FeedPosted Oct 24th 2009 2:20PM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), McDonald's (MCD), 3M Corporation (MMM), Caterpillar (CAT), New York Times'A' (NYT), Bank of New York (BK), Hershey Co (HSY), Gannett Co (GCI), Morgan Stanley (MS), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Broadcom Corp'A' (BRCM), SLM Corp (SLM)
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Amazon, Apple, Caterpillar, Hershey, McDonald's, UPS ...
Posted Oct 21st 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Boeing Co (BA), Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Wells Fargo (WFC), SLM Corp (SLM)

Today was one of those days where it felt like it would be an up-day and most traders were feeling good, but the last hour's trading came down so far so fast that traders had little feel whether we'd have an up or down session until right before the closing bell.
Oil inventories were not a huge surprise like the week before, but the data sent oil much higher and then a weak US dollar only added to oil price gains. Some may use the Beige Book as the reason for the sell-off, but it might be how little the government expects Wall Street executives to work for if they are a TARP bank.
Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 9,956.91 -84.57 (-0.84%)
S&P 500 1,081.36 -9.70 (-0.89%)
Nasdaq 2,150.73 -12.74 (-0.59%)
Top Day Trader AlertsTop 10 Analyst CallsTop Stock RumorsContinue reading Closing Bell: The good off day (BA, JAVA, SLM, WFC)
Posted Jun 30th 2009 10:00AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market matters, Regions Financial (RF), SLM Corp (SLM), Cramer on BloggingStocks, MBIA Inc (MBI)
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says you'll miss some great opportunities if you blindly believe all the bad news. You want a rebuke to the "never-ending woes of commercial and residential real estate mortgage bonds"? You get one every day in this market, and today is no different. Look at what is up big today:
Genworth (NYSE:
GNW) (
Cramer's Take),
Lincoln National (NYSE:
LNC) (
Cramer's Take),
Wyndham (NYSE:
WYN) (
Cramer's Take),
Regions Financial (NYSE:
RF) (
Cramer's Take) and
Zions (NASDAQ:
ZION) (
Cramer's Take). Each in its own way needs the residential or commercial real estate markets to be robust to thrive, and if the myriad articles I read about the horrible state of the mortgage bond market and the dim commercial real estate prospects were true, why would you be making money in Wyndham, a gigantic timeshare company? How could Regions and Zions be rallying? They are among the worst of the worst; unless you consider Genworth and Lincoln National, which are supposed to be roadkill because of all of their mortgage bonds.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Warning: The financial media can be hazardous to your portfolio
Posted Jun 29th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Blockbuster Inc 'A' (BBI), SLM Corp (SLM)

Despite us being on the heels of the big Russell indexes changing and despite the quarter-end being a day away, this was a boring day. A study showed a small
decrease in online job advertisements, but that was the only item on the economic front. Oil traded higher and bond yields came down as traders are voting for more stability the rest of the year there.
Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,531.19 +92.80 (1.10%)
S&P 500 927.18 +8.28 (0.90%)
Nasdaq 1,843.34 +5.12 (0.28%)
Top Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: A quiet day that didn't look quiet (BRK.A, BBI, SLM, SIRI, SWI, STT)
Posted Jun 18th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Bank of America (BAC), Carnival Corp (CCL), SLM Corp (SLM), SanDisk Corp (SNDK)

Today was one of those low news flow days where you never had any real solid feel for where the market would close until the very end of the session. We have seen too many rallies dashed by closing imbalances at the end of the day when there was thin volume.
Some Philly Fed data helped hold the market, and that was on the heels of the
largest drop in continuing jobless claims since 2001. Some of the agriculture stocks
staged a small comeback after yesterday's huge losses.
