Stock Trading

In this article, I will look at a brief history for shares outstanding for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA). The reason I am looking at share counts is that there are two parts to the EPS equation of [Net Income/Shares Outstanding], and the one that always gets the most focus is net income. When a company reduces the share count, it can still have the same amount of net income but the EPS will be higher because of the reduced share count, and with a higher EPS the company could still trade at the same multiple but the share price would be higher. With the market at all-time highs, I thought it was a good time to see what the supply of stock [shares outstanding] was. Data For each of the stocks in the Dow, I went to the Morningstar Key Ratios page for each stock and copy

Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA): Following a meeting with EA’s management, Stifel says that its margin outlook has improved, that the company has several positive catalysts to support a Buy rating, and subsequently raised its price target from $22 to $26. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP): Positive Q4 results and a dividend and buyback announcement lead Deutsche Bank to remain upbeat on shares of NetApp, and it keeps a Buy rating on the name. The firm also raised its price target from $40 to $48. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Allstate (NYSE:ALL): Deutsche Bank believes that Allstate will likely have to write off $100 million to $300 million in pre-tax losses as a result of the tornado in Oklahoma, and has subsequently lowered its 2013 earnings estimates for the company by $0.25. However, it keeps a Buy rating and a $57 price target on the shares. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! AMD (NYSE:AMD): Jefferies finds estimates to be conservative following the debut of the Xbox One, as well as the win for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 4. Jefferies keeps a Buy rating and $5 price target on the shares. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Don’t Miss: Is Bing Really Better Than Google Search? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM): Current price $92.40 Exxon Mobil has announced that it will donate $500,000 to the American Red Cross so as to provide disaster relief assistance after the recent tornadoes in Oklahoma and the southwest United States. Chairman and Chief Executive Rex W. Tillerson said, “We extend our heartfelt sympathies to all who have been impacted by the devastating tornadoes. It is our hope that our donation to the Red Cross will help in this very difficult time.”  XTO Energy, ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, has a sizable presence in Oklahoma with 250 employees in Oklahoma City, McAlester, Ardmore, Elk City, Ringwood and Tyrone. Beyond that, ExxonMobil Chemical Company has a polypropylene films manufacturing plant in Shawnee, which has 340 employees. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HPQ): Current price $21.24 An Oregon Tax Court judge has decided that Hewlett-Packard’s campus in Corvallis was overvalued by the Oregon Department of Revenue on property tax bills from 2008 until 2011, and that might cost Benton County $9.5 million in tax revenue. Department spokesman Derrick Gasperini said that the agency is still reviewing the opinion and has yet to decide whether to appeal by the mid-June deadline. Oregon and Hewlett-Packard Co. placed quite different valuations on the 180-acre site, as the state valued the property at $337 million for the 2010-11 tax year, while the firm said it was worth $204 million. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ): Current price $88.85 The company recently won FDA approval for the expansion of Simponi’s label, as the agency awarded Simponi approval for the treatment of adults suffering from moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis in case of corticosteroid dependence, or when the patients have not responded sufficiently to or are intolerant to oral aminosalicylates, oral corticosteroids, azathioprine, or 6-mercaptopurine. The label expansion makes Simponi the first and sole subcutaneously administered anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy to obtain approval for the induction and maintenance of clinical response and improvement of endoscopic appearance of the mucosa during induction. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! Don’t Miss: Are These Companies Rigging Oil Prices? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

Pfizer, Inc. (NYSE:PFE) announced Wednesday that it will split off its remaining interest in animal health company, Zoetic Inc. (ZTS), through an exchange offer. The decision comes as the company is working to refocus its interest on human drugs and vaccines, leading it to shed nonpharmaceutical assets over the past two years. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! The world’s largest drugmaker spun off Madison, New Jersey-based Zoetis almost four months ago and now is ready to reduce its 80.2 percent stake. Zoetis completed its initial public offering in February when Pfizer sold nearly 20 percent of its shares. Though the company indicated it might eventually sell off its remaining stake, it never confirmed when. Pfizer’s decision to sell comes earlier than most analysts expected, but Zoetis’ solid performance of shares likely led the company to act sooner rather than later. ”Given the strong demand in the IPO and a favorable market environment, we concluded that now is the appropriate time to distribute our remaining stake in Zoetis,” Pfizer Chief Executive Ian Reid explained as reported by Bloomberg. In a statement released Wednesday, Pfizer announced that their shareholders would have the option of exchanging their shares for Zoetis stock in a tax-free transaction. Should the exchange be fully subscribed, Zoetis will become fully independent.  Pfizer shareholders will be given the opportunity to obtain Zoetis shares at a 7 percent discount, with an upper limit of 0.9898 shares of Zoetis stock per Pfizer share. The final exchange ratio will be announced June 19, and according to The Wall Street Journal, Zoetis is excited about the prospect of its independence. ”We have been preparing for this day for nearly two years, and we are excited by the opportunity to stand on our own as the world’s leading animal health company,” Zoetis Chief Executive Juan Ramon Alaix said. NEW! Discover a new stock idea each week for less than the cost of 1 trade. CLICK HERE for your Weekly Stock Cheat Sheets NOW! The separation will mark the end of Reid’s plans to streamline the company and focus on the production of new drugs. Last year, Pfizer sold its baby food unit to Nestle SA. Additionally, Pfizer has worked to cut costs and improve its research and development after it lost its market exclusivity for its big-selling cholesterol drug Lipitor and other drugs. Zoetis shares closed Tuesday at $33.04, up 27 percent since the IPO. Pfizer shares rose 3.11 percent to $29.67 as of 12 p.m. New York time, while Zoetis fell -1.15% percent to 32.66. Don’t Miss: Will Obamacare Leave Your Spouse Behind? Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

