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Southwest’s Earnings Outlook – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:00:41 +0000

In the third quarter, Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) is expected to post narrow losses. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Southwest is a loss of 4 cents per share.

Southwest may see a drain in its profits from non-cash charges in its fuel hedging program. As of June 30, 2009, the company had fuel derivative instruments in place for approximately 30% of its expected third quarter 2009 jet fuel consumption. Though revenue remains a problem for the airline, it is trying to entice the passengers with cheaper prices.

More traffic and less capacity or available seats led to a rise in average occupancy for Southwest in September. Load factor jumped to 74.7%, a gain of more than 11% from Sept. 2008. These full loads were built with cheap fares and other promotions which the airline has been offering of late.

There have been signs that demand may be picking up with September traffic rising 8.8% for the airline. It had cut its capacity by 8%. In July and August, Southwest's traffic rose, but more slowly.

Southwest is known as a low-cost airline. The company continues its diligent cost control efforts and remains committed to maintain its competitive cost advantage to sustain its strong low fare brand. In addition to other cost containment measures, the company has a hiring freeze in place, as well as a pay freeze for all company officers and senior management. In the last quarter, the company announced an early out option available for the vast majority of its employees.

Bigger losses are expected at American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR), United parent UAL Corp. (UAUA) and US Airways Group Inc (PLCC). a slump in international travel and higher fares have negatively affected these carriers.
Read the full analyst report on "LUV"
Read the full analyst report on "AMR"
Read the full analyst report on "UAUA"
Read the full analyst report on "LCC"
Zacks Investment Research

This Top-Performing Industry May Surprise You

Investment U — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:18:28 +0000

This Top-Performing Industry May Surprise You Try this one out on your family and friends: ask them to name one of the top three best-performing industries of the past three months. You’ll likely get an assortment of answers, but we bet major airlines won’t feature in there too often. But it’s true. The industry [...]

UBS Likes Major Airline Stocks, We Like JetBlue

Frank Lara — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:20:24 +0000

p strongimg align=right width=250 src=http://www.jaunted.com/files/3/jet_blue_cutomersrights.jpg alt=nasdaq:jblu /JetBlue Airways Corporation/strong (NASDAQ:JBLU) needs a href=/Master_Picks_Newsletter.htmlno introduction to Master Picks subscribers/a. UBS upgraded five major airline stocks on Friday and of course left out JetBlue. Thus the Masters are once again going to bat for JetBlue, which happens to be the only airline company that has 1.1 million followers on Twitter, more than any company except Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFMI) and Zappos.com. /p ppa href=http://thestockmasters.com/jblu-masters-09262009.htmlread more/a/p

What Investors Can Learn From the Recent Celebrity Outburst

Investment U — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:11:15 +0000

What Investors Can Learn From the Recent Celebrity Outbursts by Marc Lichtenfeld, Advisory Panelist There seems to be a breakdown in decorum lately. A few very public examples: Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) yells out, “You lie!” at President Barack Obama while he’s addressing Congress about his healthcare reform plan. Tennis star Serena Williams threatens to shove [...]

Stock Market News for September 18, 2009 – Market News

Zacks Market Commentaries — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:17:05 +0000

After surging to almost one-year highs Wednesday, stocks took a step back as worries that the recent rally has gone too far, too fast resurfaced. Investors pulled out profits even as latest round of upbeat economic data tried to convince them that a recovery is indeed underway. Shares of companies that have led the recent advance failed to find favor amid a lackluster trading session. Although the retreat was modest, it signaled a growing belief that the rally is overextended.

The Dow Jones industrial average declined 7.79 points, or 0.08%, to end the day at 9,783.92. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 Index retreated 3.27 points, or 0.31%, at 1,065.49 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index eased 6.40 points, or 0.30%, to end at 2,126.75. On the New York Stock Exchange, declining shares beat those that advanced by eight to seven on volume of 1.52 billion shares. At Wednesday's close, the DJIA stood almost 50% above its 12-year low of last March; the S&P500 at 58%, with the NASDAQ up 68% from its 6-year low.

Shares of FedEx (NYSE:FDX) and Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) declined after the companies’ lower-than-expected results. FedEx’s CEO noted plans to up shipping rates by almost 6% in January, a bullish signal of expected volume growth. FedEx fell 2.2% to $76.46 and Oracle declined 2.8% to $21.52. A decline in natural gas prices sent shares of Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) and Nabors Industries (NYSE:NBR) lower. Chesapeake fell 3.3% to $27.97. Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK) fell more than 11% after the company announced plans to raise more than $700 million in senior secured notes.

Among the ten S&P 500 industry groups, telecom companies were the biggest decliners, retreating 1.6%, following UBS' (NYSE:UBS) analyst comments suggesting pressure in wireless business. Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) retreated almost 3% to $29.51. Moreover, yesterday Verizon's (NYSE:VZ) CEO suggested its wireless operations would consider dividend payments only after debt reductions. Companies that receive a significant portion of their revenues from overseas operations showed strength, with Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) up 2.4% and Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) rising 1.4%. Basic materials shares declined 0.8%, oil and gas was down 0.7%, and financials retreated 0.5%

American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (NYSE:AMR) was a major gainer Thursday as its shares surged 19.7% to $8.80 after the company said it secured $2.9 billion in new financing. AMR also said it is working on its flying schedule and would shift flying to more profitable routes.

Today’s calendar contains little of market-moving interest, with the day's quadruple witching expected to results in volatility. Lacking a firm catalyst for the next upward move, the demand for increased risk eased, with the greenback backing off its one-year high against the euro, oil prices down $0.68 to $71.79, and gold up $2.20 to $1015.70.

Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: JPMorgan Chase & Co., Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, BB&T Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and AMR Corp. – Press Releases

Zacks Market Commentaries — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:50:24 +0000

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 28, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBV), BB&T Corp. (BBT), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) and AMR Corp. (AMR).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Thrifts Defy Troubles

Thrifts are required to have at least 65% of their loans as mortgages and other consumer loans, which makes them particularly vulnerable to the housing downturn. But banks have no such compulsion. However, the banking industry is likely to face further special assessments as more institutions fail during the recession.

The OTS supervised 794 thrifts as well as 459 holding company enterprises at the end of the quarter. The agency said that three thrifts had failed during the second quarter.

A total of 81 federally insured banks have failed so far this year. This includes several large thrifts. The failure of Seattle-based Washington Mutual Inc. last year was the biggest US bank failure ever. Washington Mutual, that involved thrifts, was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).

Among the others, recently, Guaranty Bank failed and was sold to BBVA Compass, the US arm of Spain’s second-largest bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBV). The banking operations of Colonial were sold to BB&T Corp. (BBT).

HP Gets American Airlines Deal

We believe this will improve the overall travel experience of American Airlines customers. This will specifically help the company in efficient baggage transfer, which will ultimately lead to lesser lost baggage, passengers getting updated information about cancelled or rescheduled flights and user-friendly check in process. The process may take around 4 to 5 years to set up. The pricing of the deal was not declared.

