Every morning the Street of Walls team puts out an update on market levels, today’s top stories, and active M&A deals.
Today’s Top Stories:
- Barclays Equity Mkt Outlook: 2012 S&P 500 price target at 1330 and update our EPS estimates for 2011 to $97 and for 2012 to $103. We still expect 6% earnings growth in 2012 http://bit.ly/sN3dnc
- S&P Could Downgrade EU Economies: S&P may strip Europe’s biggest economies of their AAA rating (put Germany, France, Finland and 12 other Eurozone nations on watch) http://bloom.bg/vmkeVO
- Paulson Adds DLPH: On December 2, hedge fund manager John Paulson disclosed a 15.8% stake in the common shares of Delphi Automotive PLC (NYSE:DLPH) http://bit.ly/uRmhOq
- Lowes Reiterates Guidance: LOW reiterates their guide given on Nov 11th ahead of Day 2 of the Analyst Day, expect more color on LT guide today during presentations
- Hussman Funds on Recession: John P. Hussman,Ph.D., is out this morning with his weekly market commentary titled, “Have We Avoided a Recession?”. He makes some very interesting points on the global and US economic activity of the recent weeks http://bit.ly/vfZI2z
- Barclays Initiation of Software: Barclays initiates on 20 Software names. CTXS, N, INFA, CRM, and 16 others. Bottom line—software industry is still young and outgrowing GDP. Themes to currently play: SaaS, Big Data and the Cloud. Favorite stocks: CTXS, VMW, CRM and PMTC.
- Jeremy Grantham’s 3Q Letter: GMO’s Jeremy Grantham is out with his latest piece titled, “The Shortest Quarterly Letter Ever.” His main point in the letter is that there is “No Market for Young Men.”http://bit.ly/ruoLj8
- Europe Can Get Out of Crisis: China reaffirmed its confidence in Europe’s “wisdom and ability” to resolve the eurozone debt crisis, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday while meeting Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond http://bit.ly/vaXPZm
- Hungry for Yield: “Recent turmoil sent the dividend-bond yield spread back into positive territory, a level not reached since the height of the latest financial crisis (and prior to that, the late 1950s). Analysis screens for co’s whose (synthetic) 5-year debt is yielding less than their expected dividend yield. Long high quality dividend yields, fund position with synthetic bonds” (Citi Research)
M&A Watch:
- WSJ reports that NFL near deals worth $3.2B/yr for 8-yrs, +60% on current deals w/ Fox (NWSA), NBC (CMCSA) and CBS. Together w/ deals w/ ESPN (DIS) and DTV, the league would be getting $6B in media fees per year
- FAF filed to withdraw from the process to purchase CLGX
