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  • What’s This Mega-Investor Buying?

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - April 17, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, CNQ, CCE, DFS, THC

    Samlyn Capital was founded in 2007 by Robert Pohly, formerly at Sigma Capital. When Pohly left Sigma, he left with eight Sigma employees and founded Samlyn, which now has more than $2 billion in its equity portfolio alone.

    Samlyn invests in value stocks across all sectors. According to its last 13F filing with the SEC, Samlyn added new positions in these five new stocks. Let's take a look at more »

  • What’s This Mega-Investor Buying?

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - April 16, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, CNQ, CCE, DFS, THC

    Samlyn Capital was founded in 2007 by Robert Pohly formally at Sigma Capital. When Pohly left Sigma, he left with eight of their employees and founded the fund, which has more than $2 billion in its equity portfolio alone. Samlyn invests in value stocks across all sectors. According to its last 13F filing with the SEC, Samlyn added to those positions with these five new stocks. Let take a look more »

  • 2 Credit Card Stocks Worth Checking Out

    By Damian Illia - April 16, 2013 | Tickers: COF, DFS

    As the US economy recovers, mainly thanks to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program, some sectors of the economy have great opportunities ahead. One industry that can benefit from an improvement in the economy is the credit card business.  The reason is straightforward: Household purchases account for 70% of the US economy. I am going to evaluate two banks/financial services companies that are in the credit card business more »

  • Giving Credit Where Credit's Do: Discover Financial Services

    By Diane Alter - April 14, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, DFS, NES.DL

    In an environment where scores of varied financial companies are looking at sluggish--if any--growth, it’s rare to discover one that looks appealing. But Discover Financial Services ( NYSE: DFS) looks absolutely alluring.

    Discover Financial Services is a direct banking and payment services company that offers credit cards, student and personal loans, and deposit products through it Discover Bank subsidiary and home loans through its Discover Home Loans, Inc. Spun off more »

  • eBay Q1 Earnings Preview

    By Robert Baillieul - April 12, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, DFS, EBAY

    eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) releases its first quarter earnings after the bell on April 17. Here are five things I'm looking for in the upcoming report. 

    Vendor relations

    While e-commerce giants have spent the last few years fighting for customers, it looks like the battle is shifting to vendors. Last month, eBay revamped its fee structure by nearly eliminated listing charges while slashing post-sale commissions. It’s a huge change more »

  • Five Financial Stocks You Should Start Thinking About

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - April 11, 2013 | Tickers: AIG, COF, DFS, JPM, RF

    When we at Insider Monkey look at stocks, we primarily do so from a value perspective. We do keep concepts like market sentiment and branding in mind, but we mostly use those factors to mentally adjust how appropriate the relative value of a stock is. Value analysis focuses on stocks trading at a low level relative to their trailing earnings (using trailing earnings as a neutral to conservative estimate of more »

  • 2 Positives And 2 Negatives From This Company

    By Chad Henage - April 10, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, DFS, MA, V

    Visa (NYSE: V) is arguably the key brand in the credit card industry. If a merchant is going to accept credit cards, they are likely to accept Visa and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) even if they don't take American Express (NYSE: AXP) or Discover (NYSE: DFS). In a somewhat surprising twist, Visa showed a somewhat mixed bag of results in their last quarterly report. Investors need to pay attention to more »

  • This Company's Secret Weapon For Growth

    By Chad Henage - April 10, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, DFS, EBAY, MA, V

    I generally invest in growth and income stocks, but my favorites are companies that pay at least a 2% yield. I guess that is part of the reason I ignored MasterCard (NYSE: MA) for a while. The other problem I had with MasterCard was, I assumed the company was so well known that it wouldn't be able to grow very fast. With a sub 1% yield, and my assumption more »

  • 2 Positives And 2 Negatives From This Company

    By Chad Henage - April 9, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, DFS, MA, V

    Visa (NYSE: V) is arguably the key brand in the credit card industry. If a merchant is going to accept credit cards, they are likely to accept Visa and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) even if they don't take American Express (NYSE: AXP) or Discover (NYSE: DFS). In a somewhat surprising twist, Visa showed a somewhat mixed bag of results in their last quarterly report. Investors need to pay attention to more »

  • A Guide to US Credit Card Investments

    By Damian Illia - April 8, 2013 | Tickers: COF, C, DFS, MA, V

    As the US economy is recovering, mainly due to the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program, some sectors of the economy have great opportunities ahead. One industry that can benefit from an improvement in the economy is the credit card business. Why? Consumer spending rose in February by the most in five months. Household purchases account for 70% of the US economy. So I am going to evaluate two banks more »

  • This Company's Secret Weapon For Growth

    By Chad Henage - April 8, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, DFS, EBAY, MA, V

    I generally invest in growth and income stocks, but my favorites are companies that pay at least a 2% yield. I guess that is part of the reason I ignored MasterCard (NYSE: MA) for a while. The other problem I had with MasterCard was, I assumed the company was so well known that it wouldn't be able to grow very fast. With a sub 1% yield, and my assumption more »

  • Five Financial Stocks You Should Start Thinking About

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - April 3, 2013 | Tickers: AIG, COF, DFS, JPM, RF

    When we look at stocks, we primarily do so from a value perspective. We do keep concepts like market sentiment and branding in mind, but we mostly use those factors to mentally adjust how appropriate the relative value of a stock is. Value analysis focuses on stocks which are trading at a low level relative to their trailing earnings (using trailing earnings as a neutral to conservative estimate of future more »

  • An Ideal Candidate for Shorting the Student Loan Bubble

    By Piyush Arora - March 29, 2013 | Tickers: DFS, JPM, SLM, WFC

    Although student loan companies have had a profitable ride till now, cracks have started to appear in their growth story. According to recent data, college enrollments are now estimated to remain flat through 2020, even as tuition fees grow and student loan default rates spike. Given the massive size of the industry, even a modest pop in defaults could destroy companies like SLM (NASDAQ: SLM).

    SLM, formerly known as Sallie more »

  • With Most Financials Skyrocketing, Here's One That's Still Worth A Look

    By Matthew Frankel - March 19, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, BAC, COF, DFS, JPM

    Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) is well-known as one of the leading credit-card issuers in the world, and for good reason. I carry three credit cards in my wallet, all of which have become Capital One cards as a result of their acquisitions of ING and HBSC over the past year or so. So much for variety…

    However, what a lot of investors don’t seem to realize is that more »

  • eBay: A Value Play to Make Today

    By Joseph Solitro - March 18, 2013 | Tickers: DFS, EBAY, MELI

     

    Home to over 100 million active users, eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is the world's largest online marketplace. At the young age of 18, the company has made acquisitions and formed partnerships that have allowed for continued growth. The stock has fallen 6% year-to-date and has become one of the cheapest companies in a high-flying market.

    2012 in review

    On Jan. 16, eBay released fourth quarter and annual earnings for 2012 more »

  • Billionaire Louis Bacon’s Cheap Stock Picks

    By Meena Krishnamsetty - March 14, 2013 | Tickers: DFS, JPM, RF, STI, WFC

    We track 13F filings from hedge funds and other notable investors for a number of reasons. For one, we work on researching investment strategies based on the included information: even with the inherent delay that comes from using 13F filings, the most popular small cap stocks among hedge funds generate an excess return of 18 percentage points per year on average (read more about imitating hedge funds' small cap picks more »

  • Discover Value With This Credit Card Company

    By Daniel James - March 13, 2013 | Tickers: DFS, MA, V

    With consumer credit on the rise again, and tangible signs appearing of US economic recovery, things look pretty good for credit card companies. Supplying consumers with day-to-day credit, these companies tend to maintain huge gross margins. Of the four main US credit card providers, one has a considerably lower market cap, and is at the same time trading at a considerably lower valuation than the competition.

    Company at a Glance more »

  • Low Valuation And High Potential

    By Matthew Frankel - March 7, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, COF, DFS, EBAY

    Since its spin-off from Morgan Stanley in 2007, Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) has done very well for its shareholders, having rebounded from its financial crisis low of $4.73 to its current share price of just under $40.  However, with slow growth expected over the next few years, should investors cash in and take their profits, or does the number four credit card issuer have an ace up its more »

  • The Only Way To Invest In E-Commerce

    By Matthew Frankel - March 5, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, DFS, EBAY, FB

    eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is known as the world’s largest online trading community with 112 million active users who buy and sell about $80 billion worth of merchandise per year. eBay has done a great job of growing revenue from just over $2 billion to over $14 billion annually, and shares have risen nicely as a result, from the post-crisis lows of under $10 to the current $55 per share more »

  • Why Value Investors Should Flock to Credit Card Stocks

    By Jordan Wathen - March 1, 2013 | Tickers: AXP, COF, DFS

    The consumer financial segment is on the rebound. After the worst correction in recent memory during the 2009 financial crisis, consumers are back to paying their bills and using their credit cards. In recent months, credit card delinquencies have ticked higher, but only after striking lows not seen since the early 1990s.

    As charge-offs dwindle and customers begin to pay on time, why are credit card stocks trading as if more »