Diamonds and Dogs

10/22/15

It doesn't matter when you wake up, you can still get breakfast whenever you want. McDonalds (MCD) started breakfast all day this quarter and investors and customers are happy. The stock is surging up over 7% thanks to strong third quarter earnings which rose 4 percent, ending six straight quarters of flat or falling results even though the company hiked wages and improved benefits. McDonald's said a new Premium Buttermilk Crispy Chicken Deluxe sandwich and its decision to swap butter for margarine on its Egg McMuffins helped stop the quarterly sales declines. During the quarter, McDonalds spent $3.1 billion in buybacks and dividends to help boost thouse earnings per share. These results don't include the decision to embraced all-day breakfast. Hopefully going forward, McDonalds fundamentals will only improving.

Doctors will always be there to monitor your health, but what matters is if they have a place to work. Healthcare is one of the few sectors to come under pressure today. This has been a bad month for healthcare where investors have sold first and asked questions later. Today's healthcare dog is Community Health Systems (CYH) down over 33% after earnings estimates missed by a wide margin. Obamacare which helped business initially has cut into profits due to higher labor costs and a greater percentage of uninsured patients. Healthcare looks to have lost their leadership role.