A couple of days ago, my colleague Jeff Reeves took a look at 7-Eleven's decision to enter into the beer game. Yes, 7-Eleven -- the sultan of Slurpees, the high priest of week-old hot dogs, the convenience king -- is going to throw its proverbial hat in the ring, looking for your beer bucks.

I did not know this, but 7-Eleven is the third-largest beer retailer in the United States. Perhaps my ignorance is born from the fact that there are no 7-Elevens in my hometown.

Continue reading 7-Eleven's Brewing Ambitions No Threat to Budweiser, Coors or Miller

7-Eleven's Brewing Ambitions No Threat to Budweiser, Coors or Miller originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As I mentioned in my recent Investing in Georgia post, the "Empire State of the South" has a diverse industrial output that ranges from peaches and peanuts to aircraft manufacturing and tourism (much of which is taking a hit from this year's severe drought in the South).

Georgia is home to such corporate giants as Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO), The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD), and United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), and the state also has just been named the second-best U.S. state in which to do business by Site Selection magazine. Georgia has been in the top four on that list for the past four years.

The Peach State is also home to Acuity Brands Inc. (NYSE: AYI) and Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), which I examined previously, as well as RPC Inc. (NYSE: RES) and Radiant Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: RADS), covered here. RPC and Radiant both made Fortune's 2007 list of the 100 fastest growing companies in U.S. It was Radiant's first time on that list, and Radiant has also been named one of the fastest growing tech companies in Georgia for the third straight year.

Continue reading Investing in Georgia: Radiant Systems (RADS) and RPC (RES)

Investing in Georgia: Radiant Systems (RADS) and RPC (RES) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Nov 2007 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) volatility flat into 7/19 EPS comments on mobile devices.

• MOT will report second-quarter earnings after the close on July 19. This is after last week's pre-announcement.
  
• Nollenberger says, "We do not believe that MOT's Q2 results will impact the company's share price up or down after it reports. We do believe investors should focus on any new ideas beyond the RAZR."
  
• MOT overall option implied volatility of 28 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) option volatility flat at 58.

• BBI, a provider of in-home movie & game entertainment, with over 8,000 stores globally, closed at $4.46.
  
• BBI appointed former 7