FeedPosted Feb 9th 2010 8:30AM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Wal-Mart (WMT), Walgreen Co (WAG), CVS Corp (CVS), Rite Aid Corp (RAD)
CVS Caremark (CVS), which competes with Walgreen (WAG), Rite Aid (RAD), and Wal-Mart (WMT), posted fourth-quarter data on Monday. Sales increased 7%, and adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations (excluding, in addition, a penny per share relating to a tax benefit) came in at 78 cents -- good for a growth rate of over 11%. That bottom-line performance matched analyst projections, according to our earnings preview.
As we all know, matching expectations is sometimes the death of a stock. The market has no conscience when it comes to mercilessly punishing an equity for not going beyond the call of the analysts. However, CVS actually did pretty well yesterday, rising 5% by the end of the session; the move was backed by healthy volume.
Continue reading CVS Caremark: Long-Term Bet After Q4?
Posted Feb 8th 2010 8:07AM by Melly Alazraki (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the Bell, International Markets, Magazines, CIT Group (CIT), CVS Corp (CVS), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Economic Data, Oil

U.S. stock futures were
lower higher Monday morning as concerns about the debt situation in Europe continued to weigh on sentiment. The Dow industrials, it seems, for now will continue to flirt with the 10,000 level, following general declines in U.S. stocks markets last week.
[Update: So far this morning futures have changed direction several times as investors try to find a firm footing.]
Stocks slumped last as worries mounted over debt problems in Greece, Portugal and Spain and a mixed bag of economic indicators in the U.S. Meanwhile, concerns over Greece abated somewhat as the government worked Monday on a
tax overhaul aimed at getting its deficit under control.
Continue reading Before the Bell: Futures Pointing to a Higher Start
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 10:40AM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: eBay (EBAY), Pfizer (PFE), Wal-Mart (WMT), International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), AFLAC Inc (AFL), Altria Group (MO), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), AutoZone Inc (AZO), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Campbell Soup (CPB), Chevron Corp (CVX), Chubb Corp (CB), ConocoPhillips (COP), CVS Corp (CVS), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), General Mills (GIS), Verizon Communications (VZ), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Merck and Co (MRK), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Serious Money, Stock Screen, Raytheon Company (RTN), Xcel Energy (XEL), EZCORP (EZPW), Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV)

Is the market overpriced? Maybe it is cheap, or perhaps it is fairly valued. This is the third in a series examining the issue. Still, it has been my contention that it does not make any difference because no matter how the market is valued as a whole, there are plenty of cheap stocks out there to accommodate a large amount of capital allocation even this deep into a bull run.
If you would like to follow along from the beginning, the initial post screened stocks for lower than market average P/E ratios:
Serious Money: Market Looks Cheap to Me -- 35 Stocks. In the second installment, I looked at yield and PEG ratios:
Serious Money: Still Cheap Market -- 35 Stocks + Yields & Growth.
Continue reading Serious Money: Cheapest Stocks Yet -- From 35 to 26
Posted Feb 1st 2010 2:50PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), eBay (EBAY), Pfizer (PFE), Wal-Mart (WMT), International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), AFLAC Inc (AFL), Altria Group (MO), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), AutoZone Inc (AZO), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Campbell Soup (CPB), Chevron Corp (CVX), Chubb Corp (CB), ConocoPhillips (COP), CVS Corp (CVS), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), General Mills (GIS), Verizon Communications (VZ), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Merck and Co (MRK), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Serious Money, Stock Screen, Stocks to Buy, Raytheon Company (RTN), EZCORP (EZPW), Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV)

Let's try and reduce the gambling by examining the facts and ignoring what the bulls and bears are chatting up at the moment. We started the process by screening for lower than market average P/E ratios, see:
Serious Money: Market Looks Cheap to Me -- 35 Stocks.
Two more important criteria influence today's review: the yield, a favorite of
"my pal Warren"; and the price-to-earnings-to-growth (PEG) a focus of Peter Lynch, the retired fund manager extraordinaire of Fidelity's Magellan Fund.
Continue reading Serious Money: Still Cheap Market -- 35 Stocks + Yields & Growth
Posted Jan 28th 2010 3:00PM by Sheldon Liber (RSS feed)
Filed under: Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), eBay (EBAY), Pfizer (PFE), Wal-Mart (WMT), International Business Machines (IBM), Johnson and Johnson (JNJ), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), AFLAC Inc (AFL), Altria Group (MO), Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Campbell Soup (CPB), Chevron Corp (CVX), Chubb Corp (CB), ConocoPhillips (COP), CVS Corp (CVS), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), General Mills (GIS), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Kimberly-Clark (KMB), Merck and Co (MRK), Lockheed Martin (LMT), Hasbro Inc (HAS), Serious Money, Stock Screen, S and P 500, Xcel Energy (XEL), Travelers Companies Inc. (TRV)

We frequently receive comments that the market is overpriced. Recently one of our active readers commented that the market P/E was 30, which it's not. The
actual rate (S&P forecast) has been even higher at times due to the volatile market.
The average should trend closer to the long term P/E of 15.7 in the next few years. However, I have reviewed companies often covered on our site and come up with a list of 35 stocks that have price-to-earning ratios below the long-term average already. I think there are dozens of bargains regardless of the status of the overall market.
Continue reading Serious Money: Market Looks Cheap to Me -- 35 Stocks
Posted Jan 4th 2010 12:45PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Walgreen Co (WAG), CVS Corp (CVS), Stocks to Buy
I'm reiterating my buy ratings the nation's two premier drug store chains: CVS Caremark (CVS), first recommended on February 16, 2009, at a price of $27.30; and Walgreen (WAG), first recommended on February 17, 2009, at a price of $25.46. If you bought CVS in February, you're up 25%; WAG, up about 40%.
As expected, each has performed well on increased store traffic stemming from the H1N1 flu virus (trips to purchase hand sanitizers, other disinfecting items, and flu symptom comforts), which has offset reduced traffic for other drug store trips, due to the U.S. recession.
Continue reading CVS, Walgreen: Pull-Backs Are Buy Opportunities
Posted Jul 13th 2009 5:45PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: CVS Corp (CVS), Stocks to Buy
Do hang onto to those
CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE:
CVS) shares, to say the least: I'm Reiterating my Buy rating for the company, first recommended on
February 16, 2009 at a price of $27.30.
CVS, a classic defensive, is performing well, despite choppy macroeconomic conditions. Nothing has occurred within the last half-year to suggest that CVS will not be able to successfully incorporate recent acquisitions, and increase sales in key, new growth markets in the U.S.
Continue reading Reiterating: CVS - Defensive play, extraordinaire
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