Posts for Ticker ‘BBY’

Black Friday Gimmicks & Desperation, A Win For Consumers (WMT, BBY, COST, TGT, KSS, GPS, M, JWN, MA, AMZN)

We are right at a week away from the highly awaited Black Friday for 2009’s holiday and Christmas season.  As you likely know, this is THE day that retailers look forward to all year and critically depend upon as an anchor to how each retailer’s full year earnings results turn out.  You may already be tired of Christmas ads and the holidays haven’t even arrived yet.  With over 10% unemployment, a recession-end that doesn’t feel like a recession-end, a very tight discretionary spending budget, and a general lack of consumer confidence, it is no surprise at all that the focus for the Holiday Season in 2009 is one of deals and thrift.

These are not in any particular order, but the promotions have been reviewed at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M), and Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN).  There is also already promotion between MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).  Admittedly, this is just a sampling of major outlets.

What is amazing is just how much of the deal-making is already out before the holiday season starts as retailers key off of each other.  It is almost impossible to avoid thinking how such a promotional Christmas and Holiday Season in 2009 is going to add pressure to margins at almost all the first-line retailers.
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Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 12:54 pm in Apparel, Calendar, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Luxury, Product Review, Retail, , , , , , , , , ,

Soros Fund Holdings

Yesterday Soros Fund Management Filed a 13-F outlining the fund’s long portfolio as of September 30th, 2009.  The total value of the holdings reported in the filing is $6,198,089.  Twenty holdings represented roughly 50% of the value.  Soros Fund Management is a hedge fund management company that invests primarily based on macroeconomic analysis.  It should be noted that the fund’s equity portfolio likely contains significant short positions, which are not reported in 13-F filings.  Some of the positions in the filing may be in place as hedges or part of a multi-part trade, rather than a directional bet.  With that in mind, a glance at this firm’s major holdings provides clues to its macroeconomic outlook.  

Total stakes in Petroleo Brasileo Brasileiro (NYSE: PBR) represent 9.23% of the value of the positions reported in the filing, with just over 13 million shares held.  This is down from by 2.3 million from the fund’s last filing. Read More »

Posted on: November 17, 2009 – 10:52 am in Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sony (SNE) Throws Cold Water On The Holidays

bearSony (NYSE:SNE) expects its holiday sales to be poor. That is terrible news for the consumer electronics and PC industries. Sony is a nearly perfect proxy for those sectors. It sells PCs, video games, TV screens, and digital cameras. Many of Sony’s competitors will have to gird for another harsh holiday selling season, unless the forecast from the big Japanese firm is based on a large drop in market share across most of its businesses.

Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s CEO, was quoted by Reuters as saying “There hasn’t been that turning point that many had hoped for. We are waiting for a signal that hasn’t arrived.” Read More »

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 5:00 am in Consumer Electronics, Retail, Video Games, , , ,

Too Many Apple (AAPL) Stores

appleApple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will have too many retail stores at some point. It will face the “Starbucks problem” of over-building. Starbucks once boasted that it would eventually have 40,000 coffee shops worldwide. It will be lucky to end up with 20,000.

A $3 cup of coffee is not a $1,500 Mac. Apple will reach a ceiling of profitable retail stores at a count much lower than Starbucks.

Apple has 279 stores and is adding to that total at the rate of about 50 per year and that pace is likely to increase. According to CNET, 170 million people visited Apple outlets in the company’s 2009 fiscal year and during that period the company brought in $6.6  billion of its $29.9 billion in revenue through sales at retail. Read More »

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 5:53 am in PC Companies, Retail, , ,

Activision (ATVI) “Call Of Duty” Could Set All-Time Video Game Record

wiiActivision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) is about to release its “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II: video game. Sales are expected to be half a billion dollars in the first week. That would make it the biggest entertainment product release of all time, topping even the most successful blockbuster movies.

