Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks » Lexmark

Company News for November 9, 2009 – Corporate Summary

Zacks Market Commentaries — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:10:58 +0000

• Kraft (NYSE:KFT) is due to formalize its Cadbury (NYSE:CBY) bid for about $16.7 billion as the deadline for an offer hits

• Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) announced it is selling its TASC consulting operations to two private equity firms for $1.65 billion

• About $30 billion was the agreed-to valuation which General Electric (NYSE:GE) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) placed on the joint venture between NBC Universal and Comcast

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) upgraded Adobe Systems (NASDAQ:ADBE) to "buy," and lifted its price target to $42

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) added Lexmark (NYSE:LXK) to its Conviction Sell list

• KBW upgraded Blackstone Group (NYSE:BX) shares to "outperform" with a price target of $18.50

• Windstream (NYSE:WIN) reported third-quarter earnings of 24 cents a share, two cents over Zacks estimates, on revenues of $734 million, below Zacks estimates of $747 million

• DISH Network (NASDAQ:DISH) reported third-quarter earnings of 18 cents, 25 cents under Zacks estimates, on revenues of $2.89 billion, which missed Zacks estimates of $2.93 billion

Zacks Investment Research

Lexmark Tops Ests, Outlook Positive – Analyst Blog

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:16:29 +0000

Lexmark’s (LXK) third-quarter earnings exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20 cents and revenues by 6.7%.

Revenues of $958 million increased 6% on a sequential basis, but declined 15.3% compared to the year-ago quarter. Strong customer demand was responsible for the sequential improvement in revenue, which also exceeded the company’s expectation of a revenue decline in the recently concluded quarter.

Printing Solutions and Services Division revenues came in at $654 million, up 5% sequentially, but down 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. Imaging Solutions Division revenues was $304.0 million, up 8.0% on a sequential basis, but down 18.0% compared to the year-ago quarter.

Gross profit margin was 32.7% almost flat compared to 32.5% reported in the year ago quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, the company generated a gross margin of 33.9% compared to 34.1% reported in the year-ago quarter. Operating margin stood at 2.5% (including $51.0 million in pre-tax restructuring charges) compared to an operating margin of 4.8% (including $25.0 million in pre-tax restructuring charges) reported in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items, on a non-GAAP basis, third quarter operating margin stood at 7.8%, compared to 6.8% in the year-ago quarter. GAAP Operating margin declined as revenues fell at a higher rate compared to operating expenses.

Net income on a GAAP basis was $10.0 million or $0.13 per share, compared to net income of $36.6 million or $0.42 per share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items like restructuring related charges and project costs, non-GAAP net income for the quarter was $51.0 million or $0.65 per share, compared to $55.0 million or $0.63 per share in the year-ago quarter.

Lexmark ended the quarter with $908.8 million of cash, cash equivalent and marketable securities, up from $810.2 reported in the previous quarter. The company’s long-term balance remained at the same level of $648.9 million, as reported in the previous quarter. The company generated $147.0 million cash from operations, up from $84.0 million reported in the previous quarter, of which $51 million was spent on capex.

Management expects fourth quarter revenues to be up slightly from the last quarter, with the GAAP EPS in the range of 11 cents to 21 cents. Excluding special items, the company expects a non-GAAP EPS of 50 cents to 60 cents.
Read the full analyst report on "LXK"
Zacks Investment Research

Biggest Declines Among S&P – Analyst Blog

Dirk Van Dijk — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:11:49 +0000

The following is a list of the S&P 500 firms where the analysts have been cutting their expectations for the current fiscal year the most over the last month. Most likely these firms reported disappointing earnings or gave negative guidance on their conference calls.

Historically, you have not wanted to be invested in companies where the analysts who follow them most closely see the earnings prospects diminishing. Also, estimates in motion tend to remain in motion. The first bit of bad news is rarely the last (the cockroach theory). This means that the current expectations, even though down from last month, are probably still to high for these firms.

To weed out anomalies, only those firms that are currently expected to earn more than $0.50 in 2009 are included and only those firms where there are a minimum of three estimates in the system.

If you have these stocks in your portfolio, you might want to reconsider holding on to them.

Company	Ticker	2009 Zacks Consensus	4-Week % Change	Positive Revisions	Negative Revisions	EPS Growth	P/E
Harley-Davidson	HOG	$0.88	-38.80%	0	11	-68.29%	26.86
Peabody Energy	BTU	$1.44	-34.05%	1	9	-60.26%	24.71
Parker Hannifin	PH	$1.62	-32.28%	0	13	-48.32%	30.14
Cincinnati Finl	CINF	$1.17	-29.90%	0	4	-44.19%	21.01
Sunoco Inc	SUN	$1.56	-28.81%	0	7	-79.15%	16.76
Host Hotel&Rsrt	HST	$0.50	-26.61%	0	9	-71.07%	21.58
Pnc Finl Svc Cp	PNC	$2.03	-25.94%	0	12	-44.97%	21.84
Genzyme-General	GENZ	$2.19	-22.52%	1	5	-37.10%	22.02
Aetna Inc-New	AET	$2.92	-17.67%	1	15	-25.80%	9.32
Safeway Inc	SWY	$1.75	-16.43%	0	10	-20.72%	10.58
Manitowoc Inc	MTW	$0.52	-16.32%	1	6	-81.91%	13.2
Assurant Inc	AIZ	$4.07	-15.27%	0	11	-24.08%	6.71
Bb&T Corp	BBT	$1.14	-15.17%	7	16	-54.14%	22.61
Smith Intl	SII	$1.07	-14.73%	2	11	-71.82%	24.43
Qlogic Corp	QLGC	$0.59	-14.27%	0	10	-43.74%	23.09
Starwood Hotels	HOT	$0.67	-14.09%	1	15	-69.38%	44.26
Supervalu Inc	SVU	$2.01	-12.23%	0	6	-30.45%	7.63
Expeditors Intl	EXPD	$1.15	-11.06%	0	12	-16.00%	28.67
Consol Energy	CNX	$3.32	-10.98%	1	13	38.29%	11.49
Abercrombie	ANF	$0.90	-10.41%	1	16	-73.16%	36.38
Pitney Bowes In	PBI	$2.22	-10.38%	0	2	-20.26%	10.1
Bj Services	BJS	$0.70	-10.35%	0	12	-65.96%	20.29
Frontier Commun	FTR	$0.53	-9.49%	0	11	-8.37%	13.3
Lexmark Intl	LXK	$2.36	-9.44%	1	8	-33.63%	7.07
Marriott Intl-A	MAR	$0.83	-9.30%	2	14	-45.07%	30.59
Snap-On Inc	SNA	$2.70	-9.17%	0	3	-33.66%	14.31
Dover Corp	DOV	$1.80	-8.67%	0	8	-50.86%	19.05
Marathon Oil Cp	MRO	$2.06	-8.46%	2	8	-68.23%	14.91
Meredith Corp	MDP	$1.81	-8.42%	0	4	-11.03%	15.39
Symantec Corp	SYMC	$1.26	-8.25%	0	10	-13.32%	12.34
Utd Parcel Srvc	UPS	$2.16	-8.17%	0	16	-38.27%	25.04
Eqt Corp	EQT	$1.35	-8.17%	0	7	-32.39%	29.26

