Tag Archives: PPI

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POZEN Announces Results from a Burden of Cardiovascular Disease Study: a Managed Care Perspective

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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POZEN Announces Results from a Burden of Cardiovascular Disease Study: a Managed Care Perspective

Presentation at AMCP Demonstrates Cost Reduction When PPI Used in Combination With Aspirin for Both Commercial and Medicare Populations

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– POZEN Inc. (Nasdaq: POZN), a pharmaceutical company committed to transforming medicine that transforms lives, announced the results of a POZEN sponsored study at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s 25th Annual Meeting and Expo on April 4, 2013. Ryan S. Clark, Pharm.D., MBA, Health Outcomes and Managed Markets Fellow, Global Health Economics & Outcomes Research at Xcenda, presented the abstract, The Burden of Secondary Cardiovascular Disease in Commercial and Medicare Patients: A Managed Care Perspective. The secondary prevention of cardiovascular events includes the daily use of aspirin. Chronic aspirin therapy is associated with significant gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity including dyspepsia, gastric ulcers and GI bleeding, all of which contribute to the disease and cost burden of secondary prevention. The GI toxicity of aspirin can be mitigated by the use of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). The Xcenda analysis demonstrated that the prevention of cardiovascular events with aspirin, plus a PPI, compared to aspirin alone is associated with a net per-patient per-year cost decrease of $103 and $145 and a potential overall cost decrease of $1.8 million and $11.0 million for a typical one million-member Commercial and Medicare Plan, respectively.

“The overall cost of secondary cardiovascular events in patients with a history of coronary heart disease, transient ischemic attack, or ischemic stroke represents a significant financial burden on managed care,” said Rashad Carlton, Pharm.D., MSPH, Assistant Director, Global Health Economics & Outcomes Research at Xcenda. “Despite American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association guideline recommendations to start aspirin therapy and continue indefinitely in all patients unless contraindicated, aspirin remains underutilized.”

About the Study

The primary objective of the study was to characterize the financial burden of secondary cardiovascular disease and its long-term complications in patients at risk for a secondary cardiovascular event.

An economic model designed to yield the annual secondary cardiovascular disease cost burden was constructed using literature-based population, medication discontinuation/non-adherence, and cardiovascular event incidence data. Care records of secondary cardiovascular disease patients were reviewed based on treatment either with aspirin, aspirin + PPI, or no aspirin. Secondary events were calculated based on annual recurrence rates adjusted for treatment discontinuation/non-adherence. The treatment cohort cost per member and …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

ASUS Chooses Groupon Goods for Exclusive Launch of New Tablet

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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ASUS Chooses Groupon Goods for Exclusive Launch of New Tablet

ASUS MeMO Pad Available Exclusively for Groupon Goods Subscribers April 6

CHICAGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Groupon (NAS: GRPN) (http://www.groupon.com) has partnered with ASUS to launch a brand new ASUS MeMO Pad. The ASUS MeMO Pad with 7-inch display and 10-finger multi-touch will be available exclusively on Groupon Goods April 6. Sweetening the deal, the ASUS MeMO Pad comes bundled with a Wilsons genuine leather case for $159.99; a 20% discount on the MSRP of the combined items. The deal will be available at http://www.groupon.com/deals/gg-asus-memo-tablet-with-leather-case.

Screen shot of Groupon deal: ASUS MeMO Tablet with Leather Case, available April 6, 2013 at Groupon Goods. (Photo: Business Wire)

“We’re one of the global leaders in flash sales because we personally curate and offer great deals on high quality products every day,” said Faisal Masud, head of Groupon Goods. “Partnering with ASUS to give our U.S. customers exclusive access to this top-notch tablet is a perfect fit for Groupon Goods.”

“Groupon is a very well recognized and respected company in the world and we are proud to be their partner,” said Steve Chang, President of ASUS Computer International. “Today, consumers want innovative and compelling mobile products. We’re excited to partner with Groupon as we focus our combined energies serving customers with industry-leading notebook and tablet solutions. The business relationship represents a powerful opportunity for ASUS to expand our presence in the U.S. market and the potential is limitless for both companies.”

The ASUS MeMO Pad has a seven-inch screen with 10-finger multi-touch (1024×600, 169 PPI) and uses Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Other features include 7 hours of battery life for all-day computing, front HD camera, 16GB storage, a micro-SD slot with support for up to 32 GB of extra storage and ASUS WebStorage to store and share files with your friends and family anytime and anywhere. The ASUS MeMO pad is also 12.6 ounces light and .44 inches thin.

To celebrate this exclusive deal, Groupon is featuring a wide range of ASUS products today, Friday and Saturday, including the ASUS Nexus Tablet with free case, TF300 tablet with dock, 14″ laptop, 15.6″ laptop and 17″ laptop, ASUS desktop computers and an ASUS projector. More information about these and other ASUS deals can be found at http://www.groupon.com/goods.

