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M&A Watch: Southwest & AirTran, Cracks Versus Merger (LUV, AAI)

Administrator — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:08:26 +0000

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) has taken a bit of a blow to its safety reputation after this last weekend. A few hundred flight cancellations are one thing, but a hole ripping open during flight is probably enough to make many travelers just want to stay home.

There is a silver-lining to this story. After the review of the planes, the same cracks were found only in five other 737-300 airplanes made by Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA). Those are due to stress from pressurization and depressurization as planes have to pressurize their airplane flight cabins so that we humans can keep breathing.

Perhaps the biggest issue for shareholders right now, feelings and emotions aside, is this pending acquisition of AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI). This merger is almost certainly safe. We have a projected Q2-2011 closing and the good news about Southwest here today is that this happened right at the start of the quarter rather than in the last month.

Southwest shares were above $12.80 on Friday and they dipped as low as under $12.30 on Monday. Even today, the shares are challenging $12.40. AirTran shares have hardly budged. The original deal came to $7.69 per AirTran share, and that was broken down as $3.75 per share in cash and the balance was in stock with 0.321 per share worth of Southwest stock. That puts the current buyout price at $7.73 in a static line if the deal closed today and AirTran shares are now at $7.44.

Having a hole rip open in your airplane is scary. The only good news that can be offered up with a straight face is that thankfully this was not an actual plane crash. Southwest still has one of the best safety records. This AirTran acquisition is going to deviate the company’s traditional ONE-PLANE MODEL ONLY business model. That may generate some headaches, but the move is still one which can be managed. Some carriers have more than ten types of airplanes in the fleets.

Unless there is some hidden turmoil that has not been disclosed, Southwest will recover from this latest challenge. That means that AirTran holders will become Southwest shareholders if they choose to. AirTran was under $4.50 when the buyout was announced versus $7.44 today. The spread still seems a tad wide, but that is often the case in cash and stock deals as arbitrage players have a bit more to consider versus straight cash or straight stock mergers.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Airlines, Mergers and Buy Outs, Transports Tagged: AAI, LUV

A Three-Year Look At Airlines

247wallst — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:37:56 +0000

Three-Year History of Ten Key Metrics for Major US Airlines:

(For this analysis United/Continental data is pro forma)

Operating Revenue (total of eight airlines)

2008 = $126.2 billion

2009 = $106.7 billion

2010 = $122.2 billion

When comparing 2010 with 2009, every airline had an increase in operating revenue. In general, the larger the airline, the larger the increase in revenue.

Operating Income/Loss and Margins (total of eight airlines)

2008 = -$4.33 billion

2009 = +$662 million

2010 = +$8.54 billion

Operating income is the difference between total operating revenue and operating expenses. Note: For this analysis, recognized one-time and special charges were removed from operating expenses.

2010 was the first year since 2007 that every airline had positive operating income. Delta had the highest operating income at $3 billion.

Southwest and JetBlue were the only two airlines to have positive operating income for the last three years.

Net Long-Term Debt (total of eight airlines)

2008 = $32.08 billion (25.4% of total operating revenue)

2009 = $30.07 billion (28.2% of total operating revenue)

2010 = $22.02 billion (18.0% of total operating revenue)

2010 Net Long-Term Debt compared to year 2009, was reduced significantly for the largest airlines. As a ratio of total operating revenue, Net LT Debt for the industry decreased by 36% over year 2009. For this analysis, Net Long-Term Debt is LT-Debt less current maturities plus capital leases less cash and equivalents.

Cash Liquidity (total of eight airlines)

2008 = $17.3 billion (13.2% of total operating expenses)

2009 = $21.9 billion (20.7% of total operating expenses)

2010 = $24.8 billion (21.8% of total operating expenses)

Cash liquidity for 2010 compared with 2009 increased significantly for United and Southwest and decreased significantly for JetBlue and Air Tran. For this analysis, cash includes unrestricted cash and short-term investments.

Stock Market Capitalization (total of eight airlines)

2008 = $25.1 billion (Q4 median)

2009 = $25 billion (Q4 median)

2010 = $38.4 billion (Q4 median)

Market capitalization is the Q4 median stock-share price times the outstanding shares. Delta, Southwest and United have significantly higher market caps than all of the other airlines. Every airline had a 2010 year-over-year increase in market cap.