Zacks Investment Research

Lexmark Plunges on Outlook, Q2 – Zacks Tale of the Tape

Zacks Market Commentaries — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:56:43 +0000

Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) offered a weak third-quarter outlook today after second-quarter results came in behind Wall Street expectations.

Shares of this Zacks #4 Rank ("Sell") company have plunged more than 20% on extraordinarily heavy volume of about 14.5 million, compared to the average daily volume of approximately 2.5 million.

The company expects third-quarter adjusted earnings of 40 cents to 50 cents per share, which is below the consensus forecast of 52 cents per share.

Meanwhile, Lexmark posted second-quarter adjusted earnings of 55 cents per share, missing the consensus estimate by nearly 10%.

Sales fell 21% to $904.6 million as the economic slump impacted demand for its imaging and printing products.

The average forecast for the company's full-year earnings has declined a penny over the past week to $2.59 per share as 1 of 12 covering analysts lowered expectations.

"LXK" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
Zacks Investment Research

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended March 6, 2009

Small Cap Pulse — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 23:14:00 +0000

March 7, 2009 ndash; The markets are in terrible shape, arguably, the economy is in worse shape. This week we saw a pickup in job losses, higher unemployment rates across the nation and as a whole, heightening concerns that the government really has no answer to solve the financial marketrsquo;s crisis while the markets reacted in turn, moving to levels we havenrsquo;t seen in 12 years. Here is the dismal prognosis for the week: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Markets ndash; The DJIA and Samp;P fell to 12-year lows. The DJIA has dropped nbsp;more than 20% since inauguration day (this is a spurious factoid, we think but one that dickheads like Rush Limbaugh are trumpeting on the airwaves so we might as well acknowledge it) . The DJIA closed at 6,626.94 on Friday, down 6% on the week, down 24% year-to-date and down 50% since the economists and lsquo;expertsrsquo; acknowledged back in January, 2008 that the economy was in a recession. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Profit Warnings ndash; Adobe, middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Noteworthy Lows ndash; GE hit 16-year lows this week, GM is approaching 75-year lows, middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Employment Data - The ADP report showed this morning that the U.S. lost 697,000 jobs for the month of February, 13.5% more than expected (614,000 was expected). This weekrsquo;s jobless claims came in at 639,000, down from 670,000 last week, while continuing claims came in at 5.1 million, down slightly from 5.12 million reported last week. Both weekly and continuing claims came in better than expected. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; US Productivity ndash; US Productivity fell at an annual rate of 0.4% in the October-December period while unit labor costs increased by 5.7%. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Job Cuts ndash; Vale Inco (cutting 900 more jobs worldwide), US Olympic Committee (cutting up to 15% of staff), First Energy (laying off 335 workers), Inspire (cutting 20 jobs), A Schulman (cutting 64 jobs), Timken (cutting 400 jobs), Northrup Grumman (cutting 750 jobs), Changing World Technologies (the majority of its workforce), Tamarack Resort (250 jobs), Seagate (cutting 20% of its top executives), Spencer Press (374 jobs), Tyco Electronics (more, or a ldquo;substantialrdquo; amount of, employees), Diageo (150 jobs in North America), the Forth Worth Star Telegram (reduction of about 12% of workforce), General Dynamics (laying off 1,200), JM Family Enterprises (cut 500 jobs), Stanford Financial Group (about 1,000 laid off) middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Job Cuts ndash; Retail Sector ndash; US retailers cut 39,500 jobs in February, marking thenbsp;thirteenth straight month of job losses in the sector. Retail job losses account for almost 14% of the 4.4 million jobs cut in the US since January 2008. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Chapter 11 ndash; Spansion, Masonite, Joersquo;s Sports, Changing World Technologies, Magna Entertainment, middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Bankruptcies in 2008 ndash; Personal bankruptcy filings in 2008 increase by 54% to 43,546, and are expected to spike upward in 2009, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. It expects filings to reach 1.4 million, or more this year. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Closing the Doors ndash; Idahorsquo;s Tamarack Resort, R.R. Donnelleyrsquo;s Spencer Press facility, Sparton is closing its Jackson, Michigan manufacturing operations, the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ratings Downgrades ndash; Samp;P cut Hartford Financial, Samp;P cut Bank of America, Fitch cut Nieman Marcus, Fitch cut Saks, Moodyrsquo;s cut Wendyrsquo;s, Fitch cut Lincoln, Fitch cut Conseco, Samp;P cut Scotts Miracle-Gro, Fitch cut Boyd Gaming, Fitch cut Hungary, nbsp;Samp;P cut Palm, Moodyrsquo;s cut UPS, Moodyrsquo;s cut Harrahrsquo;s, nbsp;Moodyrsquo;s cut Briggs amp; Stratton, Samp;P cut Lexmark, Samp;P cut Barneys, Moodyrsquo;s cut Target, Fitch withdrew ratings for Smurfit-Stone Container, Samp;P cut Eastman Kodak, Fitch placed Ireland on Watch Negative, Moodyrsquo;s cut EQT, Fitch cut Goodyear, Moodyrsquo;s cut Standard Pacific, Samp;P cut British Airways, Samp;P cut Dow Chemical, middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Credit Markets ndash; HSBC said it is shutting down its US lending unit over the next five years. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; State Troubles ndash; States combined deficits have reached about $50 billion in their 2009 budgets and are expected to expand. California is facing a $42 billion deficit. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; State Unemployment ndash; Rhode Island unemployment rate hit 10.3% in January, Michiganrsquo;s unemployment hit 11.6% in January, Indiana hit 9.2%, Florida hit 8.6%, Nevada hit 9.4%, Texas hit 6.4%, middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Auto Market ndash; Autodata reported that General Motors US sales fell 53% in February on a Y/Y basis. Fordrsquo;s US sales fell 48%. Chryslerrsquo;s fell by 44%. Overall, US auto sales were down 41% in February 2009 over the same period last year. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Housing Market ndash; Bloomberg reported that more than 8.3 million home owners are underwater on their mortgages. California and Texas lead the negative equity list. Homes lost $2.4 trillion in value last year. The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales fell 7.7% in January to a reading on its index of 80.4. Expectations were for the reading to come in at 85.1. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Housing Market ndash; Mortgages ndash; 48% of US homeowners that have a subprime, adjustable-rate mortgage are behind on their payments or are in foreclosure. And 12%, or 5.4 million US homeowners with a mortgage of any kind are at least oen month late or in foreclosure at the end of last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Manufacturing ndash; The ISM reported that manufacturing contracted for the 13th straight month in February, through slower than expected. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Oil ndash; It is nice to know that Exxon will be able to invest $29 billion in projects this year, and as much as $150 billion over the next five years. Why have we continued to subsidize the oil industry? middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Technology ndash; Gartner reported this week that the global PC industry is expected to see its sharpest shipment decline in history this year, contracting at 11.9% to 257 million units. Global semiconductor sales declined by about 29% in January to $15.3 billion.

