Saturday, November 21, 2009

11/21/09 Sat. Hershey Trustees Back Cadbury Bid vs. Kraft

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Post #223 The following is brought to you by Intellivest Securities Research, Inc. Towards the end of this Blog is a list of the Dow 30 CEO's, a ranking of the Dow 30 by market capitalization as of close of 11/6/09 and an update of the Dow 30's most recent SEC filings as of 11/6/09.

A read of Saturday's 11/20/09 print editions of: Wall St. Journal, 11/21 - 22 Financial Times, New York Times, USA Today, 11/23/09 Investors Bus. Daily, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Fourth Quarter issue of NYSE Magazine yielded the following stories about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 component companies and the Dow with stories about the Dow aggregated first and then items about Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 companies presented alphabetically, followed by symbol and Friday's closing price and related data:

Dow: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 10,318.16 down 14.28 or 0.14% from Thursday's close of 10,332.44. For the week the Dow was up 47.69 0.46%. Of the 30 Dow Companies: 21 declined and 9 gained. The biggest gainer dollar-wise and percentage-wise was Merck MRK $36.46 +1.13 3.2% 36,277,143 NYSE. The biggest decliner dollar-wise and percentage-wise was Caterpillar CAT $57.95 0.66 1.13% 8,692,203 YSE.

WSJ pB3 "Dell Slides 10%; Smucker Gains" by Geoffrey Rogow says a bigger-than-expected drop in Dell's latest quarterly earnings and a pullback for global industrials, including Caterpillar, pushed stocks lower Friday, though continued strength for some defensive blue chips like Merck kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the black for the week. Weighing on the index was a drop for Caterpillar of 1.1% and GE down 1.1%. Pfizer rose 1.4% after the FDA approved both a treatment for a type of bipolar disorder and one for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

NYT pB6 "Shares Finish Lower on Doubts About Recovery" by Javier C. Hernandez says the stock market finished slightly lower on Friday as investors worred about the speed of the economic recovvery and questioned the fast rise of tec stocks. It was a relatively quiet day on Wall St., with no economic reports on the calendar, but traders still found reason fro caution.

Inv. Bus. Daily pA1 "Leaders Mostly Quiet As 2 Indexes Suffer Distribution" by Paul Whitfield says stocks lost more ground Friday, but action among leading firms was quiet. Only a couple of top rated stocks moved up or down in fast trade. The current outlook is uptrend under pressure.

Fin Times p14 "Dell's profit plunge adds to concern over recovery" by Samantha Pearson says US stocks edged lower yesterday afer disappointing results from Dell added to fears this week that the economic recovery was faltering. The second largest pc maker said profits had plunged 54% during 3Q. Dell has gradually lost market share to rivals such as Hewlett-Packard which last week reported better than expected quarterly results.

As of the close of the market Friday, the current divisor for the Dow found at page B4 of The Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged, the trailing P/E ratio is 17.87 down from Friday's 17.90 (year ago it was 16.85) the P/E estimate is 16.04 up from Friday's 15.82 (year ago it was 8.95) and the current dividend yield is 2.70 up from Friday's 2.69 (it was 4.03 a year ago).

Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1365.29 down 1.89 from Thursday's closing Dow numerator of 1367.18. 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 decrease of 1.89 for Frisday by the divisor you get the decrease in Friday's Dow close of 14.28.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 45.51 down 0.06 from Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of $45.57. The median closing price of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was $41.70 down 0.15 from Thursday's Dow Jones median closing price of $41.85. The lowest volume Thursday was 3M MMM $76.64 0.61 0.79% 3,025,314 NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $16.09 +0.01 0.06% 127,726,139 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 lost $180.
($136,710 - $136,530)

AT&T T $26.02 0.09 0.34% 23,557,729 NYSE: No mentions found.

Alcoa AA $13.13 0.09 0.68% 22,267,842 NYSE: No mentions found.

American Express AXP $40.93 0.21 0.51% 10,647,343 NYSE: No mentions found.