Here were the unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,554.77 +57.59 (0.68%)
S&P 500 918.34 +7.63 (0.84%)
Nasdaq 1,807.72 -0.34 (-0.02%)
Top Analyst UpgradesTop Analyst DowngradesContinue reading Closing Bell: A win that felt too quiet (BRK-A, BAC, CCL, SNDK, SLM, WLP)
Posted Jun 8th 2009 4:00PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), McDonald's (MCD), SLM Corp (SLM)

Today was one of those strange days where we were weak all day, and the buy programs came on strong in the last 45 minutes of the day. Instead of being down over 100 points on the DJIA for much of the day, the market's unofficial close was up.
Here are the unofficial closing bell levels:
Dow 8,764.49 +1.36 (0.02%)
S&P 500 939.14 -0.95 (-0.10%)
Nasdaq 1,842.40 -7.02 (-0.38%)
Top 10 Analyst CallsContinue reading Closing Bell: From caution to almost cheers (GOOG, AAPL, SLM, CSCO, MCD)
Posted Oct 2nd 2008 9:35AM by Jim Cramer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Market matters, SLM Corp (SLM), Cramer on BloggingStocks, Financial Crisis
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says he doesn't want to make a move until he sees the action. We aren't oversold enough anymore, and we are up too much. Meanwhile, the next run is on the insurers, as we can tell from the erratic nature of the way that group is trading.
Oh, and what's the deal with
Sallie Mae (NYSE:
SLM) (
Cramer's Take)?
There's not a lot of respite here in part, again, because of Lehman and the default of so much Washington Mutual paper.
We just aren't ready for what is happening yet, and we keep getting surprised about where the paper is. The rescue bill will help, but the pork attachments are so horrible that I believe, ex-FDIC, they have made it tougher to pass, not easier.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: The next run is on the insurers
Posted Oct 2nd 2008 9:20AM by Paul Foster (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Options, SLM Corp (SLM)
General Electric (NYSE: GE) is recently trading at $22.95 in pre-open trading, below its close of $24.50. GE is expected to report Q3 EPS on October 10. GE October option implied volatility is at 69, November is at 65; above its 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.
SLM (NYSE: SLM), engaged in education finance, closed at $8.35. SLM October 7.5 straddle is priced at $4.25, November 7.5 straddle is priced at $5. SLM over all option implied volatility of 164 is above its 26-week average of 80 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.
Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com
Posted Jul 4th 2008 12:30PM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Private equity, , Canada, SLM Corp (SLM)
This week, we've seen two major buyout deals come undone: the $6.1 transaction for Penn National Gaming Inc. (NASDAQ: PENN) and TPG's play for Bradford & Bingley. In fact, according to FactSet Research, about 20% of leveraged buyouts (LBOs) since mid-2007 have been terminated.
Despite all this, some deals are getting done. Perhaps the most notable is the BCE (NYSE: BCE) LBO. BCE has reached an agreement with its private equity sponsors and banks to close its $51 billion LBO. This will represent the biggest buyout in history.
Now, there are some wrinkles. The closing date will be extended to December and there will not be any dividend payments for the rest of the year. The break-up fee was also upped from $1 billion to $1.2 billion.
Yet, the fact is that the price tag will remain unchanged (at $42 per share). No doubt, this is a big feat, especially in light of the credit crunch.
Apparently, there was much discussion about renegotiating the price. Then again, the prospects of massive litigation were daunting, as we have seen in a variety of other deals such as with Clear Channel, SLM (NYSE: SLM) and Huntsman Corp. (NYSE: HUN).
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements
. He also operates MergerBook.com.
Posted Jul 2nd 2008 12:43PM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newsletters, SLM Corp (SLM), Stocks to Buy
"Since the market started its downturn early this year, I have avoided all financial stocks and resisted the temptation of value plays," says Dave Dyer.
In his Dave Dyer's Newsletter, he explains, "Well, it is now time to violate both of those prohibitions at once." Here, he looks at a new buy for SLM Corporation (NYSE: SLM), commonly known as Sallie Mae, the nation's largest provider of college loans and savings programs."
