matisse capital management

Dividend Slashers - 4/30

   AIV, Apartment Investment & Mgmt. Co. - from $0.60 to $0.10, quarterly

   ANZBY.PK, Aus. & New Zealand Bank - from AU$0.62 to $0.46, semi-annual

   BDK, Black & Decker Corp. - from $0.42 to $0.12 per share, quarterly

   BID, Sotheby's - from $0.15 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

   CGNX, Cognex - from $0.15 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

   EK, Eastman Kodak - from $0.25 semi-annually to suspended

   EWBC, East West Bancorp Inc. - from $0.10 to $0.02 to $0.01 per share, quarterly

   EXBD, Corprate Executive Board Co. - from $0.44 to $0.10 per share, quarterly

   FO, Fortune Brands Inc. - from $0.44 to $0.19 per share, quarterly

   PLD, ProLogis - from $0.25 to $0.15 per share, quarterly

   SPG, Simon Property Group - from $0.90 to $0.60 per share, quarterly

   SSW, Seaspan Corp. - from $0.475 to $0.10 per share, quarterly

And while Chevron (CVX) did not slash its dividend, the Dividend Achiever elected not to increase its dividend this April, as it has done for the past 20 years.  It is still possible, perhaps, for an increase later in the year.

The 20 Most Profitable Tech Companies

Fortune Magazine just published its list of the 20 most profitable tech companies.  The results are listed below, along with 2008 profits.  I have also added the current dividend yield for each of these companies.  The top yielding stocks were Emerson Electric at 3.9%, Rockwell Automation at 3.7% and Intel at 3.6%.

1.  MSFT, Microsoft Corporation, $17.7 billion profit, 2.5% yield

2.  IBM, International Business Machines, $12.3 billion, 2.0%

3.  HPQ, Hewlett-Packard, $8.3 billion, 0.9%

4.  CSCO, Cisco Systems, $8.0 billion, no dividend

5.  ORCL, Oracle Corporation, $5.5 billion, 0.3%

6.  INTC, Intel, $5.3 billion, 3.6%%

7.  GLW, Corning Inc., $5.3 billion, 1.3%

8.  AAPL, Apple, $4.8 billion, no dividend

9.  QCOM, Qualcomm Inc., $3.2 billion, 1.6%

10. DELL, Dell Inc., $2.5 billion, no dividend

Consumer Confidence on the Rise; a Turning Point?

US Consumer confidence jumped in today's report, per Bloomberg:

"The Conference Board’s sentiment index climbed to 39.2, the highest level since November, from 26.9 in March, the New York- based research group said today. The gain was the biggest since November 2005."

And confidence rose this month in parts of Europe, per the Guardian:

 "French consumer confidence improved marginally for the second successive month in April, despite growing fears over the jobs market, national statistics office INSEE said on Tuesday.  Consumer morale registered a reading of -41 this month, up from -42 in March and better than a consensus forecast of -43. The March figure was previously given as -43."

 

Market News Around the World

Several important reports will come out this week with the potential to move the market: GDP on Wednesday (left), Jobless Claims and Personal Income and Outlays on Thursday, and Consumer Sentiment, Motor Vehicle Sales and Factory Orders on Friday.   Earnings reports this week include Corning (GLW), and US Steel (X) on Monday; Avery Dennison (AVY) and BP (BP) Tuesday;  Baker Hughes (BHI) and Moody's (MCO) on Wednesday; Colgate-Palmolive (CL) on Thursday; and Chevron (CVX), Clorox (CLX) and Fortune Brands (FO) on Friday. 

Insider selling on the rise: Clusterstock

The market recovered from the Great Depression in 4.5 years(?): NYT

US banks "breeze through" stress tests: Globe and Mail

Making the oil sands profitable again: Globe and Mail

Spain's jobless rate at 17%: Financial Times

British economy shrinks at fastest rate in 30 years: Guardian

Spain will build its own Las Vegas:  BBC

Suncor's (SU) bright future: Barron's

Valmont (VMI) raises its dividend: Forbes

US Steel (X) cuts dividend 83%: CNN

 Brazil's food sector bail out (SDA): Brazzil Magazine

German banks have stunning €816 billion in toxic assets: Deutsche Welle

Petrobras (PBR) oil production up 9.5%: Oil-Gas Magazine

Time to be bullish on Chubb (CB): Barron's

Deutsche bank posts €1.6 B profit; Tier 1 at 10.2%: NYT

Barron's 2009 stock picks (ABT, BMY, HIG, HNZ, BAC, UNH, MS, GLW): Barron's

Case-Shiller: Home prices still declining, but at a slower rate: NYT

Ohio steelmaker Timken (TKR) cuts dividend 50%: The Street

Finally, the most recent Case-Shiller housing numbers were released (chart below, right - click to enlarge).  Phoenix (-35.2%), Las Vegas (-31.2%), and Miami (-29.5%) had the largest year over year declines in price.  The cities that fared the best were Dallas (-4.5%), Denver (-5.7%), Boston (-7.2%) and Cleveland (-8.5%).  For the 11th consecutive month, no area in the 20-city index has posted a price gain.  While the rate of price declines slowed in the most recent report, most analysts that commented on the report are saying they believe the bottom has yet to occur for this market.  Of course, the fact that most sales now are foreclosures, skews the Case Shiller numbers lower.

