earnings guidance
Should You Be Prepared for a Bullish Run in Gold Bullion?
By John Whitefoot for Daily Gains Letter | Mar 26, 2014
After 12 years, gold bullion’s glorious bull run ended with a thud in 2013, retracing 30% and locking in the biggest annual decline since 1981. Many speculate that gold bullion prices melted in 2013 as investors tried to figure out when the Federal Reserve was going to be cutting its generous $85.0-billion monthly bond purchases.
Investors lean toward gold bullion and other precious metals as a hedge against both a weak U.S. dollar and inflation. A tapering of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy suggests that the U.S. economy is getting stronger. While there was no real sign of sustained economic strength in 2013, just the idea that the Federal Reserve would have to start tapering at some point was enough to send gold bullion prices lower.
That coupled with a strong—but misguided—run on the S&P 500 also helped push gold bullion prices lower. I say “misguided” because quarter after quarter, more and more companies on the S&P 500 revised their earnings guidance lower. At the same time, companies masked their weak earnings and revenues with cost-cutting measures and near-record-high share repurchase programs.
That came to a crushing halt at the beginning of 2014, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported abysmal January payroll figures. Instead of adding the forecasted 196,000 jobs—the U.S. economy added just 74,000.
Weak January payroll data coupled with political tension in Ukraine helped send gold bullion prices higher. Between the beginning of January and the middle of March, gold bullion prices rebounded, climbing 15% year-to-date to around $1,390 per ounce.
The bullish run in gold bullion didn’t stop the bears from warning investors to avoid the … Read More
Why Investors Should Prepare for a Rebound This Spring
By John Whitefoot for Daily Gains Letter | Mar 14, 2014
The winter storm that recently tore across the northeastern United States will, no doubt, take the blame for the continuing weak economic news and data that have been coming out of Wall Street. Having been the economic scapegoat since December, there’s no reason to change tactics.
But the raft of ongoing disappointing economic news and data suggests there’s more to the nation’s weak economic news than cold weather. After all, it’s not as if the U.S. economy had been red-hot and then suddenly hit a brick wall in December. If there’s one thing the U.S. economy has been—it’s consistently weak.
For example, while the S&P 500 and other stock indices have been enjoying prolonged bull runs, the U.S. economy has been stalling. Since the magical bull market began in 2008, the U.S. unemployment numbers have remained stubbornly high and the underemployment numbers eye-wateringly high. At the same time, wages are stagnant and, not surprisingly, retail sales have disappointed. More and more Americans are saddled with out-of-control debt and a record 20% of American households (one in five) were on food stamps in 2013.
Speaking of 2013, while the S&P 500 notched up a 30% annual gain, each quarter, an increasingly larger percentage of companies revised their earnings guidance lower. Saving the best for last, during the fourth quarter of 2013, a record 88% of S&P 500 companies that provided preannouncements issued negative earnings guidance.
But 2014 didn’t start out that well, either. For the first quarter of 2014 so far, 80% of the S&P 500 companies that have issued guidance revised their earnings lower; this compares to the 78% of … Read More
More Economic Indicators Show Next to Nothing Has Changed for U.S. Investors
By John Whitefoot for Daily Gains Letter | Feb 24, 2014
Two things have been consistent this winter: bad weather and bad economic news. And both just keep on rolling. With spring just around the corner, the weather will clear up; the U.S. economic news, on the other hand, might not be so lucky.
Over the course of the last week or so, a raft of weak economic news and earnings has welcomed the markets.
For starters, a higher number of Americans filed applications for unemployment benefits for the week ended February 8. Jobless claims climbed by 8,000 to 339,000; the four-week moving average for new claims increased to 336,750 from 333,250.
For the week ended February 15, applications improved—though barely—by 3,000 to 336,000, which was less than what was forecast. The four-week moving average (which is considered a less volatile figure), increased by 1,750 to 338,500.