Bank of America BAC $16.09 +0.01 0.06% 127,726,139 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "BofA's Lewis May Consider Postponing Retirement" by Dan Fitzpatrick says Bank of America Corp. CEO Kenneth Lewis has said he would consider postponing his retirement if directors need more time to find a successor or smooth the transition to the next CEO. His willingness to stay beyond his planned 12/31 retirement date is the latest sign of the difficulties directors have faced in finding a successor.

WSJ pB2 "J.P. Morgan Drops Card Dispute Arbitration Rules" says JPM is dropping a clause that required credit card customers to use arbitration to settle collection disputes. Customers and consumer advocates have long opposed the mandatory arbitration. Bank of America announced in Aug. that it was dropping its clause.

WSJ pB3 "IPOs of Archipelago, China's 7 Days Rise 14%" by Lynn Cowan says online education company Archipelago Learning Inc. and 7 Days Group Holdings Ltd., which operates the third largest brand of economy hotels in China, both closed up 14% from their ipo prices. Archipelago's IPO was managed by Bank of America Corp.s Bank of America Merrill Lynch unit; 7 Days Group's, by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc.

WSJ pB4 "Wall Street's Christmas Jeer" by Michael Corkery says big banks have canceled their holiday parties this year and the backlash against banker bonuses and bailouts of financial institutions. Bank of America says it does not host or fund corporate wide, regional, line of business or staff holiday parties.

Boeing BA $51.7 +0.27 0.52% 4,685,210 NYSE: WSJ pB5 "Boeing Breaks Ground On Dreamliner Plant" by Peter Sanders says Boeing Co. on Fri.broke ground in North Charleston, SC on a second assembly facility for its long delayed 787 Dreamliner across the country from its traditional plane making hub in Seattle. Boeing last month chose SC over the current Dreamliner final assembly site in Everett, Wash. to locate a second plant, where prebuilt sections of thier airliners are to be put together.

Caterpillar CAT $57.95 0.66 1.13% 8,692,203 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "Dell Slides 10%; Smucker Gains" by Geoffrey Rogow says a bigger-than-expected drop in Dell's latest quarterly earnings and a pullback for global industrials, including Caterpillar, pushed stocks lower Friday, though continued strength for some defensive blue chips like Merck kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the black for the week. Weighing on the index was a drop for Caterpillar of 1.1% and GE down 1.1%. Pfizer rose 1.4% after the FDA approved both a treatment for a type of bipolar disorder and one for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

NYSE Mag p16 "On A Roll" profiles new CEO Greg Wasson at Walgreens. Walgreens is branching into health and wellness servicess, a shift in strategy for the drugstore chain that Charles R. Walgreen founded in 1901 in Chicago. Historically Walgreens has been recognized for its intense focus on growing earnings through the expansion of its network of stores. This allowed it to achieve 34 consecutive years of record sales and earnings, a feat accomplished by only one other major US firm: Walmart Stores, Inc. Walgreens uses green building techniques and they now have 100 different environmental projects some in conjunction with GE such as developing energy efficient lighting for stores, a project the two firms have done since '68. Walgreens is starting an "affordable essentials" section, a display of 12 of the most frequently purchased items, for example, laundry detergent, facial tissue, shampoo and over the counter painkillers. One product per category is offered, from a supplier such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson Or Walgreens' store brand, at a competitive price. Walgreens health and Wellness division is the largest operator of worksite health centers and pharmacies in the nation and has 370 clinics on or near employer campuses including at Disney. Walgreens just signed an agreement with Caterpillar to provide proprietary transparent pricing for prescriptions filled by employees under CAT's drug benefit plan.

Chevron CVX $76.77 0.57 0.74% 10,518,961 NYSE: WSJ pA10 "Exxon Gets Renewals Of leases In Nigeria" by Will Connors says Exxon Mobil Corp. ended months of negotiations with Nigeria by renewing 3 oil leases for fields Exxon operates in Nigeria. The 3 leases for sites that produce more than 50,000 barrels a day, were extended for another 20 years with an option to renew. The gov had asked for about $4 bil for the leases, but Exxon paid less than $1 bil. Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC also have several leases expiring this month.