According to the LA Times, “Activision is working with retailers to plan more than 10,000 midnight openings in the United States, including most of the 4,300 GameStop stores around the country.” Read More »

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 6:03 am in Video Games, , , ,

24/7 Wall St. TV: McDonald’s (MCD) Consumer Service Lesson: Seconds Count

24/7 WallSt TVMcDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) spends a great deal of its test kitchen time trying to beat the clock. It has occurred to the fast food chain that a customer who expects to wait 30 seconds for a meal may leave after a minute if his food is not ready.  The world’s largest restaurant operator has its own Innovation Center where management works out the kinks of serving food hot and on time. Read More »

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 4:08 am in Food, TV, , , , , , , , ,

Best Buy (BBY) Launches Movie Download Service

Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) wants to join the legion of other firms with branded movie download services, although it is not clear why. A number of media sources say that the program will be announced on November 3rd, and will start operating within a few weeks.

The electronics retailer is turning to Sonic Solutions’ Roxio CinemaNow operation to provide the titles. CinemaNow is one of the original providers of online films and has 20,000 available titles, although the company was never successful. Software embedded in Best Buy’s TVs and other consumer electronics products will enable the service to work.

Read more….

Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 8:15 am in Uncategorized,

Video Game Sales Recover, Sony (SNE) Takes First Place

wiiPrice cuts work. In September, Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) PS3 outsold the Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii for the first time in recent memory.

Industry research firm NPD said that the video game industry which includes both consoles and games, had sales of $1.28 billion in September, up 1% from a year ago. Read More »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 6:09 am in Video Games, , , , ,

Retail Job Picture For Holidays Worsens

AnnThere has been some hope that with a modest recovery from the recession that holiday retail sales would pick up this year. Those hopes appear to be premature. The high levels of unemployment and lack of consumer access to credit may make this Christmas season even worse than last.

The difficulties in the retail sector are going to hurt the jobs market, particularly between now and the end of the year. Read More »

Posted on: September 24, 2009 – 5:50 am in Retail, , , , ,

Media Digest 9/23/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   A dispute over tires is making trade talks among G20 nations difficult.

Reuters:   Bank of America (BAC) will give Congress documents about Merrill.

Reuters:   Th G20 is looking at ways to rebalance the world’s economy.

Reuters:   China and the US are trying to improve UN climate talks. Read More »

Posted on: September 23, 2009 – 4:02 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Amazon (AMZN): All AT&T (T) Phones–A Penny A Piece

appleJeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon (AMZN),  is known for being eccentric, but his new handset offer may be taking that act a bit too far. Every cellphone that operates on the AT&T (T) wireless network is for sale at Amazon.com today for one penny each.

The only product not available at the remarkable price is the Apple (AAPL) iPhone.

The purchase of the phone has to be made with a two-year AT&T wireless subscription. The phones also come with free two-day shipping Read More »

Posted on: September 22, 2009 – 1:30 pm in Wireless, , , , , , ,

Wal-Mart (WMT) Is The Next Wal-Mart

WMTThe New York Times has joined a long line of media and analysts who say that Amazon (AMZN) will menace bricks-and-mortar superstore retailers the way that it did the traditional book shops and DVD distributors.

The Times points out the general merchandise sales at Amazon will top sales of media products like movies and music later this year. Amazon has also launched a line of its own private-label consumer electronics. The range of products that the company offers online is matching it burgeoning growth aspirations. Read More »

Posted on: September 21, 2009 – 5:55 am in Internet, Retail, , , ,

Media Digest 9/16/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Obama’s move on trade with China makes good on a promise to labor.

Reuters:   Uninsured Americans hope healthcare reform will bring them coverage.

Reuters:   Adobe (ADBE) will buy Omniture for $1.8 billion.

Reuters:   Citigroup (C) is seeing demand from institutional investors. Read More »

Posted on: September 16, 2009 – 4:04 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Day Trader Alerts (BBY, BCRX, C, DNDN, ING, LXRX, YHOO)

These are this morning’s top pre-market day trader alert stocks.  We have more color and more detail on price and volume analysis linked through to each at VSInvestor.com:

Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) is holding up better than many might guess considering how much it has run up. This is after light earnings.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BCRX) is fairly close to 52-week highs after signing three partnerships for Peramivir for influenza outside the U.S.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) is down but only marginally on reports of a ‘possible’ stake sale by The U.S. Government.

Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: (DNDN) is giving back a portion of yesterday’s gains on merger rumors.

