Posts for Ticker ‘LINTA’

Today’s Best Market Rumors (9/14/2009) (WMT)(S)(RBS)(MSFT)(AIG)(LINTA)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 12.02 PM EST:  Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) will have a national roll-out of its “no contract” cellular service which could put sales pressure on Sprint (NYSE:S) (Reuters)

Updated 9.23 AM EST:  Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NYSE:NWS) and John Malone’s Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LINTA) are interested in GE’s NBCU  (Reuters & CNBC)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is shipping versions of its 3Gs iPhone with alterations to fight back at hackers.  (iClarified)

RBS (NYSE:RBS) may sell 300 branches.  (FT)

The head of AIG’s (NYSE:AIG) International Lease Finance aircraft leasing firm, Steven Udvar-Hazy, may buy $2 billion in planes from the huge insurance firm to start his own company.  (Bloomberg)

Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) in interested in NBC Universal because it thinks it can buy the company well below its value because of GE’s (NYSE:GE) desperation to exit the business. Vivendi is playing hardball on the price of its 20% stake in NBCU (NYPost).

Net neutrality and the rise in the transfer of large data files will make the internet collapse (Ars Technica)

Former employees of Citadel Investment Group will start their own hedge fund  (WSJ)

The release of Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7 could push up Apple’s Mac sales.  (Fortune)

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 14, 2009 – 9:17 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (BT, ELY, CBS, CTXS, DUK, INFY, LINTA, NZ, RIMM, VMW)

These are the top ten brokerage firm analyst upgrades and downgrades we have seen from Wall Street early this Monday morning:

BT Group (BT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Callaway Gold (ELY) Raised to outperform at JMP Securities.
CBS Corp. (CBS) Cut to Hold at Argus.
Citrix Systems (CTXS) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.
Duke Energy (DUK) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Infosys (INFY) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Liberty Media (LINTA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Netezza (NZ) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Research In Motion (RIMM) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
VMware (VMW) Cut to Underperform at Jefferies.

JON C. OGG
AUGUST 10, 2009

Posted on: August 10, 2009 – 8:08 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Downgrades (AXP, BKE, CIEN, ENER, IP, LINTA, RBS, STO, TSM, TIN, VSAT)

These are some of the top analyst downgrades and cautious research calls we have seen from Wall Street early this Tuesday morning:

American Express (AXP) Started as Underperform at RBC.
Buckle (BKE) Cut to Underweight at KeyBanc.
Ciena (CIEN) Cut to Underperform at JMP Securities.
Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) Cut to Hold at Citi; Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
International Paper (IP) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Liberty Media (LINTA) Cut to Sell at Citi.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Cut to Underperform at Credit Suisse.
StatoilHydro (STO) Cut to Hold at Societe Generale.
Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) Cut To Market Perform at FBR.
Temple-Inland (TIN) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
ViaSat (VSAT) Cut to Hold at Collins Stewart.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: May 12, 2009 – 6:39 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , ,

DIRECTV & Liberty Media: Complicating An Enigma (DTV, LINTA, LINTB, LMDIA, LMDIB, LCAPA, LCAPB)

DIRECTV Group, Inc. (NYSE: DTV) has announced that it is going to combine with Liberty Entertainment, Inc., and then the company will be split off from Liberty Media.  This supposedly puts the control of DIRECTV in the hands of the shareholders.  While Liberty’s structure was complicated before, this “simpler” structure is one which may also leave shareholders scratching their heads.
Read More »

Posted on: May 4, 2009 – 7:48 am in Entertainment, Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Satellite, , , , , , ,

Sirius XM Holders Get To Live Longer (SIRI, LINTA, LINTB, LCAPA, LCAPB, LMDIA)

sirius-logoSirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LINTA, LINTB, LCAPA, LCAPB, LMDIA) have announced the closing of the second and final phase of the John Malone rescue package.