Cisco CSCO $23.46 0.22 0.93% 36,180,447 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

Coca-Cola KO $57.48 +0.60 1.05% 10,319,604 NYSE: WSJ pB1 "Dividend Payers Return to the Fore" by Larry Light says after lagging behind for most of this year, dividend paying stocks are again outperforming the market. While stocks that don't offer payouts have shot up 5% so far this year, those that pay dividends have returned a much more modest 21.3%. Investors are moving money out of non dividend-paying tech stocks and into dividend stalwarts such as Coca-Cola Co. which has raised its payout annually for the past 25 years. The financial sector has been a traditionally robust dividend payer but they no longer are good payers; their yields have plummeted to a fraction of 1% and few believe that dividends will be restored any time soon. To conserve capital, major banks have radically pared dividends earlier this year, even the healthiest ones like J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Disney DIS $30.01 0.20 0.66% 9,112,830 NYSE: NYSE Mag p16 "On A Roll" profiles new CEO Greg Wasson at Walgreens. Walgreens is branching into health and wellness servicess, a shift in strategy for the drugstore chain that Charles R. Walgreen founded in 1901 in Chicago. Historically Walgreens has been recognized for its intense focus on growing earnings through the expansion of its network of stores. This allowed it to achieve 34 consecutive years of record sales and earnings, a feat accomplished by only one other major US firm: Walmart Stores, Inc. Walgreens uses green building techniques and they now have 100 different environmental projects some in conjunction with GE such as developing energy efficient lighting for stores, a project the two firms have done since '68. Walgreens is starting an "affordable essentials" section, a display of 12 of the most frequently purchased items, for example, laundry detergent, facial tissue, shampoo and over the counter painkillers. One product per category is offered, from a supplier such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson Or Walgreens' store brand, at a competitive price. Walgreens health and Wellness division is the largest operator of worksite health centers and pharmacies in the nation and has 370 clinics on or near employer campuses including at Disney. Walgreens just signed an agreement with Caterpillar to provide proprietary transparent pricing for prescriptions filled by employees under CAT's drug benefit plan.

DuPont DD $34.51 0.09 0.26% 5,879,093 NYSE: No mentions found.

ExxonMobil XOM $74.38 0.27 0.36% 19,065,539 NYSE: WSJ pA10 "Exxon Gets Renewals Of leases In Nigeria" by Will Connors says Exxon Mobil Corp. ended months of negotiations with Nigeria by renewing 3 oil leases for fields Exxon operates in Nigeria. The 3 leases for sites that produce more than 50,000 barrels a day, were extended for another 20 years with an option to renew. The gov had asked for about $4 bil for the leases, but Exxon paid less than $1 bil. Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC also have several leases expiring this month.

GE $15.59 0.17 1.08% 63,568,347 NYSE: NYT pB2 "GE and Vivendi Halt Talks Over Stake in NBC" by Andrew Ross Sorkin, Tim Arango says talks between GE and Vivendi over the future of NBC Universal have stalled. The sides appear to be at least $500 mmil apart on ow to value NBC Universal, which GE is hoping to sell to Comcast, the big cable tv company. GE and Comcast were hoping to announce a deal as early as Monday but now the deal is at least a week away. GE has been negotiating for weeks with Vivendi over buying its stake and then selling a majority interest in NBC to Comcast.

Similar story at Inv. Bus. Daily pA5 "Vivendi Stake May Complicate Things For Comcast-NBC" &AJC pA13.

