This chart below is perhaps the clearest reason why I find Nicholas Financial (NICK) such a compelling buy right now. This shows the company’s pre-tax profit (in millions) along with the provision for credit losses. What you see is just how damaging the credit loss provisions have been. I think its interesting that when you combine the two, you can see that NICK business appears to be fairly stable. You can also see that the credit loss provisions are declining rapidly. If they get back to the level of 2006 then NICK will be much more profitable. If the credit loss provisions were to run at the same rate today as they did in 2006, that would be an extra $2 million a quarter in pre-tax profits. Roughly speaking, thats about 10 cents a share after taxes. On top of that, there an acceleration effect. The better NICK business is now, the better it will be in the future. [Read the full article]

BlackRock Kelso Capital Corporation (NASDAQ:BKCC - News) (“BlackRock Kelso Capital” or the “Company”) announced today financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2009. [Read the full article]

WE ARE INITIATING COVERAGE of shares of CIT Group (ticker: CIT) at Outperform with a $43.25 target price based on our estimate of adjusted tangible book value. We are establishing our estimate of tangible book value considering adjustments arising from fresh-start accounting and the present value of the accretion of those adjustments.

Given the $36.08 closing price on March 8, 2010, we believe investors could get a 19.9% total return.

We are initiating our 2010, 2011 and 2012 operating earnings-per-share estimates of 22 cents, 50 cents and 85 ... [Read the full article]

Sparta Commercial Services, Inc. (OTC.BB:SRCO - News) in following up on its strategic agreement with Armet Armored Vehicles, a global leader in the manufacturing of tactical armored and other specialty vehicles for governmental and other markets, is pleased to report a potential annual $5 million in Municipal Lease Purchase agreements generated from this relationship.

Armet Armored Vehicles has chosen Sparta Commercial Services as the primary sales and financing option for Municipal Lease Purchases by local, county, and state governmental agencies that acquire specialty vehicles from Armet. Armet Armored Vehicles focuses on a market that represents $1 billion in the United States alone. In keeping with a conservative outlook of a 0.5% market penetration, this can generate a potential $5 million in annual Lease Purchase agreements for Sparta Commercial Services. [Read the full article]