Under terms of the deal,  Malone’s Liberty will invest in Sirius XM.  The satellite radio provider and its lenders have also agreed to extend its outstanding loans which are due in May.
Read More »

Posted on: March 6, 2009 – 1:09 pm in Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Satellite, , , , , ,

Can.. Or Will John Malone Save SIRIUS? (SIRI, SATS, LINTA, DTV)

"Somebody, Help Me!!! Please!!!"

"Somebody, Help Me!!! Please!!!"

If you thought that the SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) situation couldn’t get more complex, it could. It has.  Reports of it getting ready for bankruptcy, and then getting a controlling debt investment from EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS) and Charles Ergen only made matters worse.  And now this morning comes reports that SIRIUS XM is in talks with Liberty Media Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA).
Read More »

Posted on: February 12, 2009 – 9:39 am in Entertainment, Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Rumors, Satellite, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is Liberty Exiting IAC/InteractiveCorp Entirely? (IACI, LINTA, LINTB, LMDIB, LCAPA, LCAPB)

Money_stack_pic_3John Malone and Barry Diller had their full round of the boxing match last year.  But now it seems another fight may be under way.  Liberty Media Corp. has been unloading shares of IAC/InteractiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI). There have been steady reports and filings over the last week (and even in prior weeks) showingthat Liberty was unloading those shares. But a new filing shows that sales are continuing into 2009, and you have to wonder if Liberty is on its way to just calling it a day.

Read More »

Posted on: January 6, 2009 – 3:08 pm in Insider Activity, Internet, Media, , , , , ,

Libery Media’s Malone Unloads Shares… To Liberty Media (LCAPA, LINTA, LMDIA)

Liberty_media_logoChairman John Malone of Liberty Media Corp. (NASDAQ: LCAPA) sold 4.5 million shares of common stock on October 7, 2008 at a price of $11.00 per share.  He still holds more than 2.7 million shares of Series A Common Stock.  The other units of Liberty trade under the "LINTA" and "LMDIA" tickers as well.

This was part of Liberty’s repurchase plan, but it was a privately negotiated transaction as this trade nor enough shares crossed on the exchange on that day.  According to trade recaps, this stock only traded 1.04 million shares of common stock on October 7 and the stock closed at $11.22 with an intra-day trading range of $11.16 to $12.49.

Jon C. Ogg
October 9, 2008

Posted on: October 9, 2008 – 1:42 pm in Insider Activity, Media, , ,

IAC/Interactive vs. Liberty: Diller Trumps Malone (IACI, LINTA, LCAPA, LMDIA)

IAC/InteractiveCorp. (NASDAQ: IACI) and Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LINTA) (NASDAQ: LCAPA) (NASDAQ: LMDIA) have settled their disputes, and it looks like Barry Diller Came out on top of John Malone.

We covered this scenario in our SPECIAL SITUATION newsletter that went out on April 2, 2008 at $21.22; and the intro to subscribers was as follows:

  • ….Our current pick is IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI), and we gave three likely scenarios we believe to occur. Our downside target limits the implied risk to 12% if you hedge your transaction as we would do. The upside would be an implied 33% to more than 50% if the scenarios pan out the way we expect. Barry Diller isn’t entirely out of the soup yet and Malone may have some more tricks up his sleeve. After the ruling came out we ran the hard detailed numbers and eyeballed various probabilities for this call….

Liberty has agreed to drop its appeal and will not oppose the proposed single-tier spin-offs of HSN, Interval International, Ticketmaster and Lending Tree.  IAC advanced those filings earlier today by making its initial filings with the SEC.  This is all within our line of expectations and should clear the way to the unlocking of value.

Liberty & IAC also agreed on a number of arrangements regarding the governance of the spun off companies as follows:

  • Liberty’s right to board representation on each company,
  • a standstill agreement that limits Liberty’s ability to increase its ownership stakes,
  • and to take a variety of other actions with respect to the spun off companies.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear about other break-ups, IPO’s, secondary offerings, special financings, mergers, spin-offs, and other special situations.