We believe that if Hewlett-Packard can execute this project efficiently, this experience will take the company a long way in winning similar projects from other major players in the airlines industry. Although the airlines industry is going through the doldrums as a result of the global economic downturn, every other carrier is looking to streamline their operations and we believe Hewlett-Packard can cater to that need.

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About Zacks Equity Research

Zacks Equity Research provides the best of quantitative and qualitative analysis to help investors know what stocks to buy and which to sell for the long-term.

Continuous coverage is provided for a universe of 1,150 publicly traded stocks. Our analysts are organized by industry which gives them keen insights to developments that affect company profits and stock performance. Recommendations and target prices are six-month time horizons.

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Zacks.com is a property of Zacks Investment Research, Inc., which was formed in 1978 by Leonard Zacks. As a PhD in mathematics Len knew he could find patterns in stock market data that would lead to superior investment results. Amongst his many accomplishments was the formation of his proprietary stock picking system; the Zacks Rank, which continues to outperform the market by nearly a 3 to 1 margin. The best way to unlock the profitable stock recommendations and market insights of Zacks Investment Research is through our free daily email newsletter; Profit from the Pros. In short, it's your steady flow of Profitable ideas GUARANTEED to be worth your time! Register for your free subscription to Profit from the Pros at http://at.zacks.com/?id=5518.

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Zacks Investment Research

HP Gets American Airlines Deal – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:00:09 +0000

Good news continues for Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ). After delivering modest third quarter results, the company won a deal with American Airlines parent AMR Corp. (AMR). According to the agreement, Hewlett-Packard will be developing a system for AMR, which will take care of pricing, reservations, flight information and check-in.

We believe this will improve the overall travel experience of American Airlines customers. This will specifically help the company in efficient baggage transfer, which will ultimately lead to lesser lost baggage, passengers getting updated information about cancelled or rescheduled flights and user-friendly check in process. The process may take around 4 to 5 years to set up. The pricing of the deal was not declared.

We believe that if Hewlett-Packard can execute this project efficiently, this experience will take the company a long way in winning similar projects from other major players in the airlines industry. Although the airlines industry is going through the doldrums as a result of the global economic downturn, every other carrier is looking to streamline their operations and we believe Hewlett-Packard can cater to that need.

In its recent quarterly result, the company provided a better-than-expected outlook for the fourth quarter. However, the company continues to see top line pressure driven by weakness in Europe and intense pricing pressure. We are still positive on the company’s performance going forward, given that demand is stabilizing and cyclical businesses (particularly consumer PC) are rebounding. However, we remain concerned about the long-term growth prospects for its printing unit, which may lead to profit erosion. This American Airlines deal is a bonus for the company, but the execution of the same remains to be seen.
Read the full analyst report on "HPQ"
Read the full analyst report on "AMR"
Zacks Investment Research

Mexican Airlines Fly Lower – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:50:52 +0000

Recently, major Mexican airlines companies reported a decrease in passenger traffic for the month of June.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico S.A.B. de C.V. (PAC) announced a 20.1% decline in total terminal passengers year-over-year, comprised of 17.5% decrease in domestic passengers and 25.4% drop in international passengers.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste S.A.B. de C.V. (ASR) announced a fall of 28.4%, with 17.6% in the domestic sector and 36.7% in the international sector.

Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte S.A.B. de C.V. (OMAB) reported a decrease of 20.5% in total passenger traffic, with domestic traffic down 18.4% and international traffic tumbling 32.3%.

Passenger traffic decreased not only in June, but throughout the second quarter of 2009. PAC’s passenger traffic was down 36.6% in May and 10.4% in April. ASR’s passenger traffic dropped 50.7% in May and 2.1% in April. OMAB reported a fall of 39.7% in May and 17.7% in April. The major reason for the underperformance of Mexican airlines was the outbreak of swine flu in the country.

Airlines all over the world are facing difficulties, primarily due to the collapse of the global economy. Declining business and leisure travel is affecting airlines' business to a larger extent. While AMR Corp. (AMR) subsidiaries American Airlines and American Eagle reported a fall of 7.9% in June, United Airlines of UAL Corp. (UAUA) saw a drop of 7.5%.

Falling passenger traffic would affect generation of unit (sales per available seats times miles flown) revenue within the company. Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) expects a decline of 9% to 10% in June and American Airlines Inc. (AA) anticipates a year-over-year fall of 16% to 17% during the second quarter 2009.

However, we continue to keep our Hold rating on the shares of PAC, OMAB and ASR ahead of second-quarter results.

Read the full analyst report on "PAC"
Read the full analyst report on "ASR"
Read the full analyst report on "OMAB"
Read the full analyst report on "AMR"
Read the full analyst report on "UAUA"
Read the full analyst report on "LUV"
Read the full analyst report on "AA"
Zacks Investment Research

Friday’s Market Recap (06/12/09)

Bullish Bankers — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:25:10 +0000

The markets were down for most of the day, until a late rally sent two of the three major indexes positive, all except the NASDAQ which was down 0.19%. The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were up 0.32% and 0.14% respectively, closing at 8799.26 and 946.21. The 10-year saw prices climb once again, as the [...]

Earnings Preview for Jan 19-23 – Earnings Preview

Charles Rotblut — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NTCT) could top expectations. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNI) and General Electric Company (GE) could miss estimates.

The U.S. equity markets will be closed on Monday, Jan 19, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The markets will be open on Tuesday, Jan 20, though volume could be light because of the inauguration.

This will be the first busy week of fourth-quarter earnings season, with 149 companies scheduled to report. Large-cap stocks will dominate the news with 53 S&P 500 members releasing results. Dow components will include General Electric Company (GE), International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Microsoft (MSFT) and United Technologies Corporation (UTX).

The economic calendar is very light.

Wednesday: Weekly crude inventories
Thursday: December housing starts, December building permits, weekly initial jobless claims

No Fed officials are scheduled to give speeches. The Fed will hold a 2-day meeting starting on Jan 27.

Companies That Could Issue Positive Earnings Surprises

NetScout Systems, Inc. (NTCT) recently raised its fiscal third-quarter guidance. Citing strong demand from wireless carriers and growth in other markets, the company now anticipates having earned between 16 cents and 18 cents per share. Half of the 4 covering analysts raised their forecasts in response, pushing the consensus earnings estimate 5 cents higher to 16 cents per share. The most accurate estimate is far more bullish at 22 cents per share. NTCT has topped expectations for 4 consecutive quarters. NetScout is scheduled to report on Thursday, Jan 22, after the close of trading.