WSJ pB3 "Dell Slides 10%; Smucker Gains" by Geoffrey Rogow says a bigger-than-expected drop in Dell's latest quarterly earnings and a pullback for global industrials, including Caterpillar, pushed stocks lower Friday, though continued strength for some defensive blue chips like Merck kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the black for the week. Weighing on the index was a drop for Caterpillar of 1.1% and GE down 1.1%. Pfizer rose 1.4% after the FDA approved both a treatment for a type of bipolar disorder and one for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ $50.04 +0.22 0.44% 14,334,709 NYSE: Fin Times p14 "Dell's profit plunge adds to concern over recovery" by Samantha Pearson says US stocks edged lower yesterday afer disappointing results from Dell added to fears this week that the economic recovery was faltering. The second largest pc maker said profits had plunged 54% during 3Q. Dell has gradually lost market share to rivals such as Hewlett-Packard which last week reported better than expected quarterly results.

Home Depot HD $27.18 +0.07 0.26% 17,298,732 NYSE: No mentions found.

Intel INTC $19.24 0.06 0.31% 48,741,342 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

IBM $126.96 0.58 0.45% 5,312,986 NYSE:

J.P.Morgan Chase JPM $42.46 0.09 0.21% 25,221,159 NYSE: WSJ pB2 "J.P. Morgan Drops Card Dispute Arbitration Rules" & AJC pA13 say JPM is dropping a clause that required credit card customers to use arbitration to settle collection disputes. Customers and consumer advocates have long opposed the mandatory arbitration. Bank of America announced in Aug. that it was dropping its clause.

On the cover of Forbes is Jamie Dimon with the headline "Master Banker, master Schmmozer, Jamie Dimon's play to shape financial reform" with a story by Anita Raghavan at p90 all about Dimon.


WSJ pB1 "Dividend Payers Return to the Fore" by Larry Light says after lagging behind for most of this year, dividend paying stocks are again outperforming the market. While stocks that don't offer payouts have shot up 5% so far this year, those that pay dividends have returned a much more modest 21.3%. Investors are moving money out of non dividend-paying tech stocks and into dividend stalwarts such as Coca-Cola Co. which has raised its payout annually for the past 25 years. The financial sector has been a traditionally robust dividend payer but they no longer are good payers; their yields have plummeted to a fraction of 1% and few believe that dividends will be restored any time soon. To conserve capital, major banks have radically pared dividends earlier this year, even the healthiest ones like J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

WSJ pB3 "IPOs of Archipelago, China's 7 Days Rise 14%" by Lynn Cowan says online education company Archipelago Learning Inc. and 7 Days Group Holdings Ltd., which operates the third largest brand of economy hotels in China, both closed up 14% from their ipo prices. Archipelago's IPO was managed by Bank of America Corp.s Bank of America Merrill Lynch unit; 7 Days Group's, by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ
$62.31 0.12 0.19% 16,270,346 NYSE: Fin Times p9 "J&J stays true to its diversified model" by Andrew Jack says Johnson & Johnson's long standing healthcare conglomerate model has come back into fashion after a period of breakups and divestments in the pharma industry. However, JNJ's diversified opeations have not shielded it from the pain of many of its peers. Last week it unveiled job cuts for up to 7% of its staff worldwide, or more than 8,000 employees. William Wledon, ceo, defends the firm's strategy with its 3 broad divisions of medicaal devices, consumer heaatlh and pharmas. In recent weeks, JNJ took minority stakes n Crucell and Elan, two businesses that are active in vaccines and drugs. the market has recognizeed the benefits of the JNJ model in softening the impact of patent expiries and research setbacks and not relying on a single market. William Weldon is pictured in a photo that highlights his resemblance to the Mission Impossible tv star, Peter Graves.

Inv. Bus. Daily pA14 "Big Pharma Mergers: Good News Or Bad?" by Peer Benesh says more than $160 bil worth of buyouts invoolving top drugmakers has already been done in '09 including Pfizer's buy of Wyeth, Merck's buy of Schering-Plough, Roche Holdings buy of Genenech and Abbott Labs buy of Solvay. Pfizer's buy of Wyeth was done to bolster its top line as well as diversity its product lineup. Pfizer hasn't grown annual sales since '06. It's expected to have flat sales again this year and it faces the loss of one third of its annual rev when Lipitor and Viagra encounter generic competition in '11 and '12 respectively. The Wyeth acquisition, which won't be accretive until late '12, adds diversity to Pfizer's portfolio and will now give it conventional drugs, biologics, vaccines, over the counter products and animal products. The experiences of Abbot and Johnson & Johnson aren't as dire. But both face issues with their drug untis. JNJ's overall rev fell 5% during the recent quarter, the fourth straight quarterly decline. Pfizer's stock is down more than 40% since the start of the decade.

