Stock tickers: NTBK, C NetBank Inc. (NTBK-NASDAQ) is a stock that referring to it as ‘in trouble’ would be an understatement. Its large online banking customer base would be attractive to a larger company,…
24/7 Wall St. is preparing break-up values for several dozen companies that have market caps of $10 billion to $100 billion. The larger number is considered to be the high water mark of what…
According to Reuters, Mr. Ballmer of Microsoft (MSFT) sees the new Vista OS driving an "up tick" in PC sales. Any news that PC sales could move North might be a relief for Dell…
By Ryan Barnes with comments by Jon Ogg. Edited by Douglas A. McIntyre Comcast Corporation (CMCSA; $43.30) Unlike a competitor like Time Warner, Comcast is pretty streamlined in their cable outfit, and it contributes…
According to the New York Post, Home Depot (HD) "executives set targets for store-level employees to boost the amount of money they collected from vendors to cover the cost of damaged or defective merchandise".…
Mel Karmazin is 62 or 63 years old. Sirius (SIRI), where he is the CEO, pays him fairly well. His base salary in the last proxy was $1,250,000, and his bonus for the year…
By Ryan Barnes, with Comments from Jon Ogg. Edited by Douglas A. McIntyre Valero Energy Corporation (VLO) Valero has just two operating segments, oil refinery and retail sales, with refinery providing over 95% of…
Stock Tickers: MER, FRC Merrill Lynch is continuing to add to its wealth management operations. This morning it announced an acquistion of First Republic Bank (FRC-NYSE) for $55.00 per share in cash, or roughly…
Research operation Needham raised its price target for Apple (AAPL) to $135 from $115. The firms said the sales for the iPhone may be modest at first, but that the cost of the phone…
(ADBE) Adobe launched new photo editor product.(AH) Armor Holdings wins $44M army tank component order.(ATRS) Altiris being acquired for $33 per share in Cash by Symantec.(BMY) Bristol-Myers may be in merger talks with Sanofi-Aventis…
ARTE started as Buy at Stifel Nicolaus; started as Outperform at Cowen & Co.AVB cut to Neutral at Baird.BRY cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.CBE cut to Neutral at Prudential.CDE cut to Neutral at…
Citigroup (C) may not be able to control expenses, but its sure can buy companies. The big US financial service company has just bought British online banking outfit Egg from Prudential (PUK). The price…
By Ryan Barnes. Edited by Douglas A. McIntyre Kimberly-Clark ( KMB ) Kimberly-Clark has four company-designated operating segments: Personal Care, Consumer Tissue, K-C Professional Products, and Healthcare. This is the most logical place to…
By Ryan Barnes. Edited by Douglas A. McIntyre McDonald’s is essentially a well-disguised real estate and leasing company. Of their 31,000 locations worldwide, over 8500 are company-owned; compare that to say, a Wendy’s, which…
By Ryan Barnes. Edited by Douglas A. McIntyre Over the next several days, 24/7 Wall St. will look at the break-up values of a number of large cap companies. Firms with market caps of…
Stocks: (BCS)(BP)(BT)(GSK)(PUK)(RTRSY)(UN)(VOD)(BAY)(DT)(DB)(SAP)(SI)(ALU)(AXA)(FTE)(STM)(V) Markets in Europe were modestly higher at 5.40 AM New York time. The FTSE was up .1% to 6,237. Barclays was up 1% to 751.5. BP was up .4% to 542. BT…
It would be one of the largest deals in the history of the drug industry. Perhaps the biggest, period. Late reports from Europe are that drug mega company Sanofi-Aventis is in talks to buy…
According to Reuters, Honda (HMC) and Toyota (TM) should post double digit sales increases for the fourth quarter of 2006 while Nissan’s sales will lag. Reuters writes that profits at Canon (CAJ) rose 8.2%…
Stocks: (CAJ)(FUJ)(HIT)(HMC)(NIPNY)(NTT)(DCM)(SNE)(TM)(CHL)(CHU)(CN)(HBC)(PCW) Markets in Asia were narrowly mixed. The Nikkei rose .3% to 17,470. Bridgestone was up 1.7% to 2635. Canon was flat at 6500. Fuji Film was down .2% to 4690. Hitachi was…
The good news for Motorola (MOT) and Nokia (NOK) is that both picked up market share in 2006. Nokia’s global share of the handset market rose to 35.2% from 34.1% in 2005. Motorola’s piece…