Companies That Could Issue Negative Earnings Surprises

Profit forecasts for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (BNI) have been falling lately, with 6 brokerage analysts reducing their fourth-quarter projections during the last 30 days. Though the railroad company does have a history of topping expectations, a recent warning from a competitor could end the streak. The consensus earnings estimate calls for fourth-quarter profits of $1.78 per share. The most accurate estimate is more bearish at $1.75 per share. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation is scheduled to report on Wednesday, Jan 21, before the start of trading.

General Electric Company (GE) reaffirmed its fourth-quarter EPS guidance of 50 to 52 cents per share in mid-December. Since that time, 5 brokerage analysts have cut their quarterly projections. The negative revisions caused the consensus earnings estimate to fall to 44 cents per share. The most accurate estimate is more bearish at 42 cents per share. The conglomerate has missed once in the past 3 quarters. General Electric Company is scheduled to report on Friday, Jan 23, before the start of trading.

Charles Rotblut, CFA is the senior market analyst for Zacks.com. He can be reached at crotblut@zacks.com.

Surprise Trader can help you turn earnings surprises into quick profits. Learn how.

Earnings Calendar

Here is a list of companies that we have confirmed will report during the week of Jan 19 - 23¹. Prices are as of Thursday's, Dec 18, market close.

Company	Ticker	Zacks Consensus Estimate	Year Ago Actual	Last Qtr Surprise	Report Date	Report Time	Price
First Defiance	FDEF	$0.30	$0.50	(34.8%)	1/19/2009	AMC	$8.00
Fuller(Hb) Co	FUL	$0.24	$0.53	0.0%	1/19/2009	N/A	$14.19
Logitech Intl	LOGI	$0.44	$0.71	(15.8%)	1/19/2009	AMC	$13.75
Macatawa Bank	MCBC	($0.15)	($0.16)	37.5%	1/19/2009	AMC	$2.50
S&T Bancorp Inc	STBA	$0.57	$0.54	(9.5%)	1/19/2009	BTO	$30.51
Candela Corp	CLZR	($0.17)	($0.13)	(350.0%)	1/20/2009	AMC	$0.48
Capital Bank	CBKN	$0.14	$0.13	(10.0%)	1/20/2009	N/A	$6.50
Commerce Bancsh	CBSH	$0.62	$0.74	(8.5%)	1/20/2009	BTO	$37.82
Cree Inc	CREE	$0.10	$0.08	0.0%	1/20/2009	AMC	$16.98
Csx Corp	CSX	$0.90	$0.85	(2.2%)	1/20/2009	AMC	$30.18
Fastenal	FAST	$0.41	$0.38	4.0%	1/20/2009	BTO	$33.20
Forest Labs A	FRX	$0.76	$0.96	15.9%	1/20/2009	BTO	$26.00
Fulton Finl	FULT	($0.55)	$0.22	(8.7%)	1/20/2009	AMC	$8.05
Hancock Hldg Co	HBHC	$0.57	$0.60	(24.2%)	1/20/2009	AMC	$35.85
Iberiabank Corp	IBKC	$0.72	$0.81	(2.5%)	1/20/2009	AMC	$41.22
Intl Bus Mach	IBM	$3.03	$2.80	0.5%	1/20/2009	AMC	$84.12
Jefferies Gp-Nw	JEF	($2.38)	($0.17)	(216.7%)	1/20/2009	BTO	$12.67
Johnson & Johns	JNJ	$0.92	$0.88	5.4%	1/20/2009	BTO	$57.62
New Oriental Ed	EDU	$0.07	$0.10	7.3%	1/20/2009	BTO	$54.47
Omnova Solution	OMN	$0.09	$0.09	33.3%	1/20/2009	BTO	$0.66
Pacific Contl	PCBK	$0.27	$0.28	(7.4%)	1/20/2009	AMC	$12.32
Packaging Corp	PKG	$0.26	$0.46	(7.3%)	1/20/2009	AMC	$13.37
Parker Hannifin	PH	$0.85	$1.23	7.1%	1/20/2009	BTO	$39.77
Petmed Express	PETS	$0.20	$0.18	25.0%	1/20/2009	BTO	$16.43
Raymond Jas Fin	RJF	$0.35	$0.47	5.4%	1/20/2009	AMC	$16.26
Regions Finl Cp	RF	($0.02)	$0.24	(46.4%)	1/20/2009	BTO	$6.10
State St Corp	STT	$1.16	$1.38	3.3%	1/20/2009	BTO	$38.00
Suncor Energy	SU	$0.39	$0.66	0.0%	1/20/2009	BTO	$21.11
Supertex Inc	SUPX	$0.20	$0.26	6.1%	1/20/2009	AMC	$21.65
Td Ameritrade	AMTD	$0.31	$0.40	(3.3%)	1/20/2009	BTO	$12.63
Tessco Tech Inc	TESS	$0.33	$0.29	N/A	1/20/2009	AMC	$10.35
West Cst Bcp/Or	WCBO	($0.09)	($0.49)	140.0%	1/20/2009	N/A	$4.39
Westell Tech-A	WSTL	($0.05)	($0.04)	22.2%	1/20/2009	AMC	$0.28
Woodward Govnr	WGOV	$0.38	$0.36	0.0%	1/20/2009	AMC	$21.06
Abbott Labs	ABT	$1.06	$0.93	2.6%	1/21/2009	BTO	$49.22
Actions Semicon	ACTS	$0.05	$0.23	(10.0%)	1/21/2009	AMC	$1.40
Adtran Inc	ADTN	$0.28	$0.27	0.0%	1/21/2009	BTO	$14.84
Air Prods & Che	APD	$0.98	$1.16	0.8%	1/21/2009	BTO	$56.07
Allegheny Tech	ATI	$0.89	$1.45	5.1%	1/21/2009	BTO	$25.55
Amdocs Ltd	DOX	$0.50	$0.50	(14.3%)	1/21/2009	AMC	$19.42
Amr Corp	AMR	($0.65)	($0.74)	4.8%	1/21/2009	BTO	$10.98
Blackrock Inc	BLK	$1.13	$2.52	(16.6%)	1/21/2009	BTO	$116.67
Burlngtn Nsf Cp	BNI	$1.78	$1.46	12.4%	1/21/2009	BTO	$63.37
Celadon Group	CLDN	$0.07	$0.08	8.3%	1/21/2009	AMC	$8.10
Charlotte Russe	CHIC	$0.11	$0.56	(93.3%)	1/21/2009	AMC	$4.74
Cnh Global Nv	CNH	$0.69	$0.50	36.3%	1/21/2009	AMC	$14.86
Coach Inc	COH	$0.67	$0.69	0.0%	1/21/2009	BTO	$16.81
F5 Networks Inc	FFIV	$0.26	$0.21	28.6%	1/21/2009	AMC	$23.20
Hudson City Bcp	HCBK	$0.27	$0.16	0.0%	1/21/2009	BTO	$13.16
Igate Corp	IGTE	$0.14	$0.09	15.4%	1/21/2009	BTO	$6.50
Kinder Morg Eng	KMP	$0.54	$0.53	(18.6%)	1/21/2009	AMC	$47.57
Labranche & Co	LAB	$0.17	$0.04	0.0%	1/21/2009	BTO	$5.68
Mcmoran Explor	MMR	($0.32)	$0.31	21.5%	1/21/2009	BTO	$8.79
Mts Systems	MTSC	$0.49	$0.47	26.9%	1/21/2009	AMC	$25.96
Noble Corp	NE	$1.50	$1.35	5.1%	1/21/2009	AMC	$21.44
Northern Trust	NTRS	$0.96	$0.97	(31.8%)	1/21/2009	BTO	$48.28
Nve Corp	NVEC	$0.40	$0.36	17.1%	1/21/2009	AMC	$23.66
Polycom Inc	PLCM	$0.32	$0.28	0.0%	1/21/2009	AMC	$14.02
Popular Inc	BPOP	($0.37)	($0.23)	39.7%	1/21/2009	BTO	$4.89
Precision Castp	PCP	$1.70	$1.73	(1.6%)	1/21/2009	BTO	$54.68
Progressive Cor	PGR	$0.35	$0.34	(412.1%)	1/21/2009	N/A	$13.99
Sanmina-Sci Cp	SANM	$0.01	$0.02	0.0%	1/21/2009	AMC	$0.38
Seagate Tech	STX	($0.03)	$0.76	13.0%	1/21/2009	AMC	$4.33
Somanetics Corp	SMTS	$0.23	$0.19	15.0%	1/21/2009	BTO	$16.31
Ual Corp	UAUA	($4.03)	($0.47)	17.8%	1/21/2009	BTO	$11.14
Us Bancorp	USB	$0.27	$0.66	(37.3%)	1/21/2009	BTO	$19.02
Utd Techs Corp	UTX	$1.23	$1.08	3.0%	1/21/2009	BTO	$49.69
Wipro Ltd-Adr	WIT	$0.14	$0.14	0.0%	1/21/2009	N/A	$7.19
Adv Micro Dev	AMD	($0.53)	($0.17)	132.5%	1/22/2009	AMC	$2.26
Amcore Finl Inc	AMFI	($0.30)	$0.33	(777.8%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$3.35
