Top Stocks

By Jeanine Poggi, TheStreet

 

Now that Blockbuster (BLOKA) has finally filed for bankruptcy, what will become of the video giant?

 

Blockbuster said business will go on as usual as it whips out its $900 million in debt. This means that Blockbuster's 3,000 stores and kiosks and its by-mail and digital business will all continue to serve customers.

 

More than 80% of the company's senior note holders have agreed to support the plan and provide $125 million in debtor-in-possession financing to help support Blockbuster's operations while it undergoes the restructure. Under the Chapter 11, bonds will be converted into equity.

 

By Jake Lynch, TheStreet

 

Darden Restaurants (DRI) ranks among analysts' favorite restaurant stocks.

 

But unlike Panera (PNRA) and Chipotle (CMG), Darden is a value stock rather than a growth stock. Darden owns Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, Seasons 52 and high-end steakhouse The Capital Grille. Yesterday, it announced fiscal-first-quarter results, beating analysts' earnings consensus by 3%.

 

Reuters

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said the U.S. economy remains in a recession, disputing an assessment by a leading arbiter of economic activity that the downturn ended more than a year ago.

"We're still in a recession," Buffett told CNBC TV in an interview broadcast today. "We're not gonna be out of it for a while, but we will get out."

On Monday, the National Bureau of Economic Research said the world's largest economy ended an 18-month recession in June 2009 but cautioned that its assessment does not mean normal activity has resumed.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

The Senate is at it again. Harry Reid is trying to get the Clean Energy Fuels Subsidy Act passed, this time in a new, stand-alone bill filed Wednesday. Oops, excuse me for being so obvious, but this bill is about giving money back to people who buy truck engines that burn natural gas -- engines made typically with technology from Westport Innovations (WPRT) with its partner Cummins (CMI), an ActionAlertsPlus.com name.

 

Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) is the nifty little company that owns a huge chain of natural-gas filling stations, a decent business that would go into hyperdrive if this bill passes.

 

But "if" is the big operative word here. Clean Energy and natural-gas backers have tried strenuously to get these tax breaks through, but the subsidies have been trapped within larger unpopular and controversial energy bills. The hope is that this stand-alone bill will be able to slip through without the baggage of environmental regulation.

 

Written by Douglas Estadt

 

Ctrip.com International (CTRP) is a web-based, travel service provider that caters to all aspects of a traveler’s needs, from hotel accommodations to flights.  The company’s recently released 2010 Q2 results were more than impressive.  

From our own travel experiences, we have witnessed Ctrip’s presence in kiosks and offices in China’s airports. This company is one among many that stand to profit from China’s booming economy.  

The facts below reiterate why we invested in CTRP today:

 

Brazilian steel maker Gerdau (GGB) is on the march in the U.S. steel market and back home in Brazil. 

In August, the company acquired the remainder of the shares of its 66%-owned U.S. subsidiary Gerdau Ameristeel. That gives Gerdau a wholly owned platform for expanding in the U.S. market. (The acquisition of the remainder of Gerdau Ameristeel will also reduce that company's cost of capital, since parent Gerdau pays only half as much as the subsidiary in the capital markets.)  

The company didn't let much moss grow on that deal: On Sept. 15, Gerdau announced it would acquire TAMCO, a California mini-mill that produces long-steel products, such as rebar, used in construction. 

 

Stock trading always slows in the summer, but this summer it was especially dead. Blame the rush out of stocks, the poor economy, the newfound interest in saving and a host of other factors.

For Wall Street firms that make significant income from these trades, the summer slowdown is translating into ugly third-quarter earnings. Case in point: The investment banking firm Jefferies Group (JEF), whose quarterly profit was nearly cut in half (shares are down 5% Wednesday in response).

Revenue fell by 22%, mainly due to a steep drop in principal transactions, the Associated Press reported. Needless to say, Jefferies did not meet analysts' expectations. The chief executive said that "trading volumes across the board were painfully slow." 

Gaps are always interesting on a stock price chart. For whatever reason, something happens that causes a price to suddenly jump up or down.

Often, that occurs when a company announces good or bad news after the bell. The next day's trading opens with a gap, and some investors strategize around it.

