Sunday, August 9, 2009

8/9/09 Sun.CSCO in Barron's

Post #45 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. The following is not intended as advertising by a broker-dealer and is not a research report.

A read of Sunday's 8/9/09 print editions of: The New York Times and Barron's 8/10/09 yielded the following stories about Dow Jones 30 component companies:

Barron's announced it was cutting back on it statistical information and apparently it is cutting back on its Dow Jones Industrial Average component coverage because there really isn't much in the current issue. CSCO is discussed in two storied "A Penny for Your Thoughts, Tops" by Tiernan Ray at p24 and a piece by Mark Veverka, "Let's Hope This is Cisco's Tipping Point." Ray says that time was when CSCO's CEO John Chambers spoke, peole pistened but last Wed. when he toold an audience that CSCO saw a pickup in its business for the 3 months ended in July the stock market shrugged and NASDAQ Composite Index fell 1% the next day. Veverka says that nothing would improve CSCO's outlook more than a steadily improving economy. CSCO beat expectations for its 3Q last week but only after analysts took machetes to their original forecasts. CSCO reported a 46% dip in profits and 18% revenue drop. CSCO's shares have climbed 63% from their March low, closing Fri. at 22.19. CSCO is facing pressure on margins in switches and CSCO's diversification into lower margin consumer products is giving Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski pause so she has kept her neutral rating intact on CSCO.

Ray's article also mentions that Leap Wireless and Metro PCS represent a combined 11 million US wireless subscribers and both reported higher rates of "churn" customers defecting to other providers. Leap and Metro can make life tough for the two richest phone companies VZ Verizon and T AT&T but most of those switching are switching to prepaid cellular.

Front page of NY Times Business Section has a story about how pharmacies are selling people's prescription histories to marketers. MSFT Microsoft, Google and WebMD all say whey will not show advertising alonside a person's health records. But visitors to WebMD, Google Health and MSFT's site, HealthVault, see ads for drugs for diseases like osteoporosis or acid reflux as they seek information on an array of ailments. MSFT acknowledtges that the privacy rules in the stimulus law apply to them.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's Blog that AJC at pA13 said that DIS's Disneyland hotel workers in Anaheim, Calif rejected a contract offer from Dis because of a dispute over health care premiums. More than 90% of voting union members rejected the contract and there could be a strike of the 2,100 members at the Paradise Piers, Disneyland and Grand California hotels. The union has been without a contract for 18 months.

THE FOLLOWING APPEARED IN SATURAY'S BLOG:

A read of Saturday's 8/8/09 print editions of:Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Atl Journal Const, 8/7 - 13/09 Atlanta Business Chronicle, 8/24/09 issue of Forbes, 8/17/09 issue of Business Week, and yielded the following stories about Dow Jones 30 component companies:

The current divisor for the Dow found at today's page B4 (during the week it is at page C4) of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged.

XOM Exxon Mobil is on the cover of this week's Forbes as Energy Company of the year because it uses both political approaches and the engineer's aproach to go green. In July XOM said it would invest $600 mil into algae farms that would turn sunlight into auto fuel. Also XOM is going to reduce carbon in the atmosphere by drilling for natural gas in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar by completing a $30 billion projec there to develop the world's biggest natural gas field.

NYT pB6 "Stocks & Bonds" says Dis Disney helped push yesterday's Dow up by finishing 5.2% higher. Related story "Dow Gained 2.2% During the Week" saying the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its highest level in more than 9 months, and AXP Amex was a front runner, as was JPM JPM Morgan.

WSJ pB5 in an article about Target Corp's online sales says that WMT WalMart and other retailers offer a service that allows shoppers to orde products online and pick them up in the stores without incurring shipping fees. Story says the 4 most popular online retailers in US are Amazon, Apple, WMT and Target.

WSJ pB5 "Chevron makes Angolan Oil Find" says CVX made a significant oil discovery in Angola's offshore waters and is separate from the p$3.8 billion project also in Angola's offshore waters where CVX is set to start pumoing crude in the next few days.

WSJ pB5 "Ex-Employees File Lawsuit against HP Over Sales Pay" says 3 former salespeople have sued HPQ Hewlett Packard for back pay, alleging that HPQ failed to properly pay employee sales commissions due to faulty software.

Bus Week p 65 says HPQ's new printer will make it easier to browse the Internet and also says its $399 Photosmart will appeal to a broad consumer market.

WSJ pB1 says Berhshire Hathaway's Earnings for 2Q were up sharply partly because BAC BofA gained nearly 1005 and AXP Amex was up 70%.

WSJ pB10 "Overheard" takes a shot at GE's Jeffrey Immelt quoting him about auditors while noting that GE got hit with an SEC complaint last week involving improper accounting to boost earnings.

NYT pB1 "At Fox and MSNBC, Hosts Refire the Insult Machines" says MSNBC and Fox News Cahnnel temporarily resumed their long running fued this week after their parent companies, GE and the News corporation had struck a deal to stop each other's televised personal MSNBC's Keith Olbermann called Fox's Bill O'Reilly a "racist clown."

NYT pB2 "Merck and schering-Plough Shareholders Back Merger" and AJC pA13 says the merger of Schering Plough into MRK Merck was approved which will make MRK the 2nd larges prescrption drug maker in the world behind PFE Pfizer.

Forbes p13 in an editorial against antitrust enforcement says the gov should leave the Microsoft-Yahoo deal alone and mentions IBM's fight years ago against antitrust charges involving its dominant position in the mainframe computer market.

