consensus of (94c)
KBH reports Q2 revenue $639.1M vs. consensus of $691.29M. The company cites a 41% decrease in homes delivered and a 17% decline in the average selling price for the delinein revenue from last year.
Crude Oil-$CL: Bullish Breakout
Light Sweet has broken out of the horizontal range we noted last week. The top line of that pattern was at the $139.50 area. Potential for this pattern, which is akin to a bullish flag, works to the $148.50 area. Seen in a different context, the flag was a pause in the uptrend. The target being discussed is simply a move to uptrend resistance projected forward from the peaks in price in March and May of this year. In other words, a move to the upper bounds of a longer time-frame bullish price channel. This would suggest the move is not extreme but part of a larger, normal, bullish trend price projection in the longer-term.
MER could possibly announce a loss in quarter-CNBC
Charlie Gasparino is discussing CEO Thain’s credibility issues, saying MER could report a loss and that it may need to raise additional capital, despite Thain saying the company would not.
MER: Now expect a Q2 writedown of $5.4B@LEHM
Lehman now expects Merrill to post a Q2 writedown of $5.4B, an increase of $3B, due to recent credit downgrades of monoline insurers and widening credit spreads. Additionally, the firm lowered its Q2 EPS estimate to ($2.78) from (64c). Shares are Equal Weight rated.
RIMM initiated with an Underperform, target $100@FBCO
Credit Suisse expects RIMM’s earnings growth to slow on expected shares loss at AT&T and gross margin pressure.
Evergreen Solar-ESLR 18.18M share Secondary priced@9.50; mgr LEHM
The deal size was reduced to 18,180,000 shares from 20,000,000 shares.
Quicksilver Resources-KWK upgraded to Buy from Add@LYON
EDU target lowered to $86 from $93, maintain Buy@PIPR
Piper believes the Sichuan earthquake and upcoming Beijing Olympics represent near-term headwinds for the company, but that their long-term investment thesis remains intact.
Fed may soon make it easier for private equity firms to invest in banks-WSJ
Banks stocks are falling through the roof and now the Federal Reserve may soon allow private equity firms and other institutions to more easily invest in troubled banks, reports the Wall Street Journal. “This would be a bit of a sea change for the Fed,” says Gregory Lyons at the law firm Goodwin Procter. “A number of banks would love to access the private-equity pool. It’s a clean slug of money.” There’s no guarantee that private equity firms will want to but the Fed is reviewing federal law about bank ownership.
IMCL initiated with an Overweight, target $50@TWPT
Thomas Weisel believes IMCL is attractively valued as Erbitux is positioned to capitalize on a number of label-expanding opportunities and that concerns of KRAS-related revenue loss in colorectal cancer and the clinical utility of FLEX lung cancer data are overstated.
OSIP initiated with an Overweight, target $54@TWPT
Thomas Weisel believes OSIP’s Tarceva is positioned for significant growth and that concerns of emerging competition have created an attractive entry point.
China Mobile-CHL says biggest obstacle on iPhone deal removed-Bloomberg
According to Bloomberg, China Mobile said Apple’s (AAPL) decision to abandon its policy of sharing revenue from its iPhone handsets with carriers has cleared the biggest obstacle to an agreement with the company.
Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money”
Cramer says accept the declines in the market. Investors should raise cash by selling marginal positions and buying stocks that they like, he said. Cramer said that right now he doesn’t like the market other than a couple themes that he is suggesting investors circle the wagons around. He says, “When even Conoco (COP) and Rio (RIO) and even the sacred Potash (POT) go down, I need you to think opportunity, not enemy.” Part of the reason the selloff was so bad Thursday was that companies are forbidden to buy stock at the end of the quarter, Cramer said.