NYSE Mag p16 "On A Roll" profiles new CEO Greg Wasson at Walgreens. Walgreens is branching into health and wellness servicess, a shift in strategy for the drugstore chain that Charles R. Walgreen founded in 1901 in Chicago. Historically Walgreens has been recognized for its intense focus on growing earnings through the expansion of its network of stores. This allowed it to achieve 34 consecutive years of record sales and earnings, a feat accomplished by only one other major US firm: Walmart Stores, Inc. Walgreens uses green building techniques and they now have 100 different environmental projects some in conjunction with GE such as developing energy efficient lighting for stores, a project the two firms have done since '68. Walgreens is starting an "affordable essentials" section, a display of 12 of the most frequently purchased items, for example, laundry detergent, facial tissue, shampoo and over the counter painkillers. One product per category is offered, from a supplier such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson Or Walgreens' store brand, at a competitive price. Walgreens health and Wellness division is the largest operator of worksite health centers and pharmacies in the nation and has 370 clinics on or near employer campuses including at Disney. Walgreens just signed an agreement with Caterpillar to provide proprietary transparent pricing for prescriptions filled by employees under CAT's drug benefit plan.

Kraft KFT $27.17 +0.20 0.74% 11,302,268 NYSE: WSJ pA1 above the fold "Hershey Trustees Back Cadbury Bid" by Ilan Brat, Jeffrey McCracken, Dana Cimilluca says the charitable trust that controls Hershey Co. is pushing ershey to launch a rival $17 bil bid for Cadbury PLC that would be bigger and include more cash than what Kraft Foods Inc. has offered. The charity which helps fund a school for disadvantaged children,, has in the past complicated Hershey's merger efforts, fearing loss of control. But as other global candy makers merge and combine forces, the trust appears to be reversing its position, partly on fears that its charitable mission could be hurt if Hershey doesn't also bulk up. It is now urging Hershey's ceo, David West, to make a cmopeting offer to the $16. bil bid Kraft made earlier this month for Cadbury.

Similar story at NYT pB1 "Cadbury Bid Under Study At Hershey" by Michael J.. de la Merced, Andrew Ross Sorkin & AJC pA13.

Inv. Bus. Daily pA2 "Suitors mull breaking up Cadbury" says Hershey and Italian chocoolate maker Ferrero have considered breaking up Cadbury into separate businesses as part of a friendly, all cash bid. Although Cadbury's chocolate unit is hte main draw, under one scenario Ferrrero might take Cadbury's gum and candy unit. Cadbury shareholders may not balk if Ferrero and Hershey offer an all cash bid higher than Kraft's hostile, cash and stock bid.

McDonald's MCD $63.97 +0.56 0.88% 8,829,416 NYSE: No mentions found.

Merck MRK $36.46 +1.13 3.2% 36,277,143 NYSE: Inv. Bus. Daily pA14 "Big Pharma Mergers: Good News Or Bad?" by Peer Benesh says more than $160 bil worth of buyouts invoolving top drugmakers has already been done in '09 including Pfizer's buy of Wyeth, Merck's buy of Schering-Plough, Roche Holdings buy of Genenech and Abbott Labs buy of Solvay. Pfizer's buy of Wyeth was done to bolster its top line as well as diversity its product lineup. Pfizer hasn't grown annual sales since '06. It's expected to have flat sales again this year and it faces the loss of one third of its annual rev when Lipitor and Viagra encounter generic competition in '11 and '12 respectively. The Wyeth acquisition, which won't be accretive until late '12, adds diversity to Pfizer's portfolio and will now give it conventional drugs, biologics, vaccines, over the counter products and animal products. The experiences of Abbot and Johnson & Johnson aren't as dire. But both face issues with their drug untis. JNJ's overall rev fell 5% during the recent quarter, the fourth straight quarterly decline. Pfizer's stock is down more than 40% since the start of the decade.

