Monday, June 4, 2012

Hot Stock Research for Most Popular Searches: General Motors, General Motors, Texas Instruments, OmniVision, Weatherford, and Starbucks

English: Logo of General Motors Corporation.
English: Logo of General Motors Corporation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Insiderslab.com has issued insider trading reports and Equity Research for the following companies: General Motors GM -4.09% , Groupon GRPN -7.64% , Texas Instruments TXN +0.33% , OmniVision OVTI -1.68% , Weatherford WFT -1.11% , and Starbucks SBUX +3.36% .
(Read full report by clicking the link below, you may need to copy and paste the full link to your browser.)
Report Highlights:
General Motors Company GM -4.09% : General Motors ended lower by 19 cents (or down 0.86%) to US$22.01 with more than 29.56 million shares traded hands, compared to its 30 days average volume of 9.72 million shares. On May 1, the company reported that U.S. auto sales in May jumped 11% to 245,256 vehicles, from 221,182 in the same month last year. Sales grew 15% sequentially. The latest monthly increase in sales was driven by strong growth of the company's brands like Chevrolet, GMC and Buick brands, while Cadillac underperformed. Chevrolet sales rose 10% year over year, GMC sales surged 19% and sales of Buick brand gained 19%. However, Cadillac sales slumped 15% during the latest month. The company said that total month-end dealer inventory stood at 701,389 units, fell 1.6% from the previous month. Shares of the company are up 8.50% so far this year and over the past one year, it has lost over 27%. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has been moving in the range of US$19 and US$32.08. Academic studies clarify that professional investors can get benefit from insider trading data. Do you want to trace this company on an on-going basis? It can be done for free by registering below.
Read Full Report: http://www.insiderslab.com/PR3/060412A/GM/GeneralMotors.pdf
Groupon Inc GRPN -7.64% : Groupon extended its slide on Friday and lost 8.93% on over 23.35 million shares, well above its 30 days average volume of 4.46 million shares. The stock made an all-time low of US$9.53 earlier in the session. The stock was under pressure as the company's insiders divested their holdings after their selling restriction expired on Friday. The stock made debut on Nov. 2011 and jumped 31% on the first day of trading from US$20 IPO price. However, the stock quickly retreated in March after restating its quarterly results and said that it lost more than it originally reported as it had to return more money than it expected. Earlier this month, the company announced to replace a couple of its board members. For the first quarter, the company reported net loss of US$11.7 million, or 2 cents per share, less than a year ago loss of US$146.5 million, or 48 cents a share. Excluding certain costs, the company would have earned 2 cents. Revenue during the latest quarter grew 89% year over year to US$559.3 million from US$295.5 million in the same quarter last year. Marketing costs decreased 49% to US$116.6 million from US$230.1 million a year ago period. For the second quarter, the company projects to generate revenue of between US$550 million to US$590 million. Academic studies have shown that insiders traditionally make higher investment returns than ordinary investors. Want to trace the activities of company insiders from now on?
Read Full Report: http://www.insiderslab.com/PR3/060412A/GRPN/Groupon.pdf
General Motors' Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson
DETROIT, MI - JUNE 7: General Motors' Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson (R) speaks at the second annual meeting of shareholders of General Motors Company June 7, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan. Akerson reviewed GM's first full year as a publicly-traded company and plans for the future. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
Texas Instruments Incorporated TXN +0.33% : Texas Instruments fell in the third session and fell 5.20% to US$27 on hefty volume of 19.51 million shares, above its average volume of 10.29 million shares. Late April, the company had reported a sharp fall in its first-quarter profit as revenue slumped. The company reported net income of US$265 million, or 22 cents a share, down 66% from a year ago profit of US$666 million or 55 cents a share. Revenue during the same period slid 8% year over year to US$3.12 billion from US$3.39 billion, in a year ago quarter. For the second quarter, the company projected to earn 30 cents to 38 cents and revenue of US$3.22 billion to US$3.48 billion. Shares of the company are down 7% so far this year, and over the past one year lost over 20%. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has been moving in the range of US$24.34 to US$34.37. The stock has a beta of 1.55. As per the latest dividend of 17 cents a share, the stock has dividend yield of 2.52%. Insiderslab.com believes that it is a clever way to check if insiders like CEOs, CFOs, and Directors in TXN are starting to buy more company shares. See insider trade report for TXN here.
Read Full Report: http://www.insiderslab.com/PR3/060412A/TXN/TexasInstruments.pdf
Today Insiderslab.com also observed abnormal trade volume for the following companies; insiders may involve trading in these companies. It will take some time for insiders to report their trades. Read these reports and add these companies into your Insider Trade Radar.
OmniVision Technologies, Inc. OVTI -1.68% :
Read Full Report: http://www.insiderslab.com/PR3/060412A/OVTI/OmniVision.pdf
Weatherford International Ltd WFT -1.11% :
Read Full Report: http://www.insiderslab.com/PR3/060412A/WFT/Weatherford.pdf
Starbucks Corporation SBUX +3.36% :
Read Full Report: http://www.insiderslab.com/PR3/060412A/SBUX/Starbucks.pdf
Insider Filing Source Reference: All observations, analysis and reports are based on public information released by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
About Insiderslab.com:
Insiderslab.com covers insider trade data in major stock markets in the U.S., Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Singapore. Insiderslab.com features a team of experienced data analysts striving to provide the investment community with the tools, software, and data necessary to carry out more effective investment research.

