Tag Archives: WMT

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:

Top Stories
In Japan: Gravity. Isaac Newton paid Japan’s equity markets a visit Thursday and it turns out that even Japanese stocks are subject to the law of gravity (who knew?). A confluence of factors sent the Nikkei (EWJ, DXJ) plunging 7.3% in a wild session where the swing from intraday high to low was ~9%. Yields on JGB 10s (JGBL) spiked above 1% at one point, as an already skittish and volatile market was further rattled by what have generally been perceived as hawkish comments out of Ben Bernanke and other Fed officials on Wednesday. Yields pulled back in late trading. Compounding the problem for Japanese stocks was the yen (FXY), which was strong against the dollar throughout (the USD/JPY pair traded down to 101.8 during the Asian session), and a weak read on Chinese manufacturing courtesy of the HSBC flash PMI, which printed in contraction territory


Complete Story »

What Will $2 Million Get You In Retirement?

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , ,

By Doug Carey:

I spend a lot of time helping people understand how much money they will need to meet their retirement goals. Today I want to look at this another way: What will $2 million actually get you in retirement? This is an interesting question because a) Many people believe that $2 million is a comfortable amount to meet their retirement goals and b) We can look at the different ways in which a couple can use this $2 million without running out of money.

Like any retirement calculations, this one involves many assumptions. But as long as our assumptions are reasonable, say 6% for equity returns rather than the 10% figure that many people used to use, we can come up with a very reasonable estimate for how much money one needs to retire comfortably.

Let’s start with the assumptions I used for the couple we will look at:

Inflation (CPI)


Complete Story »

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:

Top Stories
Japanese economy grows, but capex is weak. The Japanese economy grew 3.5% (annualized) in Q1 as rising stock prices made consumers more willing to spend, a partial confirmation of the effectiveness of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic policies. On the other hand, capex fell 0.7% Q/Q on expectations of a 0.7% increase, proof the corporate sector is still skeptical regarding fiscal and monetary authorities’ ability to wrest the country from the grip of deflation. The weak read on business investment weighed on Japanese stocks as the Nikkei fell 0.39% — the index did hold the 15,000 level.

IRS chief’s resignation demanded, received, accepted. Acting IRS chief Steven Miller resigned Wednesday in the wake of the agency’s admission it unfairly screened Tea Party groups seeking tax exempt status from 2010 onward. President Obama called the screening "inexcusable" and emphasized that the IRS was the very last


Complete Story »

Nokia’s Turnaround Underway As Lumia 521 Sells Out In Wal-Mart

Topnews, Worldnews, , ,

By Jacob Steinberg:

In the latest aggressive attempt of Nokia (NOK) and Microsoft (MSFT) to gain significant market share in the US, Wal-Mart (WMT) stores started to offer Nokia’s cheapest Lumia model (Lumia 521) for a low price of $129. The phone is being sold as “unlocked” which means that the buyers are able to use their phone with a carrier of their choice as long as the carrier company accepts the phone. Even though it will be unlocked, the phone will be sold under T-Mobile and the buyers can take the company’s $30/month plan which comes with unlimited calling, texting and doesn’t require a contract. The initial reports suggest that the phone was sold out within one hour after appearing on Wal-Mart’s website.

Phone Specifics

The phone runs on Windows Phone 8 operating system, carries a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus, is able to record HD video at 720p


Complete Story »

Corporations Boost Dividends 3.3 Times Since 1998

Topnews, Worldnews, ,

By Vin Colby:

In 2000, Wal-Mart (WMT) generated $8.2 billion in cash from operations, $6.2 billion (75%) of which went into capital expenditures, like investing in new stores. A far smaller share — about $1 billion — was returned to shareholders in the form of dividends and share buybacks. Investing in the future far outweighed rewarding investors today.

In 2012, the tables flipped. Wal-Mart generated $25.6 billion in cash from operations and spent $12.9 billion — or 50% — on capital expenditures. Another $13 billion was distributed to shareholders in dividends and buybacks. Investing in the future and rewarding shareholders today took equal precedence.

Part of this shift is Wal-Mart maturing from a growth company into a stalwart. But it’s actually indicative of how most of corporate America has changed over the last decade. Goldman Sachs recently published a report showing how S&P 500 (SPY) companies have spent their cash


Complete Story »

The Dow Weekly: 5 Cheapest Price-to-Book Stocks

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ByMichael Fu:

This is the second edition of the weekly series called The Weekly Dow (for last week’s article on the Top 5 Dividend Plays, click here). This week, we will look at the 5 cheapest Price-to-Book multiple stocks in the Dow Index Industrials Index (DIA). By the way, please reference my prior article on the pros and cons of looking at book value, specifically as it applies to bank and insurance stocks.

The 5 Cheapest P/B Stocks

As of April 9, 2013, the 5 cheapest P/B stocks in the Dow are Alcoa (AA) at 0.7x, Bank of America (BAC) at 0.9x, JP Morgan (JPM) at 1.2x, Travelers (TRV) at 1.3x and Verizon (VZ) at 1.7x.

Note that 3 of these stocks (BAC, JPM and TRV) are bank and insurance stocks. Note that bank stocks and insurance stocks are levered, and the financial assets that are held on their balance


Complete Story »

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , ,

Wall Street Breakfast Editors submit:

Top Stories
Cyprus reopens banks under tight restrictions. Stiff capital controls announced Wednesday designed to cut off the flow of money were in place as Cypriot banks reopened this morning. Banks have been shut for nearly two weeks as the government negotiated a bailout package with the EU and became the first eurozone country to impose losses on bank depositors. Cash withdrawals are limited to €300 per day, time deposits cannot be withdrawn until maturity, and check-cashing is banned. Additionally, anyone leaving the country may take only €1K euros with them, down from €3K in an early draft of the restrictions.

Fed doves make themselves heard. "I think this is the point where we have to be patient and let our policies work," the Chicago Fed’s Charles Evans told reporters. Separately, Boston’s Eric Rosengren and Minneapolis’ Narayana Kocherlakota presented a similar theme, with Kocherlakota even suggesting the Fed isn’t


Complete Story »

How To Invest When The Market Is At All Time Highs

Topnews, Worldnews, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By Dividend Growth Investor:

With the market near all-time highs, many quality income stocks are getting close to being in overvalued territory. As a result, many investors are tempted to postpone new purchases until there is a correction. While many household names like Coca-Cola (KO) are fully valued at the moment, there are many companies which are trading at attractive valuations. These of course are not the rock bottom valuations we saw in late 2008 and early 2009, but nevertheless could represent cheap entry points for enterprising dividend investors.

In general, dividend investors always need to be selective, and on the lookout for common stocks that are attractively priced. Entry price does matter, because overpaying for stocks could lead to subpar returns in the first five to ten years of the investment. For example, investors who purchased Coca-Cola or Wal-Mart (WMT) in early 2000 didn’t register much in terms of price returns for


Complete Story »