Microsoft MSFT $29.62 0.16 0.54% 42,156,703 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

Pfizer PFE $18.36 +0.25 1.38% 60,772,795 NYSE: WSJ pB3 "Dell Slides 10%; Smucker Gains" by Geoffrey Rogow says a bigger-than-expected drop in Dell's latest quarterly earnings and a pullback for global industrials, including Caterpillar, pushed stocks lower Friday, though continued strength for some defensive blue chips like Merck kept the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the black for the week. Weighing on the index was a drop for Caterpillar of 1.1% and GE down 1.1%. Pfizer rose 1.4% after the FDA approved both a treatment for a type of bipolar disorder and one for pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Inv. Bus. Daily pA14 "Big Pharma Mergers: Good News Or Bad?" by Peer Benesh says more than $160 bil worth of buyouts invoolving top drugmakers has already been done in '09 including Pfizer's buy of Wyeth, Merck's buy of Schering-Plough, Roche Holdings buy of Genenech and Abbott Labs buy of Solvay. Pfizer's buy of Wyeth was done to bolster its top line as well as diversity its product lineup. Pfizer hasn't grown annual sales since '06. It's expected to have flat sales again this year and it faces the loss of one third of its annual rev when Lipitor and Viagra encounter generic competition in '11 and '12 respectively. The Wyeth acquisition, which won't be accretive until late '12, adds diversity to Pfizer's portfolio and will now give it conventional drugs, biologics, vaccines, over the counter products and animal products. The experiences of Abbot and Johnson & Johnson aren't as dire. But both face issues with their drug untis. JNJ's overall rev fell 5% during the recent quarter, the fourth straight quarterly decline. Pfizer's stock is down more than 40% since the start of the decade.

Procter & Gamble PG $61.8 0.35 0.56% 12,337,073 NYSE: AJC pA13 "Procter says it's still interested in expanding" says Procter & Gamble Co. is still interested in acquisitions that would fill in certain areas of its consumer products portfolio. PG, the maker of Tide, Olay skin cream and Vicks medicines would consider additions to its household brands, beauty products, or personal health care lines. Reccent reports have said PG has been eyeing Sara Lee Corp.s air freshener biz.

NYSE Mag p16 "On A Roll" profiles new CEO Greg Wasson at Walgreens. Walgreens is branching into health and wellness servicess, a shift in strategy for the drugstore chain that Charles R. Walgreen founded in 1901 in Chicago. Historically Walgreens has been recognized for its intense focus on growing earnings through the expansion of its network of stores. This allowed it to achieve 34 consecutive years of record sales and earnings, a feat accomplished by only one other major US firm: Walmart Stores, Inc. Walgreens uses green building techniques and they now have 100 different environmental projects some in conjunction with GE such as developing energy efficient lighting for stores, a project the two firms have done since '68. Walgreens is starting an "affordable essentials" section, a display of 12 of the most frequently purchased items, for example, laundry detergent, facial tissue, shampoo and over the counter painkillers. One product per category is offered, from a supplier such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson Or Walgreens' store brand, at a competitive price. Walgreens health and Wellness division is the largest operator of worksite health centers and pharmacies in the nation and has 370 clinics on or near employer campuses including at Disney. Walgreens just signed an agreement with Caterpillar to provide proprietary transparent pricing for prescriptions filled by employees under CAT's drug benefit plan.

3M MMM $76.64 0.61 0.79% 3,025,314 NYSE: No mentions found.

Travelers TRV $52.38 0.30 0.57% 4,104,310 NYSE: No mentions found.

United Technologies UTX $67.97 0.04 0.06% 3,359,181 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $30.43 0.09 0.29% 11,362,498 NYSE: No mentions found.