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Friday, June 1, 2012

5 Stocks Hedge Funds Are Buying Like Crazy

Hedge funds disclosed their first-quarter holdings a couple of weeks ago. There has been significant media interest in the most popular stocks among hedge funds. Actually, the rankings didn't change compared to the end of 2011. Apple (AAPL) was still the most popular stock, followed by Google (GOOG) and Microsoft (MSFT). Contrary to popular opinion, long/short equity hedge funds don't trade very frequently. Apple and Microsoft have been among the top three most popular stocks since at least the end of 2010. Investors would have profited handsomely if they had bought these stocks in early 2011.
In this article we are going to take a closer look at stocks that experienced a significant amount of hedge fund interest recently. Some of these stocks have the potential to become hedge fund darlings over the next six months.
Hedge Fund Managers - Lynching Party Needed
Hedge Fund Managers - Lynching Party Needed (Photo credit: smallislander)
1. Illumina (ILMN): Shares were trading above $35 in February before it received an offer from Roche Holdings AG. The stock jumped above $50 after the announcement and that's probably when hedge funds bought in. There were 17 hedge funds with Illumina positions at the end of December. That number stood at 49 on March 31. Unfortunately, Roche's tender offer expired and Illumina currently trades around $44. Hedge funds probably lost more than 10% on this trade. James Dinan and Andreas Halvorsen are among the hedge fund managers who bet more than $100 million on this stock.
American International Group
American International Group (Photo credit: lawrence's lenses)
2. American International Group (AIG): This company is a candidate to become a hedge fund darling. There were 45 hedge funds at the end of March, vs. 21 hedge funds in December that had positions in this name. Bruce Berkowitz has been a long-time AIG investor. His total position in AIG approached $3 billion at the end of March. Robert Pitts' Steadfast Capital, Steve Cohen's SAC Capital, and Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors initiated new bullish positions in the stock. The government still owns the majority of AIG shares and investors expect the government to sell its shares at around $29, which is the breakeven price for the U.S. Treasury. This creates an overhang and keeps investors away. As the government winds down its stake, we believe AIG could trade above $50 over the next 24 months.
3. Zynga (ZNGA): There were only three hedge funds with Zynga shares at the end of December. However, hedge funds flocked into Zynga during the first quarter as the stock climbed to $15 from its IPO price of $10 in mid-December. By the end of March there were 24 hedge funds, with a total investment of $234 million in Zynga. Unfortunately, the stock lost more than 50% since the end of the first quarter. Christopher Medlock James, Ken Griffin, and Anand Parekh's hedge funds are among the losers.
4. Regions Financial (RF): There were 24 hedge funds in Regions Financial at the end of December. That number jumped to 41 by the end of March. Regions Financial sold its brokerage and investment banking subsidiary, Morgan Keegan, for a total of $1.2 billion, including the $250 million dividend received. The proceeds were used in the repayment of Regions Financial's $3.4 billion TARP obligation. Hedge funds probably predicted that these transactions would act as a catalyst and Regions Financial's stock price would react positively. They were right, as Regions Financial gained more than 50% during the first quarter. We think the opportunity to invest in Regions Financial is gone. Israel Englander, George Soros, and Jeffrey Altman initiated new positions in the stock during the first quarter and profited handsomely (see George Soros' stock picks).
5. Equinix (EQIX): This is another stock with 50%-plus return during the first quarter. Philippe Laffont invested nearly $600 million in the stock during the first quarter. He presented his investment thesis in Equinix at the Ira Sohn Conference. He said Equinix could reach $500 over the next few years. Currently, the stock trades around $160. Laffont isn't the only hedge fund manager who became bullish about the stock recently. Billionaires Jim Simons and Thomas Steyer also initiated new positions in this stock.

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Sunday, May 27, 2012

Facebook's stock debut shows not all investors are Equal

75 Wall Street
75 Wall Street (Photo credit: SheepGuardingLlama)
Distrust of the stock market sharpens as word spreads that big investors and wealthy clients of Wall Street giants had received warnings about Facebook that smaller investors had not.

