Amey Stone
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AutoZone (AZO): Stock crushed but looks good for a snapback trade
AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) is in my sweet spot right now for a day trade. I like to buy quality companies that are being irrationally beaten down perhaps too much after a mediocre earnings report. The company has been hurt by the one-two punch of the recession plus the bankruptcies of the major automakers. The company posted a 3.1% year-over-year decline in earnings, and a 1% increase in sales (quarter-over-quarter). They also didn't raise guidance. The market was in an unforgiving mood today and the stock is down 11 points, or about 7.4%.
However, Merrill just came out with a report defending the company. In the report Merrill states:
Continue reading AutoZone (AZO): Stock crushed but looks good for a snapback trade
BloggingStocks named finalist for best business blog on its third birthday
I'm happy to announce that yesterday, BloggingStocks was named a finalist for Editor & Publisher and MediaWeek's "EPpy" awards. We're up for "Best Business Blog" and competing with BusinessWeek and USA Today for the grand prize.
Six sites from AOL's MediaGlow division made the list -- the most of any media company. Joining us as finalists in their categories are Fanhouse, Engadget.com, Popeater.com, Urlesque.com and Moviefone.com.
We learned this news almost three years to the day since BloggingStocks launched.
Continue reading BloggingStocks named finalist for best business blog on its third birthday
Google exec Tim Armstrong takes helm at AOL
Tim Armstrong is the new chief executive of AOL, a division of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and parent of BloggingStocks. Armstrong, a senior VP at Google (you can read the press release here) replaces Randy Falco, who joined AOL in November, 2006. Also leaving AOL is President Ron Grant.
Time Warner shares initially traded down in after hours trading following the announcement, but were leveling off by 6:30. The stock closed at $8.32 today, a gain of 5%, and at 7pm was at $8.31.
Time Warner shares initially traded down in after hours trading following the announcement, but were leveling off by 6:30. The stock closed at $8.32 today, a gain of 5%, and at 7pm was at $8.31.
Money winners of 2008: Beyonce, one smash hit after another
This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.
The recent release of Beyonce Knowles' Sasha Fierce album has garnered the singer, song writer, and producer her fifth number one hit song. She also has two motion pictures coming out soon, Cadillac Records and Obsessed, and will go on a world tour in 2009. That should considerably increase her already sizable earnings.
I don't own any of Beyonce's albums, but after listening (and watching) her AOL Sessions version of "Irreplaceable" a few times, I plan to put one on my Christmas list. Which one should I ask for, Beyonce fans? Her second solo album, B'Day, which has "Irreplaceable" on it, or her new double-album?
I also plan to see Cadillac Records, in which she plays the legendary Etta James. The New York Times says her performance is impressive. In the interview, it's clear that Beyonce has designs on being legendary herself.
At 27, Beyonce certainly is well on her way. And she is clearly a money winner this year -- Forbes estimates she pulled in $80 million between June 2007 and June 2008, ranking her the top celebrity earner under 30. But with her album, tour, movies (not to mention her clothing line and endorsement deals with Pepsi and L'Oreal), next year could provide even greater riches.
Beyonce made our Money Winners for 2008, but she looks like a shoe-in for our 2009 list as well.
Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2008.
Money winners of 2008: Tiger Woods on the road to earning $1 billion
This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.
Tiger Woods returns to our Money Winners list this year despite a season shortened due to an injury and being let go as a General Motors spokesman. He won four of the six PGA tournaments he entered this year before bowing out with an injured knee. Paul Rogers, a veteran golf writer, who has written for Travel + Leisure Golf, GOLF Magazine, and Links Magazine, who I interviewed via e-mail, called that, "an unheard of rate of success by any current player's standards except his own."
That record made him golf's second-biggest prize winner despite his short season. Rogers says, "To give you a better sense of this
accomplishment, the top money winner on Tour this year, Vijay Singh, competed in 23 events." Rogers also mentioned that Woods is currently designing three golf courses in the Dubai desert, the mountains of North Carolina, and in Mexico's Baja, Calif., for a reported design fee of $25 million each.
Golf Digest magazine estimated in its February issue that by 2010 Woods could be the first athlete to reach $1 billion in earnings. He earned $123 million total in 2007 for total career earnings of $769 million, according to the magazine.
Continue reading Money winners of 2008: Tiger Woods on the road to earning $1 billion
Best & Worst in Money 2008: Company of the year
This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.
If you think the Company of the Year award should go to the best-performing stock in the S&P 500, you have a clear choice (if you look at the results through November at least). The winner on that score is Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO), which was up 34% as of Dec. 3. All dollar stores are doing well in the current recession-era shopping environment. But Family Dollar does particularly well since, unlike most dollar stores, few of the items for sale actually cost $1.
I shopped at a Family Dollar myself last weekend and I spent a shocking $80 on Christmas trinkets and snacks for our long road-trip home from Grandma's. I think one item in the bunch cost only a dollar, but pretty much everything was under $10 and seemed like a good value at the time. I can understand why the company is doing well.
