Diamonds and Dogs

11/2/15

Diamond Offshore (DO) is the diamond today. The oils have underperformed for a while including October when the major averages jumped 8% to 9%, but today is a new month. The energy sector is the second best performer with Diamond Offshore up 11% following much better than expected earnings. Diamond Offshore gets credit for managing the downturn relatively well keeping its newer rigs working while removing some of its older ones from the market. The oil sector is not out of the woods yet, but today was a good day.

 Credit Card companies have seen better days. Visa (V) was the worst performing Dow component today sliding 3.5% following disappointing earnings and an announced buyout of Visa Europe for $23 billion. The price tag took investors by surprise, a hefty price to pay for the European division. The earnings were actually good with profits up 41%, but with a stock trading for 25 times next year's earnings, the stock is not cheap.