FeedPosted Nov 18th 2009 7:45AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Deals, Market matters, Hershey Co (HSY), Economic data, Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), Commodities, Oil, Housing

U.S. stock futures edged higher Wednesday morning, a little above the 13-month highs they reached Tuesday, as investors await key data figures, including consumer prices and housing starts. As traders take a breather from the recent runup in stocks, the same trends that pushed markets higher on Tuesday remain: the dollar dropped and commodities soared, driving mining stocks higher in overseas markets.
[
Update 8:30 a.m.: October housing starts were down 30% from last year, the weakest since April. CPI rose 0.3% in October on higher energy, car prices. At first glance, these figures may affect the mood negatively.
8:35 a.m.: Stock market futures are declining, indicating a lower start.]
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures fall after housing, inflation data
Posted Nov 9th 2009 9:50AM by Mark Fightmaster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)

Ahead of the pre-determined deadline, Kraft (
KFT) decided to launch its
formal offer for U.K.-based chocolate maker Cadbury (
CBY). KFT announced that the cash-and-stock bid is worth $16.46 billion (9.8 billion pounds) or 717 pence per U.K.-listed CBY share.
At that rate, KFT said the bid is 37% higher than CBY's July 3 close. KFT added that no other potential buyer has declared interest in CBY. KFT is offering CBY shareholders $5 in cash and 0.26 share in KFT. For each American CBY share, KFT is offering $20 cash and 1.04 shares.
Continue reading Kraft launches hostile takeover of Cadbury
Posted Nov 9th 2009 7:40AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the bell, International markets, Deals, General Electric (GE), Market matters, Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Comcast Cl'A' (CMCSA), Economic data, Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), Oil

U.S. stock futures climbed significantly higher Monday morning, pointing to a strong open on Wall Street following gains in overseas stock markets. With little in the way of economics data and earnings, investors mostly are following several potential deal news.
Last week, with mostly encouraging economic data and generally better-than-expected earnings, the Dow reclaimed the 10,000 mark and remained above it despite the unemployment rate reaching 10.2%. It seems for now, the promise of a recovery and a Federal Reserve that's keeping stimulating policies are enough to boost sentiment.
Continue reading Before the bell: Futures climb as Wall Street eyes deals
Posted Nov 2nd 2009 9:00AM by Paul Foster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Options, Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)
Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) is expected to report Q3 EPS on November 3. KFT's $16.7 billion bid for Cadbury PLC (NYSE: CBY) was rejected by CBY in September. KFT faces a November 9 deadline set by the U.K. Takeover Panel to make a formal offer for CBY. KFT November option implied volatility is at 25, December is at 24; versus its 26-week average of 25, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.
iShares Trust FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Fund (NYSE: FXI) is recently up $1.30 to $43 in pre-open trading. FXI is an index fund that seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index. FXI overall option implied volatility of 38 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
Posted Oct 30th 2009 2:40PM by David Schepp (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Products and services, Consumer experience, Wal-Mart (WMT), Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Target Corp. (TGT), Hershey Co (HSY), Costco Wholesale (COST), Hormel Foods (HRL), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), DJIA, Stocks to Buy, Recession