Continue reading Best & Worst in Money 2008: Company of the year
Seven reasons why we can be thankful for this recession
Thanksgiving is a day to share a meal with family and friends and reflect on all the things we have to be thankful for. With the economy hitting a brick wall, that may seem a tall order this year. But at least for today, put aside worries about your plummeting portfolio, sinking home values and increasing job insecurity. Even when it comes recession, there are reasons to be thankful. Here are seven things I'm happy about that are occurring now due to the economic slowdown:
Stocks are cheap. We may not have seen the bottom yet (hopefully we have), but this could be the stock buying opportunity you've been waiting for. The trailing price-earnings ratio of stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 is 11. Don't throw all your investable assets in the market all at once, but start nibbling here and there on strong companies that have been slammed by the economy -- like General Electric (NYSE: GE), Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM), Intuitive Surgical, or just a broad index fund -- and hold on for the ride. (For more ideas, see our Stocks To Buy category.)
Gas prices are falling. Last summer, gas prices nationally averaged over $4 a gallon. My mother-in-law was panicked she couldn't afford to stay in her house this winter due to heating oil costs. Now gas is at $1.87 on average nationally and heating oil costs are about 20% lower than last year. Fact is, the price of crude is tied to expectations for economic growth. In recession, demand for crude falls globally and gas and heating oil get cheaper. Then, in a nice virtuous cycle, lower energy prices put more dollars in consumers' pockets and help fuel a bit more spending.
Continue reading Seven reasons why we can be thankful for this recession
Financial Felons: Ken Lay
This post is part of a feature in which we wonder whatever happened to some notorious financial felons. See all 17.In my 20-year career as a financial writer, there have been a number of times when I've been truly shocked by news events. This year has had more than its share -- with Lehman's bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch's forced sale and Eliot Spitzer's prostitution scandal at the top of the list.
But in 2006, probably the biggest shock was when Enron founder Ken Lay died suddenly of a heart attack. He had been convicted just six weeks earlier of 11 counts of securities fraud and related charges. At age 64, he seemed destined to spend the rest of his life behind bars. His sentencing was set for Oct 23.
But Lay died on July 5 while vacationing at Snowmass, Colorado. George H. W. Bush was among the 1,200 guests at his funeral.
Lay's detractors howled in protest. Some thought he had somehow faked his death.
Others knew instantly that this meant his conviction wouldn't stand. And, indeed it was vacated a couple of months later. The law dictates that when someone dies before using up all their available appeals, the conviction doesn't count.
According to the letter of the law, Ken Lay 'got away' with his Enron crimes. But it took his death for that to happen. And his name certainly wasn't cleared. For most Americans, Ken Lay still stands for the worst in corporate corruption and greed.
Financial Felons: Nick Leeson
This post is part of a feature in which we wonder whatever happened to some notorious financial felons. See all 17.
Leeson now lives in Ireland with his family and is CEO of Irish football club Galway United. Although he is available for speaking engagements, he's been in relative obscurity until recently when he has re-emerged to comment on today's financial crisis.
He's been pretty prescient. In a column in the U.K.'s Independent back in January, he wrote that the financial crisis would only get worse, mainly because regulators, central banks, and the investment bankers did not understand the potential market impact of the financial instruments in play.
Leeson correctly predicted both a "crisis of confidence" in leadership and that the financial crisis would "get a lot worse before it starts to get any better." Hey Nick, have we reached bottom yet?
Compared to today's bumbling financiers who threaten to bring down the entire global financial system with their ill-timed bets, Leeson seems "like a cheap date and more fun," opines one Scottish news site. Even more to his credit, that site points out, Leeson actually went to prison, serving four years in a Singapore prison.
Will any of today's financial ne'er-do-wells do time?
Would investing more for retirement now help you sleep better at night?
On a day when the Dow Jones industrial average closed down 400 points, you may be asking yourself, 'What can I do to make myself feel better about this?' Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) has an idea for you: Invest more for your retirement.
Here's how the logic goes, and I agree with it (even though, of course, it is good marketing for Schwab to promulgate such ideas).
The discount broker has found in surveys that most people (63%) say they sleep better at night when they are saving for retirement, yet many people save very little for retirement each year. They also found that people save for vacation or household items before they max out their retirement plans. And most people are positively drowning in credit card debt, probably because they made those purchases and took those vacations before they'd actually saved the money (that's my sophisticated analysis there, not survey results).
Continue reading Would investing more for retirement now help you sleep better at night?
Where are GM's earnings today? We're waiting... Shares halted
Companies that report earnings in the mornings, usually release results at 8:30 AM ET. General Motors (NYSE: GM) was supposed to release third quarter earnings this morning, but they haven't yet. When I checked the web site, there is a note that the results will be posted at "approximately 10:30 a.m."Now it is 10:45. Where are they? We're waiting GM.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) already announced this morning, reporting a modest $129 million loss (thanks to some beneficial accounting), but that it had burned through $7.7 billion in cash.
