Posts for Ticker ‘KFT’

Barnes & Noble (BKS) Runs Out Of E-Readers: Amazon (AMZN) Stands Alone

Sony (NYSE:SNE) said it might not have its e-reader, the Daily Edition Reader, ready to ship before Christmas. It has given customers a range of dates for availability of its product that could be as early as December 18 or as late as January 8.

Now, Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS) has come up short on the inventory of units for its device–the Nook. The book retailer said, “Preorders have exceeded our expectations.”

Barnes & Noble and Sony came into the e-reader market to challenge the extremely successful Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle which has established a large enough market to prove the devices are popular. Several research firms say that they expect e-reader sales to hit three million this holiday season. Amazon is the only competitor in the field which has effectively managed its inventory. That leaves Barnes & Noble and Sony with little more than the embarrassment of botched launches. Read More »

Posted on: November 21, 2009 – 7:27 am in Retail, , ,

Hershey Longs For Cadbury?

The trust that controls Hershey has asked the company to make a bid for UK sweets company Cadbury (NYSE:CBY).

The Wall Street Journal reports that the offer would be approximately $17 billion which would top the current offer from Kraft (NYSE:KFT)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 4:46 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, ,

Media Digest 11/19/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Reuters:   Senate Democrats unveiled their healthcare plan.

Reuters:   Hedge fund manage Griffin has rebounded from losses.

Reuters:   GM must pay its debt and become profitable before an IPO.

Reuters:   Kraft (NYSE:KFT) is still considered the front-runner to buy Cadbury. Read More »

Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 4:04 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/17/2009) New Bid For Cadbury

Updated throughout the day.

Updated 4.06 PM EST:  “U.S. chocolate giant Hershey Co. has been in high-level talks with Italian chocolate maker Ferrero Spa to possibly craft a rival joint bid to Kraft Foods Inc.’s $16.7 billion offer for Cadbury PLC.”  (WSJ)

Toys ‘R’ Us could go public  (The Deal)

The new Motorola (NYSE:MOT) Droid handset may be taking significant market share from the Palm (NASDAQ:PALM) Pre.

AOL’s market value will be $3.2 billion when it is spun off from Time Warner (NYSE:TWX)  (The Business Insider)

Smartphones from Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM) are becoming a security threat  (BusinessWeek)

Several nations including Russia, the US, Israel, France, and China are preparing for cyberattacks.  (CNET)

Talks between Sal. Oppenheim and Australia’s Macquarie over the sale of the Luxemburg-based firm’s investment banking operations collapsed.  (Reuters)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 17, 2009 – 9:01 am in Rumors, , , , , ,

Buffett & Berkshire Hathaway Q3-2009 Holdings (BRK-A, BRK-B, GCI, GE, GSK, HD, IR, IRM, JNJ, KFT, LOW, MCO, NLC, NKE, NSC, NRG)

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A)(BRK-B) has its Q3-2009 public equity holdings as of September 30, 2009.  In our group “A to F” we noted some interim changes in the lot.  Here are Warren Buffett’s holdings and accompanying notes for the group ‘G to O.’

  • Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI) 3.447 million shares, same as before.
  • General Electric Corp. (NYSE: GE) 7.777 million shares is the same as before, but does not include the huge preferred investment from late 2008.
  • GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) 1.51 million shares, same as before.
  • Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) 2.757 million, same as last quarter.
  • Ingersoll-Rand (NYSE: IR) 636,600 shares; WAY DOWN from the 7.78 million listed last quarter.
  • Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) 3.3722 million shares, same as before.
  • Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) was just over 36.91 million shares; Same as last quarter and still well under the 62 million shares at one point in 2008.
  • Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) over 138 million; same as last quarter.
  • Lowe’s Companies (NYSE: LOW) 6.5 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • M&T Bank Corp. (NYSE: MTB) 6.71 million shares, same as before.
  • Moody’s (NYSE: MCO) was listed as over 39.2 million shares, but that is WAY DOWN from the 48 million last quarter.  Be advised that he has noted sales and hinted at more sales here.
  • Nalco Holding (NYSE: NLC) 9.0 million shares, same as last quarter.
  • Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) 7.641 million shares, same as before.
  • Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) 1.933 million shares, same as before, but we already know Buffett has or is selling out of non-BNSF shares in rail companies.
  • NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) 7.2 million, same as before.

BUFFETT HOLDINGS A to F

BUFFETT HOLDINGS P to Z

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, key analyst calls, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 4:48 pm in Activist Investor, Buffett, Conglomerates, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/10/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Markets hit their 2009 highs.

Reuters:   Dodd is set to unveil his financial reform bill which calls for merging many bank regulators.

Reuters:   Kraft’s (NYSE:KFT) bid for Cadbury turned hostile.

Reuters:   A survey of economists predicted strong GDP growth in 2010. Read More »

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 3:57 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/9/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Hurricane Ida is heading toward Gulf oil fields.