Walmart WMT $54.28 0.26 0.48% 14,721,405 NYSE: Inv. Bus. Daily pA6 "Walmart and Sears Pulling An amazon In The Marketplace" by Pete Barlas says Walmart and Sears recently created their own Web sites that link to other online sellers. They hope that adding other retailers to their Web sites will help boost traffic and sales and help them become more competitive with Amazon.com, the Web's leading retailer, as the Xmas shopping season unfolds.

Inv. Bus. Daily pA14 "E-Com Set To Ring Up Sales" by Brian Deagon says Nov. 30 is the ceremonial kickoff to the online holiday shopping season this year. That's Cyber Monday. Traditional retailers such as Walmart, Target and Barnes & Noble have quickly expanded their online operations.

NYSE Mag p16 "On A Roll" profiles new CEO Greg Wasson at Walgreens. Walgreens is branching into health and wellness servicess, a shift in strategy for the drugstore chain that Charles R. Walgreen founded in 1901 in Chicago. Historically Walgreens has been recognized for its intense focus on growing earnings through the expansion of its network of stores. This allowed it to achieve 34 consecutive years of record sales and earnings, a feat accomplished by only one other major US firm: Walmart Stores, Inc. Walgreens uses green building techniques and they now have 100 different environmental projects some in conjunction with GE such as developing energy efficient lighting for stores, a project the two firms have done since '68. Walgreens is starting an "affordable essentials" section, a display of 12 of the most frequently purchased items, for example, laundry detergent, facial tissue, shampoo and over the counter painkillers. One product per category is offered, from a supplier such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson Or Walgreens' store brand, at a competitive price. Walgreens health and Wellness division is the largest operator of worksite health centers and pharmacies in the nation and has 370 clinics on or near employer campuses including at Disney. Walgreens just signed an agreement with Caterpillar to provide proprietary transparent pricing for prescriptions filled by employees under CAT's drug benefit plan.

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Here are the CEOs of the Dow 30 Companies:

T Randall L. Stephenson
AA Klaus Kleinfeld
AXP Kenneth I. Chenault
BAC Kenneth D. Lewis (on 10/1 he announced his resignation as of year-end).
BA W. James McNerney, Jr.
CAT James W. Owens who will be replaced by Douglas Oberhelman in 2010.
CVX David O'Reilly who will be replaced by John Watson at year end.
CSCO John Chambers
KO Muhtar Kent
DIS Robert Iger
DD Ellen Kullman
XOM Rex W. Tillerson
GE Jeffrey R. Immelt
HPQ Mark Hurd
HD Frank Blake
INTC Paul S. Otellini
IBM Samuel J. Palmisano
JPM Jamie Dimon
JNJ William C. Weldon
KFT Irene Rosenfeld
MCD Jim Skinner
MRK Robert Clark
MSFT Steve Ballmer
PFE Jeffrey Kindler
PG Bob McDonald
MMM George W. Buckley
TRV Jay S. Fishman
UTX Louis Chenevert
VZ Ivan Seidenberg
WMT Mike Duke

Here are the Dow Jones Industrial Average 30 ranked in order of market capitalization rounded to the nearest billion as of
11/6/09 followed by number of shares outstanding rounded to the nearest 1/2 billion:

1. Exxon Mobil XOM $349 [5]
2. Microsoft MSFT 254 [9]
3. WalMart WMT 198 [4]
4. Procter & Gamble PG 178 [3]
5. JPMorgan Chase 171 [4]
6. Johnson & Johnson JNJ 164 [3]
7. GE 163 [10.5]
8. IBM 162 [1.5]
9. Chevron CVX 155 [2]
10. Cisco CSCO 155 [6]
11. AT&T 153 [6]
12. BAC 130 [6.5]
13. Coke KO 126 [2]
14. Hewlett-Packard HPQ 117 [ 2]
15. Pfizer PFE 116 [7]
16. Intel INTC 106 [5.5]
17. Verizon VZ 69 [3]
18. Merck MRK 69 [2
19. McDonald's MCD 67 [1]
20. United Technologies UTX 61 [1]
21. 3M MMM 53 [.5]
22. Disney DIS 53 [2]
23. Home Depot 44 [2]
24. American Express AXP 44 [1]
25. Kraft KFT 40 [1.5]
26. Caterpillar CAT 36 [.5]
27. Boeing BA 34 [1]
28. DuPont DD 30 [1]
29. Travelers 28 [.5]
30. Alcoa AA 11 [1]