…read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Is This Your Last Chance to Buy Lloyds?

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By David O’Hara, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Shares in Lloyds   are 10% off their high for the year. They are now just 2% more expensive than they were back at the beginning of 2013. By comparison, the FTSE 100 index is up 10%.

Like the rest of the banks, Lloyds fell recently following the Cyprus scare. Bank share prices then suffered again when their new regulator announced that it wants the sector to raise more capital.

Why I expect a big rise
The market could dramatically reappraise Lloyds shares when the company reports its first-quarter results at the end of the month. If investors come around to my analysis, the result could be a 20% share price rise.

Lloyds’ forthcoming Q1 results could be the first announcement in a long time that does not contain huge provisions for Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) compensation payouts. So far, Lloyds has set aside 6.5 billion pounds to pay customers for PPI misselling. At the end of 2012, 2 billion pounds of this provision remained unutilized.

I also expect that impairments at Lloyds in 2013 will be considerably lower than they were one year ago. In 2012, writedowns on assets and loans totalled 5.7 billion pounds — 40% less than the previous year.

Lloyds’ first-quarter results, scheduled for 30 April, are a fantastic opportunity for the bank to demonstrate just how profitable it could be going forward. If the bank can show further provisions for PPI are unlikely and that impairments are still falling fast, 5.6 billion pounds could be added to group profit before tax for the full year.

Even better, recent comments from Business Secretary Vince Cable show that even he has been sticking up for the banks. We may have passed the peak of political pressure to punish the sector.

How high could Lloyds’ shares go?
Six weeks ago, shares in Lloyds traded around 55 pence. Analysts expect that the company will make 5.6 pence in earnings per share for 2014. Rival banks Standard Chartered and HSBC today trade close ten times 2014 forecasts. I think that the banks will spend the next month demonstrating their value to investors. If Q1 results can inspire earnings upgrades, I would expect Lloyds’ shares to end May trading around 60 pence.

Making quick gains on blue-chip shares like Lloyds can help you to build your portfolio fast. If you would like to learn more investment techniques that could yield big profits, get the free Motley Fool report “10 Steps to Making a Million in the Market.” This special report could change the way that you invest forever. Just click here to get this totally free report today.

The article Is This Your Last Chance to Buy Lloyds? originally appeared on Fool.com.

David owns shares in Lloyds Banking Group. The Motley Fool owns shares in Standard Chartered. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Are These FTSE 100 Shares a Buy?

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By Royston Wild, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — I have recently been evaluating the investment cases for a multitude of FTSE 100 companies. Although Britain‘s premier index has risen 8.7% so far in 2013, I believe many London-listed stocks still have much further to run, while others are overdue for a correction. So how do the following five stocks weigh up?

GlaxoSmithKline
I reckon that accelerating product-development and moves into exciting new territories should barge GlaxoSmithKline back to growth over the medium term, underpinning its reputation as a dependable income play.

The company boasts an exceptional dividend-building record, even in times of earnings pressure. The pharma giant increased last year’s payout to 74 pence from 70 pence in 2011 despite a declining bottom line, and this is expected to rise to 78 pence and 82.7 pence, respectively, in 2013 and 2014. And dividend yields during this period are expected to remain well ahead of the 3.2% FTSE 100 average, at 5.1% this year and 5.4% next year.

Earnings per share are predicted to rise 2% in 2013 following last year’s 1% drop before accelerating 9% higher in 2014 as new products come online and offset the consequences of expiring IP. The firm’s shares trade on a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.3 for this year and 12.2 for next year, which I consider a decent value given the dividend dependability and exciting growth prospects.

Tesco
I am backing giant greengrocer Tesco to bounce back from increased competition from both high- and low-end competitors as it takes a step back from its international operations to boost activity back home.

City analysts expect EPS to slide 16% in the year ending February 2013, results for which are due on April 17, before hitting back in the coming years. Respective rises of 6% and 8% are predicted for 2014 and 2015.

Tesco is a favorite among income investors thanks to its generous dividend policy — an anticipated dividend yield of 3.9% for 2013 is expected to climb to 4.1% in 2014 and 4.3% in 2015. And coverage of 2.1 times next year and 2.2 times in 2015 should provide investors with peace of mind, even in the event of fresh earnings attacks.

Sweetening the deal, the supermarket’s stock currently changes hands on a lowly P/E rating of 11.5 for 2014 and 10.7 for 2015. This provides a chunky discount to a forward earnings multiple of 13 for the broader food and drug retailers sector.

Barclays
British high-street bank Barclays continues to endure a torrid time in the press, as its implication in the LIBOR-rigging scandal — combined with PPI misselling practices and news of jumbo bonuses to its top brass — has bashed its valued reputation.

