Let Earnings Season Begin!

Other solid up day. After hours the Dow and S&P were up another 1/2%, I suppose to reflect the "stimulus" package.

LRCX announced their "earnings after the bell this evening, my first company to report. I place earnings in quotations as they are in the midst of an internal investigation of options backdating. While the "earnings" were not stellar, I think they'll do (Lam Research Corporation Announces Selected Financial Results). LRCX is probably a good example of what Seth Klarman was talking about in my post 2 days ago. Their price is low in part as they're deliquent in their Nasdaq filings. If you think all the bad news is priced in, they may pop when the investigation is finished. My opinion is that so many companies did back-dating that it won't be a huge deal. After hours LRCX was up 2 to 3% on the earnings.

DLX also announced earnings, this morning. I don't own DLX any more, but they were one of my original MFI stocks from Feb 2006. I bought them around $25, they dropped as low as $13 and then ended around $35... a lesson to be remembered. DLX proceded into the mid 40s in the summer of 2007. But they dropped 14% on this mornings earnings (Deluxe Reports Fourth Quarter 2007 Results) to $22.56. I still have a fond spot in my heart for them and I'll certainly consider them if they stay cheap when my next round of purchases comes around in February. It was already in top 25 over 501m (I call that my "Levi's Screen") and at 14% cheaper (their earnings didn't seem "that" bad) will move up.

I have to laugh at HOC the past two days. I had bought extra HOC last week to put in my sidecar. Then yesterday, even though the Dow zoomed up 300 points, HOC was down a couple percent and hit a 52 week low as refiners all were down. Strangely, it completely reveresed today and was up 8.3%, which was very nice. I have to believe the refiners will move up nicely in the spring as we head towards driving season... Barron's agrees (Holly Corp Will See Bounce in the Spring). Odd, I just looked at the bid/ask for HOC... they closed today at $45.28, and the bid is $45.74 with an ask of $49.22! They could go up sharply again tomorrow... I see FTO and VLO both have bid/asks above the close as well.

I suppose the weekly oil inventory report must have shown refining margins are rising. I know the data exists somewhere, but have no clue how to get it. The whole thing is so silly. For these companies to increase in value by 5% from one weekly production report. Then I see natural gas comapnies value rise or fall based on the weather report being warm or cold in the next week. Silly short term traders.