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 30, 2009 (updated Friday a.m. Jan. 30)

Small Cap Pulse — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:57:00 +0000

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended, January 30, 2009 Another week chalked with downbeat earnings performance, profit warnings, and further indications of economic erosion here in the U.S., and abroad is almost behind us, and now we can start focusing on the Super Bowl. Here is a list of bullets to consider when setting expectations for stock, portfolio and indices performance (not 100% comprehensive but a pretty good gauge of this weekrsquo;s lowlights in the U.S. economy): GDP ndash; The U.S. economy contracted by 3.8% in the Q4, the most since 1982. The good news is that economists were expecting the number to come in at 5.4%. For 2008, GDP growth was 1.8%. Consumer Spending ndash; dropped by 3.5% last quarter following a 3.8% in the prior quarter. Durable Goods ndash; durable goods orders fell for the fifth straight month in December by 2.6%. Economists had expected a 2% decline. Orders fell 5.7% for the year, the second biggest decline on record. Retail Industry ndash; The National Retail Federation released a forecast for retailers in 2009 to record a 0.5% drop in revenue. Sales for the first half of 2009 are expected to decline by 2.5%, then a 1.1% decline in Q3 and a 3.6% increase in Q4. Auto Industry ndash; The National Association of Auto Dealers expects sales of at least 12.7 million vehicles in the U.S. this year. Mitsubishi extended the downtime at its Illinois factory for an extra five weeks. A irline Industry ndash; The International Air Transport Association said the industry lost $5 billion in 2008 on lower traffic.nbsp;nbsp; Mobile Phone Industry - Global mobile phone market will shrink 9% in 2009, its first decline since 2001 and with the first half set to be especially grim, Strategy Analytics said. Job Cuts ndash; Caterpillar (20,000 jobs), Sprint Nextel (8,000 jobs), Deere (700 jobs), Home Depot (7,000 jobs), GM (2,000 jobs), Wyeth (8,000 jobs ndash; on consolidation from Pfizer purchase), Brooks Automation (350 jobs, or 20% of workforce), Corning (3,500 jobs), Quiksilver (200 jobs), Weyerhauser (221 jobs), STM Microelectronics (4,500 jobs), IBM (estimated 4,000 jobs), Target (1,000 headquarters jobs),nbsp; Volvo (laying off 650 at Virginia plant), JL French Automotive Castings (300 jobs), Starbucks (7,000 more jobs), Citrix (about 462 jobs), Boeing (10,000 jobs), Jabil Circuit (3,000 jobs), AOL (700 jobs), nbsp;Wet Seal (41 jobs), Readerrsquo;s Digest (about 280 jobs), Revel (lays off 400), Pacific Sunwear (57 jobs), Analogic (140 jobs), Kodak (3,500 to 4,500 jobs), Black amp; Decker (1,200 jobs), Teradyne (14% of workforce), Bon-Ton (1,150 jobs), Cessna (2,000 jobs), AstraZeneca (another 6,000 jobs), New Jersey hospital system (cutting 180 jobs), Caterpillar (added 2,100 more jobs to its already announced 20,000 jobs), Unemployment ndash; The Conference Board said unemployment could rise to 9%. Nevadarsquo;s jobless rate reached 9.1% in December. Unemployment in Kansas rose to 4.9% in December from 4% the year prior. Coloradorsquo;s unemployment rate in December hit 6.1%. South Carolinarsquo;s unemployment rate rose to 9.5%. Indianarsquo;s unemployment rate rose to 8.2% in December. Arkansasrsquo; unemployment rate rose to 6.2% in December. Mainersquo;s unemployment rate rose to 7% in December. Montanarsquo;s unemployment rate rose to 5.4% in December. West Virginiarsquo;s jobless rate is expected to increase to between 8.7% and 9.5% by the last quarter of 2009. The Labor Department reported that weekly jobless claims rose to 588,000 while the continuing claims rose to an all-time high of almost 4.8 million. Nebraska unemployment rose to 4% in December. nbsp; Profit Warnings ndash; Caterpillar, Applied Industrial Tech, Eaton, Max Capital Group, Moog, McGraw Hill, Quanex, Lexmark, Jacobs Engineering, U.S. Steel, AK Steel, Yahoo, Total Systems, Rayonier, ATamp;T, McCormick, Tyco, Norsk Hyrdo, Cirrus Logic, Baker Hughes, Canon, Qualcomm, Textron, Oshkosh, NEC, Honda, Hitachi, Credit Ratings ndash; Fitch lowered Johnson Control ratings, Moodyrsquo;s downgraded Sealy, Samp;P cut Ryder System, Samp;P and Moodyrsquo;s cut Blythrsquo;s ratings, Samp;P cut rates on PPL Corp and PPL Electric, Samp;P cut ratings on SunTrust Banks, Samp;P cuts Hexion, Moodyrsquo;s cuts Intrsquo;l Game Technology, Samp;P cut Golden Nugget, Chapter 11 ndash; Hartmarx (Obamarsquo;s suit maker), Smurfit-Stone, Closing the Doors ndash; Weyerhauser is closing two mills in southwestern Washington, Starbucks is closing 300 stores, Venture Capital ndash; Investments in Q4 fell by 33% Y/Y to $5.4 billion.nbsp; Investment into biotech and medical device companies fell 31% Y/Y to $1.6 billion. Investment into software companies fell by 28% Y/Y to $1 billion. The only sector bucking the trend was alternative energy and clean tech, which raised $908.2 million in the Q4, up 26% over the same period last year. For the full year, VC invested $28.3 billion, down 8% Y/Y. State Budgets ndash; Nevadarsquo;s unemployment rate rose to 9.1% in December; Home Sales ndash; Existing home sales rose 6.5% in December while the median home sales price fell 15.3% Y/Y to $175,400. For 2008, homes sales were down 13% TO 4.9 million homes, the lowest level since 1997. The National Association of Realtors said southern existing home sales fell almost 7% in December on a Y/Y basis, while the median sales price fell 8% to $158,600; existing home sales in the Midwest fell almost 5% in December on a Y/Y basis and the media sale price declined to $140,800. The Commerce Department reported new homes fell 14.7% in December to the slowest pace since 1963. The median price of new homes sold in December was $206,500, a decline of 9.3% Y/Y. Home Prices - Samp;P Case/Shiller index reported that home prices in 20 U.S. cities declined by 18.2% in November on a Y/Y basis. Ken Rose, UC Berkeley Economist projected home prices to slide 6% in 2009. Leading Indicators ndash; The Conference Boardrsquo;s monthly forecast of economic activity increased 0.3% in December. Stock Dividends ndash; the AP reported that dividends are being cut at the fastest pace in at least 50 years. Colleges ndash; universities are cutting budgets, and college endowments are down 3% in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, and in the first five months of FY2009, endowments are down 23% (source: TIAA-CREF and NACUBO). Tourism ndash; The U.N. World Tourism Organization said global tourism could decline by up to 2% in 2009. Hawaiirsquo;s tourism industry saw a 16.5% decline in December, and 10.8% for the year. pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/smallcappulse/feed?a=13Fjnk"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/smallcappulse/feed?i=13Fjnk" border="0"/img/a/p

