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Owens Corning (OC) today reported sales of $1.534 billion during the second quarter, compared with $1.722 billion in the second quarter of 2006, an 11 percent decrease from the prior year.

Second-quarter net earnings were $29 million, or $0.22 per diluted share. Excluding comparability items (Prior bankruptcy related items), adjusted net earnings were $49 million, or $0.37 per diluted share. Analysts were expecting OC to earn 31 cents a share, before items, on revenue of $1.54 billion.

“The ongoing decline of the residential construction market in the United States continued to weaken demand for building materials during the second quarter,” said Dave Brown, president and chief executive officer. “We believe that year-over-year performance improvements in our Roofing & Asphalt and Composite Solutions segments will partially offset cyclical weakness in insulation demand. Despite the challenging market, our business mix enables us to reaffirm prior guidance for 2007.

“In addition, we’ve announced strategic steps to significantly improve our business portfolio and accelerate our global growth,” said Brown. “The acquisition of Saint-Gobain’s Reinforcement and Composites business and the sale of our Siding Solutions business will further our ability to generate profitable growth and drive shareholder value.”

Other Items

-During the second quarter of 2007, Owens Corning increased its ownership of Owens Corning India Limited from 60 percent to 78.5 percent to leverage this low-cost production platform to bolster the company’s growth in the Asia Pacific region.

-Owens Corning announced a share buy-back program in the first quarter under which the company is authorized to repurchase up to 5 percent of Owens Corning’s outstanding common stock. The company did not repurchase any shares during the first six months of 2007.

-Owens Corning projects that the to-be acquired business will generate earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in excess of $100 million for full year 2007.

-The company continues to estimate that 2007 adjusted EBIT should exceed $415 million, not including the impact of the proposed acquisition of Saint- Gobain’s Reinforcement and Composites business, the divestiture of Owens Corning’s Siding Solutions business or other strategic organizational changes. This forecast will be updated and communicated quarterly.

All in all, given what has happened in housing, this is a good result. Composite sales grew 3% and this number will continue to grow when the St. Gobain acquisition is completed. They also anticipate an additional $100 million is synergies annually from the buy that are not factored into any earnings outlook.

All in all, vanilla and meeting analyst expectations are the reason the stock has not moved significantly. As I have said before the key is housing and when it turns, OC takes off with it (or an active hurricane season). Also, a key note is that the company has not bought any shares back yet. That is good because it is basically an insurance policy going forward that we can take 5% of the shares off the market and boost EPS.

Still holding shares…

It really was not much of a surprise but the boys at Blackstone (BX) got the first analyst calls today and the news was good.

When it was all said and done, we now have 2 “overweights” (Lehman (LEH) and Morgan Stanley (MS)) , 3 “buys” (Banc of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), and Deutsche Bank (DB)) and one “market perform” (Wachovia (WB)).

Here is the thing. If the Democrats back off their “tax the hell out of anyone who makes a profit” pledge, Blackstone is indeed a buy. There has been word out of Washington that centrist Democrats are joining Republicans in recognizing the “unintended consequences” of raising PE taxes from 15% to 35% are far greater than any additional revenues they would then have to waste. As an aside, haven’t we proven repeatedly in history that lower tax rates actually increase treasury revenues due to the increased economic activity they spur? If Democrats do not back off, there is no telling where they will stop and I would avoid Blackstone like the plaque until we learn how they will handle their new tax rate and what affect it will have on their operations.

Rather, I would go to financials like Goldman Sachs (GS) where we at least know how they will perform and is selling inexplicably at LESS than 9 times earnings (current years and next years). Of course the same would hold true for Fortress (FIG) and the upcoming KKR offering although I am convinced we will not this one anytime soon.

It looks like Ruppert got his prize, Dow Jones (DJ) and The Wall St. Journal. It has long been rumored that his FOX network will launch a 24 hour business station along the lines of CNBC. Having the Journal and it’s assets in the fold, all but assures it’s success and viewership.