"There must be some financial areas that have predictable, growing demand, willing customers who actually have low default rates, and securitization processes that do not involve the type of financial engineering that is only intended to hide risk.
"Well, there is such an area, and it even involves a product that it makes sense to finance since it will actually increase in value over time. I'm talking about student loans.
Continue reading Sallie Mae (SLM): At the head of the class
Posted May 6th 2008 11:18AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, SLM Corp (SLM)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Citizens Republic Bancorp, Hess Corp and Sanderson Farms were today's noteworthy upgrades:
- Keefe Bruyette upgraded shares of Citizens Republic Bancorp (NASDAQ: CRBC) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation following yesterday's sell-off, which they attribute in part to its removal from the Dow Jones Select Dividend Index. Shares were also raised to OUtperform from Perform at Oppenheimer following the sell-off.
- Goldman upgraded Hess (NYSE: HES) to Buy from Neutral citing the company's leverage to higher oil prices. The firm said oil is likely to hit $150-$200/bbl in the next 6-24 months.
- Stephens upgraded shares of Sanderson Farms (NASDAQ: SAFM) to Overweight from Equal Weight as they expect industry fundamentals to improve in FY09.
OTHER UPGRADES:
- Baird raised Stellent (NASDAQ: STEL) to OUtperform from Neutral.
- Friedman Billings upgraded Preferred Bank (NASDAQ: PFBC) to Market Perform from Underperform.
- Agco (NYSE: AG) was upgraded at Goldman to Buy from Neutral.
- Lehman upgraded SLM Corp (NYSE: SLM) to Overweight from Equal Weight.
Posted Apr 17th 2008 4:15PM by Jon Ogg (RSS feed)
Filed under: Google (GOOG), Pfizer (PFE), International Business Machines (IBM), Citigroup Inc. (C), , SLM Corp (SLM)
Today's trading session was merely a mixed day after a huge day, with the bulls coming out slightly on top. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve said regional manufacturing activity has weakened further and its manufacturing activity fell to -24.9 from an already negative -17.4 in March. As we all hope employment will hang tough in a weak spending climate, jobless claims rose by 17,000 more from the prior week to a level of 372,000 this week. Here are the
unofficial closing levels for US index levels:
While investors may have flocked to
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:
IBM) and braced for
Google, Inc (NASDAQ:
GOOG) earnings tonight, there were many other winners and losers.
Continue reading Closing bell: Mixed day after major gain
Posted Apr 16th 2008 11:58AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, SLM Corp (SLM)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: SLM Corp, Tempur Pedic and ITT Corp were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- Morgan Stanley downgraded SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) to Underweight from Equal Weight citing the impact on earnings from reduced government subsidies and disrupted capital markets.
- Tempur Pedic (NYSE: TPX) was cut to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan citing the consumer slowdown and increased competition.
- Credit Suisse downgraded ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT) to Neutral from Outperform citing the surprised management changes announced last night.
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- Cowen downgraded TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT) to Neutral from Outperform.
- Merriman lowered Jamba (NASDAQ: JMBA) to Neutral from Buy.
- LSI Corp. (NYSE: LSI) was downgraded at Merrill to Neutral from Buy.
Posted Feb 13th 2008 11:41AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst upgrades and downgrades, SLM Corp (SLM)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Schering-Plough, Emergency Medical Services and SLM Corp were today's noteworthy upgrades:
- Banc of America upgraded shares of Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) to Buy from Neutral on valuation, as they believe current levels already reflect significant cuts to the company's cholesterol franchise from ENHANCE.
- JP Morgan upgraded shares of Emergency Medical Services (NYSE: EMS) to Overweight from Neutral following the company's Q4 results.
- Friedman Billings upgraded shares of SLM Corp. (NYSE: SLM) to Outperform from Market Perform and raised their target to $25 from $23 to reflect the company's strengthened capital position, diversified sources of income, and attractive valuation.
OTHER UPGRADES:
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