Posts for Ticker ‘AMR’

British Air And Iberia: Airlines Return To The Center Of M&A Stage

airplaneThe rumor that US Air (NYSE:LCC) and American (NYSE:AMR) may merge is not so far-fetched today, or that Southwest (NYSE:LUV) might take over JetBlue (NASDAQ:JBLU).

British Air and Iberia, the flag carriers of the two nations whose fleets met at The Battle of Trafalgar, will merge, creating one of the world’s largest airlines. BA shareholders will control 55% of the new company which will have a market value of $7 billion and total sales of nearly $20 billion. It is noteworthy that just earlier this week, BA said it would fire  4,900 people because of a $485 million loss in the six months that ended on September 30. Read More »

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 5:58 pm in Airlines, Mergers and Buy Outs, , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/11/2009) (AMR)(INTC)(GE)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

11:45 AM EST: Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) may seek to sell its Home & Networking division for about $4.5 billion according to WSJ. -Jon Ogg

American Air (NYSE:AMR) may team with private equity firm TPG to make an investment in Japan Air.  (Bloomberg)

AIG (NYSE:AIG) CEO Robert E. Benmosche may resign. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) plans to release a new programming language called Go that can help computer coders improve efficiency  (CNET)

China may benchmark the yuan against currencies other than the dollar. (CNBC)

Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) may hold a critical edge against the EU in the antitrust battle.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) is in talks to sell its security systems unit to United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) for over $1.5 billion. (FT)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 8:41 am in Rumors, , , , , ,

Private Equity Takes To The Sky

airplaneAmerican Airlines (NYSE:AMR) is competing with Delta (NYSE:DAL) to form a close partnership with financially troubled Japan Air. Both US carriers would like ready access to JAL’s tremendous network of flights around Asia, where air travel is expected to rise rapidly over the next few years.

American got some help in its quest to be JAL’s preferred partner. US private equity firm TPG may be ready to put up several hundred million dollars that could shore up JAL’s faltering financial state. Read More »

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 6:08 am in Airlines, ,

Media Digest 11/11/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NY Times, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were acquited.

Reuters:   Zucker, NBCU’s current CEO, will head the company when Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) buys a majority of the company from GE (NYSE:GE).

Reuters:  Dodd’s super-bank regulator fights a uphil battle in Congress.

Reuters:   Fed officials see an uneven recovery. Read More »

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 4:09 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (9/10/2009) (AMD)(AMR)(LCC)(CLWR)(MOT)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Update 2.52 PM EST:  The antitrust disagreement  between Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and AMD (NYSE:AMD) may be resolved by a private settlement  (MarketWatch)

Updated 12.23 PM EST:  Motorola (NYSE:MOT) may have sold 100,000 Droid the first weekend the handset was on the market  (Bloomberg)

Updated 11.33 AM EST: Huge hedge fund SAC says it has found no improper trades. Media sources has linked the firm to the Galleon insider trading investigation. (Bloomberg)

Updated 8.48 AM EST:  Hedge fund assets could hit $2 trillion worldwide by the end of 2010 (DealBook)

American Air (NYSE:AMR) and US Air (NYSE:LCC) may merge  (TheStreet)

The International Energy Agency may be downplaying the need for greater oil supplies to prevent a market panic.  (CNBC)

AT&T (NYSE:T) is publishing data to undermine Verizon’s (NYSE:VZ) claims about the better quality of its cellular network.

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) AOL unit will lay-off 1,000 people next month. (AllThingsD)

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is not likely to close its media properties.  (Ad Age)

A number of public pensions face bankruptcy. (Forbes)

Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) may use its China business as a template for expansion in India.  (The Deal)

Even after a $1 billion cash infusion 4G WiMax company Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) may need more money from Sprint (NYSE:S) and other partners.  (BreakingViews)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 8:38 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/9/2009) (RAI)(WFC)(NWS)(JAVA)(GE)(S)(CLWR)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Updated at 11.49 AM EST:  Reynolds Americam (NYSE:RAI) may buy Niconovum, a Swedish maker of nicotine gum and mouth sprays (Boomberg)

Updated at 10.12 AM EST: Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) may pay back its TARP funds. (BreakingViews)

Updated at 9.48 AM EST: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NYSE:NWS) may sue the BBC for breach of copyright for “stealing” material from his newspapers. (FT)

It will take a bid of 800 pence to get Cadbury to agree to a Kraft (NYSE:KFT) takeover. The current hostile bid is for 713 pence.  (various)

GE (NYSE:GE) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have agreed to value NBCU at $30 billion  (WSJ)

