As the second-largest provider of electricity to the United States, Constellation Energy Group Inc. (NYSE: CEG) has a tremendous upside. At least, it would if the economy were growing strongly. 

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. And that means Constellation will have to clear a number of hurdles if it’s going to fulfill its long-term promise. Last year, the company bet big on higher energy prices and paid the price dearly when the economy collapsed.

Constellation’s very high level of debt, with large bond maturities in 2009 and 2012 at that time meant they were flirting with financial disaster.  That forced the company into a deal with Électricité de France SA (EDF), in which the European energy giant agreed to inject $4.5 billion into Constellation in exchange for almost 50% ownership of its nuclear plants.

That includes a brand new plant, Calvert Cliffs 3, that’s still subject

...

Nexia Holdings recently announced a new strategy for its real estate operations. The company has plans to grow its real estate portfolio and create value for its shareholders by utilizing a strategy called “real estate backed securities.” The plan was designed to capitalize on large portfolios of residential real estate held by banks, individuals, corporations or other entities as a result of subprime or other foreclosed loans.

The company’s management team recognizes the devaluation of these properties as a result of tight credit markets and other factors, and that the investor with cash is able to purchase large groups of properties for pennies on the dollar. However, even if an investor has the cash, he/she must use great effort to get his/her cash back as soon as possible and redeploy the cash as many times as possible while the discounted prices are available.

Through Nexia, investors are able

...

Article Source How did we get into this mess, and how do we get out of it? First, a little background: Both Freddie and Fannie were initially created by the U.S. Congress with the goal of expanding the residential mortgage market. They are for this reason referred to as "government-sponsored enterprises", or GSEs, even though both eventually were converted into private companies for which there is today no explicit government guarantee of their debt.... After a homeowner has borrowed money to buy a home, the original lender likely resold that loan to Fannie or Freddie. The GSE in turn collected some of those mortgages in a pool which was sold in the form of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to private investors, for which the GSEs collect a fee in exchange for guaranteeing payment on the MBS. Other mortgages purchased by the GSE are held directly by the GSE for its own investment ...

In 2005 I travelled to the UK to study the UK banks. I should have shorted the lot of them. But I didn’t. But for the record here are my notes – written on a slow English train – about Northern Rock – and never finished. I have edited it only to remove references to my actual sources.

I put this up not to gloat (but its nice). Rather I am going to do an expose of another UK bank shortly.

I cannot gloat too much - because whilst these notes are amazingly prescient I did not make a fortune on the stock. I predicted rain - but its making an ark that counts!

===================================================

Quote:

Northern Rock – leverage mortgages to the max

Northern Rock is a very simple bank. It has only one strategy and it makes no

...

My Vintage Baby, Inc. (OTC: MVBY) recently announced that they have sold $250,000 of senior-secured, fixed-price convertible debentures to a New York institutional investor, Agile Opportunity Fund, LLC. My Vintage Baby engages in the design, production, and sale of clothing and accessories.

David Propis, Agile’s managing director, stated, “My Vintage Baby has undergone a significant balance sheet and operational cleanup over the past year. In my opinion the Company is poised for growth and sustained profitability. Our investment was based on our analysis that MVBY should become profitable within the next year. The Company’s design team, headed by Jessica Wiswall, has the resources necessary to fulfill its mission to create and distribute niche, high-end children’s apparel.”

“I am pleased to announce that we were able to complete the debt transaction convertible at a fixed price with no stipulated registration requirement,” said Jeff Walsh, CEO of My Vintage Baby.

...

Today was nearly a mirror of yesterday, minus the bigger point losses and the higher volume. But that to me doesn’t matter as what is more important is the fact that for the second day in a row the market appeared as if it was ready to crack WIDE OPEN but instead caught a heavy bid rallying into the close to pair back a lot of the damage. Yes it was a down day but it was a “good” down day. The selling was pretty bad intraday and in fact I did get a bit nervous. However, when I get nervous it is normally a good sign as the market normally doesn’t move well with my emotions. So the fact that I got a bit fearful was a contrarian signal. If I would have come back in the final hour, however, and the market would have been lower the entire tone ...

General Automotive Company (OTCBB: GNAU) reported their financial figures for the first quarter ended March 31, 2008. The company is a provider of original equipment and aftermarket automotive parts, mobile electronics, and related automotive products covering a number of levels of distribution throughout the U.S. and worldwide. They have long-lasting relationships with manufacturers in China, Korea, and Japan which allows them to bring high-quality automotive parts and accessories to automobile manufacturers in the United States.

Revenue rose 51% to $4.07 million for first quarter 2008 compared to $2.69 million a year ago. Gross profit totaled $345,000 for first quarter 2008 compared to last year’s total of $482,000. Net loss was reported to be $504,000, or $0.07 per diluted share, a change from last year’s first quarter’s net loss of $443,000, or $1.15 per diluted share.

Joe DeFrancisci, President and CEO of General Automotive, said, “Since General

...

Post 3 of the 7 post series for the Nvidia (NVDA) Financial Research Analysis we will be looking at the Balance Sheet. In summary, Nvidia’s balance sheet looks outstanding and here are my top... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Lehman decided to raise some cash by issuing $3 billion in convertible preferred shares.  In an interview today: 

"We still maintain that we don't need capital, but we've realized that perception is the dominant issue in today's markets," the chief financial officer, Erin Callan, said in an interview. "This is an endorsement of our balance sheet by investors."

Lehman did not provide terms of the sale, which apparently is being priced tonight.  Price talk is for an interest rate of 7.05 to 7.5% and that the conversion premium would be approx 30% above the current stock price.  The preferred will be noncumulative, meaning the firm can skip dividends without much penalty if it runs into trouble. Lehman said it would be the "sole book-running manager" of the offering, but did not say if there was a syndicate behind it or if it was going to place the shares

...