Archive for July 14th, 2009

A survey of credit unions found Americans are turning down credit,opting instead to hold on to their cash and pay down existing loans. Since the leaner months of 2008 and early 2009, though credit has become more available, there’s less demand for it. Some of the bigger banks have cut credit lines, but credit unions… »

Weak, weak, weak, that’s the outlook for media and advertising company Gannett, says JPMorgan Chase analyst Alexia Quadrani. She has a neutral rating on the stock as Gannett report earnings Wednesday.Though noting that Gannett Co. is “one of the cheapest stocks in our universe,” Quadrani writes, “we see no positive near-term catalysts for GCI stock.”… »

If the recovery story that we’ve been hearing from strategists at banks like Barclays and JPMorgan Chase are correct then the Wednesday earnings report from W.W. Grainger should produce some evidence of it. Grainger sells facility maintenance parts and services to businesses in America and around the world. The recovery thesis holds that repairs have… »

Cintas makes uniforms and other work clothing for big employers and has been trying, through the downturn, to shrink itself down to a smaller size. It’s rough going for Cintas, though, as its revenues generally track unemployment, which has been rising and will continue to rise, and, during the downturn, the Teamsters and other unions… »

On Tuesday Altera reported that its second quarter profits fell to 47.4 million or 16 cents a share, down 50% from the quarter a year ago. The maker of programmable chips had given more bullish guidance suggesting that sales would hold up and that it would meet the 19 cent per share analyst consensus. Alas.On… »

When Abbott reports earnings Wednesday all eyes will be on sales for Humira, its rheumatoid arthritis treatment. Abott Laboratories management has suggested that by 2012 sales of Humira will reach 9 billion, up from half that in 2008. Analysts at CreditSuisse describe themselves as “skeptical.”CreditSuisse is worried that increasing competition, particularly newly released Simponi will… »

Sales of potash, a key crop nutrient, have been slow since the beginning of the year, but not due to lack of demand. Farmers have been burning through supplies in hopes that prices will come down, and one analyst expects a potash sales surge as farmers replenish inventories.On Monday,the market absorbed industry reports that the… »

CIT Group is one of the country’s major lenders to small businesses, with 1 million clients and 75 billion in assets, but some credit analysts still wonder: is CIT worth a bailout? When the Treasury stepped in to help Wall Street’s bulge brackets turned holding companies like Citigroup and Goldman Sachs government officials argued that… »

The story goes that the Nabucco pipeline project got its unusual name from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, which the founding members of the project all trooped to see after their first meeting in Vienna. The six energy companies from Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria and Germany evidently saw a parallel between the opera Nabucco-which tells of… »

Retail sales met expectations in June, but there’s still a long way to go before economic recovery.While the figures were in line with estimates, the U.S. Commerce Department found the June rise of 0.6% was mostly due to higher gas prices and auto sales. Further examination reveals an increase of only 0.3% when excluding motor… »