ZachStocks

Petrohawk Energy Corporation (HK) - Cooking With Gas

Zachary Scheidt — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:01:36 +0000

Last week Petrohawk Energy Corporation (HK) posted earnings for the third quarter. Once again, the company came through with flying colors as production was up 37% and operating expenses hit a new low at just 43 cents per Mcfe. When adding overhead costs the total cost to produce gas was $1.34 per Mcfe compared to [...]

FCStone Group, Inc. (FCSX) - Risk Management??

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:44:51 +0000

FCStone Group, Inc. (FCSX) has found itself in quite an embarrassing predicament. The company issued an announcement Monday that it would set aside $25 million for bad debts in the first quarter of this year (the company’s fiscal year end is August). According to the release, there are three accounts in question, an energy [...]

MasterCard Incorporated (MA) - Is the Optimism Justified?

Zachary Scheidt — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:07:31 +0000

MasterCard Incorporated (MA) reported earnings after the close Monday. By almost all standards the company beat expectations coming in with earnings of $2.47 per share on revenue of $1.3 billion dollars. The expectation had been for earnings near $2.25. The third quarter was characterized by strength during the majority of the period, but management noted [...]

TBS International Limited (TBSI) - Underwater but not Sinking

Zachary Scheidt — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:39:32 +0000

TBS International Limited (TBSI) is trading at levels not seen since the beginning of 2007. Its hard to believe that this company expected to earn $5.76 per share is now below $9.00 per share. The stock actually came public at $10.00 back in June of 2005 but took about two years before mounting its sharp [...]

JA Solar Holdings Co., LTD. (ADR) (JASO) - Light At the End of the Tunnel

Zachary Scheidt — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:48:54 +0000

JA Solar Holdings Co., LTD. (ADR) (JASO) has seen its shares transformed from high-flying growth status to a depressed state in merely a matter of months. It’s like my old boss used to tell me, “Zach, there’s only a short distance from the penthouse to the outhouse.” Those words seem to ring true more often [...]

Titan Machinery Inc. (TITN) - Prime Rebound Candidate

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:35:38 +0000

Titan Machinery Inc. (TITN) was one of the few successful IPO’s over the past 12 months. After pricing at $8.50 on December 6th, the stock closed more than 10% above its offering price. But the gain was small change considering the stock ran 306% in just over 6 months. As commodities and agriculture came into focus, [...]

Precision Drilling Trust (USA) (PDS) - A Rare Opportunity

Zachary Scheidt — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:42:55 +0000

It’s no secret that we are staring down the barrel of a global economic recession. As the worlds financial markets go through the painful process of deleveraging, liquidity has become scarce causing difficulties in a broad array of industries.Perhaps one of the industries most affected by this crisis is the energy sector. After experiencing oil [...]

Is the VIX signaling an inflection point?

Zachary Scheidt — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:25:58 +0000

Thursday’s trading left the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (.DJI) with more than an 800 point range. This day came on the heels of a more than 700 point decline during Wednesday’s trading. It is safe to say that we are experiencing volatility not seen for decades! While volatility can be damaging to one’s portfolio, [...]

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) - Strategic Acquisition and Stock Offering

Zachary Scheidt — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:50:06 +0000

Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) made headlines this morning when they announced the purchase of Wachovia Corporation (WB). Wachovia had already entered an agreement to sell its banking operations to Citigroup Inc. (C) which was leaning on assistance from the FDIC. The new deal encompasses not only the banking portion of Wachovia, but [...]

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) - Acquisition and Secondary Offering

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:41:23 +0000

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) made headlines last week when the company agreed to purchase the operations of Washington Mutual. However, there was a bit less attention paid to the fact that the company issued an additional $10 billion dollars worth of stock in order to finance the transaction. Shares were offered to the public [...]

Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN) - Not Such a Dirty Job

Zachary Scheidt — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:46:54 +0000

Across the nation in nearly every sector of the market, firms are de-leveraging their balance sheet to provide investors with less risk. Waste Connections, Inc. (WCN) is no exception as the company priced an 11 million share offering last week to raise additional capital. According to the prospectus, the firm expects to use the funds [...]

EnerSys (ENS) - Charged and Ready for Returns

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:02:46 +0000

EnerSys (ENS) has seen its stock decline by more than 50% over the last three months as the overall market has begun re-pricing risk. Growth companies were especially hard hit as investors opted to put their capital into stable companies with less potential instead of strong candidates with less stability. This is a natural progression [...]

