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VIDEOTicker Shock: Four Reasons to Take JPMorgan Over Goldman
Thursday's top stories and stocks with potential to move.
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I woke up early this morning raring to go. Had my usual cranberry juice and oatmeal, got dressed, headed downstairs, hopped in my car, put on my glasses, and then -- nothing. The battery was dead. Looks like it’s going to be one of those days.
Asian stocks were up, but just a smidge. The Hang Seng and the Nikkei rose 0.57% and 0.81%, respectively. European stocks were in positive territory earlier this morning as well. And here in the US, we're currently trading lower.
Here’s what I’m focused on this morning:
JPMorgan Chase (JPM): 
What a second quarter.
It put up $0.28 versus the Street estimate of just $0.04.
My thoughts:
1. A good quarter wasn't entirely unexpected, but these numbers probably outdid even the rosiest of expectations.
2. Data shows it's beat for the past 5 quarters straight. Quite a record in this environment, yet nobody seems to be talking about it.
3. My eyes are glued to that 2010 estimate of $2.87. That might actually end up being conservative. But whatever the case, if it's able to hit that number or ultimately surpass it, the stock could go to the mid $50s.
4. Wall Street tends to unrealistically expect surprise after surprise, and can be quite unforgiving as well. If Dimon and crew make any sort of misstep, this stock could easily get slammed like a screen door in hurricane.
In case you're curious, when it comes to Goldman Sachs (GS) versus JPMorgan, I prefer the latter.
Will we see a sell on the news today? 
Xilinx (XLNX): The California-based chip company was out with its first-quarter earnings.
Excluding items, it put up $0.21 a share, which was a healthy $0.02 better than expected. The bottom line it posted wasn't bad.
Here’s the skinny:
1. Its revenue line came in at about $376.2 million, which was south of expectations by about $5 million or so. I don’t think that should be overlooked. Although -- and hold the emails -- at the same time, the bulls will argue that in the release, it offered a somewhat upbeat outlook for revenues in the second quarter. It said: “Sales are expected to be up approximately 2% to 6% sequentially.”
2. The company is expected to put up just $0.85 this year. While there could be some upside to that, the bottom line is that it trades at a hefty 24.3 times that estimate, which doesn't compute.
3. Insiders -- thinking about chipping in?
4. The stock took a bit of a thumping in after-hours action, and I’m concerned that some of that could spill over into today’s session.
Overall, not terrible, but I’m taking a pass.
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