Visa, Inc, (...

• Visa (NYSE:V) reported earnings of 74 cents a share, 3 cents above Zacks estimates on revenues of $1.9 billion above estimates of $1.8 billion. The company expects 2010 revenue growth at the lower end of its 11-15% range, but 2011 growth above 20%

• International Paper (NYSE:IP) reported third quarter results of 37 cents a share, 14 cents above Zacks estimates, on inline revenues of $5.92 billion, off 13.1%. According to the company, at the end of its third quarter, "we began to see some modest improvements in demand in some segments of our paper and packaging businesses"

• Yahoo's (NASDAQ:YHOO) analyst meeting is due to be held at 11:00 ET

• Arcelor Mittal (NYSE:MT), the world's largest steel company, reported a $903 million third quarter profit, noting "We have seen the first signs of recovery in the third quarter...We should continue to see further gradual improvement through 2010, although the operating

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CSRH, Consorteum Holdings Inc, CSRH.OB

DrStockPick Stock Report!

DrStockPick News Report!

Consorteum Holdings Inc. (OTC BB: CSRH) Providing Government Agencies

a Streamlined Benefits Payment Solution.

 

DrStockPick Stock Report!

Tuesday September 8, 2009

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Consorteum Holdings Inc. (OTC BB: CSRH) Providing Government Agencies a Streamlined Benefits Payment Solution.

-Social Security may be more secure than ever-

Prepaid benefit cards have been developed to allow federal, state, municipal, and provincial governments to deposit Social Assistance and other government Benefit payments directly onto a prepaid card instead of issuing

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CSRH, Consorteum Holdings Inc, CSRH.OB

DrStockPick Stock Report!

DrStockPick News Report!

Consorteum Holdings Inc. (OTC BB: CSRH) Providing Government Agencies

a Streamlined Benefits Payment Solution.

 

DrStockPick Stock Report!

Friday September 4, 2009

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Consorteum Holdings Inc. (OTC BB: CSRH) Providing Government Agencies a Streamlined Benefits Payment Solution.

-Social Security may be more secure than ever-

Prepaid benefit cards have been developed to allow federal, state, municipal, and provincial governments to deposit Social Assistance and other government Benefit payments directly onto a prepaid card instead

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Visa Inc. (V) on Monday said it would prepay $682 million to complete a major legal settlement with US merchants in order to get a discount of more than $100 million. The company will make the transaction either on Sept. 30 or the business day after the court order, whichever is later.

The prepayment will wipe out the $800 million it still owes through 2012. In 2003, the settlement ended a class action lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard Inc. (MA) that accused them of conspiring to fix prices and restrict trade. Visa has agreed to pay $2 billion over a period of 10 years, in equal annual installments of $200 million.

Visa is the de facto leader in payments, facilitating one out of every two card-based payments globally. Though over half of personal consumer expenditures in the U.S. are still conducted in cash/checks, this trend is changing

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• Toyota (NYSE:TM) cut output with a halt to a Japanese production line, saying, "Though sales in some countries have been picking up, the outlook for global car demand is still uncertain"

• Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) reported a surprise second quarter earnings of 5 cents a share ex-items, versus Zacks projections of a 9 cents a share loss as revenues beat estimates at $672 million, ahead of expectations of $659 million.  The company expects 2009 sales of $2.84 to $2.94 billion

• JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) analysts initiated coverage of Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) with an "overweight" rating and a price target of $19

• Jefferies Group (NYSE:JEF) began coverage of Visa (NYSE:V) and MasterCard (NYSE:MA) with "buy" ratings    • Sony (NYSE:SNE) announced its e-reader, the Sony Reader Daily Edition, priced at $399, $100 more than Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle's entry-level version. A December launch is planned

Zacks Investment Research

• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) raised General Electric (NYSE:GE) to "buy" and upped its price target on the firm to $15 from $13

• American Express (NYSE:AXP) joined the ranks of banks buying back TARP-issued warrants, as it paid the Treasury $340 million, providing the government a 26% return on its investment.  Other firms include Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), US Bancorp (NYSE:USB), and State Street (NYSE:STT)

• Sumitomo Trust announced plans to acquire Citigroup's (NYSE:C) entire stake in Nikko Asset Management for $1.2 billion

• Sanofi-Aventis announced it agreed to acquire a 50% stake in Merck's (NYSE:MRK) animal health venture for $4 billion

• Visa (NYSE:V) reported earnings, ex-items, of 67 cents a share, ahead of Street projections of 64 cents on revenues of $1.6 billion, versus estimates of $1.64 billion

• Motorola (NYSE:MOT) topped estimates for the second quarter with adjusted results of a one cent loss versus estimates of a 4 cent loss.  The company

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A dip in consumer confidence for the second straight month and disappointing earnings reports weighed on sentiments as stock markets closed mostly lower Tuesday.  However, some late-session bargain hunting helped the indices pare some losses but investors remained concerned that a recovery could be sluggish.  To add to the caution, San Francisco Fed President Yellen painted a picture of a "painfully slow" economic recovery. 

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 12 points, or 0.1% and the broader S&P 500 index declined 3 points, or 0.3% to 979.  The technology-focused Nasdaq rose 7 points, or 0.4%.  On the NYSE, 1.24 billion shares exchanged hands and 16 stocks ended lower for every 14 that advanced. 

Among the ten industry groups in the S&P 500, six ended in the red.  Leading the decliners were oil & gas equipment & services (-3.88%), followed by gold miners (-3.15%), industrial REITs (-3.15%), advertising (-2.86%), and

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The Dow Jones and S&P 500 were up today while the NASDAQ was the only major index in the red, down 0.02% to close at 1807.72.  The Dow and S&P were up 0.69% and 0.84% respectively, closing at 85560.00 and 918.37.  The 10-year saw prices decline as the yield climbed to 3.808%.  Crude oil and gold went in opposite directions today, with oil up, settling at $71.37, and August gold down settling at $934.60.

Financials were led higher today as they piggy-backed on strong earnings news from Discover Financial Services [DFS: 9.32, +0.05 (+0.54%)].  Discover reported earnings of $209.2 million, or $0.43 per share, down from $234.1 million, or $0.48 per share the same period the year before, but beating the average analyst estimate of $0.30 per share.  The credit card company would have reported a loss, but did not due to receiving a $473 million payment from Visa [

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The Providence Service Corporation (PRSC) announced today that it expects record earnings for its second quarter, which the company will release during the week of Aug 9.

< ?DART(15);?> The news helped shares gain approximately 4% on another tough day for the market. Due to the difficult environment today, the advance is enough for PRSC to reach the Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List on Tuesday.

PRSC, through owned and managed entities, provides home and community-based social services and non-emergency transportation services management to government-sponsored clients under programs such as welfare, juvenile justice, Medicaid and corrections.

Q2 EPS to Rise 33% ... At Least

Thanks to improved operating results in April and May, PRSC now expects earnings per share of at least 36 cents in the second quarter, which is more than 30% better than the year-ago result of 27 cents.

The

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