By: Ant on Mercoledì 20 Giugno 2007 22:29
Beh!che dire.
Per certi versi GZ, aveva azzeccato tutto: in questo articolo sul Chicago Tribune si cita la Ned Davis Research.
Ned davis fa' l'affermazione che se non fosse stato per la globalizzazione, il mercato americano oggi sarebbe in recessione.
Peccato per la globalizzazione, almeno per chi e' andato short.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri_barnhart0615jun15,0,7958749.column?coll=chi-business-hed
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Rates don't rate as growth key for some analysts
Published June 15, 2007
For all the angst about whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates, it's worth noting that not everyone is obsessed with the question.
Ned Davis Research Group, an Atlanta-based technical market analysis firm whose work is closely followed on Wall Street, has removed "the Fed policy factor" from the principal factors in its market outlook for the rest of 2007.
"It is ... appearing more likely that the Fed will remain on hold through year-end and possibly longer," the firm said in its midyear update.
The Davis firm, in issuing a cautious stock market forecast for the second half of 2007, inserted two new themes for picking winners: the pace of share repurchases by companies and the contribution to earnings from overseas operations.
In his midyear conference call Thursday, Ned Davis said share repurchases, along with mergers and buyouts, have been "the most bullish factor" in the stock market since 1984. Removing $2.6 trillion worth of stock from the public market should boost earnings per share and stock prices.
Share repurchases by firms in the Standard & Poor's 500 index reached a quarterly record of $117.7 billion in the first quarter. But the pace can't continue forever.
A research focus on a firm's profits from non-U.S. operations makes sense, as well.
"The U.S. economy would probably be in recession except for the fact that the global economy is still hopping, particularly in Asia, with very strong growth," Davis said.
Among S&P 500 companies reporting profits from non-U.S. operations, 48 percent of total company pretax profits last year came from outside the United States.
The U.S. economy was weak in the first quarter, "but if you're getting half your earnings from areas that are booming, it helps," he said.
Still, investors doing their own stock-picking will find the share buyback and foreign results themes to be daunting.
You can't be sure that a company that announces a share buyback program will follow through and acquire the stock. You need to track net share repurchases for companies that issue shares for stock option programs or paying for acquisitions.
Regarding non-U.S. operations, there are at least two issues to watch: economic growth trends in various countries and the effects of currency exchange rates.
Growth rates in many countries, especially so-called emerging economies, are more volatile and unpredictable than in the U.S.
Forecasting exchange rates is also risky. About 2 percentage points of the 8.5 percent gain in first-quarter S&P 500 profits was contributed by dollar weakness, which made foreign sales and profits worth more in dollar terms, said Ashwani Kaul, senior markets analyst for Reuters Research.
"We are anticipating a similar amount for this quarter as well, and I don't know if the analysts have forecast it in their estimates," Kaul said. "They didn't do a good job in the first quarter."
The dollar strengthened in recent days. If analysts grow too confident about a weaker dollar they could become overly optimistic in their forecasts, said Tim Gaumer, head of fundamental research at Starmine, which rates analysts' performance.
The dollar can't lose value indefinitely. Dollar weakness "is unsustainable as a source of growth" in earnings per share, Gaumer said.
Just like share buybacks. ----------- bbarnhart@tribune.com