Here's something you don't see often. Shares of IBM (NYSE: IBM ) have fallen as much as 7.7% today on an earnings miss -- an event as rare as chicken lips. The stock's plunge took more than 100 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI ) index, dragging the blue-chip index into the red today despite the gains being made by 25 of its 30 components. The Dow's price-weighted nature magnifies IBM's every move, and today it's working against the index.
The company is usually as reliable as time itself. Big Blue hasn't missed Wall Street's earnings targets since 2005, for crying out loud. Yet it did this week.
First-quarter sales fell 5% year over year to $23.4 billion. Non-GAAP earnings increased 8% to $3 per share but still fell just short of analyst targets of $3.05. As if that didn't hurt enough, management held full-year targets steady but lowered guidance for the second quarter. Business is supposed to pick up again in the back half of 2013.
Hot Growth Stocks To Watch For 2015: VAALCO Energy Inc (EGY)
VAALCO Energy, Inc. (VAALCO), incorporated in 1985, is an independent energy company principally engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas. VAALCO owns producing properties and conducts exploration activities as operator in Gabon, West Africa, conducts exploration activities as an operator in Angola, West Africa, and has conducted exploration activities as a non-operator in the British North Sea. The Company owns minor interests in production activities as a non-operator in the United States. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Etame, Avouma, South Tchibala and Ebouri fields produced approximately 8.1 million barrels of oil (2.3 million barrels of oil net to the Company).
Offshore Gabon
The Company�� primary source of revenue is from the Etame Production Sharing Contract related to the Etame Marin block located offshore the Republic of Gabon. VAALCO operates the Etame Marin block on behalf of a consortium of companies. As of December 31, 2010, VAALCO owned a 30.35% interest in the exploration acreage within the Etame Marin block. The Company owns a 28.1% interest in the development areas surrounding the Etame, Avouma, South Tchibala and Ebouri fields, each of which is located on the Etame Marin block. The Company produces from the Etame, Avouma, South Tchibala and Ebouri fields on the block.
Onshore Gabon
The Mutamba Iroru block is ocated onshore near the coast in central Gabon. The Mutamba Iroru block contains an exploration area of approximately 270,000 acres.
Offshore Angola
The Company has 40% working interest in Offshore Angola. The four year primary term with an optional three year extension awards the Company exploration rights to 1.4 million acres offshore central Angola.
Onshore Domestic-Texas
In July 2011, the Company acquired a 480 acre lease in the Granite Wash formation in North Texas. In November 2011, the Company commen! ced drilling a second well on the initial Granite Wash formation lease.
Onshore DomesticMontana
In May 2011, the Company acquired a 70% working interest in approximately 5,200 acres (3,640 net acres) in Sheridan County, Montana in the Middle Bakken formation. In September 2011, it acquired a 65% working interest in approximately 22,000 gross acres covering the Middle Bakken and deeper formations in the East Poplar unit and the Northwest Poplar field in Roosevelt County, Montana.
DomesticOutside Operated
The Company has minor interests in Brazos County, Texas producing from the Buda/Georgetown formations. The Company also owns certain minor non-operated interests in the Ship Shoal area of the Gulf of Mexico and in Pickens County, Alabama.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Thursday
Earnings Expected From: AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVEO), Kirkland��, Inc (NASDAQ: KIRK), Dollar General Corporation (NYSE: DG), Stein Mart, Inc. (SMRT: NASDAQ), Mattress Firm Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: MRFM), SeaWorld Entertainment (NYSE: SEAS), Vaalco Energy Inc (NYSE: EGY) Economic Releases Expected: Chinese retail sales, French CPI, Brazilian retail sales, US retail sales, Japanese industrial productionFriday
- [By Laura Brodbeck]
Friday
Earnings Expected From: Covidien plc. (NYSE: COV), Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE: EGO), Vaalco Energy Inc. (NYSE: EGY) Economic Releases Expected: �US Wholesale Trade, US non-farm payrollsPosted-In: Bank Of England European Central Bank Federal ReserveNews Eurozone Previews Global Economics Federal Reserve Markets Trading Ideas Best of Benzinga
- [By Eric Volkman]
Vaalco Energy (NYSE: EGY ) hopes to put some power into its common stock by repurchasing a chunk of outstanding shares. The company's board has authorized a repurchase program for up to $25 million worth of stock. The initiative will be in force for one year.
