are somewhat countercyclical — meaning that when things are generally going good, they perform worse. Here’s what Fool Morgan Housel had to say about this last month:

Wal-Mart is a peculiar company in that its selling point — insanely low prices — gains value when the economy is weak. Families who in normal times shop where it’s most convenient flock to Wal-Mart when the economy sours. As the economy was falling apart in early 2009, CEO Mike Duke noted on a conference call: “Our company is stronger than ever because we deliver price leadership and value and help our customers save money so they can live better.”

But that can go the other way. When the economy recovers, Wal-Mart sales might take a hit as consumers gain confidence and become less price-conscious.”

And the same, by the way, could be said about Home Depot, which relies to a certain …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

IBM Leads the Dow on Strong Retail Sales

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By Dan Dzombak, The Motley Fool

US Retail and Food Services Sales Chart

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up slightly following a better-than-expected retail sales report. As of 1:15 p.m. EDT the Dow was up 7 points, or 0.05%, to 14,475. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is up 0.15% to 1,555.

There were three U.S. economic releases today.

Report

Period

Result

Previous

Retail sales

February

1.1%

0.2%

Retail sales excluding-automobiles

February

1%

0.4%

Import price index

February

1.1%

0.6%

Inventories

January

1%

0.3%

Source: MarketWatch U.S. Economic Calendar.

The one to pay attention to is the retail sales report from the Department of Commerce, which showed that retail sales rose at their fastest monthly rate in five months, up 1.1% from January to a seasonally adjusted $421.4 billion. Year over year, retail sales were up 4.6%. Retails sales are an especially important metric to watch, as consumer spending makes up 70% of the U.S. economy. Economists had been expecting a gain of only 0.7% as the increased payroll tax and rising gasoline prices ate into consumers’ wallets.

US Retail and Food Services Sales data by YCharts.

Spending at grocery stores rose 0.7%, while spending at restaurants fell 0.7%, indicating that consumers are eating at home more. Consumers also spent less money at department stores, on home furnishings, on electronics, and on appliances. Consumers did not slow spending on their cars, however: Automobile sales rose 1.1% in February, showing continued strength for the time being. Spending at gasoline stations rose 5%, reflecting February’s higher gasoline prices. Except in California, gasoline prices have not crossed the psychologically significant $4 level at which you start to see consumers trying to limit their gasoline purchases.

For the time being, the economy is chugging along slowly. It remains to be seen whether this can continue with consumers cutting back spending in every area but automobiles.

Today’s Dow leader
Today’s Dow leader is IBM , up 0.6% to $211.97 on no real news. IBM was recently ranked No. 24 on The Motley Fool’s list of the 25 Best Companies in America; you can read more about what makes IBM one of America’s best companies. While IBM‘s growth has been slowing, there’s a lot to like about the company, including its expanding IT products and services businesses. IBM also pays a steady dividend with a trailing yield of 1.6%. The company raised its dividend in each of the past 17 years and could raise it again this year.

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The article IBM Leads the Dow on Strong Retail Sales originally appeared on Fool.com.

Dan Dzombak can be found on Twitter <a target=_blank href="http://www.twitter.com/DanDzombak" …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Make Money in "Strong Buy" Stocks the Easy Way

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By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool

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Exchange-traded funds offer a convenient way to invest in sectors or niches that interest you. If you’d like to add some highly rated stocks to your portfolio, the Guggenheim Raymond James SB-1 Equity ETF  could save you a lot of trouble. Instead of trying to figure out which companies will perform best, you can use this ETF to invest in lots of them simultaneously. It focuses on companies rated as “strong buys” by analysts at Raymond James.

The basics
ETFs often sport lower expense ratios than their mutual fund cousins. The Guggenheim ETF‘s expense ratio — its annual fee — is 0.75%, which is on the steep side for an ETF but still cheaper than a typical stock mutual fund. The fund is fairly small, so if you’re thinking of buying, beware of possibly large spreads between its bid and ask prices. Consider using a limit order if you want to buy in.

This ETF has performed reasonably, outpacing the S&P 500 over the past three and five years. As with most investments, of course, we can’t expect outstanding performances in every quarter or year. Investors with conviction need to wait for their holdings to deliver.

Why “strong buy” stocks?
Stocks deemed strong buys merit some consideration because savvy financial professionals have apparently found some appealing factors in them — though, of course, they’re not always right. (Indeed, my colleague Dan Dzombak has pointed out a blind spot they typically have.)

More than a handful of companies  that have sported a “strong buy” rating recently have performed well over the past year. Valero Energy surged 63%, for example, profiting by processing cheap U.S. oil and then selling it at higher prices in Latin America and Europe — thereby helping keep fuel prices in the U.S. high. It stands to benefit from the proposed and controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, and has been investing in railcars to boost profits from the Bakken shale fields.