The EU may approved Oracle’s (NASDAQ:ORCL) buy-out of Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) if it gives up some of its control of the MySQL database software  (BusinesssWeek)

The rally in GE’s (NYSE:GE) stock may not last very long.  (TheStreet)

China may raise fuel prices this week.  (CNBC)

Delta (NYSE:DAL) and American Air (NYSE:AMR) are increasing their pressure on the Japanese government to forge joint ventures with Japan Airlines.  (The Deal)

New collaborative software tools from Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) will put it into direct competition with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)  (CNET)

Sprint (NYSE:S), Intel (NYSE:INTC), and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) may put another $1.5 billion into 4G provider Clearwire  (NASDAQ:CLWR)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 9:04 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Airline Industry Gets Ugly Again As BA Fires 3,000

airplaneBy Douglas A. McIntyre

British Airways lost $485 million for the six months that ended in September. The airline’s CEO Willie Walsh told the BBC that this has been the “most difficult year in the history of British Airways”. BA is planning to cut 3,000 more workers in an attempt to return to profitability, but the firm’s outlook for an improvement in passenger traffic is bleak.

The BA news should not be seen in isolation. After a brief period in which analysts and traders hoped for a full-scale turnaround in the global airlines industry, those sentiments have faded.

Read more…

Posted on: November 6, 2009 – 6:20 am in Airlines,

More Airline Layoffs (LCC, AMR)

Jobless Line PicIf you are often in major airports, it is frankly hard to see how the airline carriers still have pressure compared to six to twelve months ago.  The airports and planes are full to the point that when making reservations there are either only middle seats available or you have to get your seat when you get to the airport.  But this is also because airlines have cut down their capacity.  And with lower capacity comes lower servicing needs.  And less servicing creates more opportunities for airlines to fire workers.  That is what we are seeing from AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) and from US Airways (NYSE: LCC).
Read More »

Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 2:07 pm in Labor & Unions, Transports, ,

Media Digest 10/26/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Corporate directors are on the hot seat over management pay.

Reuters:   The US healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year.

Reuters:   Capmark Financial filed for bankrupcy.

Reuters:   The land dealer advisor resigned from Calpers. Read More »

Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 4:13 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , ,

American (AMR) And Delta (DAL) Back In The Game For JAL Alliance

airplaneSigns are pointing to another bailout of Japan Airlines by the Tokyo-based government. That means the carrier could survive without being broken into pieces.

JAL is still prized for its significant and presumably lucrative routes around Asia. That makes it attractive to US carriers who want a large piece of the business in the fastest growing region in the world.  Several American airlines have tried to create alliances with JAP only to be stymied by its financial troubles. Read More »

Posted on: October 19, 2009 – 5:31 am in Airlines, ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (AMR, ANSW, ABX, CSCO, CAL, CSC, EMC, GG, HOG)

These are this Wednesday’s early upgrades and positive research calls which we have seen out of Wall Street firms this morning:

AMR Corp. (AMR) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Answers Corp. (ANSW) Raised to Buy at Canaccord.
Barrick Gold (ABX) Raised to Overweight at JP Morgan.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Continental Airlines (CAL) Raised to Equal Weight at Barclays.
Computer Sciences (CSC) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
EMC Corp. (EMC) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Goldcorp (GG) Raised to Overweight at JP Morgan.
Harley-Davidson (HOG) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates each morning on analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s and secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG
October 14, 2009

Posted on: October 14, 2009 – 7:41 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

Airline Delays: Southwest (LUV) Crushes Northwest

airplaneSouthwest Air (NYSE:LUV) once again proved why it is the most admired carrier in America. Over 83% of its flights arrived on time in August, the latest month measured by US Department of Transportation.

Northwest, probably still working through an integration with its new owner Delta (NYSE:DAL) posted the worst record for arrivals among big carriers with 74% of its flights getting where they were going. Delta did almost as poorly with a figure below 79%. Read More »

Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 3:16 pm in Airlines, , , , , , ,

Media Digest 10/6/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The pay czar plans to rework employee pay at large banks.

Reuters:   Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) may enter the tech M&A frenzy.

Reuters:   Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) says some Hotmail passwords were exposed.

Reuters:   The US called for rigorous IMF surveillance to spot new investment bubbles. Read More »

Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 3:53 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , ,

The Sucker Rally In Airline Stocks (UAUA)(CAL)(AMR)(LCC)

airplaneTry to balance the conventional wisdom about airline stocks. Audit Integrity has AMR (AMR) and Continental (CAL) on its list of large American companies most likely to go bankrupt. UBS upgraded several carriers to “buy” from “neutral”, and that has shares in AMR, Continental, US Air (LCC), United (UAUA), and Alaska Air (ALK) trading up sharply. United is trading up almost 6% to $9.34.