Forbes p30 "Paint It Fat - Olestra, the fake fat with the messy reputation, makes a comeback as a paitn" says when PG Procter & Gamble launched olestra in '96, the fake, calorie free fat was hailed as a dieter's dram but the food additive's purported laxative properties made it the butt of jokes and sales dried up. Now a form of olestra is back as a lube that keeps pvc from sticking to molds.

Forbes p66 has an article about Zestra a topical potion made from evening primrose that enchances sexual stimulation for women that is sold at retailers such as WMT Walmart all of whom charged hefty placement fees.

Forbes p98 says CSCO believes that video will account for 80% of Internet data traffic within four years and Martin De Beer has been charged with upgrading all of CSCO's products to prepare them for the expected video flood, a venture that involves a third of CSCO's 24,000 engineers.

Bus Week p5 reports the BofA SEC settlement of $33 but was printed too late to mention that the fed Judge in NYC failed to approve it without a hearing to be held Monday.

AJC pA13 says Hd Home Depot agreed to pay $85,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging retailation involving an employee in Evergreen, Colo. who was fired after filing a sex discrimination complaint in '04.

Atl. Bus. Chron. p1A "Chase plans major expansion of Atlanta branches" says a year after it acquired 55 Washington Mutual branches in Atlanta, JPM JPMogan hase plans to grow its Atlanta branch network. JPM will ebrand the 55 local Washington Mutual branches on 8/10/09.

Atl. Bus. Chron p10A "Home Depot exec's ex-wife gets jail time for scheme" says Melissa Deaton Tesvich, the ex wife of a HD Home Depot exec who is serving 6 years in prison for heading a multimillion dollar fraud scheme against HD was herself sentenced 8/3 to 2 years in prison for filing a false tax return.

THE FOLLOWING APPEARED IN FRIDAY AFTERNOON'S BLOG:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 9370.07 up 113.81 or 1.23% from Thursday's close of 9256.26. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 19 gained and 6 declined with the biggest loser being BAC Bank of Am $16.42 -0.28 1.68% 380,920,733 CSCO $22.308 +0.138 0.62% 83,259,817 NYSE and the biggest gainer being IBM $119.33 +1.95 1.66% 5,751,945 NYSE. The Dow gained 198.46 for the week up 2.16% from last Friday's close of 9171.61.

The current divisor for the Dow found at today's page C4 of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged.

Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1239.84 up 15.06 from Thursday's closing Dow numerator of 1224.78. This is the sum of all 30 closing prices. A short cut to the Dow numerator is to multiply the closing Dow by the Divisor.

Now, if you divide the Dow numerator increase for today of 15.06 by the divisor you get 113.81, the increase in Friday's Dow close.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 41.33 up 0.50 from Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of 40.83. The median closing price of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 37.60 up 0.99 Thursday's Dow Jones median closing price of 36.61.

The highest closing price Friday again was IBM $119.33 +1.95 1.66% 5,751,945 NYSE and the lowest closing price Friday again was Alcoa AA $13 +0.20 1.56% 49,056,675 NYSE.

The lowest volume Friday was MMM $72.9 +0.50 0.69% 4,454,596 NYSE and the highest volume again was BAC BofAm $1616.42 -0.28 1.68% 380,920,733 NYSE.

If Friday morning before the market opened you had purchased $100 of each of the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 shares (assuming you could buy fractional shares and assuming no transaction costs) and sold at the close you would have made 1,494 ($123,984 - $122,490).

Friday's Closing Dow closing numbers:
Symb/Last/Change/% Change/Vol./Market

T $25.62 +0.07 0.27% 19,710,389 NYSE
AA $13 +0.20 1.56% 49,056,675 NYSE
AXP $32.69 +1.38 4.41% 26,247,873 NYSE
BAC $16.42 -0.28 1.68% 380,920,733 NYSE
BA $46.69 +1.17 2.57% 6,685,718 NYSE
CAT $47.78 +0.64 1.36% 15,346,648 NYSE
CVX $69.5 +0.25 0.36% 9,081,414 NYSE
CSCO $22.19 -0.118 0.53% 46,880,517 NASDAQ-GS
KO $49.34 -0.05 0.1% 6,636,563 NYSE
DIS $26.69 +1.32 5.2% 14,302,856 NYSE
DD $32.83 +0.37 1.14% 9,377,307 NYSE
XOM $69.47 -0.26 0.37% 18,025,620 NYSE
GE $14.7 +0.39 2.73% 95,639,022 NYSE
HPQ $43.54 +1.33 3.15% 19,252,351 NYSE
HD $27.26 +0.72 2.71% 16,372,254 NYSE
INTC $18.5 -0.20 1.07% 59,398,382 NASDAQ-GS
IBM $119.33 +1.95 1.66% 5,751,945 NYSE
JPM $42.36 +1.61 3.95% 65,612,168 NYSE
JNJ $59.9 -0.03 0.05% 9,968,249 NYSE
KFT $28.7 +0.34 1.2% 8,120,462 NYSE
MCD $55.2 +0.36 0.66% 8,121,002 NYSE
MRK $30.1 +0.74 2.52% 13,024,848 NYSE
MSFT $23.56 +0.10 0.43% 46,162,750 NASDAQ-GS
PFE $15.96 +0.17 1.08% 39,427,043 NYSE
PG $52.03 +0.57 1.11% 16,299,956 NYSE
MMM $72.9 +0.50 0.69% 4,454,596 NYSE
TRV $47.46 +0.68 1.45% 6,864,357 NYSE
UTX $55.59 +0.53 0.96% 5,602,864 NYSE
VZ $31.08 +0.12 0.39% 10,300,039 NYSE
WMT $49.29 +0.31 0.63% 13,393,686 NYSE