New Prius Changes May Have Risks For Toyota (TM)
Have you tried going into a Toyota dealership to buy a new or used Toyota Prius over the last 12 to 18 months? If you said yes, then you know you can’t really get…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Nelson Peltz: Bought Hansen, Dumped Starbucks (HANS, SBUX, PFCB, HNZ, WEN, TUX)
We just got to take a look at the JUNE 30 holdings of Nelson Peltz via an SEC filing of his TRIAN FUND MANAGEMENT GROUP. If you look throughout full filing you’ll see that…
US Air Raising Cash (LCC)
We are seeing something a bit unusual considering the current climate for airline stocks. US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) has announced today that it will sell 19 million shares of common stock in…
24/7 Wall St. Day-Trading Alerts (PMII) (PMI)
One of the most significant spikes in volume today is the move of Power Medical Interventions (PMII). The stock is down about 40% at 10.50 AM on weak earnings. VSInvestor.com is also covering the…
You Can Sell The House, Under Replacement Value
Existing home sales rose in Q2 over Q1, but this is on major price cuts according to the latest report from the National Association of Realtors. This says that one-quarter of cities (35 out…
CBS (CBS): A Chance To Spin-Off CNET
A chance like this only comes along rarely. CBS (CBS), which is trading at just above $17, down from a 52-week high of $32.97, could spin-off CNET. The large collection of tech websites has…
Energy Watch Part II: Refining Woes Remain (WNR, ALJ, DK, TSO, VLO, XOM, CVX, COP)
It’s no secret the oil refining margins have been dropping like a rock for the past few quarters. When pump prices began to approach a US-wide average of about $4/gallon, US drivers started changing…
Slow Housing Equals Slow Lawn Mower Market (BGG, TTC)
Shares of Briggs & Stratton Corp. (NYSE: BGG) are trading down about 10% pre-market this morning after the company said that high materials costs and slower sales were affecting its financial performance. This company…
The Smell of Stagflation
This morning is going to be a disappointment for some who were hoping that inflation was going to be much less hot than estimates. The July number for annualized CPI showed +5.6% inflation, which…
Top Pre-Market Analyst Upgrades (BIOF, CSX, CYH, PSYS, SLH, UHS)
These are some of the top analyst upgrades and positive calls we are seeing in trading early this Thursday morning: Biofuel Energy (BIOF) Raised to Hold at Citigroup. CSX Corp. (CSX) Raised to Buy…
Brokerage Firms Again Downgrading Each Other (C, GD, GS, JEF, KBW, LEH, MS, NCC, SGR)
These are some of the top analyst downgrades or negative calls we are seeing this morning, and you’ll notice that brokerage firm stocks are again the targets of many downgrades: Citigroup (C) Cut To…
24/7 Wall St. Most Overpaid CEO Of The Day: Power Medical (PMII) CEO Michael Whitman
Power Medical Interventions (PMII) CEO Micheal Whitman is being paid an extraordinary base salary of $385,000 this year, according to the company proxy. In the meantime, his company is posting remarkably poor numbers. Initial…
Wal-Mart (WMT) Refuses To Knuckle Under, Saved By International
Wal-Mart refuses to play ball with the recession. Its July same-store sales were not tremendous, its most recent quarter was, under the circumstances, spectacular. The figures were for the period ending July 31. Income…
Drop-Off In Driving To Undercut Economy
Americans drove 12.2 billion miles less in June than they did in the same month a year ago. That is a drop of almost 5%. The fall-off in activity is likely to help gas…
Greenspan Versus Foreclosure Rates
Alan Greenspan was over at The Wall Street Journal playing his wise old man act. He is ancient, but he may also be dumb. Greenspan made the point that housing should bottom in the…
As Europe Drives In Reverse, Pressure On Central Banks Grows
No one was surprised when German and France said their GDP growths were negative in the last quarter, by .2%, although the term "negative growth" does not seem to be proper English. With the…
Barnes & Noble (BGP) Says No To Borders (BGP) Acquisition — Will The Last Person Please Get The Lights On The Way Out?
In a rare sign of sanity in the executive suites of corporate America, it looks like one potential deal that had been the subject of wide speculation will not be happening The Wall Street…
Toll Brothers (TOL) CEO Sees Housing Recovery — Who Cares What He Thinks?
Struggling upscale homebuilder Toll Brothers (TOL) saw its homebuilding revenue fall 34% for the third quarter, but CEO Robert Toll is sounding an optimistic note, telling shareholders that "Although the rate of cancellations as…
Media Digest 8/24/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, Greenspan says the housing market should bottom in 2009. Reuters writes that US auto makers are scrambling to make more fuel-efficient cars. Reuters reports that the SEC is close to a…
Asia Markets 8/14/2008 (TM)
Markets in Asia were The Nikkei fell .5% to 12,957. Canon was down 1% to 5160.Toyota (TM) dropped 1.6 to 4880. The Hang Seng slipping 1.6. Data from Reuters Douglas A. McIntyre