Amer River Bsh	AMRB	$0.33	$0.36	2.9%	1/22/2009	BTO	$9.90
Amerisourcebrgn	ABC	$0.69	$0.62	4.3%	1/22/2009	BTO	$36.85
Assoc Banc Corp	ASBC	$0.32	$0.55	2.8%	1/22/2009	N/A	$16.12
Au Optroncs-Adr	AUO	($0.53)	$1.24	47.4%	1/22/2009	BTO	$7.20
Avnet	AVT	$0.66	$0.89	(5.6%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$17.91
Avx Corp	AVX	$0.09	$0.22	0.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$7.71
Bancorpsouth	BXS	$0.31	$0.39	(20.9%)	1/22/2009	AMC	$18.81
Bank Of Ny Mell	BK	$0.68	$0.67	43.6%	1/22/2009	BTO	$23.27
Baxter Intl	BAX	$0.89	$0.76	7.3%	1/22/2009	BTO	$53.56
Bb&T Corp	BBT	$0.53	$0.75	(3.0%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$20.99
Brinker Intl	EAT	$0.19	$0.31	0.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$9.42
Cabot Microelec	CCMP	$0.06	$0.51	(21.7%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$22.33
Capital One Fin	COF	$0.39	$0.90	6.2%	1/22/2009	AMC	$25.47
Cdn Natl Ry Co	CNI	$0.85	$0.91	6.2%	1/22/2009	AMC	$34.45
Cit Group Inc	CIT	($0.39)	($0.69)	(11.8%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$3.24
City National	CYN	$0.62	$0.96	(11.0%)	1/22/2009	AMC	$37.08
Cobiz Finl Inc	COBZ	$0.16	$0.23	0.0%	1/22/2009	AMC	$7.89
Columbus Mckinn	CMCO	$0.41	$0.53	(11.3%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$13.04
Comerica Inc	CMA	$0.26	$0.77	57.1%	1/22/2009	BTO	$14.60
Commnty Bk Sys	CBU	$0.37	$0.39	0.0%	1/22/2009	AMC	$21.37
Cubist Pharm	CBST	$0.51	$0.16	29.4%	1/22/2009	AMC	$22.66
Cypress Semicon	CY	($0.31)	$0.10	(312.5%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$4.75
Deluxe Corp	DLX	$0.68	$0.77	(6.9%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$13.12
Digi Intl Inc	DGII	$0.03	$0.14	55.6%	1/22/2009	AMC	$7.47
Exelon Corp	EXC	$1.06	$1.02	(6.1%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$53.04
Ezcorp Inc Cl A	EZPW	$0.35	$0.29	0.0%	1/22/2009	AMC	$14.19
Federated Invst	FII	$0.51	$0.52	1.8%	1/22/2009	AMC	$18.26
Fifth Third Bk	FITB	$0.03	$0.07	(119.1%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$5.38
First Comw Finl	FCF	$0.16	$0.16	(22.2%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$10.17
First Finl Hldg	FFCH	$0.42	$0.36	8.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$18.70
Franklin Resour	BEN	$0.86	$2.12	(12.2%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$52.97
Google Inc-Cl A	GOOG	$4.23	$3.79	3.9%	1/22/2009	AMC	$298.99
Huntington Banc	HBAN	$0.20	($0.65)	27.3%	1/22/2009	BTO	$4.29
Imation Corp	IMN	$0.13	$0.64	0.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$12.96
Interactive Brk	IBKR	$0.54	$0.46	6.6%	1/22/2009	AMC	$18.08
Intl Game Tech	IGT	$0.27	$0.36	(9.7%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$12.45
Intuitive Surg	ISRG	$1.31	$1.24	13.4%	1/22/2009	AMC	$100.68
Itt Educational	ESI	$1.44	$1.20	11.3%	1/22/2009	BTO	$111.81
Janus Cap Grp	JNS	$0.05	$0.33	(7.7%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$6.74
Kelly Svcs A	KELYA	$0.12	$0.54	(74.1%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$11.92
Keycorp New	KEY	($0.02)	$0.06	(162.5%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$6.22
Knight Cap Gp	NITE	$0.37	$0.50	66.7%	1/22/2009	BTO	$15.85
Lockheed Martin	LMT	$1.89	$1.89	1.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$79.48
Lsi Industries	LYTS	$0.02	$0.22	200.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$6.89
M&T Bank Corp	MTB	$1.14	$1.52	(4.7%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$42.59
Matthews Intl-A	MATW	$0.48	$0.50	1.5%	1/22/2009	AMC	$34.55
Memc Elec Matrl	WFR	$0.62	$1.05	(9.8%)	1/22/2009	AMC	$14.11
Meredith Corp	MDP	$0.43	$0.73	2.5%	1/22/2009	BTO	$17.76
Microsoft Corp	MSFT	$0.49	$0.50	2.1%	1/22/2009	AMC	$19.24
Monro Muffler	MNRO	$0.28	$0.27	5.6%	1/22/2009	BTO	$24.14
Netscout Systms	NTCT	$0.16	$0.04	23.5%	1/22/2009	AMC	$13.77
Nokia Cp-Adr A	NOK	$0.39	$0.69	(15.4%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$14.05
Oceanfirst Finl	OCFC	$0.32	$0.26	(11.1%)	1/22/2009	AMC	$14.97
Old Rep Intl	ORI	($0.25)	($0.05)	(25.0%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$11.55
Peoples Utd Fin	PBCT	$0.13	$0.16	0.0%	1/22/2009	AMC	$16.65
Potash Sask	POT	$2.37	$1.16	10.7%	1/22/2009	BTO	$69.86
Sherwin William	SHW	$0.53	$0.88	18.1%	1/22/2009	BTO	$56.34
Smith (Ao) Corp	AOS	$0.24	$0.81	25.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$31.61
Southwest Air	LUV	$0.07	$0.12	50.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$8.28
Suntrust Bks	STI	$0.18	$0.02	(22.2%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$20.89
Synaptics Inc	SYNA	$0.50	$0.33	34.5%	1/22/2009	AMC	$20.60
Synovus Finl Cp	SNV	($0.44)	$0.28	(162.5%)	1/22/2009	AMC	$5.66
Taiwan Semi-Adr	TSM	$0.09	$0.20	0.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$7.37
Tcf Finl Corp	TCB	$0.24	$0.50	(20.0%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$10.61
Technitrol Inc	TNL	$0.09	$0.52	(14.3%)	1/22/2009	AMC	$3.21
Twin Disc	TWIN	$0.25	$0.37	(52.2%)	1/22/2009	N/A	$6.70
Ucbh Hldgs Inc	UCBH	($0.08)	$0.19	(200.0%)	1/22/2009	AMC	$3.83
Union Pac Corp	UNP	$1.28	$0.93	6.2%	1/22/2009	BTO	$41.23
Unitedhealth Gp	UNH	$0.78	$0.92	0.0%	1/22/2009	BTO	$24.89
Valley Natl Bcp	VLY	$0.28	$0.22	(25.0%)	1/22/2009	BTO	$15.87
China Bak Batry	CBAK	$0.01	($0.02)	42.9%	1/23/2009	N/A	$1.68
Dime Comm Bncsh	DCOM	$0.25	$0.17	0.0%	1/23/2009	BTO	$12.45
Gatx Corp	GMT	$0.59	$0.62	35.7%	1/23/2009	BTO	$28.59
Genl Electric	GE	$0.44	$0.68	0.0%	1/23/2009	BTO	$13.77
Harley-Davidson	HOG	$0.58	$0.78	(10.1%)	1/23/2009	BTO	$13.95
Mb Financl Inc	MBFI	$0.27	$0.44	(11.6%)	1/23/2009	BTO	$21.34
Schlumberger Lt	SLB	$1.10	$1.11	2.4%	1/23/2009	BTO	$40.18
Webster Finl Cp	WBS	$0.18	$0.10	(37.0%)	1/23/2009	BTO	$9.80
Xerox Corp	XRX	$0.34	$0.41	0.00%	1/23/2009	BTO	$7.82

