11/29/09 Sunday Home Depot Looks Good to Barron's

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Post #235 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.

Today's read of the print edition of 11/30/09 issue Barron's, The New York Times, 12/7/09 issue of Business Week, Dec. '9 issues of US news & World Report, 11/30 issue of Newsweek Atlanta Journal Constitution 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:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed Friday at 10309.92 down 154.48 or 1.48 from Thursday's close of 10,464.4. For the week, the Dow was down .08 from last Friday's Dow close of 10,318.16. For the 52 week period the Dow is up 16.77. Year to date the market is up 17.47Of the 30 Dow Companies: all 30 declined. The biggest decliner dollar-wise was Exxon Mobil XOM $74.87 -1.60 2.09% 12,104,768 NYSE and percentage-wise was BAC $15.47 -0.48 3.01% 96,686,916 NYSE.

Sat's WSJ pB1 "US Stocks, A Day After, Fall 154.48 by Peter A. McKay and WSJ pB3 "Caterpillar, Alcoa, BofA Slide" by Donna Kardos Yesalavich say US stocks fell in a thinly traded and shortened session Fri., as fears over the potential impact of debt problems at Dubai World sent investors fleeing a broad range of stocks such as Caterpillar, BofA and Alcoa.

Sat's Fin Times p14 "Plunging oil prices take a toll on energy sector" by Samantha Pearson, Michael Mackenzie says energy stocks dragged the market lower Fri as Wall St. floundered in the aftermath of Dubai World's request for a debt standstill. Exxon Mobil lost 2.1% and Chevron was down 3.9%.

Barron's pM47 "Dates To Watch For" lists key dates in Dec. that could impact the stock market, e.g. on 12/1 construction expenditures for Oct will be released as will pending homes sales index for Oct. and for Nov. data will be released for car sales, ISM Mfg. report on business, and ICSC/GS Weekly Chain Store Sales Snapshot. The list will also tell you the time the data is released.

As of the open of the market Friday, the current divisor for the Dow found at page B4 of Sat's Wall St. Jrnl is .132319125 unchanged, the trailing P/E ratio is 17.89 down from Friday's 17.89 (year ago it was 18.48) the P/E estimate is 16.04 unchanged (year ago it was 10.27) and the current dividend yield is 2.71 up from Friday's 2.66 (it was 3.58 a year ago).

Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing numerator was 1364.20 down 20.44 from Thursday's closing Dow numerator of 1384.64. 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 20.44 for Friday by the divisor you get the decrease in Friday's Dow close of 154.48.

The average closing price (the closing numerator divided by 30) of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was 45.47 down 0.70 from Thursday's Dow Jones Industrial Average closing price of $46.17. The median closing price of Friday's Dow Jones Industrial Average was $41.09. The lowest volume Friday was again 3M MMM $76.75 -1.16 1.49% 1,865,886 NYSE NYSE and the highest volume again was Bank of Am BAC $15.47 -0.48 3.01% 96,686,916 NYSE.

If Friday morning before the market opened you had purchased 100 shares 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 $2,100. $ ($138,510 -$136,410).

AT&T T $26.99 -0.09 0.33% 16,259,375 NYSE: No mentions found.

Alcoa AA $12.66 -0.34 2.62% 15,557,325 NYSE: No mentions found.

American Express AXP $40.84 -0.88 2.11% 6,004,141 NYSE: Barron's list of NYSE New Highs for the Week at pM54 lists American Express.

Bank of America BAC $15.47 -0.48 3.01% 96,686,916 NYSE: Bus Wk p18 says in '09 so far JPMorgan is the No. 4 global deal maker adviser behind Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citi. Bank of America is 5th.

Boeing BA $52.45 -0.48 0.91% 3,281,352 NYSE: Barron's pm59 says Boeing will pay a .42 dividend on Fri.

Caterpillar CAT $57.45 -1.59 2.69% 5,189,444 NYSE: No mentions found.

Chevron CVX $78.17 -1.47 1.85% 5,649,677 NYSE: Barron's pM55 lists the per share value of stock in the Dow Jones 30 and has Chevron with the highest book value at $42.77 and Boeing with the lowest at -1.78.

Cisco CSCO $23.38 -0.36 1.52% 21,773,858 NASDAQ-GS: No mentions found.

Coca-Cola KO $57.18 -0.93 1.6% 7,837,689 NYSE: Barron's p23 "At Pepsi, the Glass Is Half Full" by Jacqueline Doherty says Pepsi trades for 15 times next year's consensus, estimate, near the bottom of its 10 year range of 13.1 to 31.6 times expected earnings. It trades at a discount to arch-rival Coca-Cola, which sports a price/earnings multiple of 17, and consumer products giants such as Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble which trade, respectively, for 17.3 and 15.6 times 2010 forecasts.

Bus Wk p16 says for the holiday marketing campaign in London, KO will sponsor street musicians who perform in the vast Underground transport system.

