Posted Apr 27th 2009 8:30AM by Steven Mallas
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Pfizer (PFE), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Novartis AG ADS (NVS), Merck and Co (MRK)
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), a pharmaceutical entity whose colleagues include Merck (NYSE: MRK), Novartis (NYSE: NVS), and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), will be reporting first-quarter earnings Tuesday. As one has come to expect, the market believes that the company will be experiencing a decline in bottom-line income. The call is for 49 cents per share versus 61 cents per share in the year-ago period.
That's a drop of 20%. That might not sound so hot, but the good news is that Pfizer has a solid recent track record when it comes to beating earnings expectations. So shareholders might be justified in feeling confident about that aspect of the game.
Continue reading Earnings preview: Will Pfizer beat in Q1?
Posted Apr 25th 2009 3:40PM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings reports, Yahoo! (YHOO), eBay (EBAY), Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP), Amazon.com (AMZN), International Business Machines (IBM), 3M Corporation (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), Schlumberger Limited (SLB), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Bank of America (BAC), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Merck and Co (MRK), Hasbro Inc (HAS)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Bank of America, Amazon, Coke, eBay, UPS, Yahoo!, IBM, and more
Posted Apr 21st 2009 4:15PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: General Motors (GM), Caterpillar (CAT), TD AmeriTrade Holding (AMTD), Merck and Co (MRK)

Despite the notion that lawmakers are considering executive
compensation pay caps for those companies which may invest in the $1 trillion PPIP, the markets did not turn against Pennsylvania Ave. There were not really any major economic data and shares bounced off lows after traders determined that the bar
was being set very low.
Here are today's closing bell levels (unofficial close):
Dow 7,969.56 +127.83 (1.63%)
S&P 500 850.08 +17.69 (2.13%)
Nasdaq 1,643.85 +35.64 (2.22%)
TOP 10 ANALYST CALLSContinue reading Closing Bell: Investors buy earnings rather than flee pay caps (CAT, GM, JEF, MRK, AMTD)
Posted Apr 21st 2009 7:30AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Earnings reports, Coca-Cola (KO), Market matters, Caterpillar (CAT), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Merck and Co (MRK), United Technologies (UTX), Oil, Financial Crisis

U.S. stock futures fell Tuesday morning following Monday's sharp sell-off. Investors are reacting to Monday evening's earnings and bracing for another wave of corporate earnings today, including five Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks. Monday's sell-off highlighted Wall Street's worries over earnings generally and the financial sector in particular.
Five Dow components are set to report earnings before the bell:
Caterpillar (NYSE:
CAT),
Coca-Cola (NYSE:
KO),
DuPont (NYSE:
DD),
Merck (NYSE:
MRK) and
United Technologies (NYSE:
UTX).
Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks set for yet another low start with a wave of earnings ahead
Posted Apr 15th 2009 12:45PM by Daleela Farina
Filed under: Bad news, Marketing and advertising, Next big thing, Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), Procter and Gamble (PG), Merck and Co (MRK), Amgen Inc (AMGN)