If nothing else, Murdoch will give CNBC a run for it’s money and the games will begin to see who he can poach from CNBC to his network. Off the top of my head I see Mark Haines, Joe Kernen and Michelle Caruso-Cabrera jumping to a FOX business show as their insight, thoughts and style would tend to align better with the FOX network.

Barteromo may make the jump if for no other reason she is no longer the “most popular cheerleader” anymore having been handily supplanted by Erin Burnett in an online poll that it was rumored to have her fuming.

Competition in this arena is long overdue and a new network will be welcome. Given Murdoch’s rumored political leanings, it will be very interesting to see the “tone” of the new network. I say rumored because people feel that because FOX news is considered “right wing” and a counter balance to the coverage at NBC,CBS, CNN and ABC, people assume that those are Murdoch political beliefs. It could just be that he saw a segment of the population that was not being served and did so. If you doubt that you have to explain his fund raising for Hillary Clinton. Murdoch being a “right winger” and raising money for Hillary just do not mesh.

If Murdoch is looking to take a niche like he did with FOX news, it will be a very pro-business network. It will focus on political policy that fosters growth and minimizes regulation.

Either way, I cannot wait to see what happens.

Here are the picks for tomorrow.

Jeff Macke recommended selling Wendy’s (WEN) on the Peltz takeover news. Open $35.03

Pete Najarian preferred Alvarion (ALVR) Open $10.26

Guy Adami liked EMC Corp. (EMC) Open $18.51

There were no picks for Tuesday so here are the records.

Records:

Since my tracking began on 6/21 (1-1 means one up pick and one down pick and no results from my vacation week)

Adami= 9-8 Gain $26.18
Bolling= 8-8 Loss $4
John Najarian= 13-3 Gain $15.54
Macke= 16-9 Gain $5.76
Pete Najarian=4-5 Gain $17.18
Seymore= 1-1 Gain $.01
Finerman= 1-2 Gain $.68
Gilbert= 1-0 Gain $.29

Here is another one that just has me shaking my head. Citigroup analyst Bill Sims downgraded Radioshack (RSH) to “Sell” from “Hold” and said RadioShack’s wireless business remains pressured and is not likely to rebound soon because of declining market share and other factors. He said RadioShack is losing market share to direct channel retailers such as Sprint Nextel (N), Verizon (VZE), and Cingular (T).

“With the direct channel finding it more profitable to sell phones through their own stores than through RadioShack, they are increasingly opening stores next to Radio Shack with better merchandising, contracts, etc. and winning share as a result,” Sims wrote in a client note.

OK, all that is logical stuff and you can agree with it or not but the logic is there. Here were the head shaking comes in:

Sims cut his price target for the company from $32 to $20. How? How can you make am almost 40% reduction in your target price based on one earnings call that had, by the way the company swing from a 2 cent loss a year ago to a 34 cent gain and nothing announced that was not already really known? What is different about Radioshack today from yesterday or the day before? Nothing

This stuff mystifies me and is the reason these folks should be ignored when they talk stock prices.

In what may be a sign of a bottom, the Wall St. Journal reported Friday that Goldman Sachs (GS) is launching a $20 billion fund to invest in corporate debt, taking advantage of a turmoil in credit markets.

The fund was expected to be $12 billion but has been increased, the paper said, citing the typical unnamed sources. It has good company as a slew of hedge funds have been jumping on debt the past week as the “credit” crunch has lead to spectacular deals to be had. It is ironic as the talking heads on TV are pondering the effects of “tightening credit” on business when, at the same time, groups intimately familiar with the action are buying that very debt as fast as they can get their hands on it.

Sounds like the TV folks may be behind the curve here and the “issue” has already come and gone?

In another note, can anyone, anyone at all out there attempt to explain to me how a company like Goldman can trade for LESS than 9 times current earnings and LESS than 9 times next years? How? Can anyone please give me a reasonable explanation?

Goldman is by far the cream of the crop of the the investment bankers / brokers, almost no deal gets done out there that they do not have their hands in somehow. What is the logic to the current valuation? The current mortgage situation? Please, that barely qualifies as a blip on the screen for a company like Goldman. It isn’t like they are Citigroup (C) that has had operational issues and it is not clear if they have totally solved them or a Bank of America (BAC) that is really tied to the US consumer. Goldman is firing on all cylinders and in all reality is not even totally tied to the US market as over 50% of its profits come from overseas operations and the last I checked, foreign economies were simply on fire.