Still, I believe the firm provides ripe investment opportunity moving forward. The company’s U.K. retail operations have enjoyed a decent start to the year, while plans to significantly boost its exposure in the opportunity-rich regions of Africa should help to boost growth. Barclaycard is also …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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John Baer: Why the NVIDIA T4 Chromebook will best Pixel

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Chrome OS Android

The dust is beginning to settle from the release of the Chromebook Pixel and the editorials are focusing on what this means.

It all about setting expectations. The Chromebook Pixel proudly states cloud computing is here, is ready for prime time, and is deserving of a premium device.

But the Pixel has an architectural flaw most folks recognize.

  • Do you need an Intel® Core™ i5 Dual Core Processor in order to leverage the web?
  • Do you need an Intel® HD Graphics 4000 GPU to render a 2560 x 1700 screen?
  • Do you need to spend $1,300 for a Pixel like user experience?

The answer to all of these questions is – NO! The nVidia Tegra 4 is a smart Chromebook choice and here is why. Of the currently available SoC’s it delivers on key requirements.

Screen Resolution

The big selling point of the Pixel is the screen.

  • 12.85″ display with a 3:2 aspect ratio
  • 2560 x 1700, at 239 PPI
  • 400 nit screen
  • 178° extra-wide viewing angle

Tegra 4 is capable of outputting 1080p @ 120Hz, full hardware encode/decode for video up to 2560×1440 (1440p), and a maximum output resolution of 3820×2160 (4K). This GPU prowess is evidenced by the Vizio announcement a forth coming Tegra 4 tablet which will feature the same fantastic 2560 x 1600 resolution found on the Nexus 10.

In summary it looks like nVidia has the chops to deliver the same or better display experience as the Pixel.

Computing Horsepower

Does the Tegra 4 have more computing horse power than an Intel Core i5-3427U? Of coarse not, but does it have enough to deliver a high quality user experience?

Barron’s reports the following.

At MWC, the company (nVidia) continued its product reve- lation by disclosing new details of the architecture and its capabilities (as well as limitations). Judging from this pre- liminary information, Tegra 4 rates as the highest-perform-ing mobile ARM processor—if power constraints don’t throttle the cores. This performance takes aim at Qual- comm’s newest Snapdragon processors; Nvidia offered a wide range of benchmark results that clearly showed Tegra 4 leading both the APQ8064 and (judging from our estimates) the forthcoming Snapdragon 800 […] We also estimated the performance of the Snap- dragon Series 800, assuming that it will achieve its rated 2.3GHz clock speed and applying a 10% gain to represent the improvements from the Krait 200 CPU to the Krait 400 CPU. This approach is probably optimistic, as most bench- mark scores do not improve linearly with CPU speed, although the Series 800 will also get a boost from faster DRAM. Based on these estimates, even Qualcomm’s best processor, which is due to enter production at about the same time as Tegra 4, won’t surpass Nvidia in these tests.

The Tegra 4 also completes well with current Chromebooks using the Intel Celeron 847 processor. CPU Boss rates the Tegra very favorably over the Intel 847 and the faster 847E.

Pricing

Pricing is difficult to establish …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Hewlett-Packard Leads the Dow to New Highs

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By Dan Dzombak, The Motley Fool

US Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance Chart

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up after for the 10th day in a row following multiple positive reports on the state of the economy. As of 1:15 p.m. EDT the Dow was up 59 points, or 0.41%, to 14,515. The S&P 500 was up 0.4% to 1,561.

There were three U.S. economic releases today.

Report

Period

Result

Previous

Weekly new unemployment claims

March 2 to March 9

332,000

342,000

Producer price index

February

0.7%

0.2%

Core PPI

February

0.2%

0.2%

Current account deficit

Q4

($110 billion)

($112 billion)

Source: MarketWatch U.S. Economic Calendar.

While the PPI was up 0.7%, which was expected as higher energy costs impacted producers. Absent energy costs, the PPI was just up 0.2%.

The one to pay attention is the unemployment claims report. Weekly new unemployment claims fell to a seasonally adjusted 332,000. That’s down from last week’s 342,000 and below analyst expectations of 350,000. Last year, new unemployment claims averaged between 360,000 and 370,000 and never really broke out of that range. The declining level of new unemployment claims is a good sign for the economy, indicating that the jobs market is strengthening. It remains to be seen whether this is a trend or just a blip.

US Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance data by YCharts.

New unemployment claims can be volatile, so it is generally better to watch the four-week moving average, which dropped by 2,750 to 346,750. That’s the lowest level since 2008.

