Equity Analysis

Sky Deutschland, which offers pay-TV subscription programming in Germany, has lots of viewers – and lots of debt. It’s paying top dollar for must-see events and its debt/equity ratio shows it is highly levered. The StarMine SmartRatios Credit Risk Model implied rating of CCC indicates that the company’s balance sheet may need strengthening. Media companies [...]

Shoppers nursed a holiday hangover in the first quarter of 2013 as cold weather and a two-week delay in federal tax refunds conspired to keep them out of the malls. The Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index is forecast to show just a 0.7% increase for Q1, significantly below the 3.4% gain registered in Q1 [...]

A rising tide of stock prices pulled mutual fund boats along with it for the week ended May 15. Many bellwether stocks hit 52-week highs — Google (GOOG:NDAQ) topped $900 per share — and equity mutual fund investors forked over $3.1 billion in net inflows. That was the industry’s best gain since the week ended [...]

Investors are pushing sector rotation toward more cyclical sectors and the former defensive leaders are lagging. Industrials are underperforming, with the aerospace and defense industry outgunning both the sector average and also the S&P 500 in total return year to date. Thomson Reuters StarMine has identified four aerospace and defense firms with strong characteristics: higher [...]

More than 90% of S&P 500 companies have reported first-quarter earnings. The earnings growth rate has increased to 5.3%, a significant increase from the 1.5% growth that was expected at the beginning of earnings season. Toward the end of an earnings season where two-thirds of companies have beaten earnings estimates even though less than half [...]

Several economic factors lined up in the week ended May 8 — and mutual fund investors responded. Reinforced commitment from the Fed and better-than-expected nonfarm payroll numbers helped power U.S. equity markets as domestic stock indices hit new highs. Investors took notice — and considered riskier assets as yield from bonds fed continued to be [...]

Spring worked its magic in April as warmer weather brought shoppers back to the malls. An early Easter holiday in late March helped, too. Excluding drug stores, the Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index registered a 5.0% gain for April, compared to the same month a year ago, beating a 4.9% final estimate. That’s the [...]

Watch Warren Buffett’s Interview Following Berkshire Hathaway’s Shareholder Meeting On Reuters Insider. Watch Now > Other Insider videos from the conference include: – Berkshire Hathaway 2013: Berkshire’s annual meeting in 60 seconds – Top investors on what Buffett should buy next – Douglas Kass, Hedge Fund Manager on Berkshire Hathaway’s Quarterly earnings   Receive stories [...]

Faced with a growing debt burden, agricultural supplier Olam is facing increased interest costs and continued poor cash flows — factors that affect earnings quality. Olam International Limited (OLAM.SI) is a Singapore-based supplier of agricultural products such as nuts, coffee, spices and cotton. It also provides commodity financial services and risk management solutions. In November [...]

After a cold winter and chilly early spring, April’s soft breezes nudged retail customers back to the malls. The Thomson Reuters Same Store Sales Index is expected to post a 4.3% gain for April 2013, stronger than April 2012’s 0.8% result. Excluding the Drug Store sector, the SSS growth rate is projected to be 4.9%, [...]