Stocks to watch for Friday, May 16, 2008:
 

• Beazer Homes (BZH) reported delayed earnings for the 1Q, posting a loss of $138.2 million, or $3.59 a share, down from a loss of $79.9 million, or $2.09 a share, a year ago. Revenue dropped to $503.1 million from $802.5 million for the quarter. The company also reported a wider loss for the second quarter of $229.9 million, or $5.96 a share, from $57.2 million, or $1.49 a share, in the year-ago period. Second-quarter revenue fell to $405.4 million, compared with $823.6 million last year.
• Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) and Warren Buffett increased some of its main holdings in companies such as Kraft Foods (KFT), Ingersoll-Rand (IR) and Wells Fargo (WFC), reported Bloomberg. "If a stock goes down 50 percent it doesn't bother me in the least,'' Buffett told reporters earlier this month after Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. "If we're going to be buying things, we want to buy them on sale.''
• Blackstone (BX) reported a quarterly net loss yesterday of $251 million, down sharply from net income of $1.13 billion a year ago. Revenue plunged 95% to $68.5 million, reported The Wall Street Journal. Chief Executive Stephen Schwarzman said that while the financial crisis had hampered Blackstone's performance, it also lowered valuations, creating compelling investment opportunities.
• Wal-Mart (WMT), in an effort to compete with British company Tesco's Fresh & Easy Markets, has plans to prepare and serve food in small format stores which will include a kitchen, food counters and seating for up to nine people, reported the Financial Times, citing planning documents. These stores will be a third of the size of Wal-Mart's Neighborhood Market Stores and a fraction of the size of its largest superstores.
  
  

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Market Recap

• Asian trading closed with the Hang Seng +0.41%, Nikkei -0.23%, Sensex +0.47%, Taiwan +0.44% and Shanghai -0.36%.
• Glancing towards Europe, we spy the CAC +0.87%, DAX +1.54%, FTSE +1.32%, ATX +1.83%, Swiss Mkt. +0.55% and Stockholm +1.13%.
• In commodities, crude oil is trading higher +1.38 to 125.50 and gold is also up +5.2 to 885.2 this morning.