BMO = Before The Market Open, AMC = After Market Close

¹Some of the companies listed in the earnings calendar may not be in the Zacks Rank universe.

"NTCT" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"BNI" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"UTX" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"JNJ" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"IBM" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"GE" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"MSFT" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
Zacks Investment Research

A Relative Price Strength Screen for All Markets – Screen of the Week

Kevin Matras — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Stocks featured in this article are: American Equity Investment Life Holding Co. (AEL), AMR Corp. (AMR), World Fuel Services, Inc. (INT), Steven Madden Ltd. (SHOO) and S1 Corp. (SONE).

Over the last few weeks, I've found myself screening for one of the most obvious items in determining whether or not a stock is 'good' - and that's its recent price strength or, more specifically, its recent relative price strength. Is it performing better than the market?

Of course valuations are important. Earnings growth is just as important too. But if a stock is simply not responding - or worse, going down - then something's wrong.

Or at the very least, something is simply not ready to move higher.

I've talked about this kind of stuff in the past what investors consider to be their best stocks -- and the answer is the ones performing the best, i.e., moving higher.

And it's the same here.

The stocks I've been looking to add to my portfolio recently are indeed the ones moving higher, especially on good volume.

And if they are moving higher, it's likely because there's a good reason for it, or else they probably wouldn't be.

Now, of course, this doesn't mean you should only look at its price change. But by including those kinds of things in your screening tasks, some very interesting stocks will come up.

Some stocks might just miss your normal fundamental screening. But when you put your radar screen thru other measures (its price performance), you might find that these are just the kinds of companies you've been looking for.

You'll notice too that I said relative price strength. Of course, there are periods where virtually everything is going down. So screening for absolute positive price changes will often times come up with zero results in these periods, just when you need them the most.

And when the market is doing nothing but going up, you want to get into the pacesetters and outperformers, not the laggards that are going up only because the rising tide is raising all the ships.

So using the relative price strength will always put the outperformers on your list.

In this week's screen, I'm looking for relative price change winners that also have the fundamentals to potentially make these gains last and continue.

The screen starts off with:

Zacks Rank = 1
(Only Zacks Ranked Strong Buys)
Relative % Price change 12 weeks >= 10
(I'm looking for stocks that are outperforming the S&P 500 by 10% or greater over the last 12 weeks.)
Projected Growth Rate (F1/F0) >= the S&P 500's Avg. Growth Rate
(Not only do I want the price to be responding better than the market. I also want the growth rate to be better than the market.)
Current Price >= 5
(They all have to be trading at a minimum of $5 or higher.)
Average 20-Day Volume >= 100,000 shares
(And have enough volume to allow easy trading in and out.)

Here are 5 stocks that passed this screen for 1/6/09:

AEL American Equity Investment Life Holding Co.
AMR AMR Corp.
INT World Fuel Services, Inc.
SHOO Steven Madden Ltd.
SONE S1 Corp.

Learn how to find winning stocks in any market. Test this screen and others or build your own strategies and test them. It can all be done with the Research Wizard.

Click Here for your free trial to the Research Wizard

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

"AMR" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"AEL" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"SONE" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"INT" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
"SHOO" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
Zacks Investment Research

Claymore Plans To Launch First Airlines ETF

IndexUniverse Staff — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:45:17 +0000

With the recent transportation-themed launches, Claymore seems to be trying to develop a theme around the sector.

Claymore Securities is digging into the battered transportation sector more with plans to launch the first exchange-traded fund focusing on the airlines industry.