Market Share of Passenger Miles (total of eight airlines, includes regional affiliates)

2008 = 768.6 billion passenger miles

2009 = 730.7 billion passenger miles

2010 = 756.3 billion passenger miles

Each airline’s percentage of 2010 passenger traffic was little changed when compared with 2009.

Regional Affiliate Impact to Market Share (total of five airlines)

2008 = 68.8 billion (regional affiliate passenger miles)

2009 = 69 billion (regional affiliate passenger miles)

2010 = 72.8 billion (regional affiliate passenger miles)

There was very little year-over-year change in total regional/affiliate passenger traffic miles.

For 2010, excluding American, the other four airlines with regional/affiliate partners all increased net market share after including their regional/affiliate traffic.

EBITDAR and Margin (total of eight airlines)

2008 = $5.5 billion

2009 = $9.7 billion

2010 = $16.9 billion

EBITDAR is a recognized financial term used to measure a corporation’s operating earnings before including interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and aircraft rent. The chart above shows the EBITDAR ratio of operating revenue for each airline.

Delta and American were the only two airlines to increase EBITDAR margins over 2009.

Interest Expense (total of eight airlines)

2008 = $2.48 billion

2009 = $3.16 billion

2010 = $3.50 billion

Interest expense has increased each of the last three years for the large legacy carriers.

Advance Ticket Sales – (total of eight airlines)-

2008 = $16.3 billion (14.4% of 2008 passenger revenue)

2009 = $15.9 billion (16.8% of 2009 passenger revenue)

2010 = $17.5 billion (16.3% of 2010 passenger revenue)

Each quarter, airlines report the amount of passenger revenue collected for future travel (ATL). The following chart shows each airline’s Air Traffic Liability as a percentage of the previous 12 months’ passenger revenue. For this analysis, FF miles expected to be used in the next 12 months may be included as ATL.

Year ending 2010 data suggests the larger legacy airlines have higher future passenger bookings than the smaller carriers. Strong advance bookings should push air fare yields and revenues higher in 2011 than they were in 2010.

Conclusion- For year 2011, it is the opinion of AirlineFinancials.com that all airlines noted above will see double digit year-over-year increases in top line revenues.

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Disclosure- The above opinions and comments should not be used to determine the worth of any stock or investment.

Filed under: Airlines, General Tagged: AAI, AMR, DAL, JBLU, LCC, LUV

Weather, Fuel Costs Continue to Batter Airlines (AMR, UAL, JBLU, LCC, ALK, DAL, LUV, AAI, RJET)

247wallst — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 14:40:37 +0000

The month of December was not so hot for international air carriers. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), air traffic demand growth fell by -2.3% month-over-month, from 8.2% growth in November to 4.9% growth in December, with about -1% of the drop attributable to severe weather in Europe and North America. Going forward, though, the major concern is fuel prices, which are rising fast.

But first, the weather, which is continuing to play havoc with air travel into February, as a majestic winter storm is pounding the US from Nebraska to Maine, forcing the cancellation of more than 3,900 flights so far today. More than 20% of US flights were canceled yesterday.

Add to canceled flights the rising cost of jet fuel, and the airlines could be struggling for a while yet. Airline fare-comparison website farecompare.com reports that American Airlines, owned by AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), raised its roundtrip fuel surcharge by $4-$10 on most of its domestic routes, and United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) added a $6 roundtrip fuel charge to a “significant number” of its domestic routes.

JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) added a fuel surcharge to flights from the US to Puerto Rico and other Caribbean destinations of $70-$90 roundtrip, while American boosted prices on flights to Hawaii and Canada. US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) and Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE: ALK) have matched American’s hikes on some routes, and Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) has matched fares on “a smattering” of routes. Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE:AAI), and Frontier Airlines, a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: RJET) have not raised fares yet.

The IATA report notes a sharp rise in oil prices in December, and is waffling on its earlier prediction that 2011 would be a second consecutive year of profitability for the airlines, even though profits would fall from about $12.7 billion to $9.1 billion. The estimate was based on an oil price of $84/barrel. That price may turn out to have been wishful thinking.