John Malone may be happy with what he got here and he may not, but as far as we are concerned this looks like a clear win for Barry Diller.  IAC shares closed up 2.7% at $23.00 in normal trading today, and shares are up over 3% at $23.85 in after-hours trading.

Jon C. Ogg
May 12, 2008

Jon Ogg produces the twice-monthly SPECIAL SITUATION INVESTING subscriber newsletter and he can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Posted on: May 13, 2008 – 4:42 pm in Earnings, Internet, Law, Media, Shareholder Issues, Stock Splits, , , ,

Can Barry Diller Even Focus on Earnings? (IACA, LINTA)

On Wednesday morning, we’ll get to see earnings out of IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI).  Frankly, this one has more questions than answers today.  We do not know if Barry Diller is going to be able to focus on results in the Q&A or if he is going to be discussing the Malone-Diller war as Liberty Media (NASDAQ: LINTA) CEO Malone has Barry Diller under fire.  It’s amazing what a difference a year can make, because he was listed as one of our own "most entrenched CEO’s" at the time and his fate is currently more than uncertain.

The estimates from First Call for the online and off-line media company are $0.55 EPS on $1.83 billion in revenues.  Estimates for next quarter are $0.36 EPS an $1.57 Billion in revenues and estimates for fiscal 2008 are $1.80 EPS on $6.82 billion in revenues.

Analysts have an average price target north of $33.00.  We are not really relying on options as a predicting tool because of the developments in the infighting that has come up and because of the pending break-up of the company. If we were looking at options as a tool today with static prices, we say options traders were expecting a price move of up to $1.00 to $1.25 in either direction.

This stock is up from its recent lows of $23.30 in January, but we’d take note that until this last bounce it has looked like one rolling low after another fake-out recovery.  The current prices are important as the 50-day moving average is $26.31; its 200-day moving average is $30.03.  Keep an eye on those as these numbers will likely change slightly by Wednesday.

Shares were just downgraded to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus on Monday morning over the current fate being questioned.  We actually have IAC/Interactive up for formal review right now for our own Special Situation letter, and once we have the revenue figures out of each unit we’ll be making a formal report for subscribers on this.

IAC/InterActiveCorp’s 52-week trading range is $23.30 to $40.99.

Jon C. Ogg
February 4, 2008

Posted on: February 4, 2008 – 2:30 pm in Earnings, Entertainment, Internet, , , ,

Media Digest 1/29/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Barron’s

According to Reuters, another Fed rate cut may stimulate the housing market.

Reuters reports that profits at American Express (AXP) fell 10%.

Reuters writes that McDonald’s (MCD) will open 150 outlets in China this year.

Reuters reports that Lenovo’s fiscal Q3 moved up sharply and the company was upbeat about 2008.

Reuters writes that Liberty Media (LINTA) will try to remove Barry Diller from the IACI (IACI) board.

Reuters reports that CME is looking at buying NYMEX for $11 billion.

The Wall Street Journal writes that problems with write-offs and a rogue trader are making Societe Generale vulnerable to a takeover.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Countrywide (CFC) sold itself to Bank of America (BAC) in part because of concerns about investigations by regulators.

The Wall Street Journal writes that sales at VMWare (VMW) did not meet expectations and the stock dropped sharply.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Altria (MO) is about to spin-off its international operations which would free them from the parent’s legal problems in the US.

The Wall Street Journal writes that sales of flat panel TVs are bucking the downturn in consumer electronics.

The Wall Street Journal writes that profits at Verizon (VZ) were lifted by wirless results.

The New York Times writes that sales of new homes fell 26% in 2007.

The FT writes that NY State has hired investment bankers to help it with a plan to rescue bond insurers.

Barron’s writes that Sandisk (SNDK) earnings fell far short of estimates.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: January 29, 2008 – 4:14 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , ,