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…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
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…
A Knife Fight Breaks Out Among Car Companies
GM had to recall 1.3 million cars this week, which took away much of its current marketing advantage over Toyota. The perennial No.1 domestic car company could claim that its Japanese rival had lost…
A Questionable Patriot Bid… (PCX, MEE)
Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) had a stellar trading day, with a gain of more than 10% which moved the shares above $20.00 for the first time since January 20. The reason for today’s…
Novell’s Only Hope: The Long-Awaited Buyout (NOVL)
If you have followed software companies for more than a decade, you have probably grown accustomed to seeing Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) act as a dead money stock. The company has gone from having…
Ford Outsells GM, Toyota OK
Many experts expected that February would be a bloodbath for Toyota (TM) due to its recalls of 8.5 million cars worldwide and a large amount of negative publicity about potential cover-ups of safety data.…
Will Starbucks Start Paying Dividends? (SBUX)
2010 is becoming the year of the dividend… either raised dividends or it is new dividends. Over the weekend, we reviewed the restaurant and food service sector when we were evaluating McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:…
Google to Microsoft: Stop Being Evil
By John Hudson of The Atlantic Wire For weeks, rumors of a proxy war between Microsoft and Google have animated techies. Many of their suspicions were validated Monday by a Wall Street Journal report…
Apple (AAPL) Sues HTC As Handset Wars Intensify
Kodak (EK) sued Apple, RIMM, and Motorola (MOT) for patent infringements. Nokia sued Apple (AAPL). Nokia claims to have patents that the Apple uses in the iPhone. Now Apple (AAPL) has filed a patent suit against…
Goldman Sachs Sets Record for $100 Million Trading Days
By Douglas A. McIntyre Goldman Sachs (GS) may face bad publicity, hostile Congressmen, and campaigns by shareholders to cut compensation, but it remains a money making machine. The bank has disclosed that it had…
Terra & CF, Back in the Merger Wars (TRA, CF, MOO)
Terra Industries Inc. (NYSE: TRA) is back in the mergers and acquisitions spotlight as the target of CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF). If this sounds familiar, it is because CF tried to do…