The UBS issued the upgrades because the carriers have shown that they can raise capital and because ticket prices may have stopped falling. Some of the airlines carry so much debt that bringing in money may be critical to their survivals. Read More »

Posted on: September 25, 2009 – 10:53 am in Airlines, Analyst Calls, , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (AMR, XLNX, ALTR, NTES, PALM, STX)

These are this morning’s top pre-market day trader alert stocks and active trader stock.  We have more detailed data and analysis on historic price, volume, and trends with a link through on each stock at VSInvestor.com:

AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) is holding up rather well considering it boosted its secondary offering size considerably.

Xilinx, Inc. (Nasdaq: XLNX) is soaring enough on its September guidance that it is also lifting Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR).

Netease.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTES) is down on a single block trade of over 437,000 shares.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is holding up rather well considering its juiced up secondary.

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ: STX) is up close to 4% on higher guidance.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for top day trader alerts, analyst upgrades and downgrades, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 23, 2009 – 8:52 am in After-Hours Activity, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , ,

Are CBS (CBS) And Sprint (S) At Risk For Bankruptcy?

bearAudit Integrity, a research firm, has come out with a list of the large American companies which are most likely to go bankrupt in the next year. The data behind the figures seem valid, but some of the companies on the list which include CBS (CBS), Sprint (S), AMD (AMD), and Sirius XM (SIRi) seem improbable candidates.

The corporate communications staffs of these companies and their outside public relation firms will tell their managements to keep quiet and not react. A reaction, they will argue, just makes it look like Audit Integrity knows what it is doing and that there is some validity to their analysis. Audit Integrity is probably counting on that. It will get a lot of exposure for the study and little ,if any, legitimate criticism.

Audit Integrity says its research services support risk management practices that help investors, insurers and others lower risk and improve performance with objective ratings and reports.

Read More »

Posted on: September 18, 2009 – 2:34 pm in Research, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Why is American Airlines Rearranging the Deck Chairs?

airplaneBy Robert Herbst of AirlineFinancials.com

American Airlines (AMR) recent announcement made one thing very clear.
 
–Sorry St Louis, it’s nothing personal it’s just business!–
 
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude St Louis (STL) is the big loser in AMR’s
newest business strategy. Picking the winners will be more of a challenge.
 
Thursday, AMR disclosed the destinations served from St Louis will drop from 39 to
just 9 by next summer. As a side-note, back in 2000, the year prior to AMR’s
acquisition of TWA, there were well over 400 TWA departures to both US
and International destinations. Read More »

Posted on: September 18, 2009 – 4:46 am in Airlines, , , ,

Media Digest 9/18/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   If China opens its financial markets it could cause a huge bubble.

Reuters:   US regulators may ban “flash” trading.

Reuters:   Buffett may control the Kraft (KFT) decision to buy Cadbury.

Reuters:   Palm (PALM) was helped by Pre sales, but the company will sell new stock Read More »

Posted on: September 18, 2009 – 3:55 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (AMR, DRYS, ORCL, RNN, USB, YMI)

These are this Thursday morning’s top pre-market day trader alert and active trader alert stocks moving on unusual trading volume.  We have a link through to more color and analysis on price and volume over at VSInvestor.com on each stock:

AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR) is now up over 20% on very strong volume after the airliner obtained $2.9 billion in new financing.

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) is retaking its bullish proxy status and is up again by almost 4%.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) is trading lower and has now violated its key 50-day moving average that had acted as key support for the last 60 days or more.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: RNN) is surging almost 20% on cancer treatment pact with Teva Pharma…

US Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is not up as much as we would have guessed considering that Rochdale’s Dick Bove raised its rating.

YM BioSciences Inc. (AMEX: YMI) is up almost 20% on an approval for cancer treatment down in Mexico.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG
SEPTEMBER 17, 2009

Posted on: September 17, 2009 – 9:01 am in After-Hours Activity, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , ,

World’s Airlines To Lose $11 Billion In 2009

airplaneThe global airline industry, still staggering from huge losses and bankruptcies late last year caused by oil prices that moved over $140 a barrel, is not doing much better in 2009. Low passenger traffic is the chief culprit, but crude at $70 after a sharp dip early in the year puts on significant addition pressure.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released its new forecast for worldwide airline losses this year and it moved up $2 billion to $11 billion. “The bottom line of this crisis – with combined 2008-9 losses at US$27.8 billion – is larger than the impact of 9/11,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO. Read More »

Posted on: September 16, 2009 – 5:01 am in Airlines, , ,