Paul Ausick

Recent Articles

Toll Brothers Earnings Less Bad, Outlook Improves for Homebuilders (TOL, BZH, KBH, LEN, PHM, XHB)

By Paul Ausick

Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) reported earnings today, with an EPS loss of -$0.24 this morning, a bit worse than the consensus estimate of -$0.23. Revenues also missed estimates of $321.94 million, coming in at $311.3. Still, TOL stock is up more than 4.5% in early trading after earnings. Other home builders like Beazer Homes USA Inc. (NYSE: BZH), KB Home (NYSE: KBH), Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN), and PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) are also riding Toll Brother's coattails. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (NYSE: XHB) is also gaining. All are up anywhere from about 2.5%-4% after Toll Brothers earnings.

Sprint Gets Upgrade from Goldman Sachs (S, GS, CLWR, VZ, T, GOOG)

By Paul Ausick

An analyst at Goldman Sachs has raised his rating on shares of Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) to 'Buy' and raised his price target from $3.50 to $6/share. Sprint shares are up about 10% so far today on higher than average volume. Sprint also got some pixels in Barron's, which is looking at the company's coming rollout of its 4G network next month as a move that will attract new customers and convince current customers to stick around. The 4G network is being built-out with help from Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR), and will beat competitors Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T (NYSE: T) to the 4G finish line by at least a year.

Soft Drink Stocks Spend Big to Fight Sugar Tax (KO, PEP, DPS)

By Paul Ausick

Last year, Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) spent $9.4 million lobbying the US Congress. PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP) spent $9.2 million) and the beverage industry's trade association, the American Beverage Association, spent $18.85 million. The object of all these dollars was to kill a proposed tax on sugared drinks that was included in the health care reform bill. Money talks, as it so often does, and the federal tax proposal went down in flames.

IBM Makes Business Software Buyout of Sterling Commerce (IBM, T, HPQ, PALM, ORCL)

By Paul Ausick

The drive toward greater consolidation and a more integrated IT branch has changed IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) from a supplier of commodity hardware to the world's leading supplier of integrated solutions for business. Today, the company spent $1.4 billion to purchase Sterling Commerce in a buyout from AT&T (NYSE: T). Sterling makes B2B software that IBM plans to incorporate into its offerings in retail, manufacturing, communications, health care and banking.

Walmart Takes on Trucking to Lower Costs (WMT, JBHT, CNW, ABFS)

By Paul Ausick

Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) will use its own fleet of trucks to pick up merchandise at its suppliers and truck it to distribution centers. J.B. Hunt Trucking Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: JBHT), Con-Way, Inc. (NYSE: CNW), and Arkansas Best Corp. (NASDAQ: ABFS) are mostly prepared for this move because they have reduced their less-than-truckload pickups at Wal-Mart distribution centers.

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