Alms For The Poor: Wal-Mart (WMT) August Sales Up
Wal-Mart’s (WMT) US same store sales rose 3% in August. Analysts expected about half that growth rate. The Wal-Mart news is almost certainly a sign the the middle class is joining those below the…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
As Online Display Ads Falter, Yahoo! (YHOO) And New York Times (NYT) Torpedoed
It turns out that display advertising on the internet is becoming less popular with most marketers. They are turning to search text ads instead. This is probably not news to anyone in the industry,…
BP (BP) And Russia: Trusting An Untrustful Partner
BP (BP) says it got what it wanted from negotiations with its Russian joint venture partner. in TNK-BP. There will be new independent directors and the current CEO will leave. There may even be…
China Economics 101: Stimulation Causes Inflation
The communist central government in China is starting to sweat a slowdown in the national economy of the world most populated country. It has begun to dawn on them that the "law of large…
Boeing (BA): A Strike The Company Can’t Afford
Boeing’s (BA) machinists have decided to strike the company over wage and benefit issues. The union will hold off walking out for two days to see if a last moment deal can be reached.…
AIG (AIG): Create New Company, Dump Bad Assets
AIG (AIG) may resort to a tactic that is as old as the hills. It is considering taking its worst assets and moving them into a new company. This would leave AIG with a…
Media Digest 9/4/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, NY State sent subpoenas to Bank of Americ (BAC) executives over auction-rate securities. Reuters reports the Boeing’s (BA) machinist union voted to strike but stay on the job two days to…
Microsoft (MSFT) Cuts Xbox Price, Damns Nintendo
Microsoft (MSFT) has decided that it would rather be the video game market share leader than make a buck at the business. Redmond cut the price of its Xbox 360 to $199. That drops…
Corning’s (GLW) Broken Glass
Corning Inc (GLW). Chief Executive Wendell Weeks is on the hot seat with investors after the glassmaker lowered earnings guidance because of lower-than-expected shipments of LCD glass. Even bigger problems may lay on the…
Health Care REIT Raising Cash (HCN, SRZ)
Health Care REIT, Inc. (NYSE:HCN) has filed to sell up to 6,000,000 shares of common stock in a secondary offering. These shares of common stock to be sold are going to registered under the…
The 52-Week Low Club 9/3/2008 (GLW)(FRX)(MDR)(ABX)(NOK)(AKAM)
Corning (GLW) Revises forecasts down. Falls to $17.04 from 52-week high of $28.07. Forest Laboratories (FRX) Major drug plans go off track. Down to $29.81 from 52-week high of $43.38. McDermott International (MDR) Oil-related…
IPC The Hospitalist Takes 2008 Post-IPO Pole Position (IPCM, V, TITN)
The new top dog among the IPO universe we follow for 2008 is now IPC The Hospitalist Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: IPCM). Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) had been in that position with the highest gain…
GM’s (GM) Less Bad August
GM (GM) did not lose 25% to 30% of its sales in August when the numbers were compared to last year. It was less bad than that. The company reported a 20.3% fall in…
Refining Cap-Ex, Shrinking or Being Diverted? (VLO, LEH, MRO)
Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO) today released a presentation it will be making at the Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) Energy and Power Conference later this week. The presentation put a bit of meat on the bone of…
Ford (F) Hits Its Worst Case Scenario
"Worst case scenario" is a term used by people who have been out of business school for less that two years. It is a buffoon’s way of saying that a firm has gone directly…
IPO Withdrawal: Codexis (PFE)
Codexis Inc. has filed with the SEC last night to withdraw its planned initial public offering. Based in Redwood City, California, the company provides solutions for pharmaceutical chemical process development and manufacturing, The company…
The Mystery Of Urban Outfitters (URBN, AEF, ANF)
The most bizarre thing about the economic slowdown is the continued strength of Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN). Not only is the Philadelphia-based retailer continuing to post impressive results but its stock just hit an…
24/7 Wall St. Most Overpaid CEO Of The Day: Pier 1 (PIR) CEO Alex Smith
Pier 1 Imports (PIR) shareholders have been through a painful quarter. Stock in the company have dropped over 40% in the last 90 days. That got worse today. PIR said its same-store sales for…
24/7 Wall St. Day-Trading Alerts (ABK)(MFE)(SNDA)
VS Investor posted several day-trade alerts. The first was for McAfee (MFE) which was hammered by analyst downgrades. Ambac (ABK) spiked up 20% on strong volume.
LoJack Approval May Reignite Revenue Growth (LOJN)
LoJack Corp. (NASDAQ: LOJN – News) may have seen some of the first positive news in some time, which will allow the company to migrate away from being reliant solely upon tracking autos at…