Update: 11:15 AM: General Motors shares have been halted. There is clearly some very bad news coming. And still no earnings.
11:45 AM: The results are out and they ain't good. Looks like GM could run out of cash some time in 2009 if it can't turn things around.
Obama Pick: Buy GE as Obama brings good things to life
For me, today is a day of great optimism. I'm immensely relieved that Obama was elected President and I expect great things from him. In fact, I think his win could increase optimism about the future of America enough to give the economy a much-needed boost. Years from now, historians may look back and see Obama's election as kicking off a new virtuous cycle where people feel more upbeat, so they buy a few more items, and businesses do a bit better and hire more and...
Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here. But while pondering what stock I would buy as a play on the new Obama America, my pick would be General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE). GE has long been a play on global economic growth. It is a huge conglomerate with businesses in consumer finance, media, energy and household appliances -- just to name a few. Its returns pretty much track the S&P 500 or other broad market indexes over time (although with more volatility than the index).
Given recent months of financial crisis and worldwide economic slowdown, GE's stock is cheap. It is trading today around $20 a share, a 50% drop from a year ago. It's price-earnings ratio is just 10 and its yield is a hefty 6%.
Continue reading Obama Pick: Buy GE as Obama brings good things to life
Eight ways the Wall Street bailout is adding insult to injury
As if the economic recession wasn't hard enough on Americans, seeing the government spend billions to bail out Wall Street has made it all even harder for the average person to take. Yes, we all want to avoid global financial collapse. But the way the government rescue of the banking industry is playing out seems to be adding insult to injury. Here are eight recent examples:
Wall Streeters can still expect big bonuses this year
When the government agreed to bail out Wall Street, the goal was to provide funds to shore up banks' capital bases so they would start lending again. It wasn't to help them fund the bonus pool. But estimates run that as much as $70 billion will get paid out in bonuses to bankers this year. That amount equals 10% of the $700 billion bailout. Sure, the bonuses will be smaller than last year and fewer people will get them, but there will still be lots of six-figure payouts to go around.
A Goldman hot shot got the job of doling out all that money
Neel Kashkari, a 35-year-old former Goldman Sachs whiz kid who believes in free markets, is getting the job at the Treasury Department of dispersing the government's $700 billion rescue. Is he really the right person for the job? Gawker has been merciless, publishing his high school yearbook page that features a Ferrari and lyrics from the rock band Rush. But lots of observers have wondered if a seasoned vet with a little more political experience might be a better fit for the task at hand.
Continue reading Eight ways the Wall Street bailout is adding insult to injury
Signing bonuses on Wall Street: Do they really still exist?
I've never gotten a signing bonus. In my 20 years of work since graduating from college, I've been hired for seven full-time positions and it never really occurred to me to ask for one. Usually I was happy to get the position -- a new challenge! -- and a salary increase.So, it grated a bit when l read about bankers at the defunct Lehman getting signing bonuses to stay at firms that acquired their divisions in bankruptcy proceedings. The Financial Times reported that Nomura, which bought Lehman's European and Asian divisions, gave bankers cash equal to last year's bonus if they agreed to stay at Nomura for a year, for example. The article covered a "scramble for talent" that took place when all those Lehman execs were suddenly available for hire.
Bank of America is also reportedly promising Merrill Lynch brokers a bonus as big as as 100% of the revenue they generate to stay after the deal is closed -- even though the sale was done to avert Merrill's demise.
Apparently even undergraduates are still getting signing bonuses when hired at investment banks, according to web site Banker's Ball. The average salary posted in the comments is about $60,000 with a $10,000 signing bonus (plus a target $30,000 or $40,000 year-end bonus depending on the position).
Continue reading Signing bonuses on Wall Street: Do they really still exist?
Flash: Dow goes into positive territory today, traders cheer
Phew. After plunging at the open as much as 700 points, the Dow Jones industrial average quickly rebounded and by 10 am was back in positive territory. I've been listening to traders cheer on CNBC.
It's not the kind of cheering when you win the race. It's the kind of cheering when you're trying to urge your horse to cross the finish line.
So let's all breathe a sigh of relief that some buyers have emerged to get stocks back in positive territory -- at least for now. With any luck, the rally will continue today. Maybe this is a good day to tiptoe back into the market. But if you're brave enough to do so, realize it is very early to call the bottom.
It's not the kind of cheering when you win the race. It's the kind of cheering when you're trying to urge your horse to cross the finish line.
So let's all breathe a sigh of relief that some buyers have emerged to get stocks back in positive territory -- at least for now. With any luck, the rally will continue today. Maybe this is a good day to tiptoe back into the market. But if you're brave enough to do so, realize it is very early to call the bottom.
Will Rich Ross really have a positive impact on Disney's movie operations?
Consumers sick of recession, may spend extra on holidays
Corrections, seasonality and Santa Claus