Best Investments For 2014: The Medicines Company(MDCO)
The Medicines Company, a pharmaceutical company, provides various medicines to hospitals for advancing the treatment of critical care patients worldwide. The company markets Angiomax, an intravenous direct thrombin inhibitor for use as an anticoagulant in combination with aspirin in patients with unstable angina undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and for use in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention; and Cleviprex, an intravenous small molecule calcium channel blocker for the reduction of blood pressure, as well as to treat neurocritical care and cardiac surgery patients. Its products under development include Cangrelor that is in Phase III clinical trial acts as an intravenous small molecule antiplatelet agent to prevent platelet activation and aggregation; and Oritavancin, which is in Phase III clinical trial acts as an investigational intravenous antibiotic for the treatment of serious gram-positive bacterial infections, including acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections. The company?s products under development also comprise MDCO-157, a pre-registration stage product for platelet inhibition in patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and patients experiencing myocardial infarction, stroke, or peripheral arterial disease; MDCO-2010, a small molecule serine protease inhibitor that is in Phase II clinical trial used for the reduction of blood loss during surgery; and MDCO-216, which is in Phase I clinical trial used for the reversal of atherosclerotic plaque development and the reduction of the risk of coronary events in patients with ACS. Its products also consist of Argatroban, a direct thrombin inhibitor used as anticoagulant for prophylaxis or for the treatment of thrombosis; and acute care generic products. The Medicines Company was founded in 1996 and is based in Parsippany, New Jersey.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) were down 14.64 percent to $24.26 after the company provided an update on Angiomax patent litigation. - [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) was down as well, falling 5.52 percent to $32.33 ahead of the review of its blood clot drug.
Commodities
In commodity news, oil traded up 0.23 percent to $100.11, while gold traded up 0.92 percent to $1,274.50.
Best Investments For 2014: Elbit Systems Ltd. (ESLT)
Elbit Systems Ltd. engages in the design, development, manufacture, and integration of defense systems and products worldwide. The company operates in the areas of aerospace, land and naval systems, command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, unmanned aircraft systems, advanced electro-optics, electro-optic space systems, electronic warfare (EW) suites, airborne warning systems, electronic intelligence systems, data links, artillery systems, military communications systems, and radios. Its activities include military aircraft and helicopter systems, helmet mounted systems, commercial aviation systems and aero structures, land vehicle systems, electro-optic and countermeasures systems, homeland security systems, EW and signal intelligence systems, and various commercial activities, as well as command, control, communications, computer, and intelligence and cyber systems. The company also provides a range of support services fo r its defense systems and products. Elbit Systems Ltd. markets its systems and products as a prime contractor or subcontractor to various governments and defense contractors. The company was founded in 1966 and is based in Haifa, Israel.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Louis Navellier]
DL has seen solid sales and profit growth and was upgraded to an ����by Portfolio Grader back in April of last year. DL stock remains a ��trong buy��today.
Great International Stocks: Elbit Systems (ESLT)Elbit Systems (ESLT) is an Israeli company that sells its products and services to the defense and aerospace industries.
- [By Rich Smith]
The Department of Defense awarded more than $562 million worth of contracts�on Wednesday. Publicly traded companies receiving contracts included:
Eaton Corporation (NYSE: ETN ) , which was awarded a maximum $12 million firm-fixed-price, sole-source contract to supply various oil nozzles and parts to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps with a May 22, 2015, performance completion date.