Here are the latest SEC filings as of 11/7/09 other than ownership filings and, except for certain cases, I do not include third party shareholder proposals:

Symbol & Co. Name/Date of Filing/Form Filed/ Comments

T AT&T: 11/6/09 8K announced the completion of the acquisition of Centennial Communications Corp. a regional provider of wireless and wired communications services for $945 million in cash.
11/5/09 10-Q

Alcoa AA: 10/23/09 10Q

American Express AXP: 10/30/09 10Q

Bank of Am BAC: 11/6/09 10Q

Boeing BA: 11/5/09 8K to reflect certain adjustments that have been made to prior year consolidated financial statements that were previously filed with the SEC on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.

Caterpiller CAT: 10/30/09 10-Q

Chevron CVX: 11/5/09 10Q

Cisco CSCO: 11/4/09 8K On November 4, 2009, Cisco reported its results of operations for its fiscal first quarter 2010 ended October 24, 2009. Advisor, $750,000.

Coke KO: 10/29/09 10QA

Disney DIS: 10/27/09 Amended S-4 related to the takeover of Marvel.

DuPont DD: 11/5/09 Prospectus relating to $1,000,000,000 3.250% Notes due January 15, 2015 & $1,000,000,000 4.625% Notes due January 15, 2020

ExxonMobil XOM: 11/5/09 10Q

GE: 11/6/09 10QA

Hewlett-Packard HPQ: 9/24/09 8K saying at its Securities Analyst Meeting, HPQ addressed how it is uniquely positioned to grow and expand in the global information technology market. “We expect the IT industry to return to growth in 2010 and believe that HP will outpace the market,” said Mark Hurd, CEO.

Home Depot HD: 9/3/09 10-Q

Intel INTC: 11/5/09 8K Regulation FD Disclosure that on November 4, 2009, NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a lawsuit against Intel in the US Dist. Ct. for the District of Delaware alleging that Intel has violated the federal antitrust laws, the New York Donnelly Act (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 340 et seq.), and § 63(12) of the New York Executive Law. The lawsuit alleges that Intel has engaged in a worldwide campaign of illegal, exclusionary conduct to maintain Intel’s alleged monopoly power and prices in the market for x86 microprocessors. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages trebled, restitution, disgorgement, an injunction, $1,000,000 for each violation of the Donnelly Act, and attorneys’ fees and costs. Intel strongly disagrees with the plaintiff’s allegations and claims, and intends to conduct a vigorous defense of the lawsuit.

IBM: 11/5/09 8K announcing its Form S-3, effective August 3, 2007, relating to $2,000,000,000 of debt securities of the Registrant.

JPMorganChase JPM: 11/6/09 Reg. FD disclosure relating to an investor conference.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ: 11/4/09 10Q

Kraft KFT: 11/3/09 10Q

McDonalds MCD: 11//5/09 10Q

Merck MRK: 11/4/09 8K announcing the consummation on November 3, 2009 of the merger of Merck & Co., Inc. &, Schering-Plough Corporation.

Microsoft MSFT: 10/23/09 10Q

Pfizer PFE: 11/5/09 10Q

Procter & Gamble PG: 10/29/09 10Q

3M MMM: 10/20/09 10Q

Travelers TRV: 10/22/09 10Q

United Technologies UTX: 10/23/09 10Q

Verizon Communications Inc. VZ:/11/2/09 8K announcing VZ adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 160, Noncontrolling Interests in Consolidated Financial Statements — an amendment of ARB No. 51 (SFAS No. 160).

Wal-Mart WMT: 8K 9/18/09 pricing agreement relating to a $1 bil Euro Note Offering.