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 30, 2009 (updated Tuesday a.m. January 27)

Small Cap Pulse — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended, January 30, 2009 We are only one full day into this weekrsquo;s session and already there has been enough downer news to last a quarter. That being said, from the performance of stocks lately, it looks like traders have priced much of the bad news in already: Retail Industry ndash; The National Retail Federation released a forecast for retailers in 2009 to record a 0.5% drop in revenue. Sales for the first half of 2009 are expected to decline by 2.5%, then a 1.1% decline in Q3 and a 3.6% increase in Q4. Auto Industry ndash; The National Association of Auto Dealers expects sales of at least 12.7 million vehicles in the U.S. this year. Mobile Phone Industry - Global mobile phone market will shrink 9% in 2009, its first decline since 2001 and with the first half set to be especially grim, Strategy Analytics said. Job Cuts ndash; Caterpillar (20,000 jobs), Sprint Nextel (8,000 jobs), Deere (700 jobs), Home Depot (7,000 jobs), GM (2,000 jobs), Wyeth (8,000 jobs ndash; on consolidation from Pfizer purchase), Brooks Automation (350 jobs, or 20% of workforce), Corning (3,500 jobs), Quiksilver (200 jobs), Weyerhauser (221 jobs) Unemployment ndash; The Conference Board said unemployment could rise to 9%. Nevadarsquo;s jobless rate reached 9.1% in December. Profit Warnings ndash; Caterpillar, Applied Industrial Tech, Eaton, Max Capital Group, Moog, McGraw Hill, Quanex, Lexmark, Jacobs Engineering, Credit Ratings ndash; Fitch lowered Johnson Control ratings, Moodyrsquo;s downgraded Sealy, Samp;P cut Ryder System, Samp;P and Moodyrsquo;s cut Blythrsquo;s ratings, Chapter 11 ndash; Hartmarx (Obamarsquo;s suit maker), Smurfit-Stone, Closing the Doors ndash; Weyerhauser is closing two mills in southwestern Washington Venture Capital ndash; Investments in Q4 fell by 33% Y/Y to $5.4 billion. nbsp;Investment into biotech and medical device companies fell 31% Y/Y to $1.6 billion. Investment into software companies fell by 28% Y/Y to $1 billion. The only sector bucking the trend was alternative energy and clean tech, which raised $908.2 million in the Q4, up 26% over the same period last year. For the full year, VC invested $28.3 billion, down 8% Y/Y. State Budgets ndash; Nevadarsquo;s unemployment rate rose to 9.1% in December; Home Sales ndash; Existing home sales rose 6.5% in December while the median home sales price fell 15.3% Y/Y to $175,400. For 2008, homes sales were down 13% TO 4.9 million homes, the lowest level since 1997. The National Association of Realtors said southern existing home sales fell almost 7% in December on a Y/Y basis, while the median sales price fell 8% to $158,600; existing home sales in the Midwest fell almost 5% in December on a Y/Y basis and the media sale price declined to $140,800. Home Prices - Samp;P Case/Shiller index reported that home prices in 20 U.S. cities declined by 18.2% in November on a Y/Y basis. Leading Indicators ndash; The Conference Boardrsquo;s monthly forecast of economic activity increased 0.3% in December. Stock Dividends ndash; the AP reported that dividends are being cut at the fastest pace in at least 50 years. Colleges ndash; universities are cutting budgets, and college endowments are down 3% in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, and in the first five months of FY2009, endowments are down 23% (source: TIAA-CREF and NACUBO). nbsp; pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/smallcappulse/feed?a=erNbcI"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/smallcappulse/feed?i=erNbcI" border="0"/img/a/p

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 16, 2009 – Updated through January 16

Small Cap Pulse — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:47:00 +0000

