Equipment Leasing | Commercial Mortgage

According to a recent article by Fortune magazine, the following companies are on a hiring binge:

1. Wal-Mart (WMT). An estimated number of 960 new job openings to staff new locations. It’s hiring store managers, human resource managers, pharmacists, customer service associates and cashiers, among others.

2. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ). An estimated 150 new openings needed in several areas of its businesses, including information technology, human resources, research and development, marketing, finance and administrative.

3. Bank of America (BAC). 1,860 new positions needed in several areas including consumer banking, small business banking, credit cards, home loans, global banking, wealth management, technology, human resources, finance, communications, marketing and administration.

4. State Farm Insurance. An estimated 800+ new agents needed. There are positions in a variety of areas including claims and underwriting, finance, accounting and legal. The company aims to add 800 to 1000 new agent positions across the country, specifically in the Northeast, Texas and California.

5. WellPoint (WLP). 1,225 new positions needed. It’s hiring health outreach specialists, nurse case managers, accountants, actuaries, claims representatives, customer care representatives, enrollment and billing representatives, account managers, marketing managers, business analysts and sales assistants.

6. Boeing (BA). 2460 positions are available in various areas such as engineering, finance, communications, contracts, intellectual property, information systems, program and project management, operations, quality, marketing, supplier management and supplier quality, legal, business development and some administrative and support positions.

7. Microsoft (MSFT). 630 Positions are available in marketing, software development, customer service, information technology, operations, program management, small and medium business sales, software testing, administrative services, operations, user assistance and education, game design, content publishing, marketing communications, legal and finance.

8. MetLife (MET). 1000 new positions are needed in areas of information technology, human resources, finance, operations, call center, administration and sales (including individual policies, group, home loans – mortgage and reverse mortgages).

9. United Parcel Service (UPS). 3,070 positions are needed for part-time package handlers, mechanics, warehouse personnel, sales representatives and information technology professionals.

10. Medco Health Solutions (MHS). 300+ new positions for selective hiring companywide. One division in particular, Liberty Medical, which serves the needs of patients with diabetes, is hiring for a number of customer service positions.

11. Lowe’s (LOW). 7,900 jobs are available in corporate, stores and distribution centers. Positions range from seasonal employees in Lowe’s stores, to team members in regional distribution centers, to miscellaneous positions in the corporate office.

12. Time Warner (TWX). 480 openings posted online include positions in creative, editorial, marketing, media, finance, accounting, graphics design, animation, new media, ad sales, film/television production and programming, administrative, information technology services and online.

13. Sears (SHLD). 500+ new postions in information technology, eCommerce, finance, audit, marketing, brand management, merchandising and distribution. Positions are also available for associates, store managers and in-home technicians.

14. Supervalu (SVU). 180+ Corporate positions are available in various departments including advertising, marketing, retail operations, merchandising and finance. In addition, there are open positions in retail stores and supply chain services.

15. Johnson Controls (JCI). 750 positions related to energy efficiency.

16. GMAC. 750 positions include project managers, mortgage loan officers, underwriters, servicing call center representatives and loan loss mitigators. Additional openings are available in information technology, finance, compliance, risk and treasury.

17. Comcast (CMCSA). 1,000 openings primarily in call center operations, field operations, warehousing and sales.

18. Northrop Grumman (NOC). 3,700 openings include positions in information technology, engineering, production/manufacturing, supply chain management, program management, product development and administration (including human resources and finance).

19. Coca-Cola (KO). 160 jobs for a variety of different functions on many levels including finance, bottling, retail operations, production and customer service, delivery and food chemistry.

20. New York Life Insurance. 3,640 positions are available in accounting, actuarial, auditing, customer support, information technology, investment management, legal, life insurance and annuity products, product development and strategy, sales and underwriting.

21. Aetna (AET). 550 openings are in customer service, claims and health care, including nurses.

22. Motorola (MOT). 520 openings are in engineering, sales, finance, marketing and project management.

23. Abbott Laboratories (ABT). 260 jobs in sales, legal, information technology, administrative, engineering, clinical research, manufacturing, quality assurance and accounting.

24. General Dynamics (GD). 2,365 openings in many areas, but most job opportunities are in technology and manufacturing fields, and include administrative, engineering, design and development and production and installation positions.

25. Prudential Financial (PRU). 235 openings are in financial, actuarial, market research and analysis, operations and administrative.

26. Humana (HUM). 265 openings in sales, nursing, actuarial, finance, project management, information technology, pharmacy, medical, health, insurance, administrative, compliance, communications and legal.

27. Liberty Insurance Mutual Group. 500 positions are available in finance, nursing, legal, claims and sales.

28. HCA (HCA). 9,000 openings for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, clinical technicians and patient care support workers.

Disclosure: The author owns none of the securities in his portfolio.

Charting:

The time frame used for forming a chart depends on the compression of the data: intraday, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual data. Traders usually concentrate on charts made up of daily and intraday data to forecast shorterm price movements.

The shorter the time frame and the less compressed data is, the more detail that is available. While long on detail, short term charts can be volatile and contain a lot of noise. Large sudden price movements, wide high-low ranges and price gaps can effect volatility, which can distort the overall picture. Long term charts care good for analyzing the large picture to get a broad perspective of the historical price action. Once the general picture is analyzed, a daily chart can be used to zoom in on the last few months. Four of the most popular methods of displaying price data are by the following charts: line bar, candlestick, and point & figure. The line chart is one of the simplest charts. It is formed by plotting one price point, usually the close. For that matter, I don’t favor them because I personally consider the open, low, and high to be as important as the close in technical analysis. However, at times, only closing data are available for certain indices, thinly traded stocks and intraday prices. Bar charts are perhaps the most popular charting method. The high, low, and close are required to form the price plot for each period of a bar chart. The high and low are represented by the top and bottom of the vertical bar and the close is the short horizontal line crossing the vertical bar. On a daily chart, each bar represents the high, low, and close for a particular day. Weekly charts would have a bar for each week based on Friday’s close and the high and low for that week. Bar charts can be effective for displaying a large amount of data.

