Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Ford workers consider short term medical insurance

Ford Motor Company announced that it will offer short term medical insurance as part of a buyout retirement offer for almost all of its 41,000 hourly workers. The offer is intended to reduce the firm's factory work force. The New York Times reports that in the past Ford kept laid-off workers in a job bank rather than remove them from the payroll. This year, however, Ford is actively reducing its work force in anticipation of lower demand for cars in the future.

The short term medical insurance plan is a six month basic health insurance policy but the details of the coverage are not provided. Ford has not announced how many workers are expected to elect the buyout offer.

Considering the larger regional trend of employers hiring temporary workers and the shift toward individual health insurance (as opposed to employer-sponsored group insurance), some of these workers in the Detroit area are likely to consider alternate affordable health insurance options for the long term before deciding whether to accept the buyout package. Those who do not qualify for lower cost options could face higher health insurance costs through their state's high risk Blue Cross insurance pool.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Review of Banks' Q4 2009 Earnings

Scotia Capital, 14 December 2009Event• We are downgrading the Canadian banks to marketweight from overweight due to their strong absolute and relative share price performance in 2009 and increased regulatory/political risk.• Bank stocks have doubled off their 2009 lows and are up 51% year-to-date outperforming the TSX by 23% thus far in 2009.Implications• Banks just finished reporting strong Q4/

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Scotiabank Q4 2009 Earnings

TD Securities, 9 December 2009Yesterday before market open, the bank reported core cash FD-EPS of C$0.89 vs TD Newcrest of C$0.86 and Consensus of C$0.87.ImpactSlightly positive. Not one of the strongest results this season. However, key credit trends came in well below expectations with PCLs at C$420 million (vs TD Newcrest at C$505 million). Domestic continues to perform with good margin

Monday, December 7, 2009

RBC Q4 2009 Earnings

Scotia Capital, 7 December 2009RY cash operating EPS increased 4% YOY to $1.06/share in line with our estimate and slightly above consensus. Operating ROE was 18.9%, with RRWA of 2.45% and Tier 1 Capital at 13.0%. Fiscal 2009 EPS was $4.45, an increase of 4% from $4.30 per share in 2008.Implications• Canadian Banking earnings increased 6% YOY. Insurance earnings declined 25% YOY with Wealth