It seems pointless to spend a lot of time proving that companies are more likely to go bankrupt during a recession. Margins are hurt by bad sales. Firms cannot easily get access…
Consumer Reports, the non-profit advocacy magazine owned by the Consumers Union, may fire 21 editors and product reviewers if its writer’s union does not agree to sacrifice raises. According to the New…
There is still some conversation about the federal government restricting short-selling activity in certain stocks. The counterargument to these restrictions is that short selling plays an important role in the valuation of…
These are the top ten early bird analyst upgrades and downgrades from Wall Street early this Tuesday morning with more than two hours until the market opens. BHP Billiton (BHP) Raised to…
Who needs Advil when it is more expensive than aspirin and probably does no better at reducing pain? Who needs Starbucks (SBUX) when Maxwell House has just as much caffeine? A new…
The latest mad plan by Howard Schulz and his executive team to fix Starbucks (SBUX) is to have stores grind beans each time they make a new pot of coffee. Apparently, the…
Douglas A. McIntyre Reuters: The US faces a long period of economic stagnation. Reuters: Obama will release plans for a financial market overhaul. Reuters: The White House will not help California fix its deficit. Reuters: …
It is a devilishly clever way for a company with flagging revenue to raise sales. Cheat customers by double charging them. According to several media outlets, as many as one million Starbucks customers were…
Douglas A. McIntyre Starbucks (SBUX) does not seem to know how to leave well-enough alone. It is a coffee chain. But, it has tried to sell music, DVDs, coffee machines, and breakfast and lunch foods.…
Douglas A. McIntyre Reuters: A survey shows the global stimulus spending lacks direction. Reuters: The race for “green” cars is still wide open. Reuters: GM (GM) and Chrysler will face Senate scrutiny are dealer closings.…
American management has been trained that any company can think and execute its way out of trouble. That means that there is a solution to every sales or cost problem. It is…
Micro-blogging platform Twitter has 32 million users, which is an increase from about 2 million a year ago, according to research mentioned in The Wall Street Journal. Some Internet measurement services show…
American companies are increasingly offering products for $1 or less. Some are among the largest firms in the United States such as Wal-Mart (WMT) and McDonald’s (MCD). Other are smaller but use…
It has begun to dawn on more and more large companies that high-priced goods are costing them sales during the recession. Maybe the only way for them to hold onto customers is…
Starbucks (SBUX) will try to revive its flagging fortunes with an assault on Web 2.0. Sales at the coffee chain have been falling, to some extent because it charges $5 a cup…
Douglas A. McIntyre