Swapping from La Quinta to Hilton in Taxable Accounts

We recently sold La Quinta Holdings (LQ) in all taxable accounts and reinvested the proceeds in Hilton (HLT). This swap was done to capture the loss in LQ to reduce the amount of realized gains for Northlake’s taxable investors without giving up any upside. We see equal potential in LQ and HLT, and we believe […]

Mid Cap and Large Cap Growth Still Favored

There are no changes to the signals from Northlake’s Market Cap and Style models for April.  The Market Cap model continues to recommend Mid Cap and the style model remains on a Large Cap Growth signal.   The growth signal has now been in place for six months and the mid cap signal for five months.  […]

New Models and New Mid Cap Signal

Northlake’s Market Cap model shifted from large cap to mid cap for December. As a result client positions following this model were shifted from the S&P 500 (SPY) to the S&P 400 Mid Cap (MDY). There is no change to the growth signal in the Style model. Client positions in the Russell Growth (IWF), initiated […]

Sloppy Quarter After Stock Slide Keeps Pressure on Google

Google (GOOG) reported earnings that slightly trailed Wall Street estimates. The stock has reacted poorly even though the company did a good job explaining the quarter and spoke very confidently about the business and long-term strategy on the quarterly conference call. It is worth noting that GOOG provides very little guidance to Wall Street analysts […]

Model Volatility Continues with Small Cap and Value Now Favored

Northlake’s models continue to send volatile signals. Just a month after the unusual occurrence of both the Market Cap and Style model shifting their signals, it happened again for March. The new signals favor small cap and value. As a result, client positions dedicated to the models were adjusted. The S&P 400 Mid CAP (MDY) […]

Qualcomm: Good Quarter, Fuzzy Guidance

Qualcomm (QCOM) exceeded its own guidance and analyst estimates with its March quarter results. Sales grew 28% and net income was up 21% indicating the underlying strength for QCOM’s technology and chips. Despite the strong quarter, the stock is down 5% today because the company guided revenues, earnings, and chip shipments slightly below consensus for […]

M&A Back in the Forefront of Media Investing

Merger and acquisition rumors have reemerged as drivers of media stocks after a mutli-year absence. The latest rumor was posted by The Wall Street Journal in a Heard on the Street column speculating about a possible Verizon Communications Inc. takeover of DIRECTV Group Inc. The speculation emanated from Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg discussing TV as […]

Box Office Winning Streak Ends

For the first time since late December the weekend box office fell on a year-over-year basis. Weekend receipts for the top 12 films were $89.2 million according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, a drop of 15.8% from a year ago. The box office is still up 12% this year, a better than expected performance. Next week provides another […]

News Corp Operating Income Up 16%

News Corporation reported a confusing set of earnings figure. On the call, management said that adjusted EPS were 30 cents vs. the reported figure o 91 cents. The 91 cents included a $1.7 billion gain while the 30 cents assumes a tax rate of 37%. Consensus was 32 cents so it looks like a miss […]

Special Market Comment

It seems appropriate to make a comment on the market following the sharp downside volatility over the past few weeks. However, to be perfectly honest, I think predicting the short-term is pretty much impossible at this point. My gut feeling is that six or nine months from now we will look back on this period […]