Regions Financial gained 42% and is attractive on many counts, having repaid its TARP obligation, posted improving net interest margin and asset quality, and had a powerful presence in the growing Southeast region. Its recent quarter featured a swing from a big loss to a big gain, among other achievements. My colleague Sean Williams has nominated the company’s leader for CEO of the year.

Swift Transportation , a trucking company, climbed 22%. Its fourth-quarter earnings surged 27% over year-ago levels as the trucking industry enjoys a resurgence, with January tonnage having been the highest in five years. Its Moody’s credit rating has been hiked recently, and analysts at TheStreet.com upped its rating from sell to hold.

Other companies didn’t do quite as well last year, but could see their fortunes change in the coming years. Micron Technology , for example, advanced 10%, as its believers expect that growth in tablets and smartphones, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Why The Dow's Taking a Breather Today

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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After seven consecutive days of gains, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is taking a breather today. With roughly an hour left in the trading session, the blue-chip index is down by 12 points, or 0.08%.

While it was a relatively quiet day on the economic front, there were nevertheless two releases that caught my colleague Dan Dzombak’s eye. First, the National Federation of Independent Business updated its index of small-business optimism this morning. For the month of February, the index increased 1.9 points to 90.8. According to the press release, “While a nice improvement over the last several reports, the Index remains on par with the 2008 average and below the trough of the 1991-92 and 2001-02 recessions.”

And second, the Department of Labor released its estimate of job openings for the month of January. The report showed that there were 3.7 million jobs at the end of the month, an improvement of 80,000 compared with December. As Dan noted: “The jobs market is a key factor for the U.S. economy, and it has been holding back the domestic recovery as the unemployment rate stays high. Rising job openings show a healthier economy as companies look for more employees.”

In terms of individual stocks, the Dow is being weighed down by both technology companies and financials. Among others, shares of Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft are all lower in afternoon trading. The sector has struggled over the last year as political and economic uncertainty continues to take its toll on business investment.

Political infighting in 2011 over the debt ceiling caused the United States to lose its “AAA” credit rating. At the end of last year, it was the fiscal cliff, which was narrowly averted. Then the sequester was triggered at the end of February. And today, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the Republican party’s “most provocative fiscal framework in years, calling for Medicare and Medicaid overhauls and new limits on defense spending not previously endorsed by party leaders,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

With respect to financial stocks, both Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are floundering on the heels of last week’s Federal Reserve-administered stress tests. While both lenders made it through the central bank’s hypothetical economic gauntlet in one piece, it remains to be seen whether they’ll be given the go-ahead from regulators this Thursday to increase capital distributions to shareholders.

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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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Why Boeing and Financials Are Leading Stocks Higher

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By John Maxfield, The Motley Fool

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Stocks are positioned to extend their winning streak today despite disappointing news out of both Europe and China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has now closed higher on every day in March, up a cumulative 2.7%. If the blue-chip index finishes up once again, it will have done so for seven consecutive days, setting records throughout the run.

Today’s rally is fighting against growing economic headwinds. At the end of last week, ratings agency Fitch Ratings downgraded Italy‘s credit rating to three steps above junk status. And today, data showed that the country’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.9% in the final three months of last year. On a year-over-year basis, the figure was 2.8% down from the final quarter of 2011.

“I think the Italian downgrade is acting as a bit of a wake-up call,” a London-based economist told Reuters.

In China, data revealed that inflation is rising while growth in industrial production and retail sales came in below expectations. As my colleague Dan Dzombak discussed in more detail, inflation in February increased to 3.2%. Meanwhile, the growth rates of industrial production and retail sales fell to 9.9% and 12.3%, respectively. With respect to the latter figure, economists had forecast growth of 13.8%.

On the heels of this news, the Dow is up by 38 points, or 0.26%, with about an hour left in the trading session.

In terms of the index’s best-performing individual components, Boeing is leading the way. Shares in the company are 1.9% higher after the aerospace giant announced that it has finally identified the problem with its flagship 787 Dreamliner. Two months ago global aviation authorities grounded all 50 of the aircraft then in use after lithium-ion batteries on two separate planes caught on fire.

Speaking at a conference of aviation financiers today, Boeing’s marketing vice president Randy Tinseth said, “It is a solution that we believe provides three levels of protection for the airplane and it’s a solution that we’re confident will ensure safe and reliable service for the 787 in the future.”

Shares of both JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America are also rallying today after the banks discovered last week that they had passed the Federal Reserve‘s annual stress test mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act. At the end of this week, in turn, investors should know whether the banks have also gotten approval to increase dividend payouts and/or initiate share buyback programs.

Last week, fellow too-big-to-fail bank Citigroup announced that it will ask the Fed for permission to buy back $1.2 billion in shares. The bank is still smarting from having a similar request denied last year — many even believe the denial was a major contributing factor in former CEO Vikram Pandit’s forced resignation. As a result, the planned repurchase this time around is designed only to “offset estimated dilution created by annual incentive compensation grants.”

In addition, the Financial Times reported that JPMorgan has “requested a share buyback of …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance