Wall Street to Main Street: News, Views and Commentary: May 22, 2006
It’s Monday May 22, 2006, and it looks like the NYSE Group (NYSE: NYX) has taken the first steps to becoming a truly global market place as they have submitted a $10 billion offer to merge with Euronext. Such a merger would create the first trans-Atlantic stock market, valued at $21 billion. While the Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) has increased their stake in the London Stock Exchange to over 25% which may put them in a position to force a merger with the LSE. The world is getting smaller and the financial markets are right in the middle of it.
The NAMC Newswire’s “Wall Street to Main Street” segment in its entirety is only available to subscribers. Don’t miss out and Keep in mind that all subscriptions are free and will remain that way. All that you need to do is go to http://www.namcnewswire.com and add your email address to receive the full segments. We value your privacy and all email addresses are only used for NAMC related items and not shared with any third parties.
We want to give our listeners/readers a voice, so we are going to try something new on “Wall Street to Main Street”. We want to hear from you but not only to ask questions but also to make comments about various companies. We are going to give our listeners/readers a voice on “Wall Street to Main Street” by including their brief outlook on the companies that they may own or follow. This is only extended to those that are subscribers to “Wall Street to Main Street”, so you need to register in order to participate, it’s FREE. All that you need to do is either shoot us out an email using our contact form on our website at http://www.namcnewswire.com or give us a call toll free at 888-463-9237 between the hours of 6:30pm and 12am EST weekdays. Your question or comment could be a part of the Wall Street to Main Street radio show that is syndicated daily.
Remember that you can always listen to the NAMC Radio on Streetiq.com, the leader in financial podcast. http://www.streetiq.com and is also available on iTunes.
Political Front
Vietnam is making headway as they are seeking to become part of the World Trade Organization. Their first step is the preparation to sign a trade agreement with the United States in June, this would be a first step in them reaching their goal of joining the World Trade Organization.
Even though Germany and China both agree that a diplomatic resolution must be attained in the Iran uranium enrichment situation, Iran is not open to suggestions. They have adamantly stated that they are not only going to continue the enrichment but they intend to increase it on an industrial level. This just makes a tense situation worse.
The U.S. Attorney General Gonzales has commented that he believes that any journalist that publishes classified information could be prosecuted. What ever happened the First Amendment, if the government begins to dictate what can or cannot be reported on then how can journalist actually be credible?, that’s a question that the people should bring to capital hill.
President Bush is pushing for congress to pass the immigration bill, but many think that the plan may do little or nothing to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the Mexican border. I guess if there is a will there is a way but it should reduce the attempts.
Movers and Shakers
Some major movers in Fridays trading session included Titanium Metals (NYSE: TIE) which traded up $4.06 to close at $35.05, Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) which traded up $2.43 to close at $21.70, Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) a stock that we have featured on “Wall Street to Main Street” as a stock on the move, it traded up $3.60 to close at $34.95 after a Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) deal was struck, Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) traded up $2.44 to close at $24.58, British Airways (NYSE: BAB) flew upward as it traded up $5.61 to close at $66.16, First Avenue Networks (NASDAQ: FRNS) traded up $2.93 to close at $15.44, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) another stock that we featured on “Wall Street to Main Street” traded up $6.51 to close at $56.22, Focus Media (NASDAQ: FMCN) which we mentioned may be looking to have a presence in the Untied States and one suitor may be Impart Media Group (OTCBB: IMMG) the stock traded up $7.46 to close at $69.18, Supertex (NASDAQ: SUPX) traded up $3.30 to close at $39.91 and Darwin (AMEX: DR) traded up $2.76 to close at $18.76.
Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades
Recent Analyst upgrades include Microchip Technology (NASDAQ: MCHP) which was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by UBS, Mattel (NYSE: MAT) was upgraded to an Outperform from a Market Perform by Ryan Beck & Co, United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) was upgraded to a Buy from a Hold by Stifel Nicolaus, Cypress Semiconductor (NYSE: CY) was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by UBS and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) was upgraded to an Outperform by Piper Jaffray.
Recent Analyst downgrades include Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) which was downgraded to an Equal Weight from an Overweight by Lehman Brothers, St Jude Medical (NYSE: STJ) was downgraded to a Hold from a Buy by Deutsche Bank Securities, American tower (NYSE: AIV) was downgraded to an Outperform from a Buy to a Neutral by Merrill Lynch and Midwest Express (AMEX: MEH) was downgraded to a Market Perform from an Outperform by Raymond James.
Analyst Coverage Initiations include Allegheny Energy (NYSE:AYE) which was initiated with a Hold rating by AG Edwards, Alexandria Real Estate (NYSE: ARE) was initiated with an Under Perform rating by RBC Capital, Embarq (NYSE: EQ) was initiated with a Hold rating by AG Edwards and an Equal Weight rating by Merrill Lynch and Formfactor (NASDAQ: FORM) was initiated with a Buy rating and a $47 price target by Citigroup Investment Research.
Tid Bits
Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is exiting stage left from the competitive South Korean market as they have agreed to sell its 16 stores to South Korea’s largest discount store chain Shinsegae Co. for 825 billion won, or $882 million. Wal-Mart said the decision to withdraw was part of its global growth strategy.