M&A activity seems to be picking up recently. This week Yahoo (YHOO) picked up Tumblr for over $1B despite the fact the company had just ~$13mm worth of annual revenue at the time of acquisition. Data & web security firm Websense (WBSN) was also acquired for a little over $900mm by Vista Equity Partners on Tuesday which was just under a 30% premium to its current stock price prior to offer. Strengthening M&A activity makes logical sense here given low financing costs and the return of "animal spirits" into the market.I particularly like the prospect of increased takeovers in the tech space given the huge amount of cash on the balance sheets of most of the large cap players in Technology. Two stocks that could make logical acquisition targets are profiled below. I am playing both by buying out of the money bull call spread positions.

Fiserv, Inc. (FISV) May 22, 2013 11:00 am ET Executives Donald F. Dillon - Chairman Charles W. Sprague - Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary Jeffery W. Yabuki - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director Analysts David J. Koning - Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated, Research Division Presentation Donald F. Dillon Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Don Dillon, Chairman of the Board of Fiserv. Thank you for joining us today for our Annual Meeting of Stockholders being held at the Milwaukee Art Museum, one of the most iconic buildings in Wisconsin. This meeting is also being broadcast live over the Internet at fiserv.com and an archive will be available on our website following the meeting. Before we get started, allow me to introduce the members of our board who are here and present today. Chris Flink, a partner of IDEO and Controlling Associate Professor at Stanford University.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (APC) 2013 UBS Global Oil and Gas Conference Call May 22, 2013 8:30 am ET Executives Frank J. Patterson – Vice President-Exploration Presentation Unidentified Analyst Okay, if I could ask everyone to get seated, we’re going to get started, and we’ve a very exciting presentation to kickoff the second day. Anadarko Petroleum, whose terrific growth story from a combination of shale growth in the U.S., and deepwater developments internationally, from arguably one of the best exploration programs in the energy sector. And here to tell us about it is, Frank Patterson, Vice President of Exploration. Frank? Frank J. Patterson Thank you. Good morning. So for those of you in the back that haven’t found seats yet, I think there’s some up here to the left. I know it’s a crowded room this morning, so let’s see if we can get people livened up. First off, this is

The rural economy is still the bright spot as the Rural Mainstreet Index (RMI) strengthened to its highest level since December 2012. Strong farm income and high commodity prices have driven the farmland price index above growth neutral for the 42nd consecutive month.The RMI increased to 58.8 from 58.3 in the April survey. Bankers were asked what the biggest risks were to the rural economy and 60% indicated a decrease in commodity prices was the biggest risk for 2013. (click to enlarge) Agriculture The farmland price index decreased to a still strong 62.1 from 66.9 in April but has decreased five of the last six months. Ernie Goss, the Jack A. MacAllister Chair in Regional Economics at Creighton University, commented, "Since the beginning of the year, the U.S. dollar has climbed in value by 5 percent, this has been a factor pushing farm commodity prices downward. For example, corn

On Wednesday, gold (NYSEARCA:GLD) futures for June delivery, the most active contract, dipped $10.20 to close at $1,367.40 per ounce, while silver (NYSEARCA:SLV) futures for July edged 2 cents higher to finish at $22.47. Both precious metals received knee-jerk movements during the day as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told the Joint Economic Committee in Washington D.C., “A premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further.” However, he also said that concerns over “frothiness” and “bubbles” were rising and declined to rule out tapering before Labor Day. The latest Federal Open Market Committee minutes were also released. The central bank stated, “A number of participants expressed willingness to adjust the flow of purchases downward as early as the June meeting if the economic information received by that time showed evidence of sufficiently strong and sustained growth; however, views differed about what evidence would be necessary and the likelihood of that outcome. One participant preferred to begin decreasing the rate of purchases immediately, while another participant preferred to add more monetary accommodation at the current meeting and mentioned that the Committee had several other tools it could potentially use to do so.” Shortly after the minutes, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA:GLD) fell 1 percent, while the iShares Silver Trust (NYSEARCA:SLV) edged slightly into the red before regaining ground. All three major stock indices also headed lower after the FOMC minutes. Don’t Miss: Is the Housing Bubble Already Making a Comeback? Follow Eric on Twitter (@Mr_Eric_WSCS) If you would like to receive professional analysis on miners and other precious metal investments, we invite you to try our premium service free for 14 days. Disclosure: Long EXK, AG, HL, PHYS Read the original article from Wall St. Cheat Sheet

I do not believe that Intel (INTC) will be building Apple's (AAPL) "A" series processors anytime soon, and on the flip side, I have absolutely no reason to believe that Apple will suddenly drop its in-house CPU and SoC development efforts and switch to Intel's in-house Atom processors anytime soon. Apple will probably keep having chips built at Samsung (SSNLF.PK) or, if it really wants out of the Samsung relationship, build them at TSMC (TSM). Apple's Design Points Differs from Intel's There seems to be this notion that Apple needs to have the absolute best processor hardware in its phones to effectively compete - I submit to you that this is probably not true. Apple's major strength in its system-on-chip designs has actually been to include just enough CPU power and then go all-out on graphics hardware. This, I believe, is one of the key reasons that