Every $1/barrel rise in the price of oil translates to an additional $1.6 billion in costs for the airlines, according to the IATA. At about $91/barrel for WTI, airline costs will rise by $11.2 billion, essentially wiping out the predicted $9.1 billion in 2011 profits. Unless the airlines raise ticket prices or add more fuel surcharges. Of course either of those price actions could lower passenger numbers, making the profit outlook for airlines even dimmer in 2011.

For now, it seems that many of the major US carriers are cautiously adding modest surcharges or raising fares slightly to stay ahead of rising oil prices. If prices decline, the air carriers may leave the hikes in place for a while to try to make up some lost profits. If oil prices continue to rise, the fares and fuel surcharges will have to rise too, but not too much.

The weather will change, and so will the price of oil. One will get better and the other is likely to get worse. The short-term weather effects won’t help US air carriers, but the long-term effects of rising oil prices are significantly worse.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: General Tagged: AAI, ALK, AMR, DAL, JBLU, LCC, LUV, RJET, UAL

Another Year Of Big Profit For Airlines

247wallst — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 10:11:20 +0000

AirlineFinancials.com estimates the eight largest US airlines, starting this week, will collectively report $3.95 billion in profits from $122.2 billion in revenues for 2010. The average net profit margin is projected at 3.3%.

Assuming these projections are somewhat accurate, this would be the highest annual profit in over ten years and the 2^nd highest annual revenue ever reported.

For this report, the eight largest airlines are: Delta (DAL), American (AMR), United (UAL), US Airways (LCC), Southwest (LUV), JetBlue (JBLU), Alaska (ALK), and Air Tran (AAI). Note: United and Continental merged at the end of the 3^rd quarter.

Year 2010 highlights (based on AirlineFinancials.com estimates):

First time in over ten years the airline industry will have a profit in the 4^th quarter.

First time in over ten years the airline industry will have three consecutive profitable quarters.

All of the airlines noted above except for American, will report profits for year 2010 and the 4^th quarter.

Look-back reality:

Including 2010, only three of the last ten years were profitable for the airline industry.

Since 2001, the eight airlines noted in this report accumulated over $35 billion in net losses.

For year 2010, the most profitable year in the last decade for the airline industry, on average, only three of every 100 passengers made up the profits.

The following charts provide year 2010 and 4^th quarter revenue, profit, and margin estimates for each airline.

As airlines report their profits over the next two weeks, there will be a lot of media and political attention given to the industry profits. What will get lost in the rhetoric is that US airlines are not a public mass transit system.

Having a stable, safe, and efficient airline industry requires a balance between the cost to fly and acceptance that airlines are in business to make profits for their investors.

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Disclosure- The above opinions and comments should not be used to determine the worth of any stock or investment. At the time of writing, the author and his family did not hold stock and/or derivative positions in any of the airlines covered in this article.

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Robert Herbst is an independent airline industry consultant. He is the founder of AirlineFinancials.com which provides airline industry analysis and commentary for major US carriers. In addition to his consulting work, Mr. Herbst was a commercial airline pilot for over 35 years. His aviation experience and financial background provide a unique analytical perspective into the airline industry.

Filed under: Airlines Tagged: AAI, ALK, AMR, DAL, JBLU, LCC, LUV, UAL

Best Airline Stock for 2011 (DAL, UAL, AMR, LUV, AAI, LCC, JBLU, ALK)

Administrator — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 16:32:55 +0000

The year just passed has been a good one for US air carriers. For the first time in several years, virtually every carrier earned a profit and airline stocks posted gains ranging from a few percent to more than 100%.

The generally good year could be partially attributed to an improving US economy that encouraged more people to travel by air. Another part of the increase was due to the increased revenue from each passenger, due mostly to new fees and charges for services that the airlines once offered at no charge. And while some passengers may complain about the nickel-and-dime approach, the fees for checked bags and snacks kept the headline price of tickets low, attracting more passengers who are now being trained to expect less and like it.