Aspire Misery Index for the Week Ended January 16, 2009 As of Friday morning, January 16, here is what we have accumulated for our Misery Index: middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; US. Auto Industry ndash; Ford expects U.S. light vehicles to reach 12.2 million units this year, Chrysler expects sales to reach 11 million and GM projects 10 to 11 million - down from 16 million in 2007 and 13.2 million last year. Wachovia expects 10.3 million unit sales. CSM worldwide expects 2009 sales in the U.S. to hit 11.5 million (but then rebound to 13.6 million in 2010). Deutsche Bank projects 2009 sales in the U.S. to decline by 13% to 11.5 million units. J.D. Power amp; Associates projects sales in the U.S. to decline to 11.4 million units in 2009, and then grow to 13.4 million in 2010, and 14.7 million units by 2011.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Global Auto Industry ndash; French-Romanian manufacturer Dacia announced a temporary closure of a Romanian plant; Hyundai cutting domestic output between 25% to 30%. CSM Worldwide is forecasting 2008 global sales to fall about 8% to 56.8 million (but a rise in 2010 sales of nearly 7% to 60.8 million units). PSA Peugeot Citroen said its sales declined by 4.9% in 2008. South Korearsquo;s Ssangyong Motor has halted production, after filing for bankruptcy last week. Nissan is cutting domestic production by 64,000 vehicles in February and March. European car sales have hit a 15-year low, according to the ACEA, with demand in the region down 7.3%. Sales in the region in December were down 18% Y/Y. Honda is halting production at its British plant for 20 days in April and 15 days in May to reduce production by 17,000 units and it is cutting production in Japan by an additional 56,000 units.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Global Technology ndash; Forrester Research anticipates spending to decline by 3% this year, which would mark the first decline since 2002, but it expects spending to recover to as much as 9% growth by 2010.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; PC Shipments ndash; Global shipments of PCs posed their first quarterly decline in six years, during the last quarter of 2008, by 0.4% Y/Y. In the U.S. shipments of PCs fell by 3.5%.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Global Handset Marketnbsp; - Sony Ericcson revised its estimate to 1.19 billion units, or 6% growth, down from previous estimates of 10% growth.nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Retail ndash; The Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell 2.7% in December, following a 2.1% decline in November. Ex-autos, the number came in at a decline of 3.1%.nbsp; Expectations were for a 1.2% decline in December. Excluding auto sales, expectations were for a decline of 1.3%. Chain-store sales fell 2.3% for the week ended January 10. December chain-store sales fell 2% Y/Y, and excluding Wal-Mart, comparable store sales declined 4.6% Y/Y marking the largest downturn since 1970.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Airline Industry ndash; Airbus expects orders to dip below deliveries for the first time in six years. Airline traffic fell 7.1% in October. SkyWest said December traffic fell by 3.3% Y/Y.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Beer ndash; reports from brewers are indicating that the beer industry is not immune from current economic conditions either. SABMiller is reporting shipments fell unexpectedly in Q3; Carlsberg A/S said it is cutting 274 jobs to save on costs;nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Inventories ndash; The Commerce Department said businesses cut inventories by 0.7% in November. Expectations were for a 0.5% decline. This is the third straight month of reductions in inventories.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The housing market continues to reel. Reports this morning are that more than 2.3 million American homeowners faced foreclosure last year, an 81% increase from 2007. 860,000 properties were actually repossessed by lenders and Moodyrsquo;s Economy.com is projecting that the number of homes lost to foreclosure will rise by another 18% this year. RealtyTrac said Hawaiirsquo;s foreclosures tripled in December, compared to the same period last year; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Hustlerrsquo;s Larry Flynt reported hat adult DVD sales have decreased 22% in 2008 over the prior year.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Ratings Revisions ndash; Moodyrsquo;s revises Harscorsquo;s outlook to negative; Moodyrsquo;s revised Synovus outlook to negative; Samp;P downgraded Visteon to CCC status from B- with a negative outlook; Samp;P reduced Hayes Lemmerz maintaining outlook to negative; Fitch downgraded Tronox ratings; Moodyrsquo;s cut Harscorsquo;s outlook to negative; Samp;P cut auto parts supplier BorgWarnerrsquo;s ratings; DCP Midstream outlook downgraded to negative by Samp;P, Moodyrsquo;s downgraded Texas Industries; Samp;P cut ratings on Merisant; Moodyrsquo;s said the fundamental credit outlook for the United Arab Emiratesrsquo; banking sector is negative; Samp;P lowered Greece republic; Moodyrsquo;s downgraded American Greetings; Delta Petroleum rating downgraded by Moodyrsquo;s; Moodyrsquo;s downgraded Quiksilver; Samp;P lowered ratings on Spansion; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Profit warnings ndash; Vertex, Hologic, Kendle, Aetna, Kennametal, Aetna, Celgene, KLA Tencor, Health Management, Prestige, Liz Clairborne, Cepheid, Lexmark, Prestige Brands, Old National, Nvidia, Genesco, Visteon, Kenneth Cole,nbsp; F.N.B.., Marathon, Beazer, Deutsche Bank AG, Ametek, P.F. Changs, Kenneth Cole, Bunge, VF, California Pizza Kitchen, Cardiac Science, Trimble, Sanyo, Plantronics, Intel, Cynosure, RC2, Caliper, Autodesknbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Job cuts ndash; Waterford (367 jobs), Courier (72 jobs), Kennametal (1,200 jobs), Westchester Medical Center (400 jobs), Cessna (2,000 jobs), Seagate (10% of its U.S. workforce, or 800 jobs), Cost Plus (18% of its staff), BRE Properties (33 jobs), Mosaic (1,000 jobs in Canada), Cummins (800 jobs and freezing salaries), PGT Inc. (10% of workforce), Pfizer (800 jobs), Hutchinson Technology (275 jobs), ING Group (750 jobs), Digicel (10% of workforce), Harrahrsquo;s Cherokee Casinos (100 jobs), FormFactor (22% of workforce or about 200 jobs); Nieman Marcus (about 375 jobs), Sonus Networks (4% of its workforce, or 40 jobs), Oracle (500 jobs), Reebok (more than 300 workers), Cardiac Science (12% of workforce, or 66 jobs), Barnes amp; Noble (100 jobs); Motorola (another 4,000 jobs), Ecolab (1,000 jobs), Google (100 jobs), MeadWestvaco (10% of its workforce, or 2,000 jobs), Sanyo (1,200 jobs), Plantronics (18% of workforce), Standard Micro (5% to 10% of workforce), Vulcan (50 jobs), Saks (1,100 jobs), AAA (200 jobs), Cynosure (17% of workforce), Random House (confirmed it is cutting an undisclosed number of jobs), the Boston Globe (up to 50 newsroom jobs),nbsp; Marshall amp; Illsley (830 jobs), Autodesk (750 jobs), Blue Cross Blue Shield (up to 1,000 jobs), Roche (780 jobs),nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Employers announced almost 40,000 jobs cuts on Friday alone!nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The Labor Market was expected to report unemployment claims were 500,000 last week. Instead, jobless claims rose 54,000 to 524,000. The one positive note is that continuing claims declined to 4.5 million from an upwardly revised number of 4.6 million the prior week. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Chapter 11 ndash; Tronox, Tarrogon Corp., Apex Silver (planned); Nortel, Gottschalks, Goodyrsquo;s, Black Angus,nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; BankruptcyData.com reported that bankruptcy filings amongst publicly traded companies increased by 74% in 2008 (136 filings). The record was set in 2001 with 263 filings.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Corporate Defaults ndash; Moodyrsquo;s Investors Service said the rate of defaults by corporate borrowers around the world more than quadrupled last year to 4%. The default rate is expected to rise to about 15.1% by the end of this year.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Closing shop ndash; Cost Plus is closing 26 stores and exiting eight media markets; Sunoco is closing its Texas manufacturing plant; AAA is closing 34 offices in 7 states; Circuit City is closing remaining 567 U.S. stores;nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; States running on empty ndash; Texas comptroller announced it expects a $9 billion drop in revenue for the next 2-year state budget; Iowa estimates a budget gap that could top $600 million; Minnesotarsquo;s State Budget Trends Commission said budget problems are long-term, and the state faces a $4.85 billion deficit for the coming 2-year budget; Florida is pulling from its last-resort reserves to help fill its $2.3 billion budget deficit;nbsp; Ohiorsquo;s unemployment compensation fund is out of money, and the state plans on borrowing $500 million to pay benefits in January and February; Kansas is projecting a $186 million budget deficit but estimates are that the deficit could grow to more than $1 billion by 2010; New Mexico is facing a $450 million deficit; Idahorsquo;s governor has proposed cutting $75.8 million from its public education funding to help cut its fiscal 2010 budget; Alabamarsquo;s Legislative Fiscal Office said its public schools and colleges face $1 billion in budget cuts this year and next as the state grapples with its budget shortfalls; Arizona faces a $1.6 billion shortfall in its current budget; Marylandrsquo;s governor announced that state employee layoffs are in the state budget to be submitted next week; Connecticut is working on a plan to trim its $1 billion deficit; California is running with a $41.6 billion deficit;nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The federal government has run the deficit up to a record $485.2 billion in the first three months of the current budget year. The deficit for December was $83.6 billion, contrasted with a surplus of $48.3 billion in December, 2007. The deficit for the entire 2008 year was $454.8 billion. Dan Weiss of Samp;P expects that this yearrsquo;s deficit will hit $1.6 trillion and will remain above $1 trillion next year as well.nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; And the House Democrats are stepping up the pace announcing a stimulus bill on Thursday that would amount to $825 billion in federal spending and tax cuts. middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President, Dennis Lockhart: ldquo;Looking ahead, the economy is very weak, and I expect it will remain weak at least through the first quarter in late April.rdquo;nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Hedge Fund Research reported that almost 700 funds, or 7% of the industry, shut down in the first three quarters of 2008 with the average hedge fund losing 18% of its value (better than the DJIA which lost 34% and the Samp;P 500 which lost 38%).nbsp;nbsp; middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The UN predicts zero world growth in 2009. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/smallcappulse/feed?a=j1HlHK"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/smallcappulse/feed?i=j1HlHK" border="0"/img/a/p