Reuters:   Kraft (NYSE:KFT) will make its bid for Cadbury.

Reuters:   GE (NYSE:GE) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have agreed to an NBCU valuation.

Reuters:   The IMF is considering an insurance levy on banks. Read More »

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 4:03 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/4/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Opel must now arrange for GM’s unexpected ownership

Reuters:   The Fed will probably keep its “easy money” program.

Reuters:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) will pull out of Formula 1 racing.

Reuters:   The IEA will cut its long-term oil demand outlook. Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 5:34 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Return Of Wheeling And Dealing (BRK.A)(BNI)(KFT)

houseKraft (NYSE:KFT) hinted very strongly that it would open a battle with Cadbury for ownership of the British company. GM said it would keep its Opel and Vauxhall European operations about an hour later. The news of those transactions ended a day in which Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A) announced its largest investment ever. Mr. Buffett’s company will buy the 77.4% of Burlington Northern (NYSE:BNI) that it does not own at a tremendous premium which carries a total price tag of over $26 billion.

All of that in less than 24 hours. Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 4:58 am in Mergers and Buy Outs, , ,

The Layoff Culture Lives On

bearEconomists still expect layoffs in the US and Europe to slow as the recovery gains momentum. Pessimists among experts on GDP growth and job losses believe that the major risk of a double-dip recession is that unemployment will keep rising well beyond the middle of next year. Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 4:42 am in Editor's Picks, Mergers and Buy Outs, , , , , , , , ,

Kraft’s (KFT) Latest Chess Move: Up Guidance Ahead Of Cadbury Bid

magazinKraft (NYSE:KFT) improved is chances of making a viable bid for Cadbury before the UK government deadline of November 9. The US company beat expectations and raised guidance. Its shares dropped 2% to $27.10, probably because the company’s shareholders feel that they are better off without the integration risks that a Cadbury deal represents.

Revenue declined 5.7% to $9.8 billion. Operating income increased 38.7% from the same quarter last year to $1.42 billion. EPS from continuing operations were $0.55. Read More »

Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 4:38 pm in Earnings,

24/7 WallSt TV: Kraft (KFT) Does Its Shareholders No Favor: Gets Hostile With Cadbury

24/7 WallSt TVThe efforts of Cadbury’s board to keep the company out of the clutches of Kraft (NYSE:KFT) will likely fail because no second bidder has emerged. The Times says that Kraft will make a hostile bid for the UK-based company toward the end of this week. The offer is likely to be at little or no premium to the price at which Cadbury trades now.

Kraft shareholders have every reason to resent the company’s plans to buy Cadbury. The British company is already doing well financially and there is absolutely no reason for Kraft to believe that it can add anything to that performance beyond a one-time set of cost cuts. Read More »

Posted on: November 1, 2009 – 6:04 pm in Food, Mergers and Buy Outs, TV, Uncategorized,

Next Week’s Top 10 Earnings on Deck (CHK, F, KFT, MA, CSCO, CMCSA, QCOM, BRK-A, SIRI, VG)

NYSE Floor ImageEarnings season may be winding down, but next week still has some very important companies that are economic indicators in and of themselves or are key stocks that have broad customer and investor bases.  Picking only ten companies leaves many key stocks out, but we have some here which will appeal to most investors and traders.  Among next week’s top earnings are Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK), Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT), MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM),  and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B).

We also have the biggest cult stocks of all with SIRIUS Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) reporting next week.  We have offered some color on each stock along with chart data where relevant, along with Thomson Reuters consensus estimates.
Read More »

Posted on: October 30, 2009 – 2:51 pm in Calendar, Earnings, Technical Analysis, Technology Companies, , , , , , , , , ,

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, , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/23/2009) (TWX)(PALL)(T)(KFT)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 1.36 PM EST:  Nokia’s (NYSE:NOK) patent suit against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) could cost iPhone maker $1 billion  (Reuters)

The  Bank of England may have to increase bond purchases after the UK economy shrank in Q3.  (Bloomberg)

Chrysler Financial will cease business within two years  (CNBC)

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Time, Inc publishing unit will eliminate serveral hundreds jobs. (PaidContent)

ETF Securities will launcha ETFS Palladium Trust (PALL)  (TheStreet)

Bank analyst Dick Bove is under criticism for changing his opinion on Well Fargo (NYSE:WFC) from “standout” just after the bank released earnings to “sell” nine hours later  (FT Alphaville)

AT&T (NYSE:T) is close to getting government approval of its deal to buy Centennial Communications. (The Deal)

The liabilities of Japan Airlines would exceed assets by $8.8 billion if the carrier is liquidated.  (NYTimes)

A deal for Nelson Peltz not to criticize Kraft (NYSE:KFT), where he is a major shareholder, is set to expire which may complicate the US company’s efforts to takeover Cadbury.  (Financial Times)

Posted on: October 23, 2009 – 9:14 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Media Digest 10/22/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   China’s GDP rose 8.9% and the government said it would stick with its liberal monetary policies.

