Citigroup Inc.’s (C) management indicated that it is comfortable with its valuation for an asset that is expected to be written down by an accounting expert. Citigroup has a roughly $38 billion deferred tax asset, which essentially represents expected cash flow from future tax benefits. However, accounting expert Robert Willens expects the bank to write the asset down by about $10 billion (equivalent to about 7% of the bank's net worth) in the fourth quarter of 2009. Citigroup Vice Chairman Ned Kelly said the bank stands by its deferred tax asset valuation. The company expects to realize about $16 billion of the deferred tax asset by around 2016, and the remainder in an even longer time frame. Citigroup, once the largest U.S. banks by assets, fell behind last year after a series of acquisitions by rivals. Citi has been among the banks hardest hit by ...

The Federal Reserve decided to keep the Federal Funds rate unchanged at the meeting it concluded today, as expected. Below is the current Fed Statement along with the one from their September meeting in paragraph-by-paragraph format, with my translation and commentary interspersed. As the graph below shows, the market is expecting the Fed to remain on hold, with Fed Funds between 0 and 25 basis points for an extended period. The graph shows the expected outcomes for the January meeting (before today’s announcement) from the Cleveland Fed. The market set the odds of anything other than standing pat at either today’s meeting or the December meeting effectively at zero. Reading off the chart, it looks like about a 95% probability of no action in January as well. I doubt we will see the Fed raise rates before the third quarter of 2010. The Fed is ...

Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) recently announced September sales of $629 million, a 12% increase year-over-year. Same store sales jumped 8%. The company also hiked its third-quarter earnings guidance to a range of 75 to 77 cents per share. Analysts polled by Zacks are in agreement, boosting forecasts from last month's 63 cents to 77.

Company Description

Ross Stores is the second largest off-price retailer with fiscal 2008 revenues of $6.5 billion. The company noted that, as of October 3, 2009, it operated 939 Ross Dress for Less® ("Ross") stores and 53 dd's DISCOUNTS® locations, compared to 885 Ross and 57 dd's DISCOUNTS locations at the end of the same period last year.

Ross Dress for Less offers in-season, name brand and designer apparel, accessories, footwear and home fashions for the entire family at everyday savings of 20% to 60%.

dd's DISCOUNTS features a more moderately-priced assortment of in-season, name brand

...

Attributes Focus on Product Excellence for 620 Percent Revenue Growth

Oct. 20, 2009 (Business Wire) — QuoteMedia, Inc. (OTCBB: QMCI), a leading provider of market data, corporate research information and financial applications, announced today that it ranked 219th on Technology Fast 500(TM), Deloitte LLP’s ranking of 500 of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage of fiscal year revenue growth during the five year period from 2004–2008. QuoteMedia grew 620 percent during this period.

Robert J. Thompson, Chairman of the Board, credits supremely talented employees and a dedication to product leadership which has resulted in a comprehensive suite of outstanding technical products that are offered at very competitive prices for the company’s amazing 5 year revenue growth rate. “We have attracted a technical and support team that is intensely focused on producing ‘best of breed’ product quality

...

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

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FREE Daily Stock Alerts From DrStockPick.com

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Tuesday October 20, 2009

DrStockPick.com Stock Report!

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NEW YORK, Oct. 20 /CRWENEWSWIRE/ — Deloitte today released the 2009 Technology Fast 500(TM), an annual ranking of the fastest growing technology, media, telecommunications, life sciences and clean technology companies in North America based on five-year fiscal revenue growth. ReachLocal, a global provider of localized internet advertising solutions, achieved the coveted top spot on the list with 2008 fiscal year revenue of $146.69 million and a five-year fiscal growth rate of 146,050 percent. The company is privately held and based in Woodland Hills, California.

“Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500(TM) identifies some

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 19, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes Eastman Chemical (EMN), E.I. DuPont (DD), T. Rowe Price (TROW), Western Digital (WDC) and SuperValu (SVU). To see more earnings analysis, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.

Every day, Zacks.com makes 4 stock picks available, free of charge. To see them, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5612.

This Week's Events

Third-quarter earnings season hits full stride this week with 439 companies confirmed to report. More than of a quarter of these are from the S&P 500 (135 companies).

Housing data will be the highlight on the economic calendar. The existing home sales data will be influenced by the first-time home buyers' credit. The starts and permits data could be more interesting, especially if they show fear on the part of builders about the subsidy

...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – October 12, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the list of companies likely to issue earnings surprises. This week’s list includes Intel (INTC), Goldman Sachs (GS), Google (GOOG), Fairchild Semiconductor International (FCS) and Safeway (SWY). To see more earnings analysis, visit http://at.zacks.com/?id=3207.

Every day, Zacks.com makes 4 stock picks available, free of charge. To see them, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=5612.

This Week's Events

Large-cap companies will dominate the earnings headlines this week.

Six Dow components, including Intel (INTC), are scheduled to release third-quarter results. Joining them will be Goldman Sachs (GS) and Google (GOOG). In total, we have confirmed reports from 72 companies, 29 of which are in the S&P 500.

There will be quite a bit of economic data published, including CPI and industrial production and capacity utilization. We will also get the minutes from

...

This week on Consuelo Mack WealthTrack three outstanding financial world figures share their “one investment” recommendation for a long-term diversified portfolio. The guests are: Bob Doll who runs three large cap funds at BlackRock; John Montgomery who heads up a family of funds using computer models at Bridgeway Capital; and Tom Petrie, Vice Chairman of Bank of America - Merrill Lynch, who is a veteran observer of the energy sector. As always with WealthTrack this is excellent viewing material.

Note: The transcript of this interview is not available yet, but will be posted here as soon as it arrives.

Source: Wealthtrack, October 9, 2009.

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The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) is challenging positive conclusions given to Citigroup Inc.'s (C) management in a government-requisitioned review. Some FDIC officials are suspicious about the report, following the interviews of Citi's management who rated the effectiveness of their colleagues. Uncertainty surrounding the integrity of the report may lead the FDIC to assign the report little weight during the next regulatory assessment of the company’s management. The review was conducted this summer for Citi's board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International. It was triggered by the government's stress tests on top banks. Companies found to be in need of additional capital were required to conduct assessments of their management and report the findings to federal regulators. The FDIC, which had concerns about the qualifications of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his top management team, required Citigroup to hire an outside firm ...

The management team of Citigroup Inc. (C) received a positive review in an outside appraisal but some shuffling of senior executives could be on the anvil. The review was conducted this summer for Citi's board by recruiting and consulting firm Egon Zehnder International. It was triggered by the government's stress tests on top banks. Companies found to be in need of additional capital were required to conduct assessments of their management and report the findings to federal regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), which had concerns about the qualifications of Chief Executive Vikram Pandit and his top management team, required Citigroup to hire an outside firm to perform the review. The report, delivered to Citigroup's board on last Friday, gave strong overall marks to Citigroup's management team and to CEO Vikram Pandit in particular. The review, however, gave less-favorable reckonings to at least two ...