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Company name Frontline Ltd. (USA)
Stock ticker FRO
Live stock price [stckqut]FRO[/stckqut]
Confident Investor Rating Poor

The following company description is from Google Finance: http://www.google.com/finance?q=fro

Frontline Ltd. is a Bermuda-based shipping company. The Company is primarily engaged in the operation of a fleet of very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and Suezmax tankers. It also operates oil/bulk/ore (OBO) carriers, which are classified to carry dry cargo. The Company is also involved in the charter, purchase and sale of vessels. Its vessels are all owned by, or chartered to, separate subsidiaries or associated companies. As of August 2011, the Company operated a fleet of 23 Suezmax tankers, 51 VLCCs and seven OBOs. Frontline Ltd. operates through subsidiaries and partnerships located in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Liberia, Norway, the United Kingdom and Singapore.

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I do not think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in this stock. It is not possible to confidently invest in a company that is not currently profitable. I am removing Frontline from the Watch List.

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Company name First Financial Bancorp
Stock ticker FFBC
Live stock price [stckqut]FFBC[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Fair
MANAGEMENT EXECUTION
Employee productivity Fair
Sales growth Good
EPS growth Good
P/E growth Good
EBIT growth Good
ANALYSIS
Confident Investor Rating Good
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $22.53
Target stock price (averages with growth) $23.81
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $17.71
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $18.71

The following company description is from Google Finance: http://www.google.com/finance?q=ffbc

First Financial Bancorp (First Financial) is a bank holding company. First Financial engages in the business of commercial banking and other banking and banking-related activities through its wholly owned subsidiary, First Financial Bank, National Association (Bank). The range of banking services provided by First Financial to individuals and businesses includes commercial lending, real estate lending, and consumer financing. Real estate loans are loans secured by a mortgage lien on the real property of the borrower, which may either be residential property (one to four family residential housing units) or commercial property (owner-occupied and/or investor income producing real estate, such as apartments, shopping centers, office buildings). In addition, First Financial offers deposit products that include interest-bearing and noninterest-bearing accounts, time deposits, and cash management services for commercial customers.

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in this stock.

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Company name Express Scripts, Inc.
Stock ticker ESRX
Live stock price [stckqut]ESRX[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Fair
MANAGEMENT EXECUTION
Employee productivity Good
Sales growth Good
EPS growth Good
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Good
ANALYSIS
Confident Investor Rating Good
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $42.15
Target stock price (averages with growth) $61.19
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $54.8
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $45.03

The following company description is from Google Finance: http://www.google.com/finance?q=esrx

Express Scripts, Inc. is a pharmacy benefit management (PBM) operating in North America, offering a range of services to its clients, which include health maintenance organizations (HMOs), health insurers, third-party administrators, employers, union-sponsored benefit plans, workers’ compensation plans and Government health programs. The Company has organized its operations into two business segments based on products and services offered: PBM and Emerging Markets (EM). The Company’s revenues are generated from the delivery of prescription drugs through its contracted network of retail pharmacies, home delivery and specialty pharmacy services and EM services. In October 2010, the Company completed the spinoff of its Rx Outreach business unit. In November 2010, the Company announced the formation of Express Scripts Specialty Benefit Services, a specialty benefits company.

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in this stock.

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I think I understand the new iPhone and Tuesday’s lack of fan fare by Apple [stckqut]aapl[/stckqut].  It wasn’t because Steve Jobs was literally on his death bed but rather because they could reasonably assume that Steve wasn’t going to be around next Spring/Summer.  Granted that they should have decreased expectations for a new iPhone5 and especially silenced the members of the board that set the wrong expectation (can Gore be trusted on anything these days?).

Apple is doing great right now:

  • more than holding its own in the phone market (yes, Android sells more but all phones are compared to the iPhone and together iPhone/Android are destroying everyone else),
  • no significant challengers to the iPad or iPod,
  • Mac sales are higher than ever
  • over $75B in assets

It is reasonable to assume that Apple has the iPhone5 nearly done but maybe could not have the supply of product that would be required for its delivery. They would need more phones in inventory than ever produced by any company. The last thing the non-Jobs era Apple needed was to not be able to thrill everyone on delivery so being a bit more cautious was likely a wise move. Apple could not afford a supply problem going into the holiday season and they couldn’t ‘pre-announce’ a new phone as that will destroy sales of their current phones.

Apple didn’t need an amazing event this time, they needed to execute on a slightly better product and they definitely did it.  The 4S is arguably better than any phone on the market today and definitely good enough that no one is going to say, "I will never buy that slow and ugly thing.”  iOS5 is definitely an improvement and Android is going to have a hard time leapfrogging it – especially for tablets.

I continue to be bullish on Apple at least for everyone but day-traders. My last review of the company was on August 29 and I still think they are setup to achieve a great long-term stock price.  As a disclaimer that I fully state elsewhere on this site, at any time I may be long Apple.

What this sets up is a very strong event next Spring.  It could bring the iPad3 and the iPhone5 which will dominate electronics sales for the spring.  Also, it means that the amazing number of 4 owners will be very near their 2 year contracts and itching to buy a new phone without a lot of pain to the carriers (an iPhone5 now would cause a lot of pain to VZW and ATT as they dealt with upgrade requests for contracts with only 8-16 months covered).

In the spring, a strong announcement on a cool set of devices will significantly bounce the stock price of Apple. It will mean that Apple is surviving without its iconic CEO. It will mean that Apple learned from Jobs to "think different."

Of course, this will also mean that Apple has lost its luster if they have a lackluster event next Spring – if that happens then the stock will plummet.

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Company name Ebix, Inc.
Stock ticker EBIX
Live stock price [stckqut]EBIX[/stckqut]
P/E compared to competitors Good
MANAGEMENT EXECUTION
Employee productivity Fair
Sales growth Good
EPS growth Good
P/E growth Poor
EBIT growth Good
ANALYSIS
Confident Investor Rating Good
Target stock price (TWCA growth scenario) $21.45
Target stock price (averages with growth) $37.4
Target stock price (averages with no growth) $33.33
Target stock price (manual assumptions) $21.51

The following company description is from Google Finance: http://www.google.com/finance?q=ebix

Ebix, Inc. (Ebix) is an international supplier of software and e-commerce solutions to the insurance industry. Ebix provides a range of application software products for the insurance industry ranging from carrier systems, agency systems and exchanges to custom software development for all entities involved in the insurance and financial industries. As of December 31, 2010, approximately 71% of Ebix revenues came from on-demand insurance Exchanges. It has operations in Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Brazil. The Company operates through four main channels: Exchanges, Carrier Systems, Broker Systems and Business Process Outsourcing.

Confident Investor comments: At this price and at this time, I think that a Confident Investor can confidently invest in this stock.