Barron’s ran a feature on Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) over the weekend and stated that Yahoo has a massive audience online at a time when advertisers are shifting to online marketing or increasing their online marketing efforts. They also made mention of the fact that Yahoo has been overshadowed by Googles (NASDAQ: GOOG) success and this has led Yahoo to its 52 week low. There is no doubt that Yahoo is cheap at this point, it is definitely a $45 stock disguised as a $29 or $30 stock, but that may not be realized until they show their current efforts adding to their bottom line.
Last Week Home Depot (NYSE: HD) announced that they were looking to acquire a small bank called EnerBank USA from CMS Energy Corp. (NYSE: CMS). This acquisition would allow Home Depot to issue uncollateralized loans to contractors to keep the revenues flowing. This is something similar to what Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is trying to do but on a different scale, you can expect Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) to follow suit in the near future.
And the beat goes on…., more companies are being investigated in the ever growing stock options probe that we continue to hear about. The latest to join the party is KLA-Tencor Corp (NASDAQ: KLAC), they are citing that back in 2001, that’s right they are going back in time on all of these companies, but back in 2001 the cite that KLA-Tencor issued stock options to their top executives twice during the year both at the stocks low point for the first and second half of the year. They also add that the Chairman of KLA, Ken Levy received 10 stock optin grants from 1994-2001 and all preceded recent rises in the stock price. So I think that Levy has a slight problem now. Another added to the list was Boston Communications Group (NASDAQ: BCGI), as they join the likes of Comverse Tech (NASDAQ: CMVT), UnitedHealth (NYSE: UNH) and others.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is tying in with Lenovo Group to offer pay as you go computer service to those people living in developing countries. They are beta testing “FlexGo”, which is a pay per hour computer use service. They plan on launching this service in Brazil shortly and in the coming months expanding into Mexico, China, Russia and India. This is an effort on Microsoft’s part to get a strong footing in the up and coming nations that would eventually be users of their products. They are nurturing a market that they will try to dominate in the years to come.
Since satellite radio was introduced, with Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR) leading the pack, you needed to be plugged in to your home or car stereo system to use it. But XM has changed all that recently as they introduced the world’s first portable XM Radio/MP3 Player portable device, it’s called “XM2go”, no computer is required You will now be able to take your XM radio with you to the gym, on your jog or on the bus or train ride to work. Pioneer is the technology company behind the unit, and the unit is set to work with Napster (NASDAQ: NAPS) and not the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod. So companies that should be looked at are flash memory makers, as this is what drives the unit and not a hard drive. I wonder if Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) will be supplying the chips.
FURIOUS FIVE
This is the Firstof our “Furious Five” companies that we see excelling in their industry in 2006. The company to kick off this weeks “Furious Five” is Gymboree Corp (NASDAQ: GYMB) it trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol GYMB.
For our outlook, and other vital information on the companies that we feature as the “FURIOUS FIVE” on Wall Street to Main Street just subscribe for FREE at http://www.namcnewswire.com
We cannot stress enough that investors need to do their due diligence, call the companies, get the information, consult with your investment advisor and if you do not have one consider getting one. Put the same time into investigating these companies as you do when you go to purchase a new television, it’s only for your protection. When it comes to thinly traded securities stagger your orders or put a limit order in to avoid a run up.
NAMC Newswire Note
Go to the NAMC Newswire for updates at http://www.namcnewswire.com and you can listen to the NAMC Radio for the audio version of “Wall Street to Main Street” at http://www.namcnewswire.com/namcradio
To register to receive the Wall Street to Main Street Free Daily Newsletter Click Here or go to our site and click on the Newsletter section. http://www.namcnewswire.com/newsletter
CEO’s that want to contact us can do so by going to http://www.namcnewswire.com or call us at 888-463-9237.
Louis Victor
NAMC Newswire
888-463-9237
Disclaimer:
None of the information contained on the NAMC Newswire constitutes a recommendation by the NAMC Newswire, its journalist, nor its parent company that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific investors or person. Each individual investor must make their own independent decisions regarding any security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy featured on the NAMC Newswire or NAMC Radio Any past results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. The NAMC Newswire, its journalist nor its parent company does not guarantee any specific outcome or profit, and all investors should be aware of the real risk of loss in following any strategy or investments featured on the NAMC Newswire or the NAMC Radio. The strategy or investments discussed may fluctuate in price or value and investors may get back less than you invested. Before acting on any information featured on the NAMC Newswire website or the NAMC Radio segment, investors should consider whether it is suitable for their particular circumstances and strongly consider seeking advice from their own financial or investment adviser. Investors are also urged to do their own due diligence before investing in any security.
All opinions featured on the NAMC Newswire or NAMC Radio are based upon information that is considered to be reliable, but neither the NAMC Newswire, its journalist, its parent company, affiliates nor assigns warrant its completeness or accuracy, and it should not be relied upon as such. The statements and opinions featured on the NAMC Newswire by its journalist are based on their outlook at the time of the statement or opinion, and are subject to change without notice. NAMC may at times hold a position in the companies that it features, in these cases appropriate disclosure is made.