Maverick Capital Management 13F | Lee Ainslie Hedge Fund Holdings Analysis

Richard C. Wilson — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 12:41:00 +0000

Maverick Capital

Maverick Capital Management Holdings Analysis

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

Lee Ainslie started Maverick Capital back in 1993 with $38 million. Nowadays, the fund is worth $10 billion. Ainslie, like many of the other fund managers I've profiled, has a background rooted in learning from legendary great Julian Robertson at Tiger Management. So, due to the fact that these proteges learned from the best and have had great success running their own hedge funds, I continually try to find a reason not to follow these funds. And, needless to say I'm never successful. Some contacts over at Maverick have explained that their hedge fund strategy is straight up stock picking, both long and short. They made it clear though, that they do not employ pairs trades. Although, some of their long/short setups might be in the same sector. They try to hedge their positions like a true hedge fund by picking out the shining stars in certain sectors, as well as identifying the pieces of garbage. Now, of course, this presents us with a problem in that the 13F filings only show long positions (unless they're holding puts on a name, we can see those). So, a good amount of Maverick's portfolio (the entire short side) is unbeknownst to us, because they have reported zero put positions. But, let's look on the bright side in that we can see all their long positions. Maverick uses a value approach (obviously learned from Julian) and one of their most popular metrics is finding companies and comparing their enterprise value to sustainable free cash flow.

So, now that we've got a little background on Maverick, let's see what they were up to. The following are Maverick Capital's current holdings as of June 30th 2008, as released in their most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The positions in this most recent 13F were compared to last quarter's 13F and here are the changes made to their portfolio:

