Posts for Ticker ‘VIA’

Sirius XM (SIRI) And CBS (CBS) Pose Greatest Financial Risk Among Media Firms

TVCBS (NYSE:CBS) and Sirius XM (NYSE:SIRI) pose the greatest investment risks among media companies based on a forensic measure of their transparency and the statistical reliability of their financial reporting and governance practices, according to new data from Audit Integrity. The probability for bankruptcy for Sirius is 8.5% and 4.6% for CBS. Both numbers are remarkably low, but still high for major US companies. Audit Integrity’s bankruptcy model achieved 90.9% accuracy in 2008 and 93.8% in 2009.

The safest companies for investors, based on the same measurement are Disney (NYSE:DIS) and  DirecTV (NYSE:DTV). The rest of the firms in the analysis are Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), Viacom (NYSE:VIA), Comcast (NYSE:CMCSA), Cablevision, (NYSE:CVC), GE (NYSE:GE), and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC). Read More »

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 9:23 pm in Accounting, Media, Old Media, , , , , , , , , ,

52-Week High Club

CareFusion Corp. (NYSE: CFN)  rose over 6% to a yearly hight of $24.34  after reporting first quarter earnings of 39 cents per share, beating analyst estimates.  The company also increased its earnings forecast for next year.

Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA) rose close to 4% to a yearly high of $31.63, continuing its rise following its earnings release.  The company posted a 15% increase in profits, to 76 cents per share.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 5, 2009 – 4:22 pm in Earnings, Healthcare, Media, ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (AEO, BNI, ENR, GET, GES, GD, STEC, VIA, YUM)

These are this Wednesday’s top ten analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls:

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) Raised to Top Picks at FBR Capital; but shares were also Cut to Hold at Lazard.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan; Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Energizer Holdings (NYSE: ENR) Cut to Neutral from Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Gaylord Entertainment (NYSE: GET) Raised to Market Perform at both FBR and at Wells Fargo.
Guess? Inc. (NYSE: GES) Cut to Hold at Lazard.
General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
STEC, Inc. (NASDAQ: STEC) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer; Cut to Source of Funds at ThinkEquity.
Viacom (NYSE: VIA) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) Started as Buy at Janney Montgomery.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 8:09 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/15/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is having trouble justifying its huge bonuses.

Reuters:   Bruce Wasserstein, M&A giant and head of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ), died.

Reuters:   Congress will probe compensation at AIG (NYSE:AIG).

Reuters:   US foreclosures fell for a second month but stayed high. Read More »

Posted on: October 15, 2009 – 4:04 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (AKS, BMY, CREE, JPM, LRCX, MAR, RIMM, SVNT, SE, VIA)

These are this Friday morning’s top Wall Street analyst upgrades and positive research calls:

AK Steel (AKS) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Bristol-Myers (BMY) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Cree (CREE) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan
J.P. Morgan (JPM) Started as Strong Buy at Raymond James.
Lam Research (LRCX) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Marriott (MAR) Raised to buy at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
Research in Motion (RIMM) Raised to Outperform at R.W. Baird.
Savient Pharma (SVNT) Raised to Outperformat Oppenheimer.
Spectra Energy (SE) Raised to Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs.
Viacom (VIA) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray.

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.

JON C. OGG
October 9, 2009

Posted on: October 9, 2009 – 7:43 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Comcast Should Buy Viacom, Time Warner, Or Scripps

TVOne of the leading media investing firms in the US, Gabelli & Co. wants cable outfit Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) to stop its pursuit of GE’s (NYSE:GE) NBCU and turn its focus on better run media companies with stronger assets. That would include, in Gabelli’s opinion Viacom (NYSE:VIA), Time Warner (NYSE:TWX),  Scripps Interactive (NYSE:SNI)

Gabelli & Co. analyst Chris Marangi said. “Viacom has everything Comcast wants and none of what it doesn’t want.” Read More »

Posted on: October 9, 2009 – 5:47 am in Cable Companies, Old Media, , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/6/2009) (CTIC)(DDRX)(BA)(XOM)(GOOG)(AIG)(BAC)(AAPL)

newspaperUpdates throughout the day.

