It's Monday May 15, 2006, and it's the first day of the trading week. Metals are taking a hit today as Gold, Silver, Copper and the rest of the bunch slip as institutions and investors shift money around. Keep in mind that nothing goes up in a straight line, but metals have skyrocketed more in a few weeks than they have in years so a pull back is not a shock. It may present unique buying opportunities for the right companies.
Now the U.S. Dollar weakens and that is driving international institutions away from the U.S. Dollar and into the Euro, companies that stand to benefit are those companies that sell lots of products in Europe, insurance is one of them, as AFLAC, Inc (NYSE: AFL) should benefit from this swing.
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New England is in bad shape this morning as storms over the past few day have dumped anywhere from 10 to 12 inches on the area. Making the backyards of some resident into tiny lakes and washing out several highways and streets. This is said to be the worst storm for the region since 1936 and more rain is coming. At this point New Hampshire and Massachusetts have declared a state of emergency.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil Drug traffickers unleashed a wave of coordinated attacks on police in Sao Paulo over the weekend. This left over 50 people dead in what call one of the most violent attacks in Brazil as of late
The separate attacks totaled at least 100 and kicked off on Friday and continued for the entire weekend. Several groups of criminals equipped with hand grenades and automatic weapons blanketed the region and gunned down several members of the security forces that were on the job. According to reports two or three innocents were left dead when it was all over.
Now, we received a few comments from our readers/listeners in regards to Wall Street to Main Street mentioning various world events in every segment. Just to touch on this, world events affect certain companies and this is the process of keeping our readers/listeners informed as it may have an impact on a certain stock that a certain reader/listener may own. Headlines do have an impact on publicly traded stocks for good and bad, look at what the Wall Street Journals article did to United Health (NYSE: UNH), Comverse Technology (NASDAQ: CMVT) and the commodity market as of late..
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Political Front
President Bush will address the nation this evening on the issue of immigration. This address is very important as it may outline a plan that could give millions of illegal immigrants alien citizenship opportunities. A lot of these workers are an integral part of farming and other industries that require lower cost labor, without access to this low cost labor some of thee companies will realize lower profit margins and could affect the U.S. Economy. If you recall when immigrant workers marched in protest recently various companies in the farming, wine, beef, pork, chicken and other industries closed shop for the day to allow them to march. So this does impact big business in the United States as companies such as Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI) and Tyson Foods (NYSE: TSN) will feel the pinch. This is not isolated to only farming companies, as we speak technology companies Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) are lobbying congress to increase the number of immigrants that would be eligible for resident alien status, if this doesn't work then these technology companies as well as many others may seek to produce their products overseas
Now an added note is that President Bush may include a plan to launch a military presence on the U.S. Mexican Border utilizing the National Guard.
The United Nations Inspectors have found traces of highly enriched uranium on research equipment in Iran. They also added that they had to implement further testing to support their claims. OK, lets look at this, Iran admits to enriching uranium, so really what further tests are needed. This is more of a delay tactic to give more time for a peaceful solution to a tense situation, so this delay makes a lot of sense because the next step would be military oriented and a peaceful resolution right now sounds like a better plan.
Movers and Shakers
Some major movers in Fridays trading session included Elan PLC (NYSE: ELN) it traded up $1.06 to close at $15.86, as we mentioned on Wall Street to Main Street last week Elan is in an interesting position as if they get the thumbs of from the FDA on June 28, 2006, a little over a month away, then you will see the company come back to life in a big way, so keep an eye on Elan. Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS) traded up $2.26 to close at $53.32, Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) traded up $1.35 to close at $36.03, Wellcare Health Plans (NYSE: WCG) traded up $1.56 to close at $47.31, United Fire & Casualty (NASDAQ: UFCS) traded up $2.80 to close at $31.73 and Big 5 Sporting Goods (NASDAQ: BGFV) which traded up $$1.77 to close at $22.15.
Analyst Upgrades/Downgrades
Recent Analyst upgrades include Boston Private Bancorp (NASDAQ: BPFH) which was upgraded with to an Outperform form a Market Perform by Ryan Beck & Co., Horizon Financial Corp (NASDAQ: HRZB) which was upgraded to a Buy from a Neutral by FTN Midwest Research, Equity One (NYSE: EQY) which was upgraded to a Buy from a Hold by BB&T Capital Markets, and FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN) which was upgraded to a BUY from a Neutral by Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
Recent Analyst downgrades include Movie Gallery (NASDAQ: MOVI) which was downgraded to a Neutral from an Overweight by JP Morgan, Threshold Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: THLD) which was downgraded to Hold from a Buy by Fortis Bank, and Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE: TM) was downgraded to a Neutral from a Buy by Banc of America Securities,
Analyst Coverage Initiations include Sun Healthcare Group (NASDAQ: SUNH) was initiated with a Buy rating and a Price target of $11 by UBS, NBC Capital Corp (AMEX: NBY) was initiated with a Neutral rating by SunTrust Robinson and Gerber Scientific (NYSE: GRB) was initiated with a Buy rating by Sidoti and Co.
Tid Bits
News Corps (NYSE: NWS) MySpace.com division will soon be offering downloads of the hit series "24" for $1.99 a pop, this is the continued move of News Corp to take advantage of the digital age.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) is almost in place to offer their software to public health groups. This is in an effort to prepare and possibly combat the potential avian flu pandemic.
Boeing (NYSE: BA) opts to settle a Federal Probe for $615 million as opposed to faces possible criminal charges in contracting scandals. Good thing that they signed those major China deals recently.
Target (NYSE: TGT) and Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) are set to report earnings today and this should give a nice boost to the retail sector.
Impart Media Group (OTCBB: IMMG) slid down on Friday on little volume but bumped right back up by the end of the trading day. We received a number of emails on Friday as to whether Impart was falling apart of presented a buying opportunity. I will say this now that whenever you see this stock drop down it presents a buying opportunity, we see it as a listing play and our price outlook remains in the $7 to $10 range upon a listing, keep in mind that the stock needs to be higher to meet the requirements for a listing, so you may see it trade in the $4 to $5 range prior to the listing. Which we see happening by mid to late August, 2006..
FURIOUS FIVE
This is the First of our "Furious Five" companies that we see excelling in their industry in 2006. We featured this company in the Investors Corner recently but had to include it in our "Furious Five" list for this week. The First addition to this week's Furious Five is Jones Soda Co (NASDAQ: JSDA) it trades on the Nasdaq under the symbol JSDA.
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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
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Louis Victor
NAMC Newswire
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Disclaimer:
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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.
Louis Victor is the host of the syndicated radio show and financial newsletter "Wall Street to Main Street" which is featured on the NAMC Newswire Radio. He has been involved in the financial industry for over two decades, on the retail and investment banking ends. He is also well versed in the advertising and marketing industries, which has given him insight into market trends and unqiue companies that may be under the radar.
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