Please Excuse My Absense

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:01:15 +0000

I have received a few emails and messages checking up on my status as I have not been posting lately. Obviously the market has been very volatile and I have had to turn much of my attention to managing the risk in my fund. Things are actually working quite well with healthy profits still intact [...]

Hill International Inc. (HIL) - A Play on Global Infrastructure Growth

Zachary Scheidt — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:19:17 +0000

Hill International Inc. (HIL) may not be a household investment name, but the company is well known worldwide for their involvement with construction consulting and project management. The stock came public in 2004 and traded in a relatively tight range for the first two years. But sometime in 2006 investors began taking note of the [...]

GT Solar International, Inc. (SOLR) - First Quarter Report

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:05:15 +0000

GT Solar International, Inc. (SOLR) reported earnings after the close Tuesday. This was the company’s first earnings announcement since becoming a public company on July 24th. The numbers looked very attractive with the company realizing revenues of $57.1 million, good for a 171% increase over the same quarter last year. Net income was $5.1 million [...]

Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) - A Tale of Two Forces

Zachary Scheidt — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:55:17 +0000

Investors in Herbalife Ltd (HLF) may have reservations when looking at the current state of the US consumer. After all, the economy appears to be entering a recession, housing prices have taken out a significant source of funding, and employment numbers are beginning to look less attractive. So one might assume that with [...]

Burger King Holdings, Inc. (BKC) - The King’s Report

Zachary Scheidt — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:01:36 +0000

Burger King Holdings, Inc. (BKC) reported earnings this week that blew management’s guidance out of the water. Revenues for the quarter came in at $646 million which is a 9% increase over last year. Earnings growth saw the effect of a leveraged operating structure with EPS at $0.37 – good for a 28% [...]

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) - Gaming in Macao

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:04:05 +0000

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) traded sharply lower this week on news that the Chinese government is likely to restrict travel to Macao. The conflict between free market economics and traditional Chinese communism is becoming apparent as China restrictions are now challenging businesses after significant investments have been made. Within the past few months the [...]

Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM) - All About the Guidance

Zachary Scheidt — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:37:46 +0000

Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM) reports earnings Wednesday after the market closes. At this point the consensus expectations are for revenues of $260 million and earnings of 8 cents per share. But regardless of what the company reports for the second quarter, investors of all kind will be paying much more attention to what type of guidance [...]

Solarfun Power Holdings Co., (ADR) (SOLF) - Rally From Key Support

Zachary Scheidt — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:45:00 +0000

Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (ADR) (SOLF) has had quite a bit of volatility during its 20 month span of being a public company. The Chinese manufacturer of solar products came public at $12.50 towards the very end of 2006. The company is expected to earn $0.93 per ADR this year and should [...]

American Water Works Co., Inc. (AWK) - Flooding Impacts Earnings

Zachary Scheidt — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:46:53 +0000

American Water Works Co., Inc. (AWK) reported earnings on Monday and the report was well received by investors. The stock rallied to close at $20.77 and has spent the week trading just below the IPO price of $21.50. Revenues for the second quarter came in at $589.4 million which is up 5.4% over [...]

China Medical Technologies, Inc. (ADR) (CMED) - Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Zachary Scheidt — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:28:52 +0000

Many investors have found that in this turbulent market, gains often come in the “two steps forward, one step back” variety. Such is the case with China Medical Technologies, Inc. (ADR), (CMED) over the past two weeks. The company announced earnings August 4th after the close which sent the stock sprinting higher. [...]

LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (LDK) - A Spark of Light

Zachary Scheidt — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:07:24 +0000

After spending most of the summer in the dark, the solar industry is seeing a ray of light today after an earnings report from LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (LDK). The stock is currently up about 19% on the day and related companies such as Trina Solar Limited (ADR) (TSL), and ReneSola Ltd. (ADR) (SOL) [...]

Rackspace, Inc. (RAX) - Unconventional IPO With Potential

Zachary Scheidt — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:25:12 +0000

Rackspace, Inc. (RAX) will list shares on the NYSE this week, offering investors a chance to own a small part of this dynamic, growing technology company. The deal is expected to price between $12 and $16 and there are 15 million shares being offered. The number of shares outstanding will be north of [...]

MasterCard Incorporated (MA) - Growth Slowing

Zachary Scheidt — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:31:01 +0000

MasterCard Incorporated (MA) reported earnings on Thursday that beat expectations. The numbers came in with revenues up 25% to $1,246 million for the quarter and pro-forma earnings of $2.11. The earnings number beat the consensus estimates by $0.09 and yet the stock was off more than 10% during the trading session. When looking deeper into the [...]