While the jobs market is strengthening, the economy is still not adding jobs fast enough to significantly reduce the unemployment rate anytime soon. The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee has said it plans to continue QE3 until the unemployment rate hits 6.5% or inflation picks up. Until then, the Fed will continue buying up $85 billion worth of long-term assets every month to prop up the economy.

Today’s Dow leaders
Today’s Dow leader is Hewlett-Packard , up 1.8% to $21.71 on no real news. Earlier this week the British Serious Fraud Office opened an investigation into HP‘s accusations of fraud against former executives of Autonomy. If you recall, HP acquired Autonomy for $10 billion in 2011, only to write the acquisition down for $8.8 billion last year. HP accused former executives — including Autonomy’s founder and former CEO, Mike Lynch — of fabricating sales to boost Autonomy’s financials. While American authorities commenced investigations soon after HP‘s accusations, this is the first notice that British authorities are also investigating.

While the stock was hit hard last year, dropping 47% in 2012, there have been no repercussions for the board members who approved the deal. Institutional proxy advisor Institutional Shareholder Services is recommending that investors vote against HP chairman Ray Lane, audit committee head G. Kennedy Thompson, and finance and investments committee head John Hammergren.

HP is rapidly shifting its strategy under the new leadership of CEO …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Dow Approaches 10-Day Record With A Little Help

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By Jessica Alling, The Motley Fool

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a major milestone yesterday when it finished the day five points up to mark the ninth straight session of gains. Though the index has barely skated by the breakeven mark for the past two days of trading, many believe the Dow is about to extend the streak to 10 days. As of noon, the Dow is up 59 points, or 0.41%. With the momentum behind it, the index may also be instilling greater confidence in the market as a whole, helping the S&P 500 come within 10 points of its 2007 high.

A little help
Good economic news today may be one of the the Dow’s streak is set to continue. Jobless claims fell for the latest reported week, and as we see more and more decreases, it points to a firmer underlying labor market. The rolling four-week average of jobless claims fell to 346,750 — the lowest level in five years.

The producer price index was bolstered once again by gas prices, as the February numbers showed a 0.7% increase compared with a 0.2% improvement in January. The gas price spike during the month created the largest jump in the PPI the economy has seen in five months, but the results stayed in line with analyst expectations.

Chevron may be getting a boost from this morning’s PPI data: The gas company is up 1.5% so far today. The company is also benefiting from rival Exxon‘s prediction that American oil-production will increase 45% by 2040. Chevron has stated that it’s on track to increase its production volume by 25% by 2017. Most American gas and oil companies continue to see improvements thanks to increased shale opportunities.

The twin frontrunners on the Dow today are Hewlett-Packard and IBM , both up more than 1.5%. HP‘s continued struggle with its botched Autonomy deal has opened a new chapter, as the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office has opened an investigation into the allegations that the British-based company willfully inflated its sales figures to boost its acquisition price. Despite the Autonomy mess, investors are still looking for HP to rally, with 5,000 calls bought late in yesterday’s session signaling an expectation for the stock‘s price to rise to $23 by mid-April.

Big Blue has been all over the news lately, giving investors plenty of reasons to get excited. That excitement pushed IBM to its all-time high yesterday. The tech giant has been working with the city of Boston to improve systemwide initiatives like traffic, water management, and airport logistics. So far, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority has been able to use IBM‘s predictive software successfully and has cut down on its work orders by 38% by reducing unnecessary maintenance. IBM is also looking to expand its use of Watson, the supercomputer that won on Jeopardy! and has since helped doctors improve the speed and quality of care for cancer patients. Students were asked for ideas that Watson …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Producer Prices and Weekly Jobless Claims Support the Market Rally Again

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By 24/7 Wall St.

US_Dept_of_Labor

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Two bits of data were released from the Labor Department today. Weekly jobless claims is a live reading, and producer prices measuring wholesale inflation is a February reading. With the DJIA up nine straight days, traders and investors are going to be looking at each number handily to keep the momentum alive.

We already expected an uptick in prices on the wholesale level from the Producer Price Index due to higher energy costs. The headline figure rose by 0.7% in February, versus 0.2% in January, and Dow Jones was calling for estimates of 0.7%. The core reading, which takes out food and energy, came in with a gain of 0.2% in February. That core reading was 0.2% in January and it was expected to be only 0.1% for February according to Dow Jones. We would go on and on about the big uptick in the headline wholesale inflation, but the reality is that it was obvious. considering that energy prices were on a rampage at the time.

The weekly jobless claims is where the somewhat good news is. Weekly claims fell by 10,000 to 332,000, versus a Dow Jones and Bloomberg expectations of about 350,000. So sequestration did not crush the numbers. The prior week’s claims were revised upward by 2,000 to 342,000. The army of unemployed, measured by the continuing claims with a one week lag, fell by 89,000 to 3,024,000.

