Posts for Ticker ‘AN’

The Federal Government In the Car Loan Business

carThe federal government is highly active in getting banks to reset loans for people who want to stay in their homes by improving the terms of their monthly payments. The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan has had mixed success, but it has helped keep tens of thousands of people in their homes. It might be said that keeping even one person from being thrown out into the cold is worthwhile, although the Administration’s entire home foreclosure program is a $75 billion multi-purpose plan designed to help as many as nine million borrowers suffering from falling home prices and unaffordable monthly payments. That is an expensive program to help what may be a modest number of people with their mortgages Read More »

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 5:11 am in Autos, Economy, Editor's Picks,

Bill Gates Goes Deeper Into Autos (AN, MSFT, KMX, BRK-A)

Bill Gates ImageWe noted just last week that Bill Gates was getting more entrenched in the waste disposal sector.  It turns out that Mr. Gates is getting deeper into the auto-retailing sector as well.  In an SEC filing after the closing bell, Gates added some 500,000 shares to his stake of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN).  His Cascade Investment LLC investment vehicle bought 483,800 at a weighted average price of $17.608 and bought another 16,200 shares at a weighted average price of $18.217.  Both transaction dates took place on October 29, 2009.
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Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 5:23 pm in Activist Investor, Autos, Buffett, Insider Activity, , , ,

Bill Gates Top Holdings (ABT, AN, BRK-A, BP, CNI, CAT, KO, COST, CCI, EK, XOM, FMX, JNJ, MCD, OTTR, RSG, SGP, WMT, WMI)

bill-gates-imageWe compiled a list of the equity holdings of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for Bill Gates’ personal investment vehicle Cascade Investment.  These are as of December 31, 2008 and we have taken out the positions listed as under $50 million to make this list easier to read.  This list also excludes the massive holdings in Microsoft (MSFT).
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Posted on: February 17, 2009 – 8:48 am in Activist Investor, Insider Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Stating The Obvious: No Credit, No Car Sales

Batmobile512Michael Jackson, the CEO of Auto Nation (AN) has been around the car industry for decades. He got started as an auto dealer in 1979 and ran the North American operations of Mercedes-Benz.

Jackson stated the obvious yesterday, but it is an obvious which cannot be stated enough.

Read More »

Posted on: December 20, 2008 – 7:21 am in Autos,

Bill Gates & Cascade New Stock Holdings (AN, BRK-A, CNI, KOF, FSCI, FMX, GBL, TV, OTTR, PCX, LGBT, PNM, RSG, SIX, BEE)

These are the new holdings (sans ETF and sans derivatives) for Bill Gates’ CASDADE INVESTMENT LLC As of September 30, 2008:

  • AUTONATION (NYSE: AN)                                5,263,588
  • BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY (NYSE: BRK-A)         4,050
  • CANADIAN NATL RY (NYSE: CNI)                     33,859,544
  • COCA COLA FEMSA S A B (NYSE: KOF)         857,128
  • FISHER COMMUNICATIONS (NASDAQ: FSCI)  455,700
  • FOMENTO ECONOMICO (NYSE: FMX)             20,966,795
  • GAMCO INVESTORS (NYSE: GBL)                  90,845
  • GRUPO TELEVISA SA (NYSE: TV)                  19,680,400
  • OTTER TAIL (NASDAQ: OTTR)                         2,556,499
  • PATRIOT COAL (NYSE: PCX)                          2,408,653
  • PLANETOUT (NASDAQ: LGBT)                        521,739
  • PNM RESOURCES (NYSE: PNM)                    7,019,550
  • REPUBLIC SERVICES (NYSE: RSG)               34,873,836
  • SIX FLAGS (NYSE: SIX)                                   10,210,600
  • STRATEGIC HOTELS & RESORT (NYSE: BEE) 4,190,000

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Jon C. Ogg
November 14, 2008

Posted on: November 14, 2008 – 4:35 pm in Activist Investor, Insider Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Companies Hit Hardest By Credit Crisis (AAPL)(SIRI)(CC)(DIS)(WMT)(MCD)

Updated: 31 October 2008

Angrybear_2Not all companies and industries will be hit equally hard by the consumer credit crisis. Operations such as Procter & Gamble (PG), McDonald’s (MCD), and Wal-Mart (WMT) may be safe. They either sell things people can’t do without or offer inexpensive goods and services that consumers can afford during a tough period. McDonald’s reported earnings today and its same-store sales were up in every region.The stock traded up on a day when the overall market was swamped by selling.

If the credit crisis gets substantially worse and only the most stable companies with the highest credit ratings have access to cash, some will not be able to maintain inventory. Other firms will be affected because their target consumers no longer have any discretionary income. The head of AutoNation (AN), the largest car dealer chain in the US, said that even his prime customers cannot get bank loans for new cars in many cases. "The banks are looking for every excuse possible to say no and they are saying no to good customers," Reuters quotes him as saying.

Neither set of companies has a bright future, but the ones who cannot finance their operations and inventories face almost immediate consequences

Read More »

Posted on: October 2, 2008 – 8:01 pm in Economy, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CarMax & AutoNation Enter Hall of Shame (AN, KMX)

After perusing the daily 52-week lows, there were two names that make perfect sense on the list if the consumer is slowing and if auto sales (new and used) are heading south: CarMax (NYSE:KMX) and AutoNation (NYSE:AN). 