Reuters:   Larry Summers said the US recovery is on track.

Reuters:   More Americans will delay retirement.

Reuters:   Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOOG) set up real-time search deals with micr- blogging company Twitter. Read More »

Posted on: October 22, 2009 – 3:48 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 100 Hardest Working Brands In The World

hersheyThere are a number of ways to rank brand values. One of the most important is the level at which a brand contributes to the market value of a public company.

24/7 Wall St. asked Corebrand, the brand research and consulting firm, to look at the top 100 brands based their contribution to market capitalizaton. Using this method, the hardest working brand was Hershey (NYSE:HSY), followed  by Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and Harley-Davidson (NYSE:HOG)

Corebrand described the process briefly to 24/7 Wall. St.

24/7 Wall St.: Corebard often refers to the brands on this list as the”hardest working brands”. How did you come to that description?

Corebrand: There are a lot of people measuring and examining the “strongest brands” or the “most valuable brands”.  Our opinion is that examining one without the other is somewhat meaningless.  How “strong” a brand is nice to know but not very relevant unless you understand how that strength benefits business.  Similarly, “value” is little more than a measure of corporate size unless you understand the drivers of that value and how to influence it. By examining the strength of the brand and it’s contribution to total market value, we can help companies and their leadership manage that strength and value over time.

24/7 Wall St.: Is there any advantage or disadvantage to having a brand value be a very large percentage of market cap in the present and as an indication of a company’s future performance?

Corebrand: The brand will need to be in balance with the rest of the company’s assets.  A company should strive to have it’s brand strong enough to fend off competitors or changing market conditions but not so strong that it becomes overly dependent on the brand as a single driver of value.  If a company can achieve and maintain its appropriate maximum strength without becoming over-dependent, it will see greater returns in bull markets and retain greater value in bear markets.

The list: Read More »

Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 5:06 pm in Research, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/19/2009) (YHOO)(POT)(SYMC)(CME)(AAPL)

Updated throughout the day        

Updated  3.34 PM EST:  Consensus figures for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) earnings may be significantly too high (Barron’s)

Updated 1.14 PM EST:  The whisper number for Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) is $1.47 EPS compared to the Wall St. consensus of $1.42  (WhisperNumber)

 Update  11.34 AM EST:  Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) is substantially increasing the amount of original content it will run on its websites. (CNET)

Update 11.37 AM EST:   GE (NYSE:GE) and Vivendi are $500 million apart on their valuation of Vivendi’s 20% of NBCU (WSJ)

newspaperKraft (NYSE:KFT) will increase its bid for Cadbury from 745 pence to 850 to 900 pence per share before a UK government deadline on November 3  (Reuters)

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) is having trouble raising money for its new $20 billion fund (NYPost).

US authorities are close to filing a number of other insider trading charges against hedge funds  (NYTimes).

The CME (NYSE:CME) may buy the CBOE  of $5 billion. (Crain’s Chicago Business)

PC makers may have over-built based on higher anticipated sales from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7  (Barron’s)

Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) says that tens of millions of US PCs have scam security software  (Reuters)

Potash (NYSE:POT) could benefit from rising corn prices. (BusinessWeek)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone sales may disappoint investors when the company reports earnings (Fortune)

China’s GDP growth rate will be above 8% this year.  (Forbes)

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.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 19, 2009 – 9:01 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/16/2009) (AKAM)(KFT)(BRCD)(MSFT)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Update 10:41 AM EST: Two traders calling Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) as a takeover stock, again… We are inclined to treat this as a failed Friday rumor that is trader-generated or chat-room-generated rather than credible as this rumor comes up on many Friday mornings now (and stock is down 1.9%). -Jon Ogg

China car maker SAIC and GM may team up to move into the India market (India Economic Times)

Updated 10.15 AM EST:  Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) won’t buy Akamai (NSADAQ:AKAM)  (GigaOm)

Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Mac OSX 10.6 runs faster than Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7 in new tests.  (AppleInsider)

Pirated copies of Windows 7 are already widely available in Chine.  (Reuters)

An S&P analyst says Brocade (NASDAQ:BRCD) is not likely to be acquired (Barron’s)

Charles Ward may be the most likely candidateto become CEO of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) (NYPost)

Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, may try to cut Bank of America’s (NYSE:BAC) CEO Ken Lewis’s retirement package. (WSJ)

Unilever may bid for Carbury which already is a takeover target for Kraft (NYSE:KFT)  (FT Alphaville)

VW may raise $16 billion, probably to retire debt after its Porsche merger.  (Bloomberg)

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.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 16, 2009 – 9:18 am in Rumors, , , , , , , ,