Update 2.40 PM EST: Biotech Cell Therapeutics (CTIC) is getting crushed, down 13% to $.95 on over 46 million shares. Rumors of insider selling, troubles with OPAXIO cancer, and possible dilution from possible raising of capital (various)

Update 1.50 PM EST: Cult stock Diedrich Coffee (DDRX) down 7% on heavy volume based on rumors shorts are aggressively moving into the shares  which are up almost 7,000% this year.  (various)

Update 12.05 PM EST:  After announcing a delay in the 747-8 Freighter and a $1 billion charge, Boeing (BA) CEO Jim McNerney’s job could be on the line (DJ Newswires).

Update 9.55 AM EST: Exxon Mobil (XOM) has agreed to buy Kosmos Energy’s stake in the Jubilee field in Ghana. (CNBC)

Kaufman industry sources say BMC, Citrix (CTXS), VMware (VMW), Symantec (SYMC), and CA (CA) are potential tech  buyout targets. (Briefing.com)

Yahoo! (YHOO) might sell Zimbra, Hot Jobs, and Yahoo! Small Business. (SAI)

Rogers Communications will lose its exclusive deal for selling the Apple (AAPL) iPhone in Canada. Telus and Bell Canada will get franchises (Globe and Mail).

Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg will cut cash compensation for executives at a number of firms which may include AIG (AIG), Citigroup (C), and Bank of America (BAC)   (WSJ)

Citigroup’s Pandit could be the next big bank CEO pushed out the door. (The Deal)

Lawyers working on Viacom’s (VIA) lawsuit against Google’s (GOOG) YouTube have found e-mails uncovered evidence that “employees of the video site were among those who uploaded unauthorized content to YouTube.” (CNET)

Douglas A. McIntyre

 

Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 9:14 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DVD Sales Crushed By Rentals, As Apple (AAPL) And Amazon (AMZN) Rise

bearDVD sales are flagging and rentals are up, news which is likely to be unwelcome at the major movie studios. The Digital Entertainment Group announced that in the first half of this year, DVD sales fell almost 14% to $5.4 billion. DVD rental  revenue rose 8% to $3.4 billion.

While kiosk operator RedBox and DVD mailer NetFlix (NFLX) are a large part of the rise in rentals, it is Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) that are really crushing the studio DVD sales. Read More »

Posted on: September 22, 2009 – 6:25 am in Old Media, , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (FWLT, GNW, ITRI, NUE, SPR, SNCR, STI, SYNA, USB, VIA)

These are this Thursday morning’s top analyst upgrades and positive research calls seen from Wall Street:

Foster Wheeler (FWLT) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Genworth (GNW) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Itron (ITRI) Started as Buy at Jefferies.
Nuecor (NUE) Raised to Buy at Citigroup.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc (SPR) Raised to Conviction Buy at Goldman Sachs.
Synchronoss Technologies (SNCR) Raised to Overweight at Thomas Weisel.
SunTrust (STI) Started as Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Synaptics (SYNA) Started as Buy at Needham.
USBancorp (USB) Raised to Buy at Rochdale.
Viacom (VIA) Raised to Buy at UBS.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 17, 2009 – 8:13 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 9/1/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Ebay (EBAY) will sell Skype to private investors.

Reuters:   China’s manufacturing index gained.

Reuters:   A  late Labor Day will hurt August retail sales.

Reuters:   A US judge ruled against AIG (AIG) in a dispute with its former CEO. Read More »

Posted on: September 1, 2009 – 3:57 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Americans Watch Nine Billion YouTube Videos In A Month

youtubeUS internet users watched 8.9 billion videos on Google (GOOG) sites last month. Ninety-nine percent of those were from YouTube. According to comScore, Google had 42% of the online video market in July.

What is more stunning about YouTube is that the average number of videos watch per viewer during the month was 74. At most other major sites, the figure was closer to 10. Read More »

Posted on: August 28, 2009 – 5:32 am in Internet, , , ,

Movie Unit Sinks Viacom (VIA)

TVViacom (VIA) had a bad quarter, which was to be expected. Media companies are suffering from drops in advertising revenue and the number of consumers who subscribe to their content services and go to their movies.

Viacom’s film entertainment business scuttled earnings. Revenue for the entire company fell 14% to $3.3 billion. Operating income was off 26% to $586 million. Read More »

Posted on: July 28, 2009 – 7:16 am in Earnings, Entertainment, Media,

As Viacom’s (VIA) Paramount Looks For Partner It May Be Bought Out

paramountThe DVD business is bad. Video-on-demand, available on most cable systems, and internet streaming of premium content have cut into one of the largest profit centers in Hollywood.