I think financials, and Goldman in particular may end up being the ValuePlays of the year when all is said and done 12 months from now. Goldman is a screaming buy at these levels..

File this under “everything you wanted to know about lead paint litigation is the US but where afraid top ask”. It updates litigation against Sherwin Williams (SHW), NL Industries (NL) and now RC2 Corp. (RCRC), the makers of the Thomas The Tank Engine children’s toys that were recently recalled to to lead pain. Again, thank to Jane Genova.

Full text here

Here are Tuesday’s picks:

No specific “fast money” picks for today.

Monday’s Results

Stacey Briere Gilbert recommended buying Intel (INTC) Open $23.54 Close $23.85 Gain $.29

Guy Adami liked NVIDIA (NVDA)Open $44.25 Close $45.49 Gain $1.19

Pete Najarian preferred shares of NASDAQ Stock Market (NDAQ) Open $31.18 Close $30.90 Loss $.28

Jeff Macke told investors to get long Disney (DIS) Open $33.74 close $34.01 Gain $.27

Records:

Since my tracking began on 6/21 (1-1 means one up pick and one down pick and no results from my vacation week)

Adami= 9-8 Gain $26.18
Bolling= 8-8 Loss $4
John Najarian= 13-3 Gain $15.54
Macke= 16-9 Gain $5.76
Pete Najarian=4-5 Gain $17.18
Seymore= 1-1 Gain $.01
Finerman= 1-2 Gain $.68
Gilbert= 1-0 Gain $.29

Here is today’s list. REIT’s are now joining homebuilders and financials as daily participants.

TUES Tuesday Morning Corp
TRMP Trump Entmt Resorts Inc
POP Pope & Talbot, Inc
PNY Piedmont Natural Gas
THC Tenet Healthcare Corp
STMP Stamps Com Inc
ODP Office Depot, Inc
NI Nisource Inc
MOT Motorola, Inc
HDL Handleman Company
GMCR Green Mountain Coffee Inc
FL Foot Locker Inc
DF Dean Foods Co New

Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) released results today and reported earnings of $954.8 million, or $1.47 a share, up from net income of $410.3 million, or 62 cents a share in 2006. Results included gains on asset sales of $616 million in oilseeds processing and agricultural services.

Net sales rose 28% to $12.21 billion, topping analysts’ prediction of $10.13 billion. Corn processing operating profit fell 16% to $241.3 million and the company cited lower ethanol sales volume and higher net corn costs as the culprits.

Oilseeds processing operating profit more than tripled to $587.2 million, boosted by a gain on the exchange of the company’s interests in several Chinese JV’s for shares in Wilmar International, the largest ag processing business in Asia. Agricultural services operating profit nearly tripled to $240.8 million due to a gain on the sale of the company’s Agricore United investment.

ADM repurchased $533 million worth of shares during the year.

So, what to think? About what I expected in corn processing and oil seed processing and good news on the asset sales. ADM clearly want to expand into Brazil to produce ethanol. They are doing everything except issuing a press release stating as such. The assets sales are giving ADM the funds they need to make that investment without a significant jump in debt, always a good thing. Now that these gains are booked and in the bank, I would look for action in Brazil soon.

Another positive sign is the 28% jump in sales. A real good sign. Corn prices are what they are as these prices are contracted and locked in before the crops go in the ground. ADM will see the benefit of this year’s record crop in the fall and winter contracts they sign for next year. This will significantly lower input costs and boost profits going forward.

Additional capacity begins to come on line this fall which will add to profits also. The ND biodiesel plant just came on line and the Rhondopolis, Brazil biodiesel plant will commence operations in August. The fall of 2008 will bring additional ethanol capacity in Iowa and Nebraska that will expand current capacity by 50%.

All in all an unspectacular quarter but one that has the company perfectly situated to execute it plans for the future, that is a very good thing.