Today’s weekly jobless claims is better than expected, but the PPI reading should have been seen from about 10 miles away. S&P futures are up three points and the DJIA futures are up 27 points. Keep in mind that the DJIA is now up nine days in a row and is trying to go to 10 days.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Economy, Labor, Labor & Unions

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Should I Buy Lloyds Banking for My ISA?

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By Maynard Paton, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — You only have a few weeks to use your tax-efficient ISA allowance before the April 5 deadline. ISAs are issued on a use ’em or lose ’em basis, so don’t fluff it. You can save up to 11,280 pounds in the current tax year, and put the lot of it into stocks and shares. To find out more, click here. But which stocks should you buy? How about Lloyds Banking Group  ?

Failures or safe?
Loathe them or loathe them, the major U.K. high street banks are too big to fail. The taxpayer knows this, to their cost. Politicians know it, and feel helpless. The Bank of England knows it, and sets monetary policy accordingly. Does this make Lloyds a failsafe investment for your ISA?

Up, up, up
The big banks have enjoyed a share-price resurgence over the past twelve months.

Royal Bank of Scotland is up 18%, Barclays is up 32%, but Lloyds has trumped them both with a 48% rise. That compares to a return of around 7% from the FTSE 100.

The banks have been the major beneficiaries of the central-banker policy of flushing markets with loose money and liquidity. Lloyds did particularly well out of the Bank of England‘s Funding for Lending Scheme, picking up 22 billion pounds to fund cheap loans, compared to just 9 billion pounds for Barclays.

Lloyds has also been working hard to mend its broken business and simplify its sprawling operations, off-loading everything from private-equity assets to Irish property loans, and selling 632 branches to the Co-operative Bank. Lloyds has also pulled out of ten territories, and is now focused mostly on the U.K.

Cutting its losses
Lloyds’ full-year results for 2012 showed a dramatic slowdown in the rate at which it is losing money.

Losses fell to 570 million pounds, down from a massive 3.5 billion pounds in 2011. The 2012 figure included 1.9 billion pounds set aside for mis-selling payment protection insurance (PPI) and interest rate swaps. Excluding mis-selling claims, the bank’s underlying group profit actually rose to 2.6 billion pounds, up from 638 million pounds in 2011.

Compare that to the 5.2 billion pounds pre-tax loss posted by RBS, and Lloyds starts to look positively healthy.

Lloyds also plumped up its financial cushion, or core tier 1 ratio, by another 12%, and cut group costs by 5% to 10 billion pounds, two years ahead of schedule. Management now plans another 9.8 billion pounds of cost cutting in 2013.

And the bank continues to raise money by off-loading assets, scooping 520 million pounds from institutional investors by selling a 20% stake in financial advisor St James’s Place. Lloyds still has a 37% holding, but won’t sell any more shares for at least a year. Every little helps.

One scandal after another
If you’re considering Lloyds for your ISA, you also have to be aware of every scrap of potential downside.

We’re all victims of the banks, but the banks are their own worst enemies. The PPI mis-selling scandal has so far cost …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Will Silver Move on U.S. Jobs Report?

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By Douglas Ehrman, The Motley Fool

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A stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report on Friday adds one more to a list of competing factors that are struggling to give some direction to the silver market. The report, which showed that the economy added 236,000 workers last month, provides evidence that the economy is improving and was sufficient to drive the U.S. dollar index higher — two bearish factors for silver. With the deadline for sequestration cuts more than a week in the rearview mirror and the Federal Reserve still pumping $85 billion a month into the system, the bullish factors are represented as well. Silver, as represented by the iShares Silver Trust , exists in the vortex between all of these forces. While short-term volatility is likely to increase, the significant industrial demand for silver will couple with general economic weakness and should drive silver higher.

Is the employment picture really improving?
While the 236,000 number is a significant beat over the 160,000 that was expected, it still falls short of the 250,000 jobs that most economists believe must be consistently added if the employment picture is really to change. The overall unemployment rate fell from 7.9% a month earlier to 7.7%, representing the lowest reading since December 2008; numbers for the past two months were revised lower by 15,000, meaning that the previous two months were even weaker than expected.

The unemployment statistics and the calculated rate of inflation have become the two most criticized figures in economics, having been accused of poor methodology, miscalculation, and outright manipulation. Many, myself included, trust the anecdotal evidence we get by going grocery shopping or putting gas in our cars as evidence that prices are rising. While the CPI or PPI may be stable, if the goods that we’re most exposed to on a regular basis are getting more expensive, claiming no inflation is disingenuous to ignorant. Still, because the Fed has made clear that policy will be set based on these stats, knowing them and understanding them is a critical part of trading precious metals.