Next month, the ETF provider says the Claymore/NYSE Arca Airline ETF should be ready to trade. The announcement comes after Claymore earlier this year launched the Claymore/Delta Global Shipping ETF (NYSE Arca: SEA).

Both ETFs fit within the area of transportation portfolios, of which there are only a handful of ETFs. The biggest is the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Transportation (NYSEArca: IYT). IYT is the only transportation ETF with a significant level of assets.

The first-mover advantage does exist for the airlines ETF (as it did in the case of SEA), since there is no airline-specific ETF in the U.S.

Claymore's SEA has not seen the type of early success that would necessarily promulgate the launch of a second transportation portfolio based on first-mover status. SEA had $10.4 million in assets through Dec. 10.

The other transportation ETF launched this year, the Invesco PowerShares Capital Management Global Progressive Transportation Portfolio (NasdaqGM: PTRP), has about $1.8 million in assets. IYT, on the other hand, has $420 million in assets.

SEA and PTRP are probably more like each other in focusing on Industrials and Energy than either is like the planned global airlines ETF.

What's more, while airlines are the fifth-largest sector weighting in IYT, representing 6.4% of the ETF, that weighting is spread across just four major U.S. airlines: AMR Corp., JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines.

The Claymore planned ETF is a pure-play passenger airline ETF. It will hold 24 global airline stocks, 70% domestic and 30% international. The top three stocks in each category will be weighted 15% in the case of domestic, and 4.5% in the case of international airlines. That puts the remaining index weights for the 18 other stocks in the ETF at 25% for domestic and 16.5% for international. All holdings must derive at least 50% of their business from passenger airline activity.

With oil reaching new lows, and the major shakeout in the industry already having occurred, there are fewer planes being flown by consolidated carriers, and the price of oil is no longer single-handedly poised to bankrupt carriers. Overall industry projections expect losses in 2009, but much lower than this year's performance for the major airlines.

What all four ETFS have in common is a concentrated portfolio approach. SEA holds just 30 stocks, PTRP has 39 stocks and IYT only has 21 portfolio holdings, compared with the underlying NYSE Arca airline index of 24 stocks.

The proposed ticker symbol and the ETF's expense ratio were not included in the initial filing.

You can read the prospectus here.

Delta (DAL)-Northwest (NWA) Merger Gives Airline Stocks A Lift

Andrew Snyder — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:27:55 +0000

Airline stocks are enjoying a sharp upswing today. The industry is recovering strongly as fuel prices tumble. And investors are also encouraged by the Delta (NYSE:DAL) and Northwest (NYSE:NWA) merger. But Andrew Snyder says this remains a high-risk sector for stock investors.

Tontine Capital Partners LP – Hedge Fund Holdings Analysisge

Richard C. Wilson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:01:57 +0000

Tontine Partners

Tontine Capital Partners - Holding Analysis

This post is being written as part of HedgeFundBlogger.com's Investment Securities Tool which analyzes the holdings of hedge fund managers.

If you're unfamiliar with Gendell and his Tontine Partners, then here's what you need to know. Founded 11 years ago, Tontine is a $10 billion fund ran by Jeffrey Gendell. He specializes in macro investing and takes very large, concentrated positions in companies he feels will benefit from those macro themes. Additionally, he will take on an activist role when necessary, to ensure shareholder returns. The fund has posted returns in excess of 100% in both 2003 and 2005.

So, let's get right down to it... what was Jeffrey Gendell up to this past quarter? The following is Tontine Partners' current holdings as of June 30th 2008 as released in their most recent 13F filing with the SEC. I've compared the positions in this most recent 13F to last quarter's 13F and here's what the breakdown looks like:

New Positions: (in no particular order)
Altra Holdings (AIMC) 1,272,832 shares
American Elec Technologies (AETI) 14,899 shares
Argan (AGX) 161,033 shares
DST Sys (DST) 2,233,158 shares
Itron (ITRI) 704,758 shares
Ladish (LDSH) 877,751 shares
Peoples Community Bancorp (PCBI) 90,183
Tetra Tech (TTEK) 3,216,197 shares
Thermadyne Holdings (THMD) 1,152,168 shares
Thomas and Betts (TNB) 5,766,719 shares
YRC Worldwide (YRCW) 2,746,171 shares

Added to:
Chemtura Corp (CEM) increased position by 313%
Satcon Technology (SATC) increased position by 165%
JP MorganChase (JPM) increased position by 153%
LSB Industries (LXU) increased position by 113%
Goldman Sachs (GS) increased position by 109%
Emcor Group (EME) increased position by 70%
US Concrete (RMIX) increased position by 64%
Patrick Industries (PATK) increased position by 49%
Accuride Corp (ACW) increased position by 46%
Tierone Corp (TONE) increased position by 45%
Mastec (MTZ) increased position by 45%
Sterling Financial (STSA) increased position by 39%
Goodyear Tire (GT) increased position by 28%
Sun Micro (JAVA) increased position by 22%
Foster LB Co (FSTR) increased position by 22%
Maxwell Technologies (MXWL) increased position by 16%
KB Home (KBH) increased position by 15%
Beazer Homes (BZH) increased position by 13%
Gentek (GETI) increased position by 11%
Pulte Homes (PHM) increased position by 9%
Elmira Savings Bank (ESBK) increased position by 9%
MI Homes (MHO) increased position by 8%
Merrill Lynch 9MER) increased position by 7%
Brush Engineered Materials (BW) increased position by 6%
Twin Disc (TWIN) increased position by 6%
Synalloy (SYNL) increased position by 5%
Perini (PCR) increased position by 5%
Sun Bancorp (SNBC) increased position by 5%
Toll Bros (TOL) increased position by 3%
Polyone (POL) increased position by 2%
PAB Bankshares (PABK) increased position by 2%
US Airways Group (LCC) increased position by 1%
Tenneco (TEN) increased position by 0.66%
AZZ Inc (AZZ) increased position by 0.60%
QCR Holdings (QCRH) increased position by 0.11%
Preformed Line Products (PLPC) increased position by 0.03%

