Pharma Giant On the Mend

Pharma Giant On the Mend

The pharma giant GSK PLC (GSK) is working to emerge from years with a share price that goes nowhere. The company’s CEO, Emma Walmsley, is still trying to convince investors that she is delivering a “new chapter of growth” after many years of underperformance. GSK shares are down 3% over the past five years, while […]

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How to Identify Opportunities in Community Banks

Sitting down with Phil Timyan to talk about banks and bank stock is a rare treat. Phil Timyan has been on both sides of the table as a banker and investor. He has filed 13D on several banks and waged activist campaigns to improve bank operations and even the outright sale of under-performing banks. Phil […]

Did Investors Overreact to CROX earnings?

Did Investors Overreact to CROX earnings?

Crocs (CROX) posted earnings last week and the stock dropped about 15% after the fact. The company posted better than expected revenues for Q1 but Q2 guidance was disappointing. However, an options trader may be thinking that the selloff was overdone. This trader appears to have purchased a very bullish ratio call spread in CROX […]

Restaurants Are Packed! Is The Recession Fake News? 

Restaurants Are Packed! Is The Recession Fake News? 

I’ve seen two hour waits at some of the best spots near me.  Full restaurants don’t sound bearish, yet, you likely also keep seeing bearish news (like the recent First Republic Bank collapse).  What’s going on?  I looked at the recent earnings report for Dominos… the pizza company. Pizza orders gives you a great glimpse […]

So Far, No Crisis

So Far, No Crisis

Last week’s earnings reports from a few different REITs indicated that commercial office space and commercial lending have not fallen into the crisis the financial media has warned of. The fear in the markets is that low office space occupancy will lead to declining property values and commercial mortgage defaults. Also, since commercial mortgages are […]

Trade of the Week: Bonds

Trade of the Week: Bonds

While options block trades can potentially provide insight into what the smart money is doing, it’s impossible to know for sure what the goal of a big trade is. For instance, a 22,000-lot call spread expiring in October appears to have been purchased in iShares 20+ Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) options. This would seem to […]

The Good News in Preferred Stocks

The Good News in Preferred Stocks

Last week I was a speaker at the MoneyShow in Las Vegas. Besides speaking, I like to network with a wide range of investment professionals. I was intrigued by one idea concerning preferred stocks from the discussions: that they will allow investors to benefit from the Fed’s interest rate increases. Preferred stock shares can be […]