Disney DIS $30.35 -0.26 0.85% 5,688,000 NYSE: Bus Wk p28 "Hulu's Touch Choices" by Ronald Grover says since its launch in late '07, Hulu has defined the Old Media vision of video on the Web. Each month the site's 1,700 title catalog of tv shows and movies attracts 40 mil viewers. Those days may be ending. NBC, Fox, and ABC (GE owns NBC and Disney owns ABC) are warming to the idea of charging for some of the content. Hulu is expected to start testing subscription tiers for its programs in the new years. Hulu is in talks with cable operators such as Comcast and Time Warner to limit acceoss o those viewers who can prove they pay for a cable subscription. Hulu is No. 2 after YouTube for videos streamed but it is still going to lose $33 mil this year. Disney is an investor in Hulu and wants to keep letting people watch ABC's shows for fre on Hulu.

DuPont DD $34.4 -0.75 2.13% 2,594,556 NYSE: No mentions found.

ExxonMobil XOM $74.87 -1.60 2.09% 12,104,768 NYSE: No mentions found.

GE $15.94 -0.24 1.48% 60,916,051 NYSE: No mentions found.

Hewlett-Packard HPQ $49.07 -0.98 1.96% 9,948,935 NYSE: Barron's p30 "Glimmers in a Fading Year" by Mark Veverka says HP last week confirmed robust earnings for is fiscal 4Q. HP's consulting and service unit, which now includes EDS, had a very strong 2Q. The EDS group had more customer signings in the quarter including deals with Coca-Cola and Eli Lilly.

Bus Wk p8says HP's profits jumped 14% to $2.4 bil in the 4Q ended 10.31 ad HP slashed computer prices to maintain its standing as the world's No. 1 PC maker but it got a big boost from its $13.9 bil purchase last year of Electronic Data Systems, which is now HP Enterprise Services.

Home Depot HD $27.61- 0.24 0.86% 7,517,737 NYSE: Barron's p13 "Follow-Up: Signs of Improvement at Home Depot" by Neil A. Martin says Home Depot seems to be putting its house in order. Last summer Barron's published an upbeat appraisal of Home Depot whose $70 bil in annual global sales make it the world's largest retail home improvement firm. Home Depot's stock had fallen by 40% to around 25 this summer since Frank Blake replaced Robert Nardelli as CEO in '07. Home Deport shares are now up about 15% but there is reason to believe that they could hit the June '10 target of 32 that some bulls had set after their fall. Blake has cut costs, reorganized HD's supply chain and merchandising systems, improved customer service and boosted employee morale. Home Depot has higher margins and increased same store sales, especially in comparison with Lowe's, the No. 2 home improvement chain. At HD's 11/17 earnings call, HD reported quarterly net of 41 cents a share, 8.9% below the year earlier level, but 17% above the 35 cents most analysts had expected. The results were aided by a 10.8% operating expense cut. For the first time since 2000, Home Depot's 2,200 plus outlets had better same store sales than Lowe's for two consecutive quarters. As of 10/31 HD had 20.5% of th home improvement market, up by 0.95% of a percentage point over the preceding 12 months. The consensus forecast is for HD's profits to come in at $1.70.

Barron's pM3 "Of Palm-Shaped Isles and Empty Mall Aisles" by Kopin Tan says US malls are nearly 20% vacant heading into the holiday season. The glut of stores was built in a previous era of cheap debt and rabid expansion. Stores need to be demolished. Even a cyclical recovery that returned sales to about $300 per square foot can only trim vacancy rates to 15%, not enough to remedy the supply demand imbalance plaguing retail real estate. Retailers best able to cut unwanted capacity include firms with shorter term leases like Dollar Tree, Dick's Sporting Good, as well as companies that own productive real estate at low costs, such as Home Depot, Lowe's and WalMart.

Intel INTC $19.11 -0.23 1.19% 35,747,431 NASDAQ-GS: Barron's pm59 says Intel will pay a .14 dividend on Tues.

IBM $125.7 -1.58 1.24% 3,319,189 NYSE: Barron's list of NYSE New Highs for the Wekk at pM54 lists IBM.

J.P.Morgan Chase JPM $41.33- 0.83 1.97% 26,230,027 NYSE: Barron's p40 has an interview by Lawrence C. Strauss with Michael Cembalest, Chief Investment Officer of JP organ Private bank who is 47 and has been with the firm since 1987.

Bus Wk p18 says in '09 so far JPMorgan is the No. 4 global deal maker adviser behind Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citi. Bank of America is 5th.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ $62.89 -0.41 0.65% 6,080,942 NYSE: Barron's list of NYSE New Highs for the Wekk at pM54 lists Johnson & Johnson.

Kraft KFT $26.64 -0.16 0.6% 4,468,515 NYSE: Business Week p 6 says on Nov. 18, Hershey's and Italy's Ferrero confirmed that they were mulling bids to make a competing offer versus Kraft's $16.4 bil bid for Cadbury. On Nov. 22 Swiss firm Nestle said it may make a bid as well.

McDonald's MCD $63.6 -0.85 1.32% 3,557,849 NYSE: No mentions found.