The Fed, and specifically Chairman Ben Bernanke, has made it clear that as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6.5% and inflation remains in check, the current course of quantitative easing will remain in force. The concern is that by the time inflation begins to show up in some of the statistics being used, there may be so much pent-up supply of capital that inflation will spike beyond what is easily manageable. This is not a certainty, nor is it a conspiracy theory or doomsday prophecy — just a legitimate concern.

The global influence
The positive surprise from the U.S. jobs number was sufficient to drive the U.S. dollar index higher by 0.9% on the news, as the yen and euro fell. A strong dollar has been an upside constraint for precious metals as dollar strength makes dollar-denominated assets alternative defensive plays to silver and gold. When the dollar is weak, investors looking for …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

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The Banks' Real Results

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By Tony Reading, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Are you perplexed by the banks’ results? Suspicious of big improvements in “adjusted,” “underlying,” and “managed” performance when tucked away in the small print are large statutory losses? Join the club.

So last quarter, I decided to rigorously categorize the banks’ adjustments between underlying and statutory profit. I identified one-off exceptional items, costs of litigation over PPI and LIBOR, etc., and fair value adjustments that arise from accounting technicalities.

If you’re interested, you can read more about the methodology here, and see the detailed analysis in this table:

 

Lloyds

RBS

Barclays
  2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011
Underlying Profit 2,607 638 3,462 1,824 7,048 5,590
Exceptional Items 840 (435) (1,787) (4,078) 227 (1,419)
Litigation (4,225) (3,375) (2,191) (850) (2,450) (1,000)
Fair Value Adjustments 208 (370) (4,649) 1,914 (4,579) 2,708
Statutory Profit (570) (3,542) (5,165) (1,190) 246 5,879

The bottom line
But you can skip to this table that summarizes the results:

 

Lloyds

RBS

Barclays
  2012 2011 2012 2011 2012 2011
Underlying Profit 2,607 638 3,462 1,824 7,048 5,590
Statutory Profit Before Fair Value Adjustments (778) (3,172) (516) (3,104) 4,825 3,171

The underlying profit shows the results as the banks would like you to see them, and may be a better indicator of future performance. The bottom line is what actually happened, adjusted to eliminate misleading accounting technicalities.

Both measures show significant improvement over last year. On the warts-and-all measure, Lloyds  and RBS  have made big reductions in losses, while Barclays  enjoyed a muscular 52% rise in profits.

Lloyds
Lloyds’ management sounded bullish. The bank is ahead of its transformation plan, reducing costs by 5%, two years ahead of target, and selling over 40 billion pounds of distressed assets in 2012 against a plan of 25 billion pounds.

With a concentration on U.K. retail and commercial banking, Lloyds has the lowest risk business model of the three banks, but one wholly dependent on the U.K. economy. That’s not a great short-term bet, but the long-term trajectory is upwards.

With the heavy lifting on its transformation nearly complete and PPI provisioning at an end, Lloyds shares are trading at 95% of tangible net asset value (TNAV). The prospect of a resumed dividend will give them their next big push.

RBS
RBS‘s results announcement was also confident, predicting 2013 to be the last big year of restructuring. In 2012, it pulled off the flotation of Direct Line and shed over 10% of risk assets. As with Lloyds, the EU-mandated sale of branches stalled.

RBS is harassed by politicians with agendas, but that could yet turn to its advantage, with the Coalition eager for demonstrable progress before the next election in 2015. CEO Stephen Hester is making positive noises about privatization.

A partial flotation of the U.S. Citizen’s Bank could prove a valuation boost this year. Trading at 0.7 times TNAV, RBS has more headroom for rerating.

Barclays
Barclays’ results were accompanied by details of its new strategy, and greeted by a near-10% jump in the shares.

The bank will focus on the U.K., U.S., and Africa, and is cutting jobs in investment banking, Europe, and Asia. The sole closure is that of the toxic tax-structuring unit. It will invest in high-return businesses such as U.K. mortgages, its Wealth business, and Barclaycard — an often-overlooked gem.

It’s also committed to accelerate its dividend from next year, targeting a 30% payout. Trading at 0.8 times tangible NAV, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Lloyds Banking Group Losses Lopped In Half

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By Nate Weisshaar, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Lloyds Banking Group   appeared quite pleased with its 1.3 billion-pound loss for the year — that’s a loss of 2 pence per share compared to last year’s 4 pence loss — as the bank made meaningful progress toward its strategic goals set out in the summer of 2011.

If you brush away the additional 3.6 billion pounds set aside to address seemingly ever-rising PPI claims and 1.2 billion pounds in supposedly one-time restructuring costs, then you can see some of the reasons for management’s satisfaction.

Statutory, Management, Core, or Non-Core?
The most exciting bit about reading bank financial releases these days (and believe me, it is exciting) is trying to decide which profit line to actually look at. Lloyds provides us with at least four.