New Positions:
First Solar (FSLR): 1,202,118 shares. This position is 2.93% of Maverick's portfolio.
Lorillard (LO): 3,820,856 shares. This position is 2.36% of Maverick's portfolio.
CVS Caremark (CVS): 5,912,073 shares. This position is 2.09% of Maverick's portfolio.
Netapp (NTAP): 9,331,862 shares. This position is 1.81% of Maverick's portfolio.
ITT Educational Services (ESI): 2,422,090 shares. This position is 1.79% of Maverick's portfolio.
Macy's (M): 9,008,174 shares. This position is 1.56% of Maverick's portfolio.
Hansen Natural (HANS): 5,712,952 shares. This position is 1.47% of Maverick's portfolio.
Polo Ralph Lauren (RL): 2,431,244 shares. This position is 1.36% of Maverick's portfolio.
Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS): 7,589,473 shares. This position is 1.20% of Maverick's portfolio.
Cigna Corp (CI): 2,931,045 shares. This position is 0.93% of Maverick's portfolio.
Digital River Inc (DRIV): 1,974,144 shares. This position is 0.68% of Maverick's portfolio.
Viacom Inc (VIA): 2,442,500 shares. This position is 0.67% of Maverick's portfolio.
Forest Labs (FRX): 1,789,900 shares. This position is 0.56% of Maverick's portfolio.
Lamar Advertising (LAMR): 1,542,918 shares. This position is 0.50% of Maverick's portfolio.
Visa (V): 565,005 shares. This position is 0.41% of Maverick's portfolio.
South Financial Group (TSFG): 50,000 shares. This position is 0.38% of Maverick's portfolio.
Athena Health (ATHN): 1,245,819 shares. This position is 0.34% of Maverick's portfolio.
National City Corp (NCC): 6,625,176 shares. This position is 0.28% of Maverick's portfolio.
Sohu.com Inc (SOHU): 170,485 shares. This position is 0.11% of Maverick's portfolio.
MSCI Inc (MXB): 287,186 shares. This position is 0.09% of Maverick's portfolio.
Universal American (UAM): 1,004,391 shares. This position is 0.09% of Maverick's portfolio.
Comscore (SCOR): 436,640 shares. This position is 0.09% of Maverick's portfolio.
Citizens Republic Bancorp (CRBC): 937,500 shares. This position is 0.02% of Maverick's portfolio.

Added to:
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B): Increased position by 1412%. Position is now 0.45% of their portfolio.
Gmarket (GMKT): Increased position by 317%. Position is now 0.19% of their portfolio.
Infinera (INFN): Increased position by 171%. Position is now 0.54% of their portfolio.
American Capital (ACAS): Increased position by 141%. Position is now 0.30% of their portfolio.
Nordstrom (JWN): Increased position by 136.61%. Position is now 2.79% of their portfolio.
America Movil (AMX): Increased position by 129.88%. Position is now 3.91% of their portfolio.
Lexmark (LXK): Increased position by 109.39%. Position is now 1.42% of their portfolio.
Citrix (CTXS): Increased position by 109.36%. Position is now 2.20% of their portfolio.
Bank of New York Mellon (BK): Increased position by 55.42%. Position is now 3.15% of their portfolio.
Baxter Intl (BAX): Increased position by 51.69%. Position is now 2.90% of their portfolio.
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): Increased position by 45.89%. Position is now 2.87% of their portfolio.
Raytheon (RTN): Increased position by 41.72%. Position is now 2.58% of their portfolio.
Fidelity National Info (FIS): Increased position by 40.56%. Position is now 2.05% of their portfolio.
Covidien (COV): Increased position by 32.99%. Position is now 2.32% of their portfolio.
Liberty Media Corp (LMDIA): Increased position by 28.09%. Position is now 1.59% of their portfolio.
Resmed (RMD): Increased position by 26.46%. Position is now 0.74% of their portfolio.
Burlington Northern (BNI): Increased position by 22.73%. Position is now 1.83% of their portfolio.
Google (GOOG): Increased position by 22.27%. Position is now 1.72% of their portfolio.
Genentech (DNA): Increased position by 21.38%. Position is now 1.40% of their portfolio.
Zimmer Holdings (ZMH): Increased position by 20.28%. Position is now 1.73% of their portfolio.
Cypress Bioscience (CYPB): Increased position by 19.98%. Position is now 0.20% of their portfolio.
Apple (AAPL): Increased position by 19.45%. Position is now 4.09% of their portfolio.
Research in Motion (RIMM): Increased position by 15.41%. Position is now 4.08% of their portfolio.
MetroPCS Comm (PCS): Increased position by 13.6%. Position is now 0.77% of their portfolio.
Home Inns & Hotels (HMIN): Increased position by 7.72%. Position is now 0.54% of their portfolio.
Gilead Sciences (GILD): Increased position by 6.66%. Position is now 2.37% of their portfolio.
Marvell Technology (MRVL): Increased position by 5.24%. Position is now 3.08% of their portfolio.
Newstar Financial (NEWS): Increased position by 5.21%. Position is now 0.14% of their portfolio.
Cardinal Health (CAH): Increased position by 3.33%. Position is now 1.56% of their portfolio.
Amylin Pharma (AMLN): Increased position by 2.84%. Position is now 0.58% of their portfolio.
Discovery Holding (DISCA): Increased position by 1.74%. Position is now 1.21% of their portfolio.
Palm (PALM): Increased position by 1.40%. Position is now 0.51% of their portfolio.
Lumber Liquidators (LL): Increased position by 1.14%. Position is now 0.26% of their portfolio.
China Nepstar (NPD): Increased position by 0.75%. Position is now 0.18% of their portfolio.
First Advantage (FADV): Increased position by 0.65%. Position is now 0.15% of their portfolio.
Under Armour (UA): Increased position by 0.17%. Position is now 0.83% of their portfolio.
Mylan Inc (MYL): Increased position by 0.06%. Position is now 1.09% of their portfolio.
Monsanto (MON): Increased position by 0.04%. Position is now 1.68% of their portfolio.
Potash (POT): Increased position by 0.03%. Position is now 2% of their portfolio.

Reduced positions:
Thermo Fisher (TMO): Reduced their position by 4.91%. Position is now 1.68% of their portfolio.
Western Union (WU): Reduced their position by 10.2%. Position is now 2.08% of their portfolio.
Marsh & Mclennan (MMC): Reduced their position by 12%. Position is now 1.55% of their portfolio.
Textron Inc (TXT): Reduced their position by 18.93%. Position is now 1.44% of their portfolio.
Wyeth (WYE): Reduced their position by 20.6%. Position is now 1.46% of their portfolio.
Leap Wireless (LEAP): Reduced their position by 23.40%. Position is now 0.39% of their portfolio.
Trubion Pharma (TRBN): Reduced their position by 24.38%. Position is now 0.04% of their portfolio.
Dish Network (DISH): Reduced their position by 27.75%. Position is now 1.13% of their portfolio.
Avon Products (AVP): Reduced their position by 33.23%. Position is now 1.36% of their portfolio.
JP Morgan Chase (JPM): Reduced their position by 38.68%. Position is now 0.89% of their portfolio.
Cognizant (CTSH): Reduced their position by 42.97%. Position is now 0.85% of their portfolio.
DirecTV (DTV): Reduced their position by 49.69%. Position is now 0.83% of their portfolio.
Suntrust Banks (STI): Reduced their position by 50%. Position is now 0.16% of their portfolio.
Gamestop (GME): Reduced their position by 51.64%. Position is now 0.81% of their portfolio.
Corcept (CORT): Reduced their position by 57.49%. Position is now 0.01% of their portfolio.
Bluefly (BFLY): Reduced their position by 90%. Position is now 0.11% of their portfolio.
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A): Reduced their position by 95%. Position is now 0.66% of their portfolio.