When a $7 a share biotechnology company like
Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ:
DNDN) rockets 200% to over $20 a share in one day, like it did yesterday after reporting
successful Phase 3 trials of its prostate cancer drug, investors get interested in any biotech stock under $10.
But before investing in these speculative companies, you should have a clear understanding of how this niche operates. Marketing plays an important role in order for the companies to raise capital, therefore if you are interested in betting on a company's future, you should consider the risk factors and odds of success.
Continue reading Should you invest in low priced biotech stocks like Dendreon?
Posted Mar 30th 2009 9:00AM by Paul Foster
Filed under: Pfizer (PFE), Merck and Co (MRK), Options
Wyeth (NYSE: WYE) closed at $43.11. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced on January 26 the acquisition of WYE for $33 in cash and 0.985 of a share of PFE. PFE closed at $14.04. WYE April and May option implied volatility of 23 is near its 13-week average of 23, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.
Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) and Merck (NYSE: MRK) approved a definite merger agreement on March 9. SGP shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each share of SGP. SGP closed at $24.19. MRK closed at $27.16. SGP April and May option implied volatility of 37 is near its 2-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directorial price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Posted Mar 13th 2009 11:00AM by Eric Buscemi
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Wal-Mart (WMT), Merck and Co (MRK), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), Palm Inc (PALM), Genentech Inc (DNA), Smithfield Foods (SFD), Analyst initiations, Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA)
Analyst upgrades:
- Bernstein upgraded Merck (NYSE: MRK) to Outperform from Market Perform and raised its target to $30 from $27 citing valuation and its decision to buy Schering-Plough, at what appears to be a reasonable price.
- RBC Capital upgraded Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) to Outperform from Sector Perform and raised its target to $12 from $5 as it believes webOS has increased its chances for Smartphone leadership and will increase its attractiveness as an acquisition target.
- RW Baird upgraded Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Outperform from Neutral on valuation as it believes balance sheet risks are overly discounted in the stock, creating a buying opportunity. The firm has a $3 target on shares.
- Express Scripts (NASDAQ: ESRX) was raised to Buy from Hold at Argus.
- France Telecom (NYSE: FTE) was upgraded at Morgan Stanley to Equal Weight from Underweight.
- Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ: FWLT) was upgraded to Conviction Buy from Neutral at Goldman.
Continue reading Analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations: MRK, PALM, DNA, WMT, TEVA ...
Posted Mar 9th 2009 8:00AM by Paul Foster
Filed under: Merck and Co (MRK), Options
Merck (NYSE: MRK) and Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) approved a definite merger agreement; SGP shareholders will receive 0.5767 shares and $10.50 in cash for each share of SGP. MRK is recently trading at $21.90 in pre-open trading, below its close at $22.74. MRK April option implied volatility of 55 is above its 26-week average of 50, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.
SGP is recently trading at $20.70 in pre-open trading, above its close of $17.63. SGP March option implied volatility is at 88; April is at 69; above its 26-week average of 55, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
Posted Mar 9th 2009 7:40AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Deals, Market matters, Merck and Co (MRK), Economic data, Oil, Recession

What's one mega-deal when the world's economy is about to shrink for the first time since World War II? Indeed, U.S. stock futures declined significantly Monday morning, indicating markets could sell off again at the start of trading today. Even the
$41.1 billion merger between
Merck (NYSE:
MRK) and
Schering-Plough (NYSE:
SGP) didn't seem to do much as the global economic crisis cast a shadow over pretty much any good news.
The World Bank came out with a
pessimistic outlook, saying the global economy is likely to shrink for the first time since World War II, and trade will decline by the most in 80 years. While the International Monetary Fund predicted in January a 0.5% global growth this year, the World Bank said world growth will be 5% below its potential, without giving a precise estimate.
Continue reading Before the bell: Stocks to resume decline
Posted Feb 8th 2009 9:40AM by Trey Thoelcke
Filed under: Earnings reports, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Walt Disney (DIS), Applied Materials (AMAT), Clorox Co (CLX), Merck and Co (MRK), News Corp'B' (NWS), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Akamai Technologies (AKAM)
Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Toyota, Disney, Merck, Marathon, News Corp. and others
Posted Feb 3rd 2009 4:17PM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Earnings reports, Market matters, Automatic Data Proc (ADP), Amer Intl Group (AIG), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Merck and Co (MRK), Harley-Davidson (HOG), SanDisk Corp (SNDK)

Traders today were again fighting mostly over whether the DJIA should trade above the 8,000 mark. But the good news was that the "Bad Bank" plan may be replaced with Uncle Sam acting as an "insurer of last resort," which would put a floor in values. Treasury Secretary Geithner also noted that the U.S. would be very aggressive in its stimulus and stabilization pact. This all sent shares higher late in the day despite the plan's massive cost. Housing data in pending home sales failed to nudge any opinion, as the gains were due to distressed selling.
Today's unofficial closing bell levels:
DJIA: 8,078.36
+141.53
+1.78%
NASDAQ: 1,516.30
+21.87
+1.46%
S&P 500: 838.51
+13.07
+1.58%
52-Week Highs... we actually have some highs!
Top Analyst
Upgrades & DowngradesContinue reading Closing Bell: Dow back above 8,000; AIG, ADP, HOG, MRK, SNDK, UPS
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