� Elbit Systems (NASDAQ: ESLT ) subsidiary M7 Aerospace, awarded a $15.2 million option extension on a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for logistics support for 12 Navy/Marines UC-35 and seven Navy C-26 transport aircraft through May 2014.
� Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC ) , winner of a $15.3 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-award-fee contract funding continued systems development and demonstrations of the MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System. This is the same�drone that the Royal Australian Air Force recently expressed interest in acquiring.Curiously, the DOD clarified that the actual purpose of the latter contract is not so much to perform work on the new drone per se but rather to pay for an upgrade of software being used in the project -- from Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT ) Windows XP operating system to Windows 7.
Best Investments For 2014: Xyratex Ltd.(XRTX)
Xyratex Ltd provides modular solutions for the enterprise data storage industry and hard disk drive (HDD) capital equipment for the HDD industry. It offers enterprise data storage solutions that include storage enclosures, which provide a common technology platform that reduces qualification time for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers and includes management interface software, standardized across enclosures, and provides easy integration as new platforms; integrated application platforms that comprise embedded storage platforms, which incorporate embedded server modules into its storage enclosures; and HPC Solutions that consolidate controllers, storage enclosures, application platforms, operating system, data protection, Lustre File System, and management software into a optimized scale-out storage platform that can be deployed in hours rather than weeks. The company also designs and manufactures a range of process test systems, which incorporate mechanical and electronic hardware, and firmware for controlling the HDD operating environment during the formatting of the disk drive. In addition, it provides automated solutions comprising substrate and media inspection systems; servo track writers and related subassemblies; and head testing systems that test and process HDD components throughout the manufacturing process. The company markets and sells its products primarily to OEMs and disk drive manufacturers, as well as to other companies in North America, Asia, and Europe. Xyratex Ltd was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Havant, the United Kingdom.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]
Bloomberg via Getty Images You can never know in advance all the news that will move the market in a given week, but some things you can see coming. From a parade of bankers' earnings to a pizza giant rolling out a new crust, here are some of the things that will help shape the week ahead on Wall Street. Monday -- X Marks the Spot: Data storage is a big part of businesses in the modern age; companies have massive amounts of information to manage and keep secure. Xyratex (XRTX) may not be a household name, but it is well-known to corporate IT departments seeking enterprise data storage solutions. Xyratex reports on Monday afternoon. It's seen better days, and analysts predict it will report a sharp drop in revenue. However, Xyratex has been able to beat Wall Street's profit targets with ease over the past four quarters. Tuesday -- Big Banking's Big Close Up: It's going to be a roll call of the "too big to fail" banking behemoths as they step up for their quarterly results. Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM) kick things off on Tuesday. That will be followed by Bank of America (BAC) on Wednesday. Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS) step up on Thursday. These are interesting times for the financial services providers. Interest rates are starting to move higher, and that may get in the way of demand for mortgages, but it will also help improve the chances that customers open and fund savings and checking accounts. Wednesday -- Tracking Trains: Railroads may seem like yesterday's mode of transportation, but rail remains a viable way to get goods moving across the country. CSX (CSX) reports on Wednesday. The provider of rail, intermodal, and rail-to-truck transload services and solutions has been shipping goods for 185 years. It offers coverage through every major metropolitan market in the eastern United States. Analysts see revenue inching up by 3 percent, with CSX's profit of $0.42 a share besting the $0.40 a share it posted a year earlier. CSX will
- [By Patricio Kehoe]
According to GuruFocus Real Time Picks, on March 7, Mario Gabelli (Trades, Portfolio), the chairman and chief executive officer of GAMCO Investors Inc. added Xyratex Ltd. (XRTX) at an average price of $13.17 and currently holds 742,642 shares of the stock, worth 0.05% of his portfolio.
- [By Monica Gerson]
Xyratex (NASDAQ: XRTX) reported a drop in its third-quarter profit. However, the company issued downbeat forecast for the fourth quarter. Xyratex shares tumbled 7.83% to $11.06 in the after-hours trading session.
