Asia Markets And Europe Open (3/4/2010)
Markets in Asia fell. The Nikkei was down 1.1% to 10,146. Toyota (TM) moved up over 3%. The Hang Seng was off 1.4% to 20,576. China Unicom (CHU) fell and HSBC (HBC) rose. The Shanghai Composite dropped…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
The Below Average CEO: John W. Chidsey, Burger King
Average: “an estimation of or approximation to an arithmetic mean”–Webster Burger King (BKC) is the perennial also-ran in the fast food market in which its runs well behind McDonald’s (MCD). Burger King’s shares have underperformed those…
National Employee Morale Day At Take-Two Interactive (TTWO)
Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) announced better than expected earnings today but also said it would need to cut its staff. Net revenue for the first fiscal quarter was $163.2 million, compared to…
Palm Losing All Friends… S&P Downgrade (PALM, AAPL, NOK, RIMM)
Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has been in trouble. About all that can be said after it recently hit 52-week lows is that it has at least bounced about 5% from its recent lows. Most…
Beige Book… A Hint of Things Better
The Federal Reserve has issued its most recent Beige Book, which does not really sound that much different from from many of the notes from the latest FOMC minutes. The Fed noted slight improvement…
VMware’s $400M Stock Buyback Is Different (VMW, EMC, CSCO, DELL, INTC)
2010 is shaping up to be the year of the dividend. Stock buybacks are now becoming to be “Oh so 2007” for investors. In fact, many argue whether or not stock buyback plans do…
Elimination Of Botulism And Salmonella Would Cover 100% Of Healthcare Reform
All the US government has to do to pay for the current healthcare reform proposal is eliminate foodborne illnesses like botulism, salmonella, and e-coli. A new study from The Product Safety Project says that “acute foodborne illnesses…
More Cleantech IPOs and Mergers Coming? (FSLR, SPWRA, ENER, WFR)
If you have watched the earnings from solar power companies and other Cleantech companies in recent weeks, the obvious elephant in the room is the notion that there needs to be mergers in the…
Greek Stock Proxy: Austerity Plan Falls Short (NBG)
Every time there is news from Greece about its debt woes, the first place to look for a reaction on how it will play out for U.S. investors and traders it seems to be…
Costco v. BJ’s v. Big Lots: A Surprise Winner
By Jon Ogg Costco Wholesale (COST) reported earnings this morning the same day as BJ’s Wholesale (BJ). Even Big Lots (BIG) got in on the earnings game. Considering that we are in the midst…
Good News, Bad News in AIG Sale
By Heather Horn of The Atlantic Wire Mere days after AIG’s staggeringly poor fourth quarter numbers dropped, taxpayers were cheered by news of a profitable deal: Prudential will buy AIG’s super-profitable Asian life-insurance business…
Today’s Best Market Rumors (3/3/2010)
Updated throughout the day. Updated: 12.55 PM Eastern: RadioShack will be taken private (Bloomberg) Updated: 12.55 PM Eastern: GM vice chair Bob Lutz will retire May 1 (CNBC) Government regulators have asked hedge funds…
52-Week Lows Soon Gone in Banks (BAC, C, JPM, WFC, FAS)
There is a common search that value investors, momentum investors, growth investors, and traders all look through for various price screens to help on deciding when to a buy or sell a stock. The…
Top 10 Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (AKAM, BX, D, FCX, GS, NFLX, PAYX, SPLS, SLB, VALE)
These are ten of the top research calls we have seen in the form of upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street analysts this Wednesday morning: Akamai Technologies Inc. (NYSE: AKAM) Raised to Buy…
A Sales Surge At Costco: Has The Consumer Returned, Or Just The Frugal Consumer
Costco (COST) has built its revenue over the years by selling quality goods for low prices. That is in contrast to Target (TGT) and Walmart (WMT) which have reputations for selling cheap products at a low prices.…
Greek Government Will Cut Another $6.5 Billion From Budget And Slashes Its Throat In The Process
Greece cut another $6.5 billion from its budget. The country had little choice. It cannot sell bonds to offset financial obligation because of its deficit which is about 12% or GDP. Moreover, Greece is concerned that eurozone…
China Still The Holy Grail For GM, And The Best Place For Its IPO
Ford’s (F) sales may have passed GM’s in the US in February, but GM is still well ahead of its rivals in China. GM sold 174,306 cars on the mainland last month between its own vehicles…
The Most Significant Investment The Government Is Making To Address Unemployment
It has been two days since the United States Department of Labor announced that if Emergency Unemployment Compensation and full federal funding for the Extended Benefit program are not extended, 400,000 Americans will lose…
Media Digest 3/3/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
Reuters: The Senate overcame opposition to allow jobless benefits to be extended. Reuters: China will hope to keep the value of the yuan steady. Reuters: JC Penney (JCP) will focus on exclusive products. Reuters: …
Asia Markets And Europe Open (3/3/2010)
Markets in Asia were mixed. The Nikkei rose .3% to 10,253. Toyota (TM) surged. The Hang Seng fell .1% to 20,877. China Mobile (CHL) fell. HSBC (HBC) rose. The Shanghai Composite was up .8% to…