Merck MRK $36.29 -0.28 0.77% 8,971,830 NYSE: Barron's list of NYSE New Highs for the Wekk at pM54 lists Merck.

Bus Wk p48 "Can Roche Leave Genentech Alone? by Arlene Weintraub says Roche earlier this year bought its long time drug development partner, Genetch, and got Herceptin for breasat cancer and Avastin for colon cancer which Roche was selling and accounted for 40% of Roche's $42.3 bil in rev last year. Several of the world's top pharma firms are spending the final weeks of '09 digesting some of the biggest acquisitions in their history. Pfizer just closed its $68 bil merger with Wyeth, and Merck sewed up its $41 bil purchase of Schering-Plough.

Microsoft MSFT $29.22 -0.57 1.91% 29,357,742 NASDAQ-GS: Barron's p29 "$180 Bil Later, AOL Shares Are Finally a Bargain" by Eric J. Savitz says in Jan .2000 AOL bought Time Warner for $182 bil that created an Internet and media firm with a combined market cap of $350 bil. On Dec. 9, Time Warner will spin AOL back out to the public. The new AOL has a market cap of $2.4 bil. The years havenn't been kind to AOL. Dial up Internet access is shrinking as broadband Internet access become widespread. AOL lost the Internet search business and outsources it to Google and trails Microsoft, Yahoo and even Ask.com.

Bus. Wk p8 and p26 "Murdoch vs. Google by Douglas MacMillan say Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. has held early stage talks with Microsoft to forge a deal that would strip Wall St. Journal content from Google's search engine. MSFT would pay a fee in exchange for the right to carry the content on its Bing search engine. 26% of the WSJ's online traffic arrives via the Internet.

US News & World Rpt. p82 "Creating an Online Record" by Katherine Hobson says Google and Microsoft are just two of the players hoping to help people manage medical information by creating a central repository for all your health info, from family history to lab results with ways to share it with doctors or anyone the patient chooses.

Pfizer PFE $18.25 -0.34 1.83% 22,830,294 NYSE: Barron's list of NYSE New Highs for the Wekk at pM54 lists Pfizer.

Barron's pm59 says Pfizer will pay a .16 dividend on Tues.

Bus Wk p48 "Can Roche Leave Genentech Alone? by Arlene Weintraub says Roche earlier this year bought its longtime drug development partner, Genetch, and got Herceptin for breasat cancer and Avastin for colon cancer which Roche was selling and accounted for 40% of Roche's $42.3 bil in rev last year. Several of the world's top pharma firms are spending the final weeks of '09 digesting some of the biggest acquisitions in their history. Pfizer just closed its $68 bil merger with Wyeth, and Merck sewed up its $41 bil purchase of Schering-Plough.

Procter & Gamble PG $62.48 -0.39 0.62% 6,195,459 NYSE: Barron's p23 "At Pepsi, the Glass Is Half Full" by Jacqueline Doherty says Pepsi trades for 15 times next year's consensus, estimate, near the bottom of its 10 year range of 13.1 to 31.6 times expected earnings. It trades at a discount to arch-rival Coca-Cola, which sports a price/earnings multiple of 17, and consumer products giants such as Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble which trade, respectively, for 17.3 and 15.6 times 2010 forecasts.

3M MMM $76.75 -1.16 1.49% 1,865,886 NYSE: No mentions found.

Travelers TRV $51.65 -1.11 2.1% 2,433,045 NYSE: No mentions found.

United Technologies UTX $67.2 -1.11 1.62% 2,598,992 NYSE: No mentions found.

Verizon VZ $31.63 -0.40 1.25% 8,551,812 NYSE: No mentions found.

WalMart WMT $54.63 -0.33 0.6% 7,528,648 NYSE: Barron's pM3 "Of Palm-Shaped Isles and Empty Mall Aisles" by Kopin Tan says US malls are nearly 20% vacant heading into the holiday season. The glut of stores was built in a previous era of cheap debt and rabid expansion. Stores need to be demolished. Even a cyclical recovery that returned sales to about $300 per square foot can only trim vacancy rates to 15%, not enough to remedy the supply demand imbalance plaguing retail real estate. Retailers best able to cut unwanted capacity include firms with shorter term leases like Dollar Tree, Dick's Sporting Good, as well as companies that own productive real estate at low costs, such as Home Depot, Lowe's and WalMart.

Barron's p32 "An Ugly Reading for Barnes & Noble" by Teresa Rivas says book retail firms are hurting. The discounting of bestsellers continues and now with retail giants like Walmart Stores and Amazon.com vying for a bigger piece of the pie, competition among books sellers has intensified.

Bus Wk p30 and Cover Story "Look Who'sStalking WalMart" by Michelle Conlinsays target is increasingly going downmarket to get through te consumer recession Target is now carrying groceries. Target reinvented American retailing by democratizing design, is rescued the family budgeter from he aesthetic provinces of dinete sets and acid washed jeans. It was one of the first to use famous fashion designers to draw people into its stores. Target CEO denies that they are trying to become more like Walmart and abandon their 15 year old slogan "Expect more, pay less."


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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.