This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007 feature. The voting has now closed and readers have chosen ExxonMobilas the most hated company of the year. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.
Trying to discuss the Most Hated Companies is not easy. There are so many to choose from that if we left the subject wide open it would fill a novel. The four companies that made our list are all substantial in size and that alone brings much criticism. These four companies and their stocks are all broadly covered by Wall Street and business journals everywhere. We at BloggingStocks have written dozens of stories about them in just the past year alone. Each time we do, we find that our readers have plenty to vent about, so here we are giving you all one more chance.
Three of the four stocks here have not paid off for shareholders, and that is bound to start the ranting and raving. All of them have created some consumer backlash, and even fury. Some people hate the management. But management hating is not the problem at the worlds largest company, Exxon Mobil, since it is up about 200% in the past five years.
Markets made solid gains today moving well in the green. There are a couple of factors that helped lift the market. It is a natural bounce back from the correction; risk of the sub-prime market is coming off the table with the government's attention and intervention, and the summer is ending and we are headed into the fall a time the market typically does better in.
The NYSE had volume of 2.1 billion shares with 2,321 shares advancing while 995 declined for a gain of 101.66 points to close at 9,698.64. On the NASDAQ, 1.6 billion shares traded, 1,969 advanced and 1,065 declined for a gain of 33.88 to 2,630.24.
In options there were 3.5 million puts and 4.5 million calls traded for a put/call ratio of 0.78. There were a couple of options that had heavy volume that cought our attention. BankAmerica Corp. (NYSE: BAC) saw heavy volume on the September 47.50 calls (BACIW) with over 103,000 options trading and the September 45 calls (BACII) moved 90,000 options. BAC pays a dividend, so this may be dividend arbitrage. Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw heavy volume on the September 145 calls (APVII) with over 35,000 options trading. Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) rose $1.24 (5%) to $23.97. Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) saw heavy volume on the January 30 calls (YHQAF) with over 24,000 options trading and the September 25 calls (YHQIE) moved over 23,000 options trading. Bear Stearns reiterated Yahoo at outperform and tech was strong in general today.
Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Disclosure note: Mr. Kersten owns and or controls a diversified portfolio of long and short positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.
You really should watch Hilary Kramer: Market has further to fall, but there is opportunity in KDN, CBI, ACH to get some market perspective. The video was posted on August 21, 2007 and she makes some very good stock recommendations. Over the past 18 months that I have been looking at her picks versus those of James Cramer, I have found that you would have done better with Hilary.
While giving her full credit for her stock picking and market coverage I find I must strongly disagree with a statement she made. Cautioning viewers that " There is going to be a meltdown" is not overly alarming, but I take great exception to her stating that "This market can go down 25%." She shared her fear that there are 9000 hedge funds and that 3000 might close down.
It is possible that people may panic in certain circumstances and the market can stray into irrational short-term behavior once again, but I find her reasoning a little soft. Let's assume that the 9000 hedge funds own 50% of the total equity in the stock market (they don't) and one third go out of business, that would equate to a 15% collapse of value (unscientific, I know, but there is some correlation).
Several stories have been written lately recommending large bank stocks like Citigroup (NYSE: C), Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC), JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM), and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC); all great companies, all good investments paying nice dividends. However, when I search for value I am still finding a preference for the smaller banks with greater organic growth opportunities and the ever-present potential of being a take-over target.
In my last few stock screens Popular Inc (NYSE: BPOP) popped up and I did not give it much thought since we are overweighted in financial stocks, but last week I took a deeper look at BPOP, and yesterday started writing this story. This morning a limit order came through so I must disclose that I am now writing about a stock I bought at $17and as a shareholder have a financial interest in it, not just as a writer. But then I rarely recommend investors consider acquiring a stock that I would not buy myself.
The following metrics will give you a brief overview of the value from a trailing 12-month perspective. The data comes from AOL Money & Finance. Popular is the bank holding company for Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, the largest bank on the island, with some 200 branches. On the U.S. mainland, subsidiary Banco Popular North America serves growing Hispanic communities in six states through more than 140 branches.
If you are looking for value in the stock market there are never a lot of choices in relation to the number of public companies available. While there should be more opportunities in a down market than in an up market, from my perspective that is not always true. In any market you are going to find, by definition, that half of the public companies are above the mean in terms of value and half are below. Among those below the mean, further analysis usually indicates that most of these stocks deserve to be there.
The following is a 10-year chart for Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC):
I have been following the stock of this company, that I do banking with (as well as others) for several years. Among the many reasons to have an interest in the stock is that one of its major shareholders is Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B). If Warren Buffett is buying a stock, one must take a look even if only for educationalpurposes. So I have been watching and not buying. As anyone can plainly see, WFC would have been worth buying at almost any point in the last ten years. Some points better than others, but all leading upward in the long run.
Trying to discuss the Most Hated Companies is not easy. There are so many to choose from that if we left the subject wide open it would fill a novel. The four companies that made our list are all substantial in size and that alone brings much criticism. These four companies and their stocks are all broadly covered by Wall Street and business journals everywhere. We at BloggingStocks have written dozens of stories about them in just the past year alone. Each time we do, we find that our readers have plenty to vent about, so here we are giving you all one more chance.
Markets made solid gains today moving well in the green. There are a couple of factors that helped lift the market. It is a natural bounce back from the correction; risk of the sub-prime market is coming off the table with the government's attention and intervention, and the summer is ending and we are headed into the fall a time the market typically does better in.
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