Just last week CarMax came clean and lowered its prior guidance of $1.03 to $1.14 EPS down to a newer $0.92 to $0.98 EPS.  Its shares got hit last week on this by well over 10%, and shares are lower again today by more than 2%.  Shares are at $20.39, but this is above the lows of the day and slightly back above the $20.33 52-week lows.

AutoNation’s CEO said at the end of August that the FOMC would need to cut rates multiple times to save the economy, and a couple weeks before that in mid-August Goldman Sachs cut its rating from an already unpleasant "Neutral" to an outright dreaded "Sell" rating as it believed an earnings miss was possible.  AutoNation shares are down almost 3% at $17.10 today, and that is under the $17.42 prior 52-week low.

But here are the issues running oil alone:

You’d think at some point this gets adequately factored into the market.  But that is the efficient market theory, and everyone knows by now with homebuilders on the 52-week lows day in and day out that markets don’t know how to be efficient.

Many people don’t like George Soros anymore, but he has one great statement that has been far easier to prove than to disprove: "Contrary to the tenets of market fundamentalism, financial markets do not tend towards equilibrium; they are crisis prone."

Jon C. Ogg
September 25, 2007

Posted on: September 25, 2007 – 10:45 am in Autos, HI/LOW, Oil & Gas, ,

Pre-Market Earnings Gappers (July 26, 2007)

(AAPL) Apple traded down initially, but shares are up 7% pre-market after earnings and maintaining 2008 iPhone sales.
(AKAM) Akamai Tech $0.30 EPS vs $0.30 estimate; shares down over 10% pre-market on guidance being in-line and after broker downgrades.
(AN) Auto Nation $0.38 EPS vs $0.42 estimate.
(APA) Apache $1.89 EPS before items vs $1.90.
(ARTG) Art Tech $0.00 EPS vs $0.01 estimate.
(BC) Brunswick $0.65 EPS vs $0.64 estimate.
(BDK) Black & Decker $1.75 EPS versus $1.73 estimate.
(BIDU) Baidu.com posted over 100% growth in earnings and revenues; $0.54 EPS equivalent versus $0.43 estimate; trading up 17% pre-market.
(BZH) Beazer Homes -$0.06 EPS versus -$0.46 estimate, although estimates are all over the place.
(CMCSA) Comcast $0.19 EPS & $7.71 Billion revenues versus $0.19/$7.71B estimates; shares trading down 3% pre-market.
(CMI) Cummins $2.13 EPS versus $1.58 estimate.
(CNX) Consolidated Energy $0.83 EPS vs $0.60 estimate; unsure if comparable.
(COL) Rockwell Collins $0.86 EPS vs $0.83 estimate.
(F) Ford $0.13 EPS versus -$0.36 estimate; unsure if comparable; shares trading up 2% pre-market.
(GT) Goodyear Tire $0.35 EPS vs $0.37 estimate.
(ICE) IntercontinentalExchange $0.85 EPS versus $0.76 estimate.
(IKN) IKON Office $0.23 EPS vs. $0.23 estimate; sees next quarter $0.22 EPS vs $0.23 estimate.
(KEI) Keithly -$0.03 EPS vs -$0.01 estimate.
(KLIC) Kulicke & Soffa $0.08 EPS versus $0.08 estimate; shares down 1% pre-market.
(LLL) L-3 Communications $1.49 EPS versus $1.43 estimates.
(MMM) 3M $1.25 EPS vs $1.18 estimate.
(ODFL) Old Dominion Freight Line $0.57 EPS versus $0.55 estimate.
(PCCC) PC Connection $0.21 EPS versus $0.19 estimate.
(PMTI) Palomar Meed $0.43 EPS vs $0.29 estimates.
(QCOM) Qualcomm $0.55 EPS vs $0.51 estimate; fiscal guidance raised to $1.95 to $1.97 versus prior $1.84 to $1.88 range; shares up 1.5% pre-market.
(QLTI) QLT Inc. $0.08 EPS vs $0.07 estimate.
(RAIL) Freightcar America $0.93 EPS vs $0.92 estimate.
(RCL) Royal Caribbean $0.60 EPS vs $0.60 estimate.
(RTN) Raytheon $0.79 EPS versus $0.68 estimate; unsure if comparable.
(TEN) Tenneco $0.87 EPS vs $0.77 estimate.
(UST) UST Inc. $0.90 EPS vs $0.85 estimate.
(UTEK) Ultratech $0.04 EPS vs -$0.04 estimate.
(WEN) Wendy’s $0.33 EPS vs $0.33 estimate.
(XOM) Exxon Mobil $1.83 EPS vs $1.96 estimate; trading down 2% pre-market.
(XMSR) XM Satellite Radio -$0.45 EPS and $277M revenues versus estimates of -$0.44/$274.75M; added about 338,000 net subscribers; shares down 1.75%.

Jon C. Ogg
July 26, 2007

Posted on: July 26, 2007 – 7:58 am in Earnings, Pre-Market Activity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,