FedEx, UPS Investigated in Crackdown and 3 Hot Stocks Demanding Attention

Nissan (NSANY.OB) CEO Carlos Ghosn had confidently predicted at the New York International Auto Show in March that the company would double sales of its Leaf all-electric car in 2012 to 20,000 units. However, in an interview to Bloomberg in Mexico City recently, Ghosn admitted that reaching the sales target would be unlikely.

J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM) reports FQ2 EPS of $1.45 and revenue of $1.63 billion, both in line with expectations. Net sales were up 8% and driven by the impact of the Sara Lee foodservice acquisition and volume gains in Folgers, Robin Hood, Five Roses and Dunkin’ Donuts. However, the company saw lower volumes in its Pillsbury, Crisco, Jif and Smucker’s brands. Gross profit as a percentage of net sales improved to 33.3% from 32.9% in the year ago quarter. “Overall consumer spending appears to be on the upswing which is welcome news for the industry,” said Vince Byrd, President and Chief Operating Officer.

Catalysts are critical to discovering winning stocks. Check out our newest CHEAT SHEET stock picks now.

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) is headed for yet another legal rap on the knuckles from regulators, this time for lax anti-money laundering systems. According to a report by WSJ, the bank may be served with a cease-and-desist order from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and may be required to strengthen its procedures and review previous transactions.

An international crackdown on prescription drug abuse that was launched in 2005 led to numerous arrests, closure of websites and seizures of cash and pills and last year, a payment of $500 million by Google to settle charges that it made money off ads for illegal online pharmacies. Caught in the net now are package delivery companies FedEx (NYSE:FDX) and UPS (NYSE:UPS), who are being investigated in a criminal probe for their dealings with such entities, particularly “the transportation of packages for online pharmacies.”

Don’t Miss: Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Makes Some Huge Changes to Its Portfolio.