ING Group (NYSE: ING) will be an active ADR today after the EU may block a settlement.

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: LXRX) is surging as a top bio-winner after moving to Phase 2 clinical trial of LX4211 in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) is soaring to highs not seen since July on yet another upgrade.

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

JON C. OGG
September 15, 2009

Posted on: September 15, 2009 – 8:57 am in After-Hours Activity, Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , , ,

The Unusual Suspects (GT, CTB, S, DT, LOPE, BBY, ORCL, PALM, GLD, CSX, UNP, RGR)

bull-and-bear-image2We have a whole host of stocks and sectors to watch throughout this coming week.  We have Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: GT) and Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (NYSE: CTB) to watch on some tariff news.  Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will likely be a key mover on Monday on potential merger reports.  Grand Canyon Education Inc. (NASDAQ: LOPE) is supposed to have a secondary offering early this week.  Earnings are coming from Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) and others.  $1,000.00 gold is going to be key for the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD).  CSX Corp. (NYSE: CSX), Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE: UNP), and Sturm, Ruger & Co. Inc. (NYSE: RGR) are all likely suspects to watch for catch-up trading based on news outside of those companies.  More details are provided on each of these.  Stay tuned this week.
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Posted on: September 13, 2009 – 12:27 pm in Autos, Calendar, Commodities, Earnings, Editor's Picks, Mergers and Buy Outs, Politics, Regulation, Rumors, Secondary Offering, Short Interest, The Week, Trading Alert, Transports, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Major Earnings on Deck This Coming Week (ADBE, BBY, KR, ORCL, DFS, FDX, PALM, PIR, JAVA)

bull-and-bear-image2We have a little flurry of key earnings coming this week.  We have provided detailed earnings estimates with Thomson Reuters consensus figures, with our own color for the recent performance, the charts, options, and other critical data when and where it stood out.  The companies covered are Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS), FedEx (NYSE: FDX), Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM), and Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR).
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Posted on: September 12, 2009 – 12:29 pm in Calendar, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Goods, Earnings, Food, Retail, Technology Companies, , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Downgrades (AIG, ALL, BBY, CLX, ERTS, ITT, NWS, SII, TYX, VIP)

These are this Friday morning’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research calls from Wall Street:

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.
Allstate (NYSE:ALL) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Clorox (NYSE: CLX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT) Cut to Equalweight at Barclays.
News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Cut to Underperform at Cowen.
Smith International (NYSE:SII) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Tyco (NYSE: TYC) Cut to Equalweight at Barclays.
VimpelCom (NYSE: VIP) Cut To Hold at RBS.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 11, 2009 – 8:06 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 8/25/2009

newspaperReuters:   Bernanke will be reappointed as Fed chief.

Reuters:   New deficit projects could hurt Obama’s plans.

Reuters:   The SEC and Bank of America (BAC) asked a judge again to approve a deal regarding Merrill Lynch bonuses.

Reuters:   GM is considering keeping Opel. Read More »

Posted on: August 25, 2009 – 3:57 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 8/11/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The Congressional Oversight Panel said the Treasury should do more to get toxic assets off bank balance sheets.

Reuters:   A federal judge still refuses to sign off on an SEC deal with Bank of America (BAC) and the SEC to settle charges regarding Merrill Lynch bonus payments.

Reuters:   Rio Tinto (RTP) says that there is no evidence against its employees detained in China. Read More »

Posted on: August 11, 2009 – 4:08 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (BBY, CPLA, GS, HGSI, MAR, SNDK, SGMS)

These are the top pre-market upgrades and downgrades seen early this Monday morning ahead of the earnings season rush:

Best Buy (BBY) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Capella Education (CPLA) Cut to Neutral at Creedit Suisse.
Goldman Sachs (GS) Raised to Buy by Meredith Whitney.
Human Genome Science (HGSI) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Marriott (MAR) Raised to Outperform at JMP Securities.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Raised to Neutral from Sell at UBS.
SanDisk (SNDK) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
Scientific Games (SGMS) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

Jon C. Ogg
July 10, 2009

Posted on: July 13, 2009 – 6:50 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , ,