links for 2010-04-06

Is the Stock Market Cheap? …every time the P/E10 has fallen from the first to the fourth quintile, it has ultimately declined to the fifth quintile and bottomed in single digits. Based on the latest 10-year earnings average, to reach a P/E10 in the high single digits would require an S&P 500 price decline below … Read more

Acuity’s Earnings Report Launches the Second Quarter

Over the past several quarters I have looked to Acuity Brands (AYI) as a potential signal of the earnings season to come, especially when it comes to commercial real estate. For several quarters, AYI has reported dour news about its industry and the economy. Sometimes traders and investors sold the news, sometimes they bought it. … Read more

links for 2010-04-05

Commercial Bankruptcies Jumped in March – WSJ.com The total number of companies filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. jumped by more than 20% in March over the previous month, as business failures in the first quarter outpaced last year's total. The total number of commercial bankruptcy filings hit 8,208 in March, a sharp rise from … Read more

First Solar Continues Its Post-Earnings Recovery

Insider buying at First Solar (FSLR) continues to mark a near-term bottom in the stock, but the recovery from February’s post-earnings losses has unfolded much more slowly than I expected. FSLR is up 18% since printing a bottom on February 25, the day before FSLR’s CEO and EVP of Marketing & Product Management purchased a … Read more