Approximately half of the subscribers to Sirius (SIRI) satellite radio originally came though new car sales. That channel accounted for about 80% of sales last quarter. With US car sales down 30% last month, Sirius shareholders have another reason to worry about whether the company will survived.
Operating losses and crushing debt already threaten the firm’s future.
Once it became clear that The Department of Justice would take dim view of Google (GOOG) selling search advertising for Yahoo! (YHOO) under a 10-year partnership, it looked as though the proposed deal would just fall apart.
Yahoo! would have significantly benefited from the arrangement. Google’s search mechanism works better than Yahoo!’s and yields higher ad revenue. But, with Google holding 65% of the US search market and Yahoo! holding 20%, it looked like an antitrust problem from the start. Advertisers assumed that the marriage would cause rates to rise, and they were almost certainly right.
Coldwater Creek Inc. (NASDAQ: CWTR) has issued an earnings warning after the close of trading. Its preliminary third quarter results show sales of approximately $225 million. But that is only the start of it. On a same store sales basis, this represents a decline expected to be in the "low-twenties" on a percentage basis.
McKesson (MCK) Sales slowdown and downgrade. Drops to $35.81 from 52-week high of $68.43.
Verasun Energy (VSE) Chapter 11. Sells down to $.20 from 52-week high of $17.75.
Atricure (ATRC) Department of Justice probe. Roth Capital downgrade. The daily double. Drops to $3 from 52-week high of $14.38.
Candela (CLZR) Looking at strategic alternatives and posted poor earnings.
Douglas A. McIntyre
It was no secret that US auto sales were going to be down the drain. Frankly, it is hard to find many who really expect any sudden recovery. The election on Tuesday and lower gas prices are not believed to have any material impact in the sector either. It is almost starting to look like a beauty contest for nursing home residents. There is just no way to make these companies look pretty.
GM’s (GM) stock can no longer be viewed as equity in the sense that it would be at most companies. It does trade on the NYSE, at an average volume of 28 million shares a day. But, at less than $6 a share, the value of the transactions from market open to market close are tiny.
GM shares now trade at a remarkably low 2% of annual revenue.
As the largest car company in the US reported at 45% drop in sales for October, GM’s stock barely moved at all which would seem to be puzzling.
There is another blockbuster gaming event this week on November 7: the release of "Gears of War 2 " The game published by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Game Studio’s unit and developed by Epic Games Inc. comes on the heels of the original "Gears of War" which sold more than 5 million copies.
While the figures are going to be hard to compare, this looks like ithas a shot at being one of the top video game releases of this year.
Today’s financial news headlines and stories are about how Circuit City (CC) is closing 155 stores in the hope of staying in business.
The real story is in the fine print. Based on the current retail environment CC is unlikely to make it to 2009 without filing Chapter 11. The company’s shares may be up 57% today, but they still only trade at $.40.
CNBC interviewed remarkably pompous Michael O’Leary, CEO of European discount airline Ryanair.
O’Leary described why a recession is great for the economy. He called other airlines "rubbish" and explains how he is ruining British Airways. Odds are that BA will be in business longer than he will.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is set to report earnings after the close of trading on Wednesday. While many technology, telecom, and networking companies have grown more cautious, it is almost impossible not to notice that the earnings estimates for the networking behemoth have only come down marginally.
Sachi Gerlitz, the CEO of Ness Techologies (NSTC), is remarkably well paid for doing a less than modest job of getting shareholders results.
According to the NSTC proxy he made $903,000 last year in total compensation.
Today, Ness missed its numbers, coming in below estimates for both revenue and EPS. That drove the stock down 20% to $5.64, a 52-week low against its period high of $13.
Douglas A. McIntyre
"Dana Holdings Corporation Sharpens Focus On Leadership Roles"
"Dana Holding Corporation (DAN )today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed John Devine to the expanded role of chairman and CEO, and named Gary Convis vice chairman."
"Convis, who has served as CEO since April, retains executive oversight of the manufacturing-oriented programs he has rolled out across Dana’s global operations."
In other words, Convis got demoted, but Dana does not want to come right out and say it.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Back in September, Sierra Pacific Resources (NYSE:SRP) changed the names of both its utility companies to NV Energy. That didn’t do much to help its third-quarter earnings, which the company reported before the market opened this morning. Sierra reported EPS of $0.64 and revenue of $1.19 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $0.63 EPS and revenues of $1.27 billion.
This is a story about that rare thing these days: a company with a stock price higher today than it was a year ago. Unfortunately, that may change following today’s release of third quarter earnings from Nicor (NYSE:GAS).
These are some of the top pre-market upgrades from analysts which we have seen in the early hours this Monday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
November 3, 2008
These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades we have seen with more than two hours to the open this Monday morning:
Jon C. Ogg
November 3, 2008
The final shoe to fall in the global recession is China. It is a large enough supplier of goods to the entire civilized world and much of the world which is not civilized that it might dodge a recession. How could the entire globe hit a slowdown all at once and hit China in the head?
China was supposed to be the one financial shinning light on the Earth with its 10% GDP growth and relatively modest inflation, at least for a large economy expanding at a tremendous rate.
If memory serves, commodities prices were too expensive at mid-year. Corn was too high for ethanol companies to make money. One of the largest, Verasun (VSE), just went bankrupt. Oil prices were so high that people could not drive and would not buy new or used cars.
The agricultural products used to make most food jumped up so much that the normal consumer could not get a loaf of bread for under $50.
Apparently, all of that has changed.
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