Month: June 2012

This twenty sixth trading week of 2012 comes to a close with investors hopeful that Europe’s nineteenth conference to resolve its debt woes may come up with a fruitful solution to the continent’s problems. Hi.

The initial public offering of cloud based computing service ServiceNow (NOW), the first major tech IPO since Facebook, was met with strong demand by investors, who bid the price up by over 34 percent from the offering price. Other cloud computing companies have done well this year, including GuideWire Software (GWRE), which went public in January, trading at 63% above its initial opening of $16.75.

Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned cash to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys.

Stocks trading much higher, sustaining an early rally on a decision out of Europe. Leaders there have reportedly decided to lend bailout funds directly to struggling banks instead of Europe’s central banks.

Pfizer Incorporated (PFE) maintained its quarterly dividend of 22 cents per share. The dividend will be payable on September 5, 2012, to shareholders of record at the close of business on August 3, 2012.

In trading on Friday, precious metals shares were relative leaders, up on the day by about 4%. Leading the group were shares of Comstock Mining (LODE), up about 10.7% and shares of Brigus Gold (BRD) up about 7.7% on the day.

Research in Motion (RIMM) announced that it lost $518 million, or 99 cents a share in the most recent fiscal quarter versus a profit of $695 million, or $1.33 per share, in the same period last year. Excluding one time impairment charges, the latest loss was 37 cents per share, while analysts were expecting a loss of 3 cents.

Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia’s state-owned oil and natural-gas company, is planning on expanding its exploration in Canada. The company announced it will be acquiring Progress Energy Resources Corp. (NYSE:PRQ) for around $4.67 billion. This decision came after Petronas decided to buy a stake in three of Progress Energy’s gas fields last year. The company’s Chief Executive Officer seemed to like what he saw and agreed to the transaction.Petronas will buy Progess Energy for $20.45 canadian per share, a 77% premium over the closing price yesterday in Toronto. This marks the biggest purchase ever for Petronas in its company’s history.Progress Energy is skyrocketing on the Toronto Stock Exchange, up over 74% to $20.10 a share.

The markets opened lower this morning with investors having very little hope for a solution to the euro debt crisis. Later in the day a ruling by the Supreme Court to uphold the core of President Obama’s health-care overhaul sent stocks further into negative territory.

First Niagara (FNFG) was upgraded today by Bank of America/Merrill Lynch (BAC) to buy from neutral with a price target of $9, as the stock appears to be oversold given the 4% annual dividend. Shares are lower by about 4.9 percent.