Posts for Ticker ‘DISCA’

Discovery Says Amazon Kindle Infringes Its Patent (DISCA, DISCB, DISCK, AMZN)

kindle-imageDiscovery Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) has filed a patent infringement suit against Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)  regarding the Amazon Kindle e-book reader.
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Posted on: March 17, 2009 – 11:40 am in Entertainment, Internet, Law, Product Review, , , ,

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ATI, BIDU, DISCA, FHN, JNS, NOV, PTEC, RSH, SIGM, VRGY)

Down_arrow_red_2These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades we are seeing this Friday-crash morning:

  • Allegheny Tech (ATI) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • Baidu.com (BIDU) Target Cut to $260 from $350 at Goldman Sachs.
  • Discovery Communications (DISCA) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
  • First Horizon National (FHN) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Janus Capital (JNS) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
  • National Oilwell Varco (NOV) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
  • Phoenix Tech (PTEC) Cut to Buy from Strong Buy at Needham.
  • Radio Shack (RSH) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
  • Sigma Designs (SIGM) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
  • Verigy (VRGY) Cut to Underperform at Oppenheimer.

Jon C. Ogg
October 24, 2008

Posted on: October 24, 2008 – 7:03 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (MT, DISCA, FNSR, GILD, GMXR, JDSU, LLTC, NU, UEIC, WMB)

These are some of the research calls we are looking at this morning that are impacting shares in early pre-market trading:

  • Arcelor Mittal (NYSE: MT) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Discovery Holding (NASDAQ: DISCA) raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
  • Finisar (NASDAQ: FNSR) started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
  • Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) downgraded to Market Perform from outperform at Bernstein Research.
  • GMX Resources (NASDAQ: GMXR) started as Buy at Jefferies.
  • JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU) started as Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
  • Linear Tech (NASDAQ: LLTC) raised to Buy from hold at UBS.
  • Northeast Utilities (NYSE: NU) raised to Buy from hold at UBS.
  • Universal Electronics (NASDAQ: UEIC) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Deutsche Bank.
  • Williams Companies (NYSE: WMB) raised to Outperform at RBC Capital Markets.

Jon C. Ogg
February 22, 2008

Posted on: February 22, 2008 – 7:18 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (AXL, JCI, RATE, CBEY, DISCA, ETFC, FNM, KBR, RIMM, UAUA, VNR)

These are not the only impact analyst calls this morning, but these are the ones that 24/7 Wall St. is focusing on:

  • American Axle (AXL) & Johnson Controls (JCI) both downgraded to Equal Weight at Lehman.
  • Bankrate (RATE) raised to Buy at Merriman Curhan Ford.
  • Cbeyond (CBEY) raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
  • Discovery (DISCA) raised to Outperform at Wachovia.
  • E*Trade (ETFC) downgraded to Sell from Neutral at B of A.
  • Fannie Mae (FNM) estimates cut sharply at Goldman Sachs.
  • KBR (KBR) raised to Buy at UBS.
  • Research in Motion (RIMM) downgraded to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
  • UAL (UAUA) downgraded to Equal Weight at Lehman.
  • Vanguard Natural Resources (VNR) started as Buy at Jefferies.

Jon C. Ogg
December 3, 2007

Posted on: December 3, 2007 – 8:04 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , ,

Discovery’s Store Closure Doesn’t Sound Like a Buyout is Coming

Discovery Communications (DISCA-NASDAQ) is announcing that it is closing the rest of its mall based stores to focus more on its own e-commerce branding and to focus on ‘other retailer’ distribution channels.  This will cut off 25% of its workforce or about 1,000 workers.  It also is increasing its Animal Planet brands with Toys R Us and will look for more television sales.  So it is closing 103 mall-based Discovery stores.  It claims that it has 12 million unique visitors to its DiscoveryStore,com e-commerce site and has relationships through Amazon.com and eBay.  The 2006 e-commerc growth was a record growth and sales are up 144% year-to-date.  This is part of the strategic review that was led by J.P.Morgan, and it is hiring Gordon Brothers Group as an advisory and restructuring to help with the closures and liquidations. 

Jim Cramer on a May 8, 2007 Mad Money episode said this could be a buyout target, but it sure doesn’t sound and act like a buyout target here.  There is also a financial structure that is more complicated than elsewhere.  The company sin’t specific on charges but this is going to blow-out cash flows and lower profit hopes farther out.  That is not the sort of issue that sounds like a buyout candidate in a flood of other "value companies" that can be acquired for cash flows.  Maybe a deal is possible, but this doesn’t sound like that great of takeover material on the surface.

Jon C. Ogg
May 17, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: May 17, 2007 – 3:19 pm in Cramer, Entertainment, Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Retail,

Cramer Goes Discovery

On today’s STOP TRADING segment on CNBC, Jim Cramer said he loves Discovery Holding Co. (DISCA) and thinks it should go private.  He was very positive on this name before on one of his MAD MONEY episodes.

The problem is that the company is not at a price any "fiscally responsible buyer" would want to look at the company.  It loses money and has negative cash flows at this point because of one-time items.  The good news is that it is expected to make money this year and grow earnings next year.  But it is essentially still on the cusp.  The main reason for losses was because of one quarter last year, but the net earnings from operations probably price this out.  A buyer at this point would mainly be a vanity buyer or a buyer that thinks he/she can run it leaner and meaner.  It’s a good company and it has great assets, but at the end of the day a buyout is too expensive for a rational financial statement reader.

Jon C. Ogg
May 8, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in any of the companies he covers.

Posted on: May 8, 2007 – 1:34 pm in Cramer,