Viacom’s (VIA) Paramount studio operation is looking for a partner for its home entertainment unit, which produces and sells DVDs, in the hope of cutting costs. The most logical marriage of that business would be to another studio which faces that same problem with eroding margins. Read More »

Posted on: July 1, 2009 – 5:07 am in Entertainment, Internet, Media, Old Media, , , , , ,

Media Digest 6/15/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The heads of the emerging markets, the so-called BRICs, held their first global summit.

Reuters:   Obama will be tested this week on financial reforms.

Reuters:   Rich nations are working on an exit from stimulus packages.

Reuters:   Pfizer (PFE) is trying to do deals to improve its emerging market presence. Read More »

Posted on: June 15, 2009 – 3:01 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Failure Of The Web 1.0 Giants And The Case That Facebook and MySpace Could Be Worthless

bankFacebook recently took in a new $200 million investment which puts the value of the company at $10 billion. That is down from a $15 billion valuation based on an investment that Microsoft (MSFT) made in the social network site in the fall of 2007. Most industry estimates are that Facebook will lose money on revenue of $500 million this year. News Corporation’s (NWS) purchase of MySpace and several smaller sites for $580 million in 2005 is still considered a coup, although MySpace revenue is less than $1 billion and it is losing ground to Facebook. Read More »

Posted on: June 8, 2009 – 3:53 am in Internet, Media, , , , , , , , , ,

Sony (SNE) Will Have To Sell Its Studio Business, Could Get $6 Billion

wiiSony (SNE) is in trouble, and it is very deep trouble. For the fiscal year ending March 31, the conglomerate lost more than $1 billion on $79 billion in revenue. Sales were down by over 12% Read More »

Posted on: June 7, 2009 – 9:18 am in Consumer Electronics, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Internet, Media, Mergers and Buy Outs, Old Media, PC Companies, , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 6/5/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Rio Tinto (RTP) has killed a deal with Chinalco for one with BHP (BHP).

Reuters:   US regulators insisted JP Morgan (JPM) and Amex (AXP) raise money to exit the TARP.

Reuters:   Countrywide’s Mozilo was charged with fraud.

Reuters:   The suspense is building ahead of one of Apple’s (AAPL) big annual events. Read More »

Posted on: June 5, 2009 – 3:02 am in Banking, China, Commodities, Financial Stocks, Hardware, International Markets, Internet, Management Change, Media, Metals, Oil & Gas, Press Digest, Private Equity, Semiconductor, Software, Technology, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Ten Ways Twitter Will Permanently Change American Business

newspaperMicro-blogging platform Twitter has 32 million users, which is an increase from about 2 million a year ago, according to research mentioned in The Wall Street Journal. Some Internet measurement services show that figure increasing 50% to 100% month-over-month. While it is not clear that Twitter will become as large as social networks, MySpace and Facebook or video-sharing site YouTube, the company could certainly have 50 million visitors by the end of the year. Read More »

Posted on: May 26, 2009 – 8:11 pm in Banking, Business Services, Cable Companies, Consumer Electronics, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Infrastructure, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

How Long Does Sony’s (SNE) CEO Stringer Keep His Job?

Water liliesSir Howard Stringer is the first non-Japanese to run Sony (SNE) and putting him into the job was probably a mistake. He was promoted to “re-invent” the company. Instead, he has done what most chief executives without imagination do by cutting thousands of jobs.

The cost reductions did not keep Sony from losing $1 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31. Sony forecast another loss for this year. Read More »

Posted on: May 14, 2009 – 4:42 am in Consumer Electronics, Earnings, Earnings Warning, Media, , , ,

Media Digest 5/1/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperAccording to Reuters, lenders will object to the Chrysler Chapter 11 filing.

Reuters reports that Switzerland  is asking US a court to halt a case against UBS (UBS).

Reuters reports that SMFG will buy Citiroup’s (C) Japan units for over $5.6 billion.

Reuters writes that Cuomo said that pension kickbacks are a national problem. Read More »

Posted on: May 1, 2009 – 3:00 am in Aerospace, Airlines, Autos, Banking, Consumer Goods, Earnings, Oil & Gas, PC Companies, Press Digest, Software, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,