Statutory profit is what they are required to report according to accounting rules; Management profit is what management looks at because it ignores things like PPI provisions, which arise because of a lack of management; Core profits arise from nebulously defined core banking operations; and Non-Core profits come from the business that the bank wishes it had never entered and now wants to be rid of.

£ millions 2012 2011
Statutory Profit (1,343) (2,714)
Management Profit 4,827 2,685
Core Management Profit 8,142 6,349
Non-Core Management Profit (3,315) (3,664)

If we look at the various permutations of Management profit, it looks like Lloyds is making progress. However, this number includes a significant amount of money (3.2 billion pounds at the Group level) made on selling government bonds, which is not regularly repeatable so I think should be ignored.

What lies beneath
For that we turn to Underlying profits, where we see Lloyds’s core operations turned in flat profits at 6.2 billion pounds despite cost cuts of nearly 500 million pounds and a reduction in bad loan provisions of nearly 1 billion pounds. Income was down 1.5 billion pounds mainly as a result of fewer assets earning returns and lower returns on those assets — the core banking interest margin was down from 2.42% to 2.32%.

Management expects its core lending to increase next year, but we’ll have to see if they can do that and collect higher rates.

However, the bank’s capital ratios improved — Tier 1 was up to 12% from 10.8% last year — and are well ahead of the new regulatory minimums. Additionally, the bank’s reliance on short-term borrowing has reduced dramatically which improves the stability of its balance sheet.

Judging a book
Lloyds’s net asset value, or book value, is currently about 63 pence per share so the shares are trading at 84% of book value. This is a significant discount to historical levels, but well above its closest peer RBS, which recently reported a significant increase in losses and currently trades around half of book.

It looks like Lloyds is further along in its rehabilitation than RBS so this premium is probably justified, but investors still need to ask themselves where they see Lloyds going in the future. With rising capital requirements and authorities doing their best to increase …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Linux

John Baer: Chromebook Pixel – The Saga Continues

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On Thursday February 21 Google pulled the curtain back on the much rumored Chromebook Pixel. Here are the specifications.

    Screen

  • 12.85″ display with a 3:2 aspect ratio
  • 2560 x 1700 at 239 PPI
  • 400 nit screen brightness
  • 178° extra-wide viewing angle

    • Inputs

  • Gorilla® Glass multi-touch screen
  • Backlit Chrome keyboard
  • Clickable, etched-glass touchpad
  • Integrated 720p HD camera

    • Size / weight

  • 297.7 x 224.6 x 16.2 mm
  • 3.35 lbs / 1.52 kg

    • Industrial design

  • Machined from anodized aluminum
  • Active cooling with no visible vents
  • ENERGY STAR® certified

    • CPU

  • Intel® Core™ i5 processor (Dual Core 1.8GHz)
  • Intel® HD Graphics 4000 (Integrated)

    • Ports

  • 2 x USB 2.0
  • mini display port
  • SD / MMC card reader

    • Memory

  • 4GB DDR3 RAM

    • Storage

  • One terabyte Google Drive cloud storage for three years
  • 32GB solid state drive (64GB on LTE model)

    • Audio

  • Combo headphone/mic jack
  • Built-in microphone array
  • Integrated DSP for noise cancellation
  • Powerful stereo speakers tuned for clarity

    • Connectivity

  • Dual-band WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n 2×2
  • Bluetooth® 3.0
  • Built-in LTE modem (LTE model)

    • Battery

  • Up to 5 hours of active use (59 Wh battery)

    • Suggested Retail Price

  • $1,299

The quality of the product is outstanding and I should be reaching for my plastic but I’m not. A ZNet blog post by James Kendrick states it best.

So Google’s wonderful display on the Chromebook Pixel had the desired effect on me. It made me want a great display, so I bought a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display. I don’t think it ended quite the way Google hoped it would, though.

Why did Jim abandon the Pixel and spend $200 more for an Apple?

Perceived value.

  • Apple Brand
  • OS X
  • 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
  • 128GB flash storage
  • 7 hours of battery operation

In reality the price of the Pixel may very well be a great value for a laptop of this build quality, but the market expected something different. In my opinion priced at $699 or $799 sales would be viral and the Google Play store would be showing “Sold Out”.

Some things I would change to reach these price points.

  1. Replace Intel i5 with a low power ARM SoC (nVidia / Samsung / Qualcomm / LG / Others)
  2. As the product does not morph into a tablet, lose the touch screen
  3. Replace the anodized aluminum case with a stylish polycarbonate material
  4. Up battery operation to 7 hours

If the goal of Pixel was to make a statement the result has to be something different, something better, and something more affordable than a high end Ultra book or Mac book.

Hopefully the next round of Chromebooks will get there.