And then there’s more bad economic news on the home front. Last week, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) said that its monthly housing sentiment index tanked from 56 in January to 46 in February, the largest monthly drop in history. The negative sentiment goes hand in hand with the two-percent drop in applications for U.S. home mortgages for the first week of February. Mortgage application activity continued its nascent drop in the second week of February, falling 4.1% to 380.9.
Further weakness is being felt in U.S. manufacturing. Economic news from both the New York and Philadelphia indices disappointed. The New York manufacturing gauge slowed in February after hitting a 20-month high in January. Manufacturing conditions slipped to 4.48 in February from 12.51 a month before. Analysts had forecast a much more … Read More
How to Profit from the S&P 500—Even if Earnings Disappoint
By John Whitefoot for Daily Gains Letter | Feb 20, 2014
I was reading an article that suggested investors are underestimating the extent that U.S. corporate profits could grow in 2014. And that the only reason the U.S. economy reported disappointing retail sales and weak jobs numbers and manufacturing data was because of the harsh winter weather. (Source: Shmuel, J., “Are EPS estimates currently too low?” Financial Post, February 18, 2014.)
Fortunately, so the story goes, the economy is so red-hot that once the snow thaws, investors will be rewarded with solid quarter-over-quarter corporate earnings growth. This suggests the weather has not just blinded investors to the fact that the economy has recovered (which it hasn’t), but that we are also so short-sighted that we can’t see the great gains waiting for us just around the corner—because if there’s one thing investors lack, it’s a desire to make money on the stock market…
I think investors are losing faith in Wall Street’s earnings potential because the corporations that go into making up the S&P 500 continue to warn us that their earnings are not going to be as great as they had hoped. And it’s not as if this is a new phenomenon.
Throughout 2013, as the S&P 500 marched steadily higher, an increasingly larger number of companies revised their earnings guidance lower each quarter. During the first quarter of 2013, 78% of S&P 500 companies that provided preannouncements issued negative earnings guidance; the second quarter came in at 81%; a record 83% of S&P 500 companies issued negative earnings guidance in the third quarter; and another record 88% did so in the fourth quarter.
For a country that is supposedly … Read More
As Investors Grow More Skeptical Toward Stocks, Time to Move to Safe Haven ETFs?
By Moe Zulfiqar for Daily Gains Letter | Feb 19, 2014
We see there’s a significant amount of economic news mounting against the argument that key stock indices will go higher this year. We see major companies on the key stock indices reporting corporate earnings that are dismal to say the very least. We see indicators of prosperity suggesting the opposite is likely going to be true for the U.S. economy. Lastly, we also see troubles developing very quickly in the global economy.
First on the line are the corporate earnings of companies on the key stock indices—which is hands down one of the main factors that drive these indices higher. We see companies showing signs of stress. Consider General Motors Company (NYSE/GM), for example; the company’s corporate earnings declined 22% in 2013 from the previous year. (Source: “GM reports lower-than-expected 4Q earnings,” Yahoo! Finance, February 6, 2014.)
Some might call this a story of the past; we need to look at what the future looks like instead. Sadly, going forward, companies on the key stock indices and analysts look worried as well. Consider this: so far, 57 S&P 500 companies have issued negative corporate earnings guidance, while only 14 have issued positive guidance. At the same time, analysts’ expectations are coming down as well. On December 31, the consensus estimate expected S&P 500 earnings to grow by 4.3%; now, these expectations have come down to 1.5%. (Source: “S&P 500 Earnings Insight,” FactSet, February 7, 2014.)
Looking at the broader U.S. economy, it’s not moving in favor of the key stock indices, either—the economic data isn’t looking very promising.
Industrial production in the U.S. economy declined in January from the previous … Read More
How to Invest in a Stock Market Correction
By John Whitefoot for Daily Gains Letter | Feb 12, 2014
Has the stock market rebounded? Some seem to think so. After recording the worst month in more than a year and the first monthly loss since August, some analysts think the worst is behind us and February will be a winner.
What further evidence do the bulls need than to point to the numbers! After falling more than three percent in January, the S&P 500 is up 0.75%; the NYSE is up a little more than 0.50%; the NASDAQ is up roughly 0.75%; and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up around 0.50%. Not a spectacular display of strength—but enough to buoy up some investors.
But the euphoria may be short-lived. While stocks are holding up right now, there are more than enough warning signs (technical, economic, and statistical) that are pointing to a correction.
For starters, February is the second-worst-performing month for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average so far, and it’s the fourth-weakest month for the NASDAQ. Plus, according to historical data, February tends to perform even worse when January is negative. Since 1971, when January ended on a negative, the S&P 500 extended its losses into February 72% of the time—falling an average 2.4%. For the Dow Jones Industrial Average it ends down 65% of the time and 57% of the time the NASDAQ ends down, too.
But the stock markets are only as strong as the stocks that make them—so statistics on their own are a little short-sighted. Every quarter since the beginning of 2013, more and more S&P 500-listed companies are revising their quarterly earnings lower. During the first quarter of 2013, 78% … Read More
Have These Stocks Already Been Through a Correction?
By John Whitefoot for Daily Gains Letter | Jan 28, 2014
It’s incredible, really, that some investors are surprised that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, NYSE, and S&P 500 are in the red for the year, spooked apparently by weak corporate earnings.
How can this be a surprise? Is it fair to say that 2013 was an irrational momentum play? Has that logic finally caught up to investors? Once again, I enter as evidence 2013’s fourth-quarter earnings—which should not have caught anyone off guard.
The ball got rolling in late 2012, when 78% of S&P 500 companies issued negative earnings-per-share (EPS) guidance for the first quarter of 2013. The negative earnings momentum continued into the second quarter, when 81% of companies on the S&P 500 lowered their earnings guidance.
Against the backdrop of rising key stock indices, a record 83% of all S&P 500 companies waved the white flag, revising their third-quarter earnings guidance.
Still, the S&P 500 climbed higher. And in a desperate bid to help investors avoid the economic iceberg and take profits, a record 88% of reporting S&P 500 companies issued negative fourth-quarter earnings guidance. (Source: “Record high number and percentage of S&P 500 companies issuing negative EPS guidance for Q4,” FactSet, January 2, 2014.)
And here we are in the midst of fourth-quarter earnings season and investors are sending the key stock indices into the red, disappointed, it would seem, with what they were warned was coming.
As we enter the last week of January, the S&P 500 is down 2.5% so far this year. At this same time last year, the S&P 500 was up roughly 2.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 3.5% in … Read More
Weak Q1 Earnings to Finally Trip Up the Illogical S&P 500
By John Whitefoot for Daily Gains Letter | Jan 22, 2014
Stock markets are only as healthy as their stocks—well, at least they technically should be. But despite its stellar year in 2013, the S&P 500’s component stocks weren’t supporting the growth with strong revenue and earnings growth.
I might sound like a broken record, but the fact of the matter is that the S&P 500 was fuelled by the Federal Reserve and its $85.0-billion-a-month quantitative easing efforts and artificially low interest rates, and the fact that businesses were streamlining operations and implementing aggressive share repurchase programs.
When it comes to financially engineering quarterly results, companies on the key stock indices logged a record-high for share buyback activity. In fact, in 2013, share buybacks amounted to $460 billion—the highest amount since 2007.
Companies on the S&P 500 embraced cutbacks and share repurchase programs because their earnings were nothing to talk about. Despite a year full of all-time highs, each quarter, a larger percentage of companies on the S&P 500 revised their earnings guidance lower—a seemingly obvious disconnect.
During the first quarter, 78% of S&P 500 companies revised their earnings lower; 81% did so in the second quarter; and a record 83% of firms offered lower earnings guidance in the third quarter. Not to be outdone, the fourth quarter saw 94% revise their guidance lower. (Source: “Record high number and percentage of S&P 500 companies issuing negative EPS guidance for Q4,” FactSet, January 2, 2014.)
In spite of the earnings disappointment, the S&P 500 continues to march illogically higher. The index might have gained 30% in 2013—but did it come at a cost? To keep growing, stocks actually have to start posting … Read More