Halloween, though not the blockbuster holiday that Christmas is, still results in some additional spending on the part of consumers as they stock up on candy and costumes, and maybe take in a scary movie or two. With those treats in mind here are some stocks that may give investors sweet dreams -- and hopefully not nightmares.
As is well known, candy is all the rage at Halloween, and among the largest candy stocks are
Hershey Co. (NYSE:
HSY) and
Cadbury PLC (NYSE:
CBY). Last week, Hershey reported third-quarter earnings rose 30% despite weaker volumes affected by higher prices for its sweets. Last year's numbers also included special charges. Still the company said it expects full-year earnings to be
ahead of Wall Street forecasts. In 2010, the Pennsylvania company said it expects earnings excluding items to rise 6% to 8%. The stock has a forward-looking price-to-earnings ratio of 16 and a current dividend yield of 3.1%.
Continue reading Halloween stocks offer investors a chance at financial treats
Posted Oct 29th 2009 6:00PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Kellogg Co (K), General Mills (GIS), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)
Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) didn't need a hearty breakfast to get its stock going today (although I'm sure it had one anyway). All it needed was a reasonably healthy earnings report. Judging by how the stock is performing, I think the company got one.
For the third quarter, Kellogg saw flat sales growth. However, take out currency effects and acquisitions, and you've got a 3% expansion rate on the top line. Well, that isn't so robust, either, but let's head to the bottom line. Earnings per share came in at 94 cents, representative of a 6% increase. Not so bad, and according to Mark Fightmaster's preview, that was a dime better than what analysts wanted to see.
Continue reading Kellogg's Q3 top line not great, but bottom line beats projections
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 3:20PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Hershey Co (HSY), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)
Hershey (NYSE:
HSY) had a more than acceptable
third quarter in terms of bottom-line growth, but it looks like the market couldn't care less. As I write this, shares of the candy company are trading down 4.4% in the afternoon session, on extremely sweet volume (and by sweet, I mean bad).
On an adjusted basis, Hershey increased per-share profit by 14% to 73 cents. According to Earnings.com, analysts were only expecting 67 cents per share. Hey, what's going on? The Dow and the S&P 500 are in the green, and the NASDAQ is only down slightly. Shouldn't investors be happy with results like these?
Continue reading Hershey's Q3 results give investors an early Halloween fright -- why?
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 8:30AM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Campbell Soup (CPB), ConAgra Foods (CAG), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)
ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) issued Q1 numbers on Tuesday. The market wasn't too impressed by them, but they weren't bad, actually. Net sales were lackluster, I'll admit. They dropped about 3%. Earnings per share from continuing operations, on the other hand, really shined. They increased well over 60% to 38 cents. Net income from continuing operations on a dollar basis soared over 50%.
Even better, that 38-cents-per-share statistic was firmly ahead of Wall Street expectations. According to our earnings preview, analysts were looking for 34 cents per share.
Continue reading ConAgra increases profit in the first quarter
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 8:00AM by Paul Foster (RSS feed)
Filed under: Options, Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)
Cadbury PLC (NYSE: CBY) rejected Kraft (NYSE: KFT) $16.7B for CBY on September 7. CBY over all option implied volatility of 27 is below its 26-week average of 33, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.
MSCI Emerging Markets Index (NYSE: EEM) is recently closed at $39.28. EEM October option implied volatility is at 31, November is at 33; below its 26-week average of 39, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
Posted Sep 18th 2009 10:00AM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newsletters, AT and T (T), Verizon Communications (VZ), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Merck and Co (MRK), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), DJIA, Stocks to Buy
"The Dogs of the Dow strategy has a long-term history of outperforming the Dow Jones average," notes technical expert Gerald Appel.
In his Systems & Forecasts, he explains, "The theory is that the highest yielding stocks are undervalued and should have the greatest change of appreciating." Here, he reviews the five highest yielders.
"In calculating a formal track record for the strategy, dividend yields are ranked on the last trading day of each year. However, there is no reason why you are limited to ranking stocks only at the end of the year.
"The current market climate appears favorable for using this strategy to garner investment income, since market risk appears below normal and investment income is getting hard to come by.
Continue reading Dogs of the Dow: A look at five high yielders
Posted Sep 16th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Adobe Systems (ADBE), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)

The bulls just keep running. So much so that even the bears have started wearing horns and fake hooves so that they fit in a little better. A tame CPI figure on consumer inflation helped things steady and then a less-bad homebuilder survey allowed the run to continue higher. Oil prices ramped up on
lower crude inventories as well. Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 9,790.35 +106.94 (1.10%)
S&P 500 1,068.76 +16.13 (1.53%)
Nasdaq 2,133.15 +30.51 (1.45%)
Top Analyst UpgradesTop Analyst DowngradesTop Trader AlertsContinue reading Closing Bell: Bears head to rehab (GE, KFT, CBY, ORCL, ADBE, FLEX, KERX)
Posted Sep 15th 2009 4:40PM by Beth Gaston Moon (RSS feed)
Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)

Earlier today, the Street was
abuzz with rumors that
Kraft Foods (NYSE:
KFT) was investigating the sale of brands such as Maxwell House and Oscar Mayer in order to raise capital to up its
Cadbury (NYSE:
CBY) bid to something a little bit sweeter (and one the confectionery giant might not reject).
Kraft responded to the rumors saying they were just that - unfounded conjecture - and noted that it would not in fact need to ditch hot dogs and coffee for creme eggs and Trident gum. A spokeswoman for the company told
Reuters "The financing for this proposal does not require any divestitures." So where did these rumors get started, anyway? Is Kraft protesting too much?
Continue reading Will Kraft dump assets to sweeten the Cadbury bid?
Posted Sep 12th 2009 12:10PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Campbell Soup (CPB), Kellogg Co (K), Procter and Gamble (PG), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT)
Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), a familiar name at the supermarket, reported Q4 earnings on Friday. The top line wasn't so hot as sales declined 11%. There were a few factors to consider with that decline, including currency translation and the issue of there being an extra week in the previous year's comparable quarter. I'm pretty satisfied with the context management provided for the challenged revenue. Also, sales essentially matched expectations, according to our earnings preview, which isn't so bad. The bottom line, however, deserves more than a passing grade. Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 15% to 30 cents, beating estimates by four pennies.
I like it. Furthermore, I enjoyed that adjusted per-share profit for the full fiscal year also beat forecasts. And you should take a look at the adjusted gross margin for both the quarter and the 12-month period. Campbell's management was able to expand the metric, a feat indicative of efficiencies and pricing strategies, according to the press release.
Continue reading Campbell Soup ends the fiscal year with market-beating earnings
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