The post Chromebook Pixel – The Saga Continues appeared first on j-Baer.

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

FSA Fines Lloyds Banking Group GBP4.3M for Delayed PPI Redress

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The Financial Services Authority, or FSA, said Tuesday that it has fined three Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LLOY.LN) firms a total of 4.3 million pounds for failings in their systems and controls that resulted in up to 140,000 customers receiving delayed payment protection insurance, or PPI, redress. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines

Linux

John Baer: Waiting for the Nexus Chromebook

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I believe 2013 will be the year of the Google Chromebook. As evidence, in addition to Acer and Samsung, Lenovo has joined the ranks with the exciting introduction of the ThinkPad X131e targeted towards education at a suggested retail price of $429 (US).

Stacked up against other recent introductions, some would argue this is a premium price but a Chromebook should be about value and not price.

In my opinion, the technology is available to assemble a high end Chromebook and its time for Google to flex its innovative muscle, set the bar high, and get into the game. The goal of this product would be to entice folks to engage in the Google cloud experience by offering an Ultrabook like device. The assumption is this device will be used frequently for important purposes and its design and build should reflect this assumption.

The following is how I would put it together.

Case

The design of the case becomes a mix of aesthetics, durability, and function. As for me, I lean toward polycarbonate over metal as I would like the case to be durable with a matte finish to hide fingerprints. The product needs to feel firm to the grip and convey the message it’s strong enough to take a bump or two in everyday use. Weight is important but I can certainly live with a total weight around 1.15 to 1.75 kg (~2.5-4 lbs).

Screen

This is where I would put the money. I would go with a high quality 11.6 inch display with a resolution of 1920×1200 (HD) or greater coated with a matte finish to resist glare. A Nexus 10 resolution of (2560×1600) or a PPI greater than 200 would cinch the deal. The bottom line is Chrome OS is all about the web and the screen must display web content with clarity and great color accuracy.

Although touch screens are the vogue, with a keyboard and trackpad there is really no need to smear a great looking screen with an oily finger.

Keyboard / Trackpad

The Nexus Chromebook should have a full size chiclet-styled keyboard whose keys are responsive and comfortable with the ability to back light as needed. Out of the box, the first time you use it, the trackpad should just work. Finger rejection should be handled extremely well with accidental clicks being rare.

Sound

The web is rich with high quality audio content and the Nexus Chromebook must support it. I would add “Beats”, “THX”, or “Dolby” audio enhancements for high fidelity playback through headphones and install speakers capable delivering clear audio whether it’s in the form of a lecture on YouTube or tunes from Google music.

Performance / Battery

I would go with a high performance low power ARM processor. Nvidia Tegra, Samsung Exynos, or the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor should deliver a positive user experience. I would ship with 2 GB of RAM standard expandable to 4 GB. I believe expandable RAM is a mitigation to a commonly performed test performed by Chromebook reviewers. The test is how many open/active browser tabs will the hardware support without noticeable delays.

I would power all this with a replaceable Lithium polymer battery capable of 7 hours or more of operation.

Connectivity

The Nexus Chromebook should deliver the very best WI-FI experience. This includes dual-band, dual-antennas supporting WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (MIMO+HT40).

In addition to WI-FI, the latest BlueTooth and USB should be supported.

Camera / Camcorder

This is a situation where you need to pick your battles wisely. The question is how much value does a high resolution camera add to a device like this? I suggest the process of taking pictures is better served by a smaller device like a Smart Phone. However, including a HD webcam for video conferencing adds value.

Storage

This is quick sand. The truth is in most cases 16 GB of storage is adequate when you leverage the cloud but it sounds inadequate. Folks rationalize larger amounts of storage by stating there will be times when the cloud is not available and they want to listen to tunes or watch a movie. From a marketing perspective offering 32 or 64 GB of storage is a wise move.

Goodies
  • Accelerometer
  • GPS
  • Gyroscope
  • Barometer
  • Ambient Light
  • Compass
  • Mic
Wrap up

Now here is the conundrum. This is not a new idea as this device already exists in some form or another from manufacturers like Asus, Acer and Lenovo running the Android operating system. In the case of Asus you have the “Transformer” series, Acer the “ICONIA W5”, and the “IdeaTab” from Lenovo. In addition, the market is seeing new products from Microsoft running Windows 8.

Google needs to take a leadership role, assume a calculated risk, and build a high end Nexus Chromebook as waiting too long will be an opportunity missed and a void someone else will fill.

Price

$499.00 – 16 GB + 100 GB of Google Drive Cloud Storage for 2 years
$549.00 – 32 GB + 100 GB of Google Drive Cloud Storage for 2 years

The post Waiting for the Nexus Chromebook appeared first on j-Baer.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Planet Ubuntu