Honda (HMC) Sells Two Of Top Five Cars In US
It speaks volumes that Honda (HMC), an also-ran Japanese car company behind Toyota (TM) for years, had two of the top five selling cars in the US during June. It is a testament to…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
UnitedHealth Guidance Tanks Again (UNH)
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) is again lowering its guidance. The company now sees $2.95 to $3.05 EPS on revenues of around $81 Billion range. Its prior guidance was $3.55 to $3.60. First Call has estimates…
The Latest, And Perhaps Best, Case For $200 Oil
With the price of oil moving up so sharply, the demand should go down. Those dynamics are immutable. The International Energy Agency, the big think tank in the industry, says demand will keep going…
Starbucks (SBUX) Schultz: The Goat As Hero
Howard Schultz, the founder and CEO-for-life of Starbucks (SBUX) is almost completely responsible for the catastrophe at his company. Two years ago, he pointed out the problems with the coffee chain’s approach. He waited…
GM (GM): Rick Wagoner Would Not Make It At Honda?
The theory goes that if 1,000 monkeys typed for 1,000 years, one of them could recreate the work of William Shakespeare. It is a bit like that in the GM (GM) executive suite. As…
Microsoft (MSFT) May Take Another Run At Yahoo! (YHOO), This One To Be Successful
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Microsoft (MSFT) is lining up partners to buy Yahoo! (YHOO) and this time it is very likely to get what it wants. Yahoo!’s shares dropped…
Media Digest 7/2/2008 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, US car sales hit a 15 year low. Reuters writes that Paulson said the US is facing a tough Q2. Reuters reports that Starbucks (SBUX) will close 600 stores and cut…
Asia Markets 7/2/2008 (HMC)(LFC)(SNP)
Markets in Asia were mostly lower. The Nikkei fell 1.3% to 13,286. KDDI was down 3% to 642000. Honda (HMC) was off 1.1% to 3600. The Hang Seng fell 1.4% to 21,791. China Life…
Apollo Earnings Shocker (APOL)
Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) is seeing shares surge in after-hours after the company posted better than expected earnings. The for-profit and online education company earned $139.1 million after an 11% enrollment increase. On…
Michael Dell Loads Up On Stock (DELL)
As you will see below from a Form 4 filing with the SEC, Mich Dell bought some 4.5 million shares of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) over the last 3 trading days at levels from…
Another Defeat For Starbucks (SBUX)
Howard Schultz, the CEO for life at Starbucks (SBUX) recently told Portfolio magazine all about his plans to turn around the company. The editors should not have bought a word of it. In the…
The 52-Week Low Club (CAR)(AMR)(UAUA)(CC)(FO)
Avis Budget (CAR) Part of the collapse of the travel industry. Down to $6.93. Fortune Brands (FO) Poor results dog the stock. Down to $51.59 from 52-week high of $90.80. AMR Corporation (AMR) Another…
Does Bank Of America (BAC) Need $10 Billion In New Capital?
KBW, the bank research firms, thinks Bank of America (BAC) will have to raise $10 billion in new capital. Its mix of real estate, LBO, business, and consumer credit debt still faces substantial write-downs.…
With June Worse Than Expected, Question Arises Whether GM (GM) And Ford (F) Can Stay Independent
The June numbers for domestic vehicles sales were worse than expected. Most of the car companies posted 30% or greater declines in light truck and SUV units. For Ford (F), total units dropped 28.1%…
AT&T (T) Pricing For Apple (AAPL) iPhone Kills Sprint (S)
Whether AT&T (T) makes a lot of money on the new Apple (AAPL) iPhone may not matter to Sprint (S). What does matter is that the market thinks the No.3 cellular provider in the…
AT&T (T): A Dangerous Price Plan For The Apple (AAPL) iPhone
AT&T (T) announced its pricing plan for the Apple (AAPL) iPhone today. The plan is extremely confusing. That may make it harder to sell to the average customer, both for those who currently use…
What Happens To Oil Prices When Refiners Stop Producing? (VLO, WNR, TSO)
As we’ve pointed out earlier, oil refining is not the business to be in these days. Refiners have been hit hard by skyrocketing crude oil prices because they are unable to pass along those…
Desalination IPO On Deck: Energy Recovery (ERII)
A company called Energy Recovery, Inc. is set to come public via an initial public offering this week. If pricing does not occur tonight or in the wee hours of Wednesday morning then the…
Occidental To Try Enhanced Oil Recovery in Permian Basin (OXY, KMP)
Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) plans to spend $1.1 Billion on a natural gas processing plant and related pipelines. The company expects the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) program to increase it’s Permian Basin production by a…
CIT Gets a Kitchen Pass (CIT)
CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is going to be one of today’s winners in the financial services sectors. So it looks as of this morning. The company has sold two home lending units for…