Companies Raising Dividends

   EEI, Ecology and Environment - from $0.19 to $0.20 (semi-annual),+5.3%

   JNJ, Johnson & Johnson - from $0.46 to $0.49 per share, +6.5%

   K, Kellogg Company - from $0.34 to $0.375 per share, +10.3%

   PG, Procter & Gamble - from $0.40 to $0.44 per share, +10.0%

   SJM, JM Smucker Company - from $0.32 to $0.35 per share, +9.4%

   SKT, Tanger Factory Outlet Centers - from $0.38 to $0.3825 per share, +0.7%

   SO, Southern Company - from $0.42 to $0.4375 per share, +4.2%

Dividend Slashers - 4/24

   BK, Bank of New York Mellon - from $0.24 to $0.09 per share, quarterly

   CATY, Cathay General Bancorp - from $0.105 to $0.08 per share, quarterly

   CYN, City National - from $0.25 to $0.10 per share, quarterly

   ETH, Ethan Allen Interiors, Inc. - from $0.10 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

   FSBI, Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. - from $0.14 to $0.07 per share, quarterly

   KEY, KeyCorp - from $0.0625 to $0.01 per share (in Q2)

   MBFI, MB Financial Inc. - from $0.12 to $0.01 per share, quarterly

   MS, Morgan Stanley - from $0.27 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

   NPBC, National Penn Bancshares Inc. - from $0.17 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

   TCB, TCF Financial - from $0.25 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

Reliving the 70's Stock Market?

Wall Street Journal has a great article titled "Flashbacks of the 1970's"  (see chart, left) interviewing brokers working then.  To many, it feels like we are reliving that period.  The Dow entered the 70's at 800 and left them near 850, after two 1,000+ rallies.  It "hit an all-time high of 1051.70 in January 1973 but from there it was all downhill as the oil crisis...sent stocks into a 45% tailspin." A broker added: "There was almost no interest in being in the stock market...It felt like just about any stocks bought in 72-73 turned to dust."

Earnings Reports This Week - 4/20

   Monday:   Bankof America (BAC), CN Railway (CNI), Eaton (ETN), Lilly (LLY) 

   Tuesday:  BNY Mellon (BK), Capital One (COF), DuPont (DD), US Bank (USB) 

   Wednesday: Apple (AAPL), AT&T (T), Boeing (BA), Wells Fargo (WFC) 

   Thursday:  Amazon (AMZN), Chubb (CB), Microsoft (MSFT), PepsiCo (PEP) 

   Friday:  3M (MMM), Honeywell (HON), ITT Corp. (ITT), Schlumberger (SLB)

Fortune's 500 List for 2008 - Revised by Net Income

Fortune's released its list of the top 500 US companies by revenues.  Most of the same companies as last year were there in the top 10, albeit in slightly different order: 1) Exxon Mobil (XOM) 2) Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), 3) Chevron (CVX), 4) Conoco Phillips (COP), 6) General Electric (GE), 7) Ford Motors (F), 8) AT&T (T), 9) Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and 10) Valero Energy (VLO).  This year more than one-fourth of the 500 companies on the list lost money.  Perhaps a more interesting list would the 10 companies, from Fortune's 500, that generated the most profit last year.  They are as follows:

    1. Exxon (XOM): $45.2 billion

    2. Chevron (CVX): $23.9 billion

    3. Microsoft (MSFT): $17.7 billion

    4. General Electric (GE): $17.4 billion

    5. Wal-Mart (WMT): $13.4 billion

    6. AT&T, (T): $12.9 billion

    7. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): $12.9 billion

    8.  IBM (IBM): $12.3 billion

    9. Procter & Gamble (PG):  $12.1 billion

    10. Hewlett Packard Co. (HPQ): $8.3 billion

Dividend Slashers - 4/16

   ASBC, Associated Banc-Corp -  from $0.32 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

   CEBK, Central Bancorp, Inc. - from $0.18 to $0.05 per share, quarterly

   DRE, Duke Realty Corp. - from $0.25 to $0.17 per share, quarterly

   FSC, Fifth Street Finance - from $0.33 to $0.25 per share, quarterly

   MBWM, Mercantile Bank Corp. - from $0.04 to $0.01 per share, quarterly

   MFBP.OB, M & F Bancorp - from $0.05 to $0.25 per share, quarterly 

   RF, Regions Financial Corp. - from $0.10 to $0.01 per share, quarterly

   SUSQ, Susquehanna Bancshares- from $0.26 to $0.05 per share, quarterly