Reduced Positions:
National Penn (NPBC) reduced by 94%
Astoria Financial (AF) reduced by 90%
Beneficial Mut Bancorp (BNCL) reduced by 90%
Koppers Holdings (KOP) reduced by84%
New York Community Bancorp (NYB) reduced by 78%
Meritage Homes (MTH) reduced by 69%
Citizens Rep Bancorp (CRBC) reduced by 67%
BB and T (MSDXP) reduced by 66%
Community Bk Sys (CBU) reduced by 63%
Georgia Gulf (GGC) reduced by 60%
Firstfed Financial (FED) reduced by 59%
National City (NCC) reduced by 57%
Central Pac Finl Corp (CPF) reduced by 47%
Northwest Bancorp (NWSB) reduced by 45%
Susquehanna Bancshares (SUSQ) reduced by 45%
Powersecure Intl (POWR) reduced by 45%
Amcore (AMFI) reduced by 44%
Citigroup (C) reduced by 43%
Graftech (GTI) reduced by 42%
First Merchants (FRME) reduced by 42%
First St Bancorp (FSNM) reduced by 41%
US Steel (X) reduced by 37%
Ameriserv Financial (ASRV) reduced by 35%
Esmark (ESMK) reduced by 34%
DR Horton (DHI) reduced by 34%
Provident NY Bancorp (PBNY) reduced by 33%
1st Source (SRCE) reduced by 32%
US Lime and Minerals (USLM) reduced by 32%
Associated Banc Corp (ASBC) reduced by 32%
Meta Financial Group (CASH) reduced by 30%
Webster Financial Corp (WBS) reduced by 29%
Ryland Group (RYL) reduced by 29%
Laporte Bancorp (LPSB) reduced by 29%
KBR (KBR) reduced by 27%
Bank of America (BAC) reduced by 26%
TRC (TRR) reduced by 24%
Whitney Holding Corp (WTNY) reduced by 22%
Ameris Bancorp (ABCB) reduced by 22%
Columbus Mckinnon (CMCO) reduced by 21%
AK Steel (AKS) reduced by 18%
United Bankshares Inc (UBSI) reduced by 16%
M And T Bank Corp (MTB) reduced by 15%
Centex (CTX) reduced by 15%
Southern Mo Bancorp (SMBC) reduced by 15%
Downey Financial (DSL) reduced by 12%
Rurban Financial (RBNF) reduced by 12%
Independent Bk Corp Mich (IBCP) reduced by 12%
Colony Bankcorp (CBAN) reduced by 12%
Camco Financial (CAFI) reduced by 11%
North American Energy (NOA) reduced by 11%
Foster Wheeler (FWLT) reduced by 10%
Grupo TMM (TMM) reduced by 9%
URS Corp (URS) reduced by 8%
Champion Enterprises (CHB) reduced by 8%
Ohio Vy Banc Corp (OVBC) reduced by 7%
First Bancshares (FBMS) reduced by 7%
LNB Bancorp (LNBB) reduced by 7%
Metrocorp Bancshares (MCBI) reduced by 6%
Wesbanco (WSBC) reduced by 6%
MB Financial (MBFI) reduced by 5%
TF Financial (THRD) reduced by 5%
Monarch Community Bancorp (MCBF) reduced by 5%
Provident Financial (PROV) reduced by 4%
Shaw Group (SGR) reduced by 4%
Integra Bank Corp (IBNK) reduced by 4$
Oreleans Homebuilders (OHB) reduced by 3%
Tradegar (TG) reduced by 3%
Iberiabank (IBKC) reduced by 3%
Teche Holding (TSH) reduced by 3%
First Financial Svc Corp (FFKY) reduced by 2.5%
Independence Fed Savings Bank (IFSB) reduced by 2%
HMN Financial (HMNF) reduced by 2%
Centrue Financial (TRUE) reduced by 2%
Mid South Bancorp (MSL) reduced by 2%
1st Independence Financial (FIFG) reduced by 2%
Princeton National (PNBC) reduced by 1.5%
Fidelity Bancorp (FSBI) reduced by 1.5%
Lincoln Bancorp (LNCB) reduced by 1.5%
Ameriana Bancorp (ASBI) reduced by 1.4%
Timken (TKR) reduced by 1.2%
CFS Bancorp (CITZ) reduced by 1.11%
MFB Corp (MFBC) reduced by 0.88%
Park Bancorp (PFED) reduced by 0.82%
First Defiance Financial (FDEF) reduced by 0.79%
Central bancorp (CEBK) reduced by 0.72%
Mutualfirst Financial (MFSF) reduced by 0.72%
Hexcel (HXL) reduced by 0.55%
Hawthorn Bancshares (HWBK) reduced by 0.43%
Citizens First Bancorp (CTZN) reduced by 0.4%
River Valley Bancorp (RIVR) reduced by 0.3%
First Keystone Financial (FKFS) reduced by 0.2%
First Banctrust (FBTC) reduced by 0.2%
Northeast Bancorp (NBN) reduced by 0.2%
New Hampshire Thriftbancshares (NHTV) reduced by 0.16%
Community Cap Corp (CPBK) reduced by 0.14%
Parkvale Financial (PVSA) reduced by 0.1%
Capital Bank Corp (CBKN) reduced by 0.1%
Premier Financial Bancorp (PFBI) reduced by 0.1%
HF Financial (HFFC) reduced by 0.1%
Provident Community Bancshares (PCBS) reduced by 0.05%
Southern Community Financial (SCMF) reduced by 0.05%
PVF Capital (PVFC) reduced by 0.01%
LSB Corp (LSBX) reduced by 0.01%

Removed Positions:
Positions Tontine Partners sold out of completely
American International Group (AIG)
Banctrust Financial Group (BTFG)
BCSB Bankcorp (BCSB)
BNC Corp (BNCC)
Capital Corp of the West (CCOW)
Capital One (COF)
Chart Inds Inc (GTLS)
City Hldg Co (CHCO)
Comerica (CMA)
Dime Community Bancshares (DCOM)
FNB Corp (FNBN)
First Niagara Financial (FNG)
Fox Chase Bancorp (FXCB)
Headwaters (HW)
Huntington Bancshares (HBAN)
Independent Bk Corp (INDB)
Instituform Technologies (INSU)
K Tron (KTII)
Mainsource Financial Group (MSFG)
MBIA (MBI)
Mercantile Bk Corp (MBWM)
Navigant Consulting (NCI)
Olin Corp (OLN)
Peoples Bancorp Auburn
Peoples Utd Financial (PBCTD)
PFF Bancorp (PFB)
Pinnacle Bankshares (PLE)
PNC Financial Services (PNC)
Powell Industries (POWL)
Quality Distr Inc (QLTY)
Sovereign Bancorp (SOV)
Standex International (SXI)
Superior Bancorp (SUPR)
Team Ag (TISI)
Tetra Technologies (TTI)
Wachovia (WB)
Washington Mutual (WM)
Willow Financial (WFBC)
Yadkin Finl Corp (YAVY)