Investopedia has a nice breakdown on how to play the gap, and describes the four gaps that are often seen. Some show up at the end of a price pattern, before a new trend breaks or in a last-gasp attempt to jump higher or lower. 

At one time, Budweiser may have held the title "king of beers." But no longer.

Consumer loyalty has plummeted. Sales are alarmingly low. The under-30 crowd has simply ignored the brand, USA Today reports. When you can't get noticed by one of biggest beer-drinking age groups, you have a problem.

So Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is using the ultimate attention-getting weapon: free beer. Starting next week, Budweiser will begin offering free samples at trendy bars and restaurants, writes USA Today's Bruce Horovitz. 

In 2008, I suggested one stock that investors must own in their portfolios.

 

No matter what was transpiring in the overall economy or market, this particular company knew how to make money and would continue doing so for many, many years.

 

The name of that stock was Apple (AAPL). At the time, shares traded for less than $100 each.

• Bing: How to buy gold

Now you can buy the stock for just under $300 per share. Is there a similar investment story today?

 

You bet, and the answer may surprise you. It certainly surprised me.

 

By Jim Cramer, TheStreet

 

In any given year, you can make a lot of bonehead calls, but sometimes the biggest boneheads come back to life in a spectacular fashion. Right now I am looking darned good on a pick I was roundly criticized for: Nvidia (NVDA).

 

If you recall, I focused on Nvidia because it was the worst performer in the S&P 500 ($INX) for the first half of the year. I said the graphic chip-maker, which was at $10 and change at the time, would have a miserable quarter and then you would have to jump and jump fast when it reported.

 

Of course, people then bought it aggressively ahead of the quarter, no doubt because they figured that I knew something and they should buy it immediately. Totally wrong.

 

More and more companies are distributing money to shareholders in the form of share buybacks, Bloomberg reports.

And why not? As one analyst notes, shares are cheap and financing is cheap. After sitting on piles of cash as the recession hit, companies are finally relenting and spending money on share repurchases. The moves show that companies are generally feeling better about where the economy is headed.

Companies in the U.S. have repurchased about $55 billion in shares since June, Bloomberg reports. That brings this year's total to about $260 billion so far, up from $125 billion in all of 2009. 

Oracle (ORCL) shares were down a bit Tuesday as enthusiasm subsided after the company's stellar earnings report last week. The stock hit a nine-year high Friday.

But we'll still hear plenty about Oracle this week: The company is unveiling new products to developers and other fans at its annual Oracle OpenWorld show in San Francisco. Some 41,000 people are expected to attend.

And while an unbreakable Linux kernel and elastic clouds may not mean much to most of us, Oracle's announcements are ginning up enthusiasm within a devoted user base. The company has been on a tear lately, and it shows no signs of slowing down. 

By Paul Ausick

As General Motors prepares for an IPO, the company's majority owner, the U.S. government, is trying to figure out the best way to recover the $43 billion still outstanding from its loan to GM. The roster of potential investors includes everyone and everything, from individual investors to pension funds.

Well, maybe not quite everyone. GM's partner in its Chinese joint ventures, SAIC Motor Corp., may be interested in buying a stake in the U.S. automaker. GM is not commenting on the possibility, and the U.S. government's official statement on access to investors is "We expect that potential investors will be sought across multiple geographies with a focus on North American investors, in line with what is typical in similar transactions."

 

By Gary Gordon, TheStreet

 

Is it just me, or has the permanently glum Nouriel Roubini become a softy? The good professor has received more accolades than any other analyst or economist for predicting the demise of market-based securities in 2008, never mind the horrific calls he made the following year:

• In April 2009, near Dow 7,950, Roubini predicted the markets would retest the March lows of Dow 6,500. They never did.
• In July 2009, near Dow 8,100, he described the market's run as nothing more than a bear rally. Yet the Dow rose 38% over the next nine months.
• In October, near Dow 9,700, Roubini called for a bearish 10% to 20% pullback. Not only was he six months early, but the market's sell-off went to 9,700 from 11,200. The current cyclical low is essentially at the same spot where Roubini made his bearish call . . . six months earlier. You can't be much more off than that.