The Newsweek Daily Beast media company will lose $30 million this year. IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) owns half of the venture (NYT)

Newt Gingrich was paid $300,000 by Freddie Mac to lobby Republican members of Congress (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

The threat is not an immediate reservation service threat, but having that embedded Google backing would simply be a service on top of search.  The announcement from Zagat’s management is here.

It was just late in August that UrbanSpoon signed a deal with Zagat that will display over 25,000 Zagat reviews featured prominently on Urbanspoon.  IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) owns UrbanSpoon.

OpenTable shares are down 6.6% at $58.55, but the stock is now down 50% from its highs and is still carrying a high premium valuation even if the 52-week range is $54.42 to $118.66.

JON C. OGG

Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Thursday call).
Bunge Limited (NYSE: BG) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (NASDAQ: CETV) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) maintained as Hold with $37 target at Canaccord Genuity.
General Mills Inc. (NYSE: GIS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) Cut to Neutral with $41 target at BofA/ML.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC) Started as Outperform with $55 at Credit Suisse.
Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE: MUR) Raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Reiterated Buy with $68 target at Argus.
PetMed Express Inc. (NASDAQ: PETS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHN) Reiterated Buy with $80 target at Canaccord Genuity.
Targa Resources Corporation (NYSE: TRGP) Started as Neutral with $34 target at CRedit Suisse.
Targa Resources Partners LP (NYSE: NGLS) Started as Outperform with $40 target at Credit Suisse.

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JON C. OGG

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) Reiterated Outperform and raised target to $220 at Oppenheimer; Reiterated Buy with $198 target at BofA/ML; Maintained Buy with $220 target at Canaccord Genuity.
American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Apollo Investment Corporation (NASDAQ: AINV) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: BMRN) Cut to Neutral as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) Maintained Buy but raised target to $65 at BofA/ML.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Maintained Neutral but cut target to $22 at BofA/ML.
Emerson Electric Co. (NYSE: EMR) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Raised to Buy at Kaufman Bros.
IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) Raised to Buy at Citigroup; Raised target to $39 at BofA/ML.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $190 at Argus.
Joy Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: JOYG) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Lexmark International Inc. (NYSE: LXK) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Panera Bread Company (NASDAQ: PNRA) Maintained Neutral but raised target to $135 at BofA/ML
Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC) Reiterated Outperform and $28 target at Credit Suisse.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (NYSE: TSM) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Maintained Buy at Zacks.

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JON C. OGG

Despite the Facebook addiction, Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) so far has nothing to fear from Facebook when it comes to advertising.  This may be a harbinger of good news for the Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) partnership, and it ditto for IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI).

Chris Trayhorn noted in a report at mThink, “There’s so much hype around Facebook right now that it would be easy to think that they are an immediate threat to Google’s business model, but the reality is that they’re not even close. Not only does Google still make at least six times more revenue per user than does Facebook, but Facebook’s advertising model is still very much a work in progress.”

mThink shows that the performance metrics for advertisers is not even close.  Where Facebook seems to win is in targeting to demographics.  It was noted, “Facebook remains a terrific ad platform for ads that benefit from demographic targeting – at least until the next Acai-type products come along that can be thrown against the wall of the entire world population.”

Wait a minute here…. “at least six times more revenue per user”??? At issue is that Facebook ads have to be reworked over and over, and the CPM and click-thru rates (CTR) are lower.  On Google, search ads can be left literally for weeks and months because its ads are tied to search behavior.

Webtrends research cited by mThink noted that Facebook advertising is predicted to roughly double to $4 billion in 2011.  The company’s top advertisers have increased their ad spending tenfold.  Nonetheless, it is currently much cheaper to get a wider footprint on Facebook compared with Google because of the social network site’s metrics are worse.  Even if ad-burnout does come into play it won’t matter for many businesses.

What is a truism for yesteryear is likely a truism for the future: There is generally speaking only so much advertising spending that can occur.  Sure, overall ad spending can and will grow.  At issue is that it has to drive more and more business to support more and more advertising.

Building newer and newer sites and newer and newer ad-models that rely solely upon advertising ultimately reaches a bleeding point where only the top sites out there get the lion’s share of all the ad money. Just because more and more advertising channels are coming up does not mean that companies will spend more and more money on the same promotions.  At the end of the day, the sites displaying ads are reaching around or reaching down for advertising revenues.  Some of the revenue may be new, but ultimately there are limits.

The implication here is that whether Eric Schmidt left the adult supervisory role or not, Google currently has little to worry about from Facebook.  Just keep in mind that internet models can come and go literally overnight and internet users can prove to be fickle if the new hottest trends and new hottest sites overtake larger more entrenched leaders.  It has happened before.

JON C. OGG

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE: BSX) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Brinker International (NYSE: EAT) Raised to Outperform as the Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
DR Horton Inc. (NYSE: DHI) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Fifth Third Bancorp (NASDAQ: FITB) Cut to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).
First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) Cut to Hold at Auriga, maintained $167 target.
IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) Cut to BUy from Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday call).
Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
KB Home (NYSE: KBH) Cut to Sell at UBS; Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Started At Hold By ThinkEquity.
Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) Raised to Buy at Gleacher & Co.
PulteGroup, Inc. (NYSE: PHM) Cut to Neutral at BofA/ML.
RF Micro Devices INc. (NASDAQ: RFMD) Started At Hold By ThinkEquity.
Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) Cut to Hold at Arus.
Tellabs Inc. (NASDAQ: TLAB) Cut to Underperform as the Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.

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JON C. OGG

AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (NYSE: AB) Cut to Neutral and $26 target at BofA/ML.
Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Raised target to $15 at BofA/ML.
ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMH) Reiterated Neutral on overvaluations at BNP Paribas.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Reiterated Buy at Argus.
EMBRAER (NYSE: ERJ) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Hasbro Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Reiterated Outperform and $28 target but raised estimates at Credit Suisse; Reiterated Buy at Argus; Maintained Buy with $27 target at Gleacher & Co.; Maintained Buy at Gabelli & Co.
KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) Raised target to $48 at BofA/ML.
Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MRK) Maintained Buy on weakness at Argus.
Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) Raised target to $38 at BofA/ML.
Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE: POT) Reiterated Outperform but Raised target to $189 at Credit Suisse.
Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) Cut to Sell at S&P Equity Research (late-Thursday call).
TD AMERITRADE Holding Corporation (NASDAQ: AMTD) Cut to Market Perform at BMO.
Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. (NASDAQ: VSEA) Raised to Neutral with $45 target at BofA/ML.

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JON C. OGG

Banco Santander S.A. (NYSE: STD) Raised to Overweight at HSBC.
Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) Cut to Market Weight at Wells Fargo.
Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: CSIQ) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) Cut to Equal-Weight at Morgan Stanley.
EI DuPont de Nemours & Co. (NYSE: DD) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ENDP) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) Raised to Neutral at BofA/ML.
JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.
The Kroger Company (NYSE: KR) Cut to Equal-Weight at Barclays.
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) Cut to Underperform at BMO.
Peabody Energy Corporation (NYSE: BTU) Raised to Outperform at BMO.
Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) Cut to Underweight at Barclays.
Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (NASDAQ: SOLF) Cut to Market Perform at Wells Fargo.
Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) Started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus
Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: YGE) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.

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JON C. OGG

“Well, my wife, who is very concerned about these things, moved all her personal cash to Australia and Canada. She wants to have a place to go if things blow up here. Canada has a lot more fiscal and bank responsibility than most places in the world and lots of natural resources. We have a retreat that’s right on the Quebec border. We own 18 miles on the border, so we can cross. Anytime we want to we can get away. It would probably be illegal but we could go. Actually our snowmobile trail goes right on the border.”

Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LINTA) yesterday reported quarterly results that calls into question Malone’s doomsday scenario. The  QVC home shopping business posted strong numbers with revenue increasing 5% in the second quarter to $1.8 billion and adjusted OIBDA increased 9% to $403 million.  QVC ‘s US business grew 21%, an astounding amount consider the shaky state of the economy. Starz Entertainment’s revenue increased 4% to $308 million while adjusted OIBDA increased 2% to $107 million and operating income increased 11% for the second quarter.   Indeed, his investments in Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.  (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Expedia Corp (NASDAQ: EXPE) and IAC/InterActive Corp (NASDAQ: IACI)  are doing well. All of the companies posted better-than-expected results.   Their shares are all up this year.

So what’s eating Malone? Taxes.  The entrepreneur has preserved his fortune by outflanking the IRS through a series of tracking stocks and tax-free spin-offs.  He usually prefers to stay in the background and does not say much on Liberty’s earnings conference calls.

Maybe Malone will get more faith in America if his investments continue to do well.

Jon Berr

Reuters:   The EU opened antitrust investigations into IBM (NYSE: IBM)

Reuters:   Ask.com, owned by IACI (NASDAQ: IACI), will use humans to screen results.

Reuters:   Yahoo! Japan will use the Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) search engine.

Reuters:   Google In.c has launched a government version of its softwareReuters:   Genzyme may take a bid to buy the company from Sanofi Aventis.

WSJ:   Larry Ellison of Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) was the highest paid CEO of the last decade earning more than $1.84 billion.

WSJ:   Congress and others are battling over whether the Obama stimulus package helped the economy or hurt it.

WSJ:   The supply of existing homes is probably still growing.

WSJ:   The IMF said the yuan is undervalued.

WSJ:   China is having trouble selling products outside the country using its own brands.

WSJ:   SAP (NYSE: SAP) raised its sales outlook.

WSJ:   FedEx (NYSE: FDX) raised its earnings outlook.

WSJ:   The National Conference of State Legislatures says state tax collections should rise.

WSJ:   The US Chamber of Commerce says China is causing trade tensions.

WSJ:   Carl Icahn sued Lions Gate as part of his takeover bid.

WSJ:   A federal court approved “jail breaking” of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone software to download non-approved applications.

WSJ:   Most EU nations, excluding Germany, have agreed on new rules to keep banks from taking too much risk.

WSJ:   Wall St firms are paying settlements on their sales of muni bonds as safe investments.

WSJ:   Lenders to corporations during the credit crisis did better than those in past recessions.

WSJ:   Short selling fell on the NYSE.

NYT:   Low orders by retailers are moving up shipping costs.

NYT:   Nike (NYSE: NKE) will support workers in impoverished Honduras.

NYT:   New rules in Europe would cause banks to keep higher capital reserves.

NYT:   Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) will kill a deal for Miramax if buyers do not come up with a $40 million down payment.

FT:   US states face large deficits as the federal government takes away support.

FT:   China banks may face huge losses on loans to states in the country.

Douglas A. McIntyre