Positions with no change:
Ada Es Inc (ADES)
Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) - 2 for 1 Stock Split (did not increase holding)
Advanced Energy Inds (AEIS)
Ameron (AMN)
AMR Corp (AAR)
Astec Industries (ASTE)
Badger Meter (BMI)
Baker Michael Corp (BKR)
CCF Holding Co (CCFH)
Ceco Environmental (CECE)
Channell (CHNL)
Comfort Sys (FIX)
Community Cent Bank Corp (CCBD)
Community Shores Bank Corp (CSHB)
Cooperative Bankshares (COOP)
Core Molding Technologies (CMT)
Dearborn Bancorp (DEAR)
Dycom (DY)
Ecology and Environment (EEI)
Enersys (ENS)
Englobal (ENG)
Esco Tecnologies (ESE)
Exide Technologies (XIDE)
Ferro Corp (FOE)
Fidelity Southern (LION)
First community Corp (FCC))
First Fed Northern Michigan Bancorp (FFNM)
First Franklin Corp (FFHS)
Furmanite Corp (FRM)
Gehl (GEHL)
Great Lakes Dredge and Dock (GLDD)
Greenbrier Cos (GBX)
Hardinge (HDNG)
Hawkins (HWKN)
Hopfed Bancorp (HFBC)
Horizon Bancorp (HBNC)
Innospec (IOSP)
Insteel (IIIN)
Internet Cap Group (ICGE)
Jacksonville Bancorp (JAXB)
Jefferson Bancshares (JFBI)
KMG Chemicals (KMGB)
Landmark Bancorp (LARK)
LCC Intl (LCCI)
Magnetek (MAG)
Material Sciences (MSC)
Matrix Service Co (MTRX)
MBT Financial (MBTF)
Meadow Vy Corp (MVCO)
Met Pro (MPR)
MFRI (MFRI)
Nacco (NC)
National Technical (NTSC)
North Central Bancshares (FFFD)
Ohio Legacy (OLCB)
Otter Tail (OTTR)
Peoples Bancorp of North Carolina (PEBK)
Perma Fix Environmental (PESI)
Pike Elec (PEC)
Portec Rail (PRPX)
Quanta Services (PWR)
Shiloh (SHLO)
Sifco (SIF)
Smith A O (AOS)
Supreme Industries (STS)
Tower Financial (TOFC)
Trinity Industries (TRN)
United Bancshares (UBOH)
Versar (VSR)
Wabash National (WNC)
Westmoreland Coal (WLB)

Top 10 holdings by % of portfolio:
1. X (Top Holding)
2. CLF
3. KBR
4. PWR
5. AKS
6. SPY
7. XIDE
8. SGR
9. TRN
10. FWLT

-----------------------------------------

Breakdown: Tontine Partners' 13F can be summed up in 3 words: Regional Bank mess. He has a ton of them, but they aren't very big positions relative to his whole portfolio. For the most part though, Gendell was selling all his financials, including the regionals. The only major financial plays he has left anyways are smaller positions. And, his only positions of major size in that sector are through calls. So, I'd have to think that he saved himself some serious money by exiting/reducing a number of those regional positions, as they could have really put him in the house of pain. It should be noted that he made large additions to the big banks such as JPM and GS.

The next major trend I noticed in his portfolio was that he is highly levered up with steel holdings. While he did do some position size reducing across a few of his steel names (X, AKS), one still has to wonder how he's faring right now given the recent selloff in steel? Whether he has sold anymore substantial positions is the real question. Because, if he hasn't, the recent drop in steel stocks has undoubtedly affected his portfolio in a negative way. Although he did reduce his position sizes.... he still has MASSIVE stakes in the steel names. After all, the top 2 holdings of his fund (and 3 out of the top 10 holdings) as of June 30th were steel stocks. So, he definitely profited handsomely from these steel names by nearly top-ticking the market, selling huge chunks before the peak in July. But, he's since given back much of these gains, assumming he still holds the steel names. This is actually a very unique situation where his 13F doesn't really help us. These holdings were as of June 30th and that was conveniently around the same time steel stocks started topping out. So, the real action in the steel names has been occuring outside of the time period the 13F covers (ie: the past month and a half). And, he is either taking a lot of pain from these massive steel holdings, or he has been partly responsible for the massive selloff in the steel names. We can only guess at this point. We'll have to wait until the next round of filings to find out what he's been up to, unfortunately. The timing overlap on this situation really prevents us from gaining much insight.

But, from this past quarter, we can take away the fact that Gendell definitely had strong conviction in steel and infrastructure names. After all, practically all of his top 10 holdings are concentrated in those 2 sectors. One other top 10 holding I wanted to touch on though is his #4 holding, Quanta Services (PWR). This chart has been breaking out and I have seen this name popping up more and more around financial sites. Plus, it fits right into his whole infrastructure theme. So, it doesn't surprise me at all to see that Gendell has already been in this name for quite some time. After all, he's a pretty smart guy. (Keep in mind: although some of these top holdings are indeed large stakes, some/many have experienced price appreciation, boosting their % share of the portfolio even more.)

Tontine Partners' most interesting move(s)? Whatever he has done in the past month and a half that we can't see. No joke. Since such a massive allocation of his portfolio was dedicated to steel stocks, his fund's performance has no doubt been affected by whatever decisions he has made recently. If he has been one of the many selling steel names, then he is in great shape. If not, then he's screwed. Us plebeians will have to wait until the next round of 13F's to find out Gendell's steel fate.

13F Source: SEC

Guest post by Market Folly

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Tags: Tontine Capital Partners, Tontine Partners, Tontine Capital Hedge Fund, Hedge Fund Manager Tontine Capital, Jeffrey Gendell, Tontine Partners LP

Oil under $90, Hello JetBlue (JBLU)

Stockmasters Staff — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:26:18 +0000

With oil trading so low, just about any of the airline stocks could be a great bounce play and the Masters favorite, JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ:JBLU).Â JBLU shares are up 6% today and once we get some calm back in the market, airlines stocks could really rally.

Delta Takes Off – Zacks Tale of the Tape

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:06:22 +0000

Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL) shares took off by 3.81% on Monday morning and touched $8.44, within touching distance of its 52-week high of $8.49. The bump up came on the heels of the airlines announcement that four proxy advisors have recommended the merger with Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA). The latter went up by 2.1% to $10.06.

On a day when the financial stocks were pummeled, Monday is proving to be a good day for the aviation sector. Reacting positively to the news of crude oil prices reaching a seven-month low of $96, airline shares have gained traction. UBS has upgraded Delta from Hold to Buy. While AMR Corp. (AMR) rose $1.09, or 10.4%, to $11.48, Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) added $1.71, and touched $20.66. UAL Corp. (UAUA), which had tanked last week, rose 10.3% to $12.53.

"DAL" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
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Global Investing Roundups

Money Morning — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:16:00 +0000

Airline Triple Threat; Oil’s $100 Floor; Wal-Mart’s Thrifty Shoppers; Six Flags on a Thrill Ride; Gannett Printing Pink Slips; GM’s Electric Car On the Way; Estee Lauder Looks... Money Morning is here to help investors profit hands...

A Global Transport Exchange-Traded Fund Strategy

Mike Havrilla — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 01:49:38 +0000

Investors are currently limited to the iShares Dow Jones Transports (IYT) as a transport ETF option with net assets of $698 million and 20 component stocks (stats as of 8/8/08 from the iShares website). The top five holdings account for 43.2% of invested assets and include the following: Burlington Northern Santa Fe [...]