Major US airlines like Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) and United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL) both posted solid gains in 2010. AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), parent of American Airlines, continued to struggle, finally turning a profit in its September quarter. Regional carrier Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), which expects to complete its $1.4 billion acquisition of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI) in the second quarter of 2011, posted a share price gain of almost 20% for the year. Other regional airlines, US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC), JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU), and Alaska Air Group, Inc. (NYSE: ALK), saw even better share price gains.

Here’s a short table showing the tickers, the current price, the mean target price from Thomson Reuters, the implied upside to that target, and the 52-week trading range. We’ll have some comments on these companies following the chart.

Stock	Current	Target	Implied Gain	52-week Range
DAL	12.60	17.27	37.06%	9.60 – 14.94
UAL	23.82	36.45	53.02%	12.13 – 29.75
AMR	7.79	10.59	35.94%	5.86 – 10.50
LUV	12.98	15.98	23.11%	10.42 – 14.32
LCC	10.01	14.00	39.86%	4.47 – 12.26
JBLU	6.61	8.13	23.00%	4.64 – 7.60
ALK	56.69	65.73	15.95%	31.24 – 59.59

Filed under: Airlines, Annual Report, Transports Tagged: AAI, ALK, AMR, DAL, JBLU, LCC, LUV, UAL

Airlines Are Getting Better (DAL, LUV, UAL, AMR, ALK, JBLU, LCC, AAI, SKYW, HA)

Administrator — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 21:28:18 +0000

How much are US air travelers willing to put up with from the airlines? The short answer is probably, “A lot,” because, after all, we don’t have a lot of choices. Business travelers are often locked into one or two airlines because their companies have deals with those carriers. Occasional travelers could be signed up with one or two airlines’ frequent flyer or other reward programs. And some live far enough out in the wilderness, that choice is dictated by which airlines serve the nearest airport.

All that aside, let’s look at on-time rankings and percentage for the first 10 months of 2010, as reported by the US Department of Transportation for the 10 largest publicly traded US carriers as measured by market cap. We’ll also list overbookings per 10,000 passengers (DBs) for the first nine months of 2010 and mishandled baggage reports per 1,000 passengers for the month of October 2010.

The ten companies we’ll chart are Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV), United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL), AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK), JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU), US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC), AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: AAI), SkyWest Inc. (NYSE: SKYW), and Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: HA).

As a whole, the airlines industry got less than 1 complaint of any kind for every 100,000 travelers during the month of October. It’s worth pointing out that only complaints filed with the US Department of Transportation show up in the statistics though. Travelers who complain only to the airlines are not included in this count.

AIRLINE	MKT CAP	OnTimeRank	OnTime%	DBs/Rank	Bag/Rank
Delta	10.6B	14	78.2	0.45/4	2.8/8
Southwest	9.5B	8	81	1.41/12	2.86/10
United	8.6B	3	84.8	1.35/11	2.42/6
American	2.6B	13	79.2	0.90/9	2.84/9
Alaska	2.1B	2	88.3	1.21/10	2.52/7
JetBlue	2.0B	16	77.2	0.01/1	2.11/2
US Air	1.8B	4	82.9	1.85/13	2.15/4
AirTran	1.0B	9	80.8	0.43/3	1.41/1
SkyWest	916M	10	80.4	0.74/7	3.67/13
Hawaiian	392M	1	92.4	0.05/2	3.2/11

For comparison, the Transportation Safety Administration reported that it received 317 complaints related to customer courtesy in October. The agency also received 196 damaged baggage claims in October. That’s on a base of 55 million passengers with 44 million checked bags. Given the new screening procedures, those numbers are likely to go up in November and December.

Being bumped from flights is almost entirely a thing of the past since new limits on required payments to passengers were installed. And now that most airlines charge to check baggage, passengers don’t check as many bags and the airlines don’t lose as many.

Our takeaway on all this: fly Hawaiian Airlines at every opportunity, but don’t check any bags. Aloha.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Airlines, Transports Tagged: AAI, ALK, AMR, DAL, HA, JBLU, LCC, LUV, SKYW, UAL

Airlines Will Have Record Profits For The Third Quarter

247wallst — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 08:55:56 +0000

AirlineFinancials.com estimates the nine largest US airlines, starting next week, will collectively report $2.4 billion in profits from $33.3 billion in revenues. The average net profit margin is 7.2%.

