'Fast Money' Recap: Key Earnings to Watch

The trading panel discussed the key financial and technology earnings this week.

Author:: David Tong
Publish date:: Oct 12, 2009 8:29 PM EDT

The trading panel discussed the key financial and technology earnings this week.

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- The markets were mixed Monday ahead of a big earnings week.

The Dow rose 20.86, or 0.21%, to 9,885.80, while the

S&P 500

rose 4.69, or 0.44% to 1,076.18. The

Nasdaq

fell 0.14, or 0.44%, to 2,139.14.

Joe Terranova said on

CNBC

's "Fast Money" TV show that the volume was light today as investors prepared to navigate through a big earnings week and hopefully a "positive" settlement above 1076 in the S&P futures.

Karen Finerman said there were a couple of reasons to buy today as some of the financials started to move in anticipation of some big bank earnings, including that of

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

on Tuesday.

For a breakout of some stocks from a recent "Fast Money" TV show,check out Dan Fitzpatrick's "3 Stocks I Saw on TV."


3 Stocks I Saw onTV
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Guy Adami said he's either getting out of his long position or shorting

Alcoa

(AA) - Get Report

. He noted that Doug Kass, a

Street.com

columnist, has a big short position on the stock.

Terranova disagreed, saying selling into the strength of a big buy order on the stock, especially from money managers, would be a mistake.

Finerman said the volatility index has reached such a low point that it makes it easier for investors to buy protection to stay in the market and hopefully see stocks move higher.

Melissa Lee, the moderator of the show, shifted the discussion to the weakening dollar and rise in commodities. Terranova said crude oil is poised to break through $75 a barrel.

Tim Seymour said investors are overdoing the dollar move. He said what is happening is a shift toward currency diversification that in no way means that the dollar is "going to the cellar." If anything, he said the yen and euro are overvalued and that he wouldn't be surprised to see a snap-back in the dollar.

Lee asked the panel what to make of a 11% rise for the year in iShares

: Dow Transport

(IYT) - Get Report

. Finerman found the rise encouraging and an indicator, along with other data points, of a "reasonable" economic recovery.

Terranova was particularly optimistic about rail stocks because of an increased demand for coal for energy. Seymour called

Fed Ex

(FDX) - Get Report

a very expensive stock with a forward P/E of 23. He said the pricing of the stock is based more on favorable expectations as opposed to any evidence of increased demand.

Lee brought in Christa Quarles, an analyst for Thomas Weisel Partners, to comment on her call for a $620 price target for

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

. She said most of the agency's checks on Google have been positive, adding that the stock is priced for an early secular recovery play.

She said the litmus test will be the fourth quarter that will determine whether Google's growth rate is achievable. She said Google could benefit from renegotiated contracts with MySpace and AOL that will help to improve its margins.

Lee turned to David Trone, an analyst with Fox-Pitt Kelton Securities, to comment on the upcoming bank earnings reports. He expects JPMorgan Chase to report 60 cents in earnings per share for the quarter. He also expects

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

to report a good quarter, though he would sell on good news. He said Goldman would have to do exceptionally well before the stock would rise.

He said

Bank of America

(BAC) - Get Report

and

Citigroup

are risky because they are still struggling with credit problems and bank loan problems.

Lee noted that

Lazard

(LAZ) - Get Report

CEO Bruce Wasserstein was in serious condition after being hospitalized with an irregular heartback. Finerman pointed out companies like Lazard face problems when their chief executives are the face of the firms. She said it's up to the board and management to make other people in the companies public.

Shifting to

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

, which reports earnings Tuesday, Craig Berger, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets, said he expects the stock to move higher on strong results, though he prefers other stocks in the space such as

Fairchild Semiconductor

that are cheaper and offer better growth. .

Seymour said the cold weather that's settling in the Midwest and South should benefit the ag and commodities space. He said oil is starting to move along with the prices of soy, corn and heat. He said that means farmers will need fertilizer, a plus for a stock like

Potash

(POT)

which should tick up on any hint of higher demand.

In a segment this week that looks at stocks that doubled this year, Terranova said he liked

Joy Global

(JOYG)

as a play on the mining equipment space. He sees the undervalued stock moving to $60 with a bump-up in the Institute for Supply Management figures.

Lee invited

Manpower

(MAN) - Get Report

CEO Jeffrey Joerres to comment on the employment picture.

Joerres said he started to see an improvement in industrial production and cited a job shortage in areas such as engineering, teaching, nursing, skilled trades and sales.

He said companies usually look to Manpower for staffing needs in this situation because they are still unsure whether there is real demand for their products and services.

In the final trades, Seymour suggested going long on

Bunge

(BG) - Get Report

. Adami liked

Blackstone

(BX) - Get Report

, and Finerman liked

Children's Place

(PLCE) - Get Report

. Terranova said

Kroger

(KR) - Get Report