Best Investments For 2014: ConAgra Foods Inc.(CAG)
ConAgra Foods, Inc. operates as a food company primarily in North America. It operates in two segments, Consumer Foods and Commercial Foods. The Consumer Foods segment provides branded, private label, and customized food products, which are sold in various retail and foodservice channels. It offers products in various categories, such as meals, entrees, condiments, sides, snacks, and desserts in frozen, refrigerated, and shelf-stable temperature classes. This segment?s principal brands include Alexia, ACT II, Banquet, Blue Bonnet, Chef Boyardee, DAVID, Egg Beaters, Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt?s, Marie Callender?s, Orville Redenbacher?s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip, Slim Jim, Snack Pack, Swiss Miss, Van Camp?s, and Wesson. The Commercial Foods segment provides commercially branded foods and ingredients that are sold to foodservice, food manufacturing, and industrial customers. Its primary products consist of specialty potato products, milled grain ingredients, a ran ge of vegetable products, seasonings, blends, and flavors. This segment sells products under brands, such as ConAgra Mills, Lamb Weston, and Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Louis Navellier]
Welcome to the Stock of the Day. Before the opening bell Thursday, ConAgra Foods (CAG) shares rose after it reported surprisingly strong third-quarter earnings. Does this signal a turnaround for ConAgra, which has struggled in the increasingly competitive food industry?
- [By Rich Duprey]
Between 2007 and 2012, private-label foods maker Ralcorp, which was acquired by ConAgra (NYSE: CAG ) �in January, saw its stock grow at a better than 12% compounded annual rate, outperforming its peer group and the Russell 1000. Cott, another private-label beverage maker, didn't fare quite as well as Ralcorp, achieving only 4% compounded annual growth, but it doubled the performance of its peer group, which includes such powerhouse names in the bottling industry as Coca-Cola Enterprises, PepsiCo's Pepsi Bottling Group, and National Beverage.
- [By Dan Caplinger]
One area where Whole Foods could see huge promise is in the rise of private-label brands. In the conventional food space, ConAgra's (NYSE: CAG ) buyout of Ralcorp Holdings, which closed in late January, upped the ante for private-label sales. Brand-name food producers like Kellogg and General Mills now find themselves on the defensive against lower-priced alternatives that compete well not only on price but also on quality. Yet Whole Foods has taken advantage of the trend to come out with its own private-label offerings, which have the potential to boost its margins even further.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Top Headline
ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) reported a 42% drop in its fiscal first-quarter earnings.ConAgra's quarterly profit fell to $144.3 million, or $0.34 per share, from $250.1 million, or $0.61 per share, in the year-ago period. Its earnings from continuing operations came in at $0.33 per share. Excluding one-time items, its earnings declined to $0.37 from $0.44 per share.
Best Investments For 2014: Global X China Financials ETF (CHIX)
Global X China Financials ETF (the Fund) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the S-BOX China Financials Index (the Underlying Index). The Underlying Index is a free float adjusted, liquidity tested and market capitalization-weighted index that is designed to measure performance of the investable universe of companies in the Financials sector of the Chinese economy, as defined by Structured Solutions AG. Global X Management Company, LLC serves as the investment adviser to the Fund. Advisors' Opinion:- [By pamatlarge]
Investors looking to short a particular sector can choose from several Global X long ETFs. The Global X China Consumer ETF (CHIQ) concentrates its investments in consumer cyclical goods and consumer defense goods. The Global X China Energy ETF (CHIE) primarily holds stocks in coal, oil and utility companies. The Global X China Financials ETF (CHIX) only invests in financial services companies and real estate companies. The Global X China Industrials ETF (CHII) holds stocks in industrial companies and basic materials companies. The Global X China Materials ETF (CHIM) invests in basic materials stocks. The Global X China Technology ETF (CHIB) holds technology stocks as the core of its investments. All of these ETFs are particularly sensitive to sector downturns and general economic contractions.
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