Category: Online Stock Trading Software

How does 3.9% average return in one week grab you? An investor investing in ten S&P500 high potential return covered calls on May 9, 2008 would have experienced a 3.9% return in just one week and would have outperformed the S&P500 by 1.1% (S&P500 return was 2.8%).

MasterCard (MA) reported a huge boost in profits and revenue during its first quarter earnings announcement. The company seemingly scoffed at the notion of a credit crunch. Net income for the quarter ended March 31 was $446.9, or $3.38 per share. The incredible earnings report was a big driver of stock trading shortly following the announcement. During the same quarter last year, MasterCard earned $214.9 million, or $1.57 per share. Revenue grew an incredible 29.2 percent for the quarter showing a strong increase in business demand for the company’s credit products. Revenue for the 2008 first quarter was $1.18 billion. Last year’s first quarter saw revenue of $915.1 million.

Exxon Mobil (XOM) announced a first quarter profit growth of 17 percent in spite of the fact the company said it was not aided by higher gas prices. The world’s second largest publicly traded oil company earned $10.9 billion during its first quarter. This is the second largest quarterly profit ever reported by a US company, which obviously attracts attention from the stock trading markets. The all-time high was Exxon’s $11.7 billion earnings from the fourth quarter of 2007. Exxon and other major oil companies have been targeted by government officials and consumer watch groups who say it is not fair for oil companies to experience record profits while consumers are seeing record prices at the pump. Exxon said it has not really benefited from high consumer prices because the company itself relies on purchasing highly priced crude oil from other markets.

Blue chip technology leader IBM (IBM) excited the US stock trading markets with an exciting first quarter earnings report. First quarter profits jumped a remarkable 26% for the Armonk, New York based company. It also blew away analyst estimates for the quarter, which is always a motivator for trading portfolio additions. For it fiscal first quarter, IBM reported earnings of $2.32 billion, which amounts to $1.65 per share. During its first quarter in 2007, the company netted a profit of $1.84 billion, or $1.21 per share. This was a significant boost for the bell weather in the midst of a generally floundering US economy. IBM has long been a staple of many long-term stock trading strategies based on its consistency and income performance.

The Monsanto Company (MON),a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation, delivered great news to the stock investing community with incredible second quarter growth this year: $3.8 billon. This amazing 45 percent growth in revenues over last year’s effort was driven by domestic and international growth. The Monsanto Company is the world’s leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed as Roundup. Sales of this herbicide and others were $982 million globally compared to $530 last year. Dramatic increases in revenues ($1,747 million from $1,192 million in 2007) mainly from the US and Brazilian corn seed and traits business also contributed to this record growth. The year-to-date sales were 42 percent higher than sales compared with the same period in fiscal year 2007.

FactSet Research Systems, Incorporated (FDS), a leading provider of financial data and information analysis software, based out of Norwalk, Connecticut, announced an 11% profit jump for its fiscal second quarter, over its prior year second quarter. The company credited the strong rise in profit to a sharp increase in subscriptions for its investment management business. Profit rose from $26.5 million in its 2007 fiscal second quarter to $29.5 million for the 2008 quarter. This amounted to a jump from 52 cents per share to 59 cents per share, inspiring news for the stock investing community. When excluding one-time items, the company actually produced $31.1 million in earnings, or 62 cents per share. Sales were strong for the company, climbing 20.6%, from $116.3 million to $140.2 million.

New York based Air Methods Corporation (AIRM), a leading provider of emergency medical air transportation announced extremely impressive fourth quarter earnings results that gave its stock help. The company said its fourth quarter profit quadrupled from the previous year based on two key factors: Revenue from a recent acquisition and low tax expenses. Stock investing spiked as buyers drove the stock up over 2% passed $40 during the day, following the announcement. Trading portfolio additions were driven by earnings of $4.8 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with $1.2 million, or 10 cents per share, during the fiscal 2006 fourth quarter. This is a pretty significant jump and stock trading definitely increased in volatility following the announcement.

Los Angeles based Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (CTB) bested analyst earnings estimates during its fourth quarter of 2007, which ended on December 31, 2007. The leading tire maker credits improved pricing measures and effective cost-cutting for the huge profit jump over the fourth quarter of 2006. The company’s 82 cents per share net income, or $51 million, easily outpaced the 45 cents per share earnings from last year’s fourth quarter. Sales were up $50 million, moving from $715 million to $765 million. Operating income was 43 cents per share, a strong 5 cents over the 38 cents per share analysts had estimated.

Plano, Texas based JC Penney (JCP) announced a fourth quarter profit drop of 10% from the previous year’s fourth quarter, largely based on lower spending from its predominantly middle-class customer base. In addition to the fourth quarter loss, the company, like many retailers, said it’s cautious about earnings possibilities for 2008. During its late ending fiscal fourth quarter (February 2), the company says it netted $1.93 per share or $430 million in net income. This was slightly better than the company’s lowered estimate, and soundly bested analyst estimates of $1.77 per share. Last year’s fourth quarter earnings were $477 million or $2.09 per share. The numbers were somewhat misleading as the company had an extra week during its fourth quarter last year.

Occidental Petroleum (OXY) reported a very strong fourth quarter showing thanks in large part to $1.2 billion gain in gas and oil profit. Fourth quarter profit climbed 56% overall for the huge Los Angeles based oil company sparking some volatile stock trading recently. A leading contributor to the company’s success is its Dolphin project. The project based in the United Arab Emirates in the largest energy program ever in the Middle East. A big focus of the project is development of cleaner, more efficient fuel for the Southern Gulf.