ThermoGenesis Announces Strategic Reorganization Initiative

ThermoGenesis Corp. (KOOL) today announced a strategic reorganization initiative designed to better align resources with its expected cord blood revenue streams, increase its internal clinical resource capabilities and provide greater focus on new application development to improve the Company's market competitiveness and to speed AXP(R) AutoXpress(R) Platform (AXP) adoption in developed and emerging markets.

The Company expects these changes will enable it to generate cash from its cord blood business in the coming two to three quarters in addition to realigning its professional resources to support its rapid expansion into the regenerative medicine space. "One of our primary objectives is to continue to invest in our AXP Platform and clinical resources needed to further expand the system's clinical intelligence and technological functionality. In this way, we can better meet the evolving cell processing needs of our cord blood customers and expand its use into our vascular and orthopedic cell therapy initiatives," said Matthew Plavan, Chief Executive Officer of ThermoGenesis. Read more.

See How American Express Ranks Among Analysts Top Dow 30 Picks

A study of analyst recommendations at the major brokerages shows that American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP) is the #27 broker pick, on average, out of the 30 stocks making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to ETF Channel. Within the broader S&P 500, when components were ranked in terms of analyst favorites.

In forming this rank, the analyst opinions from the major brokerage houses were tallied, and averaged; then, the underlying components were ranked according to those averages. Investors often interpret analyst opinions from different angles when companies have a low rank among analysts, it isn’t necessarily the case that investors should conclude that the stock will perform poorly. It can, of course, but a bullish investor could also take the contrarian angle and read into the data that there is lots of room for upside because the stock is so out of favor. Read more.

American Express Company : Tis’ the Season for Fast & Free Shipping

Just in time for the holiday online shopping season, American Express today announced the launch of a new free 2-day shipping benefit from ShopRunner, available to eligible U.S. Consumer and Small Business Credit and Charge Card Members. ShopRunner offers free 2-day shipping, currently valued at $79 a year, at more than 80+ popular online retail partners, including Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, Brooks Brothers, Toys "R" Us, PetSmart, drugstore.com, and GNC, among others. Starting today, Card Members can enroll an eligible Card at www.shoprunner.com/americanexpress and enjoy ShopRunner's free 2-day shipping on all eligible items at participating stores.

"Shipping costs can really add up and are a major consideration for online shoppers. In fact, according to a recent survey from comScore, 55% of online shoppers abandon their shopping carts because of high shipping costs(1)," said Josh Silverman, President, American Express U.S. Consumer Services. "With free 2-day shipping and free return shipping at 80+ online retailers through ShopRunner, our Card Members can enjoy a stress-free online shopping experience at many of their favorite places to shop." Read more.

Interesting April 2014 Stock Options for American Express

Consistently, one of the more popular stocks people enter into their stock options watchlist at Stock Options Channel is American Express AXP -0.28% Co. (NYSE: AXP). So this week we highlight one interesting put contract, and one interesting call contract, from the April 2014 expiration for AXP.

The put contract our YieldBoost algorithm identified as particularly interesting, is at the $72.50 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $1.44. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 2% return against the $72.50 commitment, or a 4.4% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost).

Selling a put does not give an investor access to AXP’s upside potential the way owning shares would, because the put seller only ends up owning shares in the scenario where the contract is exercised. Read more.

How American Express Is Charging Up Its Competitive Edge

For investors interested in American Express , Visa , or MasterCard  -- or, frankly any business -- a key question to ask is how difficult it would be to replicate the company.

That's right, take all your fancy metrics and throw them out the window, because a company without competitive advantage is like a day without sunshine. Well, at least, as far as an investor is concerned.

American Express, in particular, has done a fantastic job strengthening its moat over the years. And today, I'm going to dive into three of the most important advantages for American Express. Read more.

Link Comment Print Reprint Email Interesting November Stock Options For AXP

Consistently, one of the more popular stocks people enter into their stock options watchlist at Stock Options Channel is American Express Co. (AXP). So this week we highlight one interesting put contract, and one interesting call contract, from the November expiration for AXP. 

The put contract our YieldBoost algorithm identified as particularly interesting, is at the $72.50 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of 79 cents. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 1.1% return against the $72.50 commitment, or a 15.9% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost). AXP.

Visa Investors Surprised by Earnings Miss

Despite rising payment volumes and international revenue growth, Visa’s latest earnings make Bidness Etc less bullish on the stock, given that other card companies delivered stronger results.

Visa Inc. (V), the world’s largest payment processing company by revenues, reported its fourth quarter (4Q) earnings for fiscal year (FY) 2013 on October 30. The results were modest and failed to capture the interest of investors, who were expecting a stellar performance.

Given that card service companies have performed quite well in recent quarters. The share price of Visa fell 2% following its earnings release. AXP.