Assuming these projections are somewhat accurate, they would be an all time record profit and the 2^nd highest revenue for any 3^rd quarter.

For this report, the nine largest airlines are: Delta (NYSE: DAL), American (NYSE: AMR), United (NYSE: CAL), US Airways (NYSE: LCC), Southwest (NYSE: LUV), JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU), Alaska (NYSE: ALK), and Air Tran (NYSE: AAI). Note: United and Continental merged at the end of the 3^rd quarter.

3^rd quarter 2010 highlights (based on AirlineFinancials.com estimates):

First 3^rd quarter since 2007 that all nine airlines will report profits.

First time since 2007 all nine airlines will have two consecutive profitable quarters.

Delta, Continental, US Airways, Southwest, Jet Blue, and Alaska will report record high 3^rd quarter profits.

Southwest, JetBlue, Alaska, and Air Tran will report record high 3^rd quarter revenues.

The estimated 7.2% average 3^rd quarter profit margin would be the highest margin for at least the last 15 years.

Look-back reality:

Over the last decade, 2007 was the only other year the airline industry had a 3^rd quarter profit.

Note: The 2^nd and 3^rd quarters are typically the best for the airline industry.

Since 2000, the nine airlines noted in this report accumulated over $2.4 billion in losses for 2001, 2002, 2005, and 2008.

After accounting for the $2.4 billion profit for the 3^rd quarter 2010, the nine airlines noted here have accumulated $8.7 billion in Q3 losses since 2000.

The following chart provides 3^rd quarter 2010 estimates for each airline.

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Filed under: Airlines, Analyst Calls, Earnings Tagged: AAI, ALK, AMR, CAL, DAL, JBLU, LCC

Airline Sector Review: Post UAL-Continental and Southwest-AirTran (UAL, AMR, LUV, AAI, JBLU, LCC, DAL, SKYW, XJT, FAA)

Administrator — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:12:31 +0000

Today marks the game-changing merger of Continental and United and the two are one as United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL). America’s new #1 airline will have a long integration ahead of itself. Our readers determined after the merger was announced that this was good for investors and bad for consumers, an indication that things at the Department of Justice and/or the Federal Trade Commission are the same for rubber-stamping mergers as they have been in the last decade. What we wanted to do was review how this merger will impact the airline sector where AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) fends for itself, how the Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) and AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) will play in, and how this will impact JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU), US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC), Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL), and more. There is also ExpressJet Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: XJT) merging with SkyWest, Inc. (NASDAQ: SKYW) and you can expect a consolidation of membership in carriers in the Claymore/NYSE Arca Airline (NYSE: FAA) ETF from all of these mergers.

United Continental Holdings Inc. (NYSE: UAL) will be based in Chicago rather than Houston and the combined trailing 12-month revenues from June would have been $31.4 billion. The new United and its affiliates will operate 5,800 flights a day to 371 airports, with hubs in Chicago, Cleveland, L.A., Denver, Guam, Houston, Newark, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. The new company has approximately $9 billion of unrestricted cash and the merger is expected to deliver $1 billion to $1.2 billion of annual cost and revenue benefits by 2013. We are still awaiting a finite airplane count expectation ahead.

Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced just this week that it was acquiring AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) in a move to increase it regional footprint. For Southwest to enter new markets like Atlanta, Reagan (D.C.) and Laguardia (NYC), as well as many other airports in the U.S., an acquisition was the only way to grow beyond organic expansion because capacity constraints are there as gates are just full. This is a break away from the one-plane model because of adding some smaller jets, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out in that sense. Southwest shares were at $12.28 on September 24, 2010 and now shares are trading above $13.00 versus a 52-week range of $8.10 to $14.16.

AirTran revenues and operating income, excluding special items, for the twelve months ending June 30, 2010, were $2.5 billion and $128 million, respectively. Southwest Airlines revenues and operating income, excluding special items, for the twelve months ending June 30, 2010, were $11.2 billion and $843 million, respectively. Based on current operations, the combined organization would have nearly 43,000 Employees and serve over 100 million customers annually in over 100 different airports. The combined fleet consists of 685 active aircraft: 401 Boeing 737-700s, 173 Boeing 737-300s, 25 Boeing 737-500s, and 86 Boeing 717s, with an average age of approximately 10 years.

AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) has still gone at it alone and has been left out of mergers. Whether this new merger closure makes the company want to look for an acquisition is an unknown, as there have been reports that it would buy where it could AND that it was going to stay focused on its own model. American Airlines, along with American Eagle and the American Connection, serves 250 cities in 40 countries with about 3,400 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 900 aircraft. At $6.23 today, AMR’s 52-week trading range is $5.11 to $10.50 and the shares were trading at $6.38 a week ago before the Southwest-AirTran deal.

Filed under: Airlines, Mergers and Buy Outs, Transports Tagged: AAI, AMR, DAL, FAA, JBLU, LCC, LUV, SKYW, UAL, XJT

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AAI, D, ERTS, GBX, INTU, KBH, LVS, LDK, NEM, PHM, SPRD, STP, TSL, YGE)

Administrator — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 11:58:52 +0000

These are some of this Tuesday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen in Wall Street research notes:

AirTran Holdings (NYSE: AAI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Neutral at UBS; Cut to Market Perform at Avondale.
Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE: D) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) Maintained Buy but cut target to $21 at Kaufman Bros.
Greenbrier Companies (NYSE: GBX) Raised to Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $52 at Oppenheimer.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Raised to Hold at KeyBanc.
LDK Solar Co., Ltd. (NYSE: LDK) Cut to Underweight at HSBC.
Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
PulteGroup (NYSE: PHM) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Spreadtrum Communications (NASDAQ: SPRD) Cut to Hold at Auriga.
SunTech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STP) Cut to Neutral at HSBC.
Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) Cut to Underweight at HSBC.
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) Cut to Underweight at HSBC.

You can join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about dividend trends, analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: General Tagged: AAI, D, ERTS, GBX, INTU, KBH, LDK, LVS, NEM, PHM, SPRD, STP, TSL, YGE

Media Digest (9/28/2010) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

247wallst — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 08:00:32 +0000

Reuters: US businesses fear a fight over the yuan will cause a trade disaster.

Reuters: The US will test a cyber-blitz response plan.

Reuters: JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) may go to the FDIC for Washington Mutual claims.

Reuters: Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) released it Playbook tablet to compete with the Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad.

Reuters: Facebook will probably have an IPO after late 2012.

Reuters: Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) will launch a line of consumer products.

Reuters: Southwest (NYSE: LUV) will buy AirTran (NYSE: AAI) to get its East Coast routes.

Reuters: American International Group (NYSE: AIG) is closer to a plan to get money back to taxpayers.

Reuters: NBC Universal will launch a $5.1 billion debt sale.

WSJ: Authors are being pinched by e-book fees.

WSJ: The Fed may begin the purchase of more securities.

WSJ: The FDIC has not instituted a plan to handle the failure of large firms like Lehman.

WSJ: AOL (NYSE: AOL) may buy the TechCrunch blog.

WSJ: Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) has decided to freeze hiring in some portions of the bank.

WSJ: The EU will end an antitrust probe against Apple.

WSJ: Voters have begun to focus on rising state and local taxes as they begin to vote in November.

WSJ: GE (NYSE: GE) will go into business Harbin Power to build wind turbines.

WSJ: A Southwest buyout of AirTran would help put price pressure on Boeing (NYSE: BA)

WSJ: SAP’s web-based services are faltering.

WSJ: Nestle will introduce more food targeted at those who are health conscious

WSJ: Dubai may return to the debt markets after a near-default.

WSJ: Brazil Finance Minister Guido Mantega said a worldwide currency trade war has begun.

WSJ: The Treasury will sell $50 billion in new paper.

NYT: The GAO says the presence of women in the workforce as not improved.

NYT: South Carolina will created a new company to oversee its private equity holdings.

FT: The IMF said its supports the UK austerity plan.

FT: Several downgrades have made risky bank bonds harder to sell.

Bloomberg: PSA Peugeot Citroen will launch a diesel-electric car.

Bloomberg: The chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai says China may retaliate over pressure on the yuan.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Filed under: Press Digest Tagged: AAI, AAPL, AIG, AOL, BA, CSCO, GE, JPM, LUV, MS, RIMM