 NEW YORK —Facebook Inc.'s bungled stock-market debut made it clear that big money still rules Wall Street. But this time, the small money got a look at how Wall Street really works — and that could spell trouble for the financial industry.
Millions of small investors have trimmed their investments in stocks after seeing their 401(k) accounts pulverized by the market plunge in 2008-09. The May 2010 flash crash — in which


$1 trillion briefly vanished from the stock market — served as another flashing yellow caution sign.
Facebook, with its worldwide popularity, was seen as a chance to rekindle popular interest in stocks when its shares began trading publicly last week.
Then the stock flopped. Investor enthusiasm was expected to be red-hot, but many backed away amid trading glitches on the Nasdaq, widespread news reports of insider selling and nagging questions about the company's future prospects.
In the aftermath, it also became clear that big investors and wealthy clients had been warned the company's financial outlook had weakened. Instead of rekindling interest in stocks, Facebook's debut fueled long-running concerns about how the stock market works.
"This has proved the game is rigged," said Charles Geisst, a finance professor and Wall Street historian at Manhattan College. "There's just too many questions about the integrity of the stock market, and I think people are starting to realize this — individuals, at least."
Prominent investor Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team, declared on his blog Wednesday that the investing public's positive impression of the stock market had been "torched to the ground."
Retail investors reportedly got 25% of Facebook's 421 million shares in the initial public offering. The value of that allotment has declined by more than $500 million, based on Facebook's closing price of $33.03 a share Thursday.
Regulators and congressional investigators have begun probes into what went wrong, looking into questions over information distributed ahead of the IPO. Morgan Stanley and other underwriters warned privileged clients that their analysts had grown sour on Facebook's revenue growth potential. They failed to telegraph the same information to retail clients and the general public. Information affords a crucial trading edge on Wall Street. Regulators have tried to level the playing field for years.
A decade ago, regulators led by then-Atty. Gen. Eliot Spitzer discovered widespread manipulation of Wall Street analysts' reports. He exposed a long practice on Wall Street in which analysts would write favorable research so their banks could win investment banking business.
Regulators settled their cases against 10 major firms for $1.4 billion in 2003 and put in place strict rules dividing banks' research and investment banking divisions.


Although securities law experts say it's unclear whether Facebook's underwriters have broken any rules, Spitzer said underwriters' selective disclosures in Facebook's IPO may have violated the state's laws against financial fraud.
He said underwriters' actions may violate the "most fundamental principle, which is that an underwriter needs to be forthright, honest to the public."
"Market theory is very simple," Spitzer said. "You can't give false and misleading material information to people, where you know it's false and you correct it only to some but not to others."
Morgan Stanley declined to comment, but it has said its IPO procedures were "in compliance with all applicable regulations."
English: Morgan Stanley's office on Times Square
English: Morgan Stanley's office on Times Square (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Giving well-connected firms an inside track has been one of the ways that big Wall Street firms attract and keep big clients. These clients are powerful profit drivers, and banks tend to give their best customers the best deals.
"These people give them more money in fees and commissions than others," said Ernest Badway, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement attorney who is now a white-collar defense lawyer in New York and New Jersey.
"Because of that — they're part of a great revenue stream — they're going to try to give every single advantage that they can to those particular people," he said.
Large institutions and wealthy investors have a symbiotic relationship with Wall Street bankers. "The retail guy is at the end of the queue," Geisst said. "He can't do anybody any favors."
In April, the SEC settled a somewhat similar case against Goldman Sachs involving precious tips to favored clients.
To generate more revenue, the giant Wall Street investment bank's analysts and traders held "huddles" to share market commentary and trading ideas. During morning conference calls, Goldman passed along inside information to a select group of about 180 hedge fund and investment management clients.
Goldman, which brought in $37 billion in revenue last year, paid a $22-million fine to settle the case.
 Source: http://articles.latimes.com

Facebook IPO Shares - How to Buy Facebook Stock (GoodFinancialCents.com)


Can you make money by buying Facebook's IPO?

Facebook has changed the way people use the Internet. Heck, it's changed the way people live their lives! How many marriages has Facebook caused? How many divorces? With all this usage comes big money, and the opportunity for big investor profits. This week, Facebook filed an Initial Public Offering. The actual IPO will take place sometime in May. The financial world has been buzzing about Facebook, especially since its filing came with the release of financial data for the first time ever. But is this all hype? Will you make money by buying Facebook's IPO? This episode of TradingTips.com will give you the lowdown. In this episode, you will learn: - Facebook's 2011 revenue and income numbers. They're big! - How IPOs work and how they're not designed to help "the little guy" get rich. - What some of the pitfalls of investing in Facebook might be -- and how the company itself may find itself in trouble shortly after having its IPO. - How IPO stocks in general fare in their first 24 months after their IPOs. We also found a stock you can buy into now, which might help you capitalize on the Facebook buzz. The stock is already up big, and while it may be overvalued now, chances are it will continue to gain market value right up until shortly before or after Facebook's IPO. This is a "dumb money" play, where you can ride the tide of exuberant traders and sell into strength. IPOs are a dangerous business for individual investors, but once in a while, they can be huge -- even for "the little guy." Is Facebook such a case? Well, Facebook is exceptional. The bigger question may be whether or not this huge IPO is the start of a new tech boom, or a new boom in IPOs in general. We look at this issue in this episode, too. It's all covered. So be sure to watch!
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