Busted IPO: Verso Paper Corp. (VRS, IP)
Verso Paper Corp. (NYSE: VRS) was one we noted yesterday as "slashing terms" after the pricing level was dropped and the share count in the sale was dropped. The company priced 14 million shares…
All Work
Douglas A. McIntyre
Trouble Brewing In Oil & Gas MLP Land? (PAA, OGE, DVN, XCO, VQ, WES, APC, BSR)
We have tracked these Master Limited Partnerships (MLP’s) and spin-offs or carve-out IPO’s from larger oil and gas companies for quite some time. What is amazing is that despite the rapid rise in oil…
CBS + CNet = The Worst M&A Deal Of The Year
It is almost impossible to imagine what the CBS (CBS) management and board were thinking when they bought CNET (CNET) for $11.50 a share or $1.8 billion. CNET has done so poorly that the…
Blackstone Loses & Contracts, Yet Assets Grow To Record (BX)
The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE: BX) has reported earnings this morning, and it’s really hard to find anything pretty in the release. The private equity leader posted a GAAP net loss of $246.7 million…
JDS Uniphase Votes For Buyback Over Expansion (JDSU)
JDS Uniphase Inc. (NASDAQ: JDSU) has just announced that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $200 million in shares of common stock. The repurchases can be via open market…
Blockbuster Managing Earnings (BBI)
Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) managed to beat earnings expectations this morning. The company posted $0.20 EPS on a 5.4% revenue decrease to $1.39 Billion. First Call had estimates at $0.15 EPS on $1.44 Billion…
UBS Hikes Oil (CVX, DO, HERO, NE, PDE, RDC, RIG)
UBS has raised its raw oil price targets for 2008 to 2010 and has lifted its coverage in the oil sector. UBS also initiated coverage on some of the oil and drilling companies this…
Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (CEL, EVEP, GMT, ITRN, CEC, LDG, NSM, SLRY, ELOS, TIVO)
Analyst coverage is looking pretty thin on individual calls this morning, but here are ten of the analyst calls we are looking at this Thursday morning: Cellcom Israel (NYSE: CEL) raised to Buy at…
CBS (CBS) To Buy CNET (CNET): Odd News
In a move that makes little sense, a TV network, CBS (CBS) will buy a tech website business, Cnet (CNET). The price was $11.50. Cnet has been under pressure by activist shareholders to sell…
GE (GE): A Proxy For US Economy Anymore?
For years, GE (GE) has been considered the single best corporate proxy for the US economy. For years it led all American companies in market cap. It businesses range from entertainment to medical equipment…
IAC/Interactive (IACI): Another Foolish Move
No one needs to be reminded that IAC/Interactive (IACI) is breaking itself into five pieces to improve "shareholder value". The fight between Barry Diller and John Malone over whether the move was OK played…
China: Inflation On Fire
It is not enough that the cost of food is moving up by double digits in China. Now other components of the economy are showing even worse inflation. In April, factory and property spending…
Toyota (TM) Prius: No Longer Just For Sissies
No one can make the case that the Toyota (TM) Prius is just a car for tree-hugging environmentalists. The vehicle has now sold one million units worldwide. The figure is particularly impressive because the…
Barclay’s Earnings: Banks Still Bleeding
Barclays (BCS) said it would take a write-down of about $2 billion in impaired assets, some of them related to mortgages. The big Brit bank may have to raise $1 billion to keep its…
Countrywide (CFC) Board: Sacked Behind The Line Of Scrimmage
A series of lawsuits against the board and management of Countrywide (CFC) accuses them of insider trading and not being careful enough in regulating the firm’s lending practices. As is the wont in these…
Media Digest 5/15/2007 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg
According to Reuters, profits fell at Barclays (BCS) due to large write-offs. Reuters writes that Carl Icahn has decide to begin a proxy fight against Yahoo! (YHOO) Reuters reports that Sony (SNE) rose 10%…
Europe Markets 5/15/2008 (SNE)(CN)(SNP)
Markets in Asia were narrowly mixed. The Nikkei rose .9% to 14,252. NEC rose 5% to 551. Sony (SNE) rose 8.7% to 5270. The Hang Seng fell .9% to 25,357 China Netcom (CN) fell…
High Profile Failures At Motorola (MOT) And Blockbuster (BBI) Make Icahn Yahoo! Bid Questionable
Carl Icahn has made the announcement that he plans a proxy fight to either control or influence the Yahoo! board. It is a remarkably poor idea. Microsoft (MSFT) has made it clear that it…
GE’s Ever-Changing Portfolio Mix (GE)
It seems the calls and progress in changing the shape of General Electric Co. are just never-ending. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) is hiring Goldman Sachs to…
Google (GOOG) Tops List Of Most Visited US Sites For First Time
Search has already trumped all other models on the internet for making money, and now its popularity has reached the point where the Google (GOOG) sites have passed Yahoo! (YHOO) as the most visited…