Removed Positions (Positions Maverick sold out of completely):
Hanesbrands (HBI)
Autozone (AZO)
Bankrate (RATE)
CNET (CNET)
Crocs (CROX)
Cumulus Media (CMLS)
Harmonic (HLIT)
Loews (L)
Move Inc (MOVE)
Nucor (NUE)
OfficeMax (OMX)
Qualcomm (QCOM)
Salesforce (CRM)
Sandisk (SNDK)
Sears (SHLD)
Starbucks (SBUX)
UnitedHealth (UNH)

Positions with no change:
VMWare (VMW). Position is 0.59% of their portfolio.
BPW Acquisition (BPW). Position is 0.18% of their portfolio.
FIrst Marblehead (FMD). Position is 0.05% of their portfolio.
Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT). Position is 0.01% of their portfolio.
Vivus (VVUS). Position is 0.01% of their portfolio.

Top 20 holdings by % of portfolio:
1. Apple (AAPL): 4.09% of the portfolio
2. Research in Motion (RIMM): 4.08% of the portfolio
3. America Movil (AMX): 3.91% of the portfolio
4. Bank of New York Mellon (BK): 3.15% of the portfolio
5. Marvell Tech (MRVL): 3.08% of the portfolio
6. First Solar (FSLR): 2.93% of the portfolio
7. Baxter Intl (BAX): 2.90% of the portfolio
8. Advanced Micro (AMD): 2.87% of the portfolio
9. Nordstrom (JWN): 2.79% of the portfolio
10. Raytheon (RTN): 2.58% of the portfolio
11. Gilead (GILD): 2.37% of the portfolio
12. Lorillard (LO): 2.36% of the portfolio
13. Covidien (COV): 2.32% of the portfolio
14. Citrix (CTXS): 2.20% of the portfolio
15. CVS Caremark (CVS): 2.09% of the portfolio
16. Western Union (WU): 2.08% of the portfolio
17. Fidelity National Info (FIS): 2.05% of the portfolio
18. Potash (POT): 2.00% of the portfolio
19. Burlington Northern (BNI): 1.83% of the portfolio
20. Netapp (NTAP): 1.81% of the portfolio

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

Breakdown: Maverick changed up their portfolio a decent amount over the past quarter. Most notable are their changes within their top 10 holdings. Hedge fund favorite Qualcomm (QCOM) was Maverick's 3rd largest holding last filing. This filing, they no longer even hold a position. Additionally, they were selling off chunks of other top 10 holdings from last quarter. They sold off 33% of their position in Avon Products (AVP), which was their 4th largest holding just one quarter ago. They also sold over 51% of their Gamestop (GME) position, which last quarter was their 7th largest holding. With those positions vacating their place in the top 10 holdings of Maverick's portfolio, new holdings obviously took their place. America Movil (AMX), another hedge fund favorite, was Maverick's 9th largest holding last time. This time, they increased their position by 129% and it is now their 3rd largest holding. They obviously used the weakness in this name to add to their position, just like fellow 'Tiger Cub' fund Lone Pine Capital. Maverick also added heavily to Nordstrom (JWN), increasing their position by 136% and making it now their 9th largest holding.

Maverick was out adding to tech across the board. Apple (AAPL) and Research in Motion (RIMM) are their top 2 largest holdings respectively, as they boosted their positions in both by over 14% each. Additionally, they added to their Marvell (MRVL) position, bringing it up to the fund's 5th largest position now. Maverick also continues to build a position in Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), as it now is their 8th largest holding.

Among their new positions this quarter are First Solar (FSLR), Lorillard (LO), and CVS Caremark (CVS). I highlight these three in particular because Maverick started large, new positions in all three names. First Solar (FSLR) was brought up all the way to the fund's 6th largest holding after not even owning shares last quarter. They started a new position in CVS Caremark (CVS) and brought it up to the fund's 15th largest holding. Also, they added heavily to Lorillard (LO) as well, making this new position their 12th largest holding. This position is interesting because we also saw Lone Pine Capital (ran by Stephen Mandel Jr.) start a new position in this exact same name. And, actually, this is not the only position that both Maverick and Lone Pine both started together. In this 13F filing, we see that Maverick started a position in Hansen Natural (HANS). And, Lone Pine recently disclosed that they have a 7.8% stake in HANS. It's definitely common to see many similar positions within the portfolios of various 'Tiger Cub' managers who now run their own funds because they all undoubtedly keep in touch and come from the same school of thought.

One last thing I would like to point out is Maverick selling completely out of various consumer related names. They sold completely out of their positions in Autozone (AZO), Hanesbrands (HBI), Sears (SHLD), Starbucks (SBUX), Crocs (CROX), and OfficeMax (OMX).

You can view their most recent 13F as filed with the SEC here.

Guest post by Market Folly

Free Daily Hedge Fund Newsletter

Related to Investment Securities/Holding Tool:

Permanent Link: Maverick Capital Management 13F Holdings Analysis

Tags: Maverick Capital Management, Maverick Capital Hedge Fund, Maverick Capital New York London, Maverick Capital LP LTD LLC Inc, Maverick Capital Lee Ainslie, Hedge Fund

CNBC Fast Money Stock Picks

CEO Blogger — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:52:42 +0000

CNBC Fast Money Stock Picks - September 2, 2008 Track their picks at: http://trackthepros.com/ Guy Adami: JNJ - Johnson & Johnson - Buy CHD - Church & Dwight - Buy Jeff Macke: SHLD - Sears - Buy WMT - Wal-Mart - Buy Karen Finerman: AAPL - Apple - Buy JCG - J. Crew - Buy Pete Najarian: SCHW - Charles Schwab - Buy AMTD - TD Ameritrade - Buy LXK [...]