Using candlesticks, 200 data points can take up a lot of room and look cluttered. Line charts show less clutter, but do not offer as much detail (no high-low range). The individual bars that make up the bar chart are relatively skinny, which allows users the ability to fit more bars before the chart gets cluttered. If you’re not interested in the opening price, bar charts are an ideal method for analyzing the close relative to the high and low. In addition, bar charts that include the open will tend to get cluttered quicker. If you’re interested in the opening price, candlestick charts probably offer a better alternative. The beauty of Point & Figure charts is their simplicity. Little or no price movement is deemed irrelevant and therefore not duplicated on the chart. Only price movements that exceed specified levels are recorded. This focus on price movement makes it easier to identify support and resistance levels, bullish breakouts and bearish breakdowns. Contrary to this methodology, Point & Figure charts are based solely on price movement and do not take time into consideration. The topic on candlestick charting is broad and beyond the scope of this article. This method of charting originated in Japan over 300 years ago, and have become quite popular in recent years. For a candlestick chart, the open, high, low, and close are all required. A daily candlestick is based on the open price, the intraday high and low, and the close. A weekly candlestick is based on Monday’s open, the weekly high-low range, and Friday’s close.

Trendlines:

Trendlines are an important tool in technical analysis for both trend identification and confirmation. The general rule in technical analysis is that it takes two points to draw a trendline and the third point confirms the validity. An up trendline is formed by connecting two of more low points. The second low must be higher than the first for the line to have a positive slope.

Up trendlines act as support and indicate that net-demand (demand less supply) is increasing even as the price rises. A downtrend is formed by connecting two or more high points. The second high must be lower than the first for the line to have a negative slope. Down trendlines act as a resistance and indicate that net-supply is increasing even as the price declines.

While asset management has existed around for some time now, its popularity throughout industries has only been noticeable for a few years. People do have quite a number of inquiries on the subject especially if their interests lie in employing the utilities of asset management companies.

Asset management refers to the way a company or an experienced asset management firm uses to track all fixed assets like equipment chairs, tables, computers and technology and even certain buildings owned by either a company, or a person The keeping track of the actual location of these assets,the ways that might be employed for the managing of assets, and accounting of amortizations, depreciation values and future resale values of these assets go along with asset management.

Asset management makes things easier and easier ways to manage assets owed by the company or the individual and looks into ways of investing assets for more returns. Collective investment schemes, pension funds, private banking and wealth management are ways which handle assets that helps make asset management efficient and increase one’s assets.

Involved in asset management is a lot of different processes that will help to increase the productivity companies have or individuals. The services of asset management include planning, procurement, accounting for daily operating costs through disposal, keeping track of of the assets and accounting tasks like depreciation. Asset management establishes contact with suppliers which helps to make it easier for companies to contact the suppliers for service, and replacements.

When you keep track of important information such as assets assets need to be be properly accounted for. It is important to know who was involved in the purchase who would use them where they are located, the suppliers to contact for support,and possibly lease expirations. And the right disposal period may provide the basis for managing and optimization of the companies or the individuals.

CEO Steve Luco’s 2 million turnaround plan is already bearing fruit. Higher volume sales and cost controls has helped the disk drive maker earn at least 7% gross margins for the quarter, better than earlier estimates, according to the comany’s management. Cash increased $200 million to about $1.5 billion. Product development and marketing and administrative costs are expected to be $380 million, below the originally projected $395 million.

As a result, the company expects unit shipments in the quarter of 39 million, with a total market of 110 million to 112 million units. STX’s unit demand for 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch ATA drives was better than planned; the company also said it gained significant share in those areas. That said, the company now expects to post revenue for its 3rd fiscal quarter ended April 3 of 2.1 billion– which ios ahead of its previous forecast of 1.6 billion to 2 billion.

On the other hand, the company said the market for enterprise class products fell about 20% sequentially. However, skeptics should realize that all major enterprise companies (emc, ntap, etc) have all been hit by the economy. They all have announced bad numbers, layoffs, etc,. The only thing they did the last quarter was to burn off inventory. Customers are not canceling orders, they are simply deferring their orders. Otherwise, there is a huge pentup demand for storage that will soon explode; When it does, STX will be rewarded significantly. The scenario occurring right now, is a pentup demand for capacity, not speed. Hence, customers are not clamoring for ssd’s, they want capacity (hard drives).

Aside from improved fundamentals, the technical view is also bullish for STX. Shorterm, intermediate-term, and longterm views all indicate a “buy”. The 5.80 is a solid support level for STX. The shares have closed above the pivatol point of 6.85– a very healthy sign. If we can breach through the resistance of 7.80 on heavy volume, more capital will flow into the stock.

Other bullish indicators are the following:

A. 20, 50, and 100 Moving Day Average versus Price.

B. 20-50 Oscillator Band, 20-100 Oscillator Band, 50-100 Oscillator Band

C. 20, 50, and 100 MACD Oscillator

Based on the above technical and quantitative indicators, I recommend the following strategy for new entries.

Assuming the shares open at 6.88 on Monday, the May strike 6 at 1.10/contract look attractive. If you write these calls against the underlying shares, you will be granted .43/contract. That is 430 dollars per 1000 underlying shares. the May strike 7 are also offering .50/contract. But only write those calls if you feel the overall market will continue to hold its rally. Otherwise, the strike 6 might be a better hedge.

Disclosure: The author owns STX in his portfolio.