Darden Restaurants Earnings Preview
by Insider Scoop - June 30th, 2011 2:13 pm
Courtesy of Benzinga
Darden Restaurants, which operates Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains among others, is set to report its quarterly earnings results after the closing bell on Thursday. Wall Street analysts are estimating that the company will report earnings per share of $1.00 compared to $0.81 in the year ago period. The low EPS estimate of the Street is $0.98 with a high estimate of $1.05. Twenty-eight sell-side analysts cover the name.
Revenues are expected to be $1.99 billion versus $1.88 billion in last year’s corresponding quarter. This implies a 6.20% year over year sales growth estimate. The low revenue estimate for the company is $1.94 billion with a high estimate of $2.02 billion.
Consensus earnings estimates have been holding steady at $1.00 over the last 3 months, indicating that analysts are fairly neutral on the stock going into today’s earnings release. DRI shares have risen 2.45% over the last 3 months and are up almost 28% in the last year. Going into the earnings print, DRI has added 1.26% during Thursday’s trading session.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn 
del.icio.us
DiggRadiation Detected In Fukushima Children Urine Samples As Fort Calhoun Orders 10 Mile Evacuation Radius
by Zero Hedge - June 30th, 2011 2:04 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
The Fed may have stopped printing money, but that does not prevent Fukushima from printing radiation, and a flooded Fort Calhoun to print notices of “all’s well” even as a 10 mile evacuation zone has been established. Per Ex-SKF, quoting the Sankei Shinbun: “A citizens’ group in Fukushima Prefecture “Fukushima Network to Protect Children from Radiation” tested the urine samples from 10 children in Fukushima City, age 6 to 16, and announced on June 30 that a small amount of radioactive materials was detected from all samples. The highest amount of cesium-134 was from an 8-year-old girl, at 1.13 becquerels per liter. The highest amount of cesium-137 was from a 7-year-old boy, at 1.30 becquerels per liter. The samples were taken in late May, and sent to the French laboratory ACRO (Association pour le Contrôle de la Radioactivité dans l’Ouest) to testing for radiation. ACRO has experience in surveying the radiation exposure in children after the Chernobyl accident. ACRO’s president David Boilley said in the press conference, “There is a very high possibility that children in and around Fukushima City have been exposed to internal radiation. Prior to the [Fukushima] accident, these numbers would have been zero.” Nothing to see here. Just as there is nothing see in Nebraska, where the NRUC said there is nothing to worry about… despite the imposition of a 10 mile evacuation radius. As a reminder Fukushima has a roughly 18 mile evacuation radius zone.
Fast forward 45 seconds into the ABC news clip for the evacuation news:
h/t DailyPaul
Earnings Preview: Xyratex
by Insider Scoop - June 30th, 2011 1:55 pm
Courtesy of Benzinga
Xyratex (NASDAQ: XRTX) is set to report earnings after the bell today.
At last check, shares were up $0.43 to $10.15, a gain of nearly 4.5% as traders await earnings.
Wall Street is looking for quarterly earnings of $0.00 per share on $339.5 million in revenues. This is up from last year, when the company reported earnings of $1.49 per share on $455.9 million in revenues. Guidance for next quarter is expected to come in at 21 cents per share on $349.8 million in revenues. Analysts are expecting earnings for the current fiscal year to be 94 cents per share with revenue estimates being $1.43 billion.
Xyratex provides modular enterprise-class data storage solutions and storage process technology. The company designs, develops, and manufactures enabling technology that supports storage and data communication networks. It operates in two segments, Networked Storage Solutions and Storage Infrastructure.
Allegheny Technologies Operations and USW Reach Tentative Labor Agreements
by Insider Scoop - June 30th, 2011 1:31 pm
Courtesy of Benzinga
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE: ATI) today announced that the United Steelworkers (USW) and ATI Allegheny Ludlum and ATI’s Albany, OR titanium operations have reached tentative four-year agreements covering approximately 3,000 employees. If ratified, the agreements will expire on June 30, 2015. The USW has informed the Company that employees covered by the collective bargaining agreements will soon be notified of the ratification process. The existing contracts have been extended and are effective through August 1, 2011.
Risk Spread Compression Time
by Zero Hedge - June 30th, 2011 1:24 pm
Courtesy of Tyler Durden
It’s that time of the day when Brian Sack is holding the ES flat or rising even as his increasingly depleted arsenal to push other risk assets higher causes the RISK basket to decline. The latest: the ES-RISK (commodities, FX carry and rates) spread has just blown out to a 7 ES point equivalent. In the past 2 months the divergence has not failed to close upon emergence within 48 hours. Those with discount window access and wishing to take on the Fed in this relatively low risk pair trade, now that the Fed is about to step out of overt market manipulation (and just be stuck the covert one… and with the fiber optic cable to 131 South Dearborn Street) are as usual advised to take a long, hard look at a compression trade at these levels.
Anyone notice what Grains are doing today?
by Chart School - June 30th, 2011 1:19 pm
Courtesy of Chris Kimble
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE
The “Power of the Pattern” suggested a two-thirds odds that Grain prices would decline.
Anyone notice that the July Corn contract is down over 10% today and the July Wheat futures are down over 8%.
The quiz of June 16th was titled “wow what an opportunity” due to the huge rising wedges (See post here) AGA is doing pretty well since the quiz!
Remember that when grain prices started falling hard in 2008…so did stocks (see post here)
Hearing CRH Upgraded to Buy from Hold at Tier-1 Firm
by Insider Scoop - June 30th, 2011 1:15 pm
Courtesy of Benzinga
Beleaguered investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) is likely going to lay off around 230 employees according to the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street house cited economic reasons for the move. In a notice dated June 29, Goldman said a “plant layoff” may affect those employees between late September and March 2012.
Under state law, according to the New York Department of Labor website, businesses in the state that have 50 or more employees are required to provide 90 days notice before a “plant closing, mass layoff, relocation, or other covered reduction in work hours.”
The likely reason for the layoffs is a slowdown in Wall Street trading, which has been ongoing. According to the Journal article, equities volumes have been contracting over recent weeks and other banks such as Barclays (NYSE: BCS) and Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) are also reducing headcounts. There have also been recent rumors swirling about big losses in Goldman’s commodities unit last quarter, when the price of crude oil, silver, and other commodities plunged.
Ebix Announces Increase to Share Buy Back Program
by Insider Scoop - June 30th, 2011 1:01 pm
Courtesy of Benzinga
Ebix, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIX) today announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously approved an increase to the Company’s share repurchase program from $45 million to $100 million. The Board also authorized the Company to possibly complete these share repurchases over the next twelve months, and that they be funded by the Company’s operating cash flows. The Board made the determination to increase the share buy back plan limit after reviewing Ebix’s consistent cash flows.
The Company also reported that since January 1, 2011 and thru June 29, 2011 that it has bought back 1.31 million shares of common stock for aggregate consideration in the amount of $26.2 million and at an overall average of $20.02 per share. All share repurchases were and continue to be done in accordance with Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as to the timing, pricing, and volume of such transactions.
OMG! Obama Talks Debt With One Side of His Mouth, Stimulus With the Other
by ilene - June 30th, 2011 1:00 pm
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
Quick poll: any JDA readers actually surprised to find this out?
The result in Google News reads Amid debt talks, Obama calls for stimuluswhile the actual article reads Obama call for stimulus may complicate debt talks. Whatever they want to call it, Reuters has the latest:
U.S. President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for new steps to spur job growth and tax hikes on the rich, hardening a stance that will likely complicate deficit reduction talks with Republicans.
Obama’s call came as the International Monetary Fund and the Treasury Department urged Washington to reach a budget deal that would pave the way for Congress to raise the United States’ $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by August 2.
Failure to increase the debt ceiling, which caps how much the United States can borrow, would likely trigger a default that could plunge the United States into a new recession and roil global financial markets, the Obama administration and economists warn.
Oh dear.
Obama then used his young daughters as an example for how Congress can get things done.
Since deficit-reduction talks collapsed last week, Republicans and Democrats have made no progress on a deal to allow Congress to extend the government’s borrowing authority.
But Obama, invoking the example of his daughters Sasha and Malia, told Congress to do its job: "They don’t wait until the night before. They’re not pulling all-nighters. They’re — they’re 13 and 10. You know, Congress can do the same thing."
WHAT? Congress and pre-teen girls are the same thing?
Then again, this is the same man who has no idea what the Fed actually does (besides printing up his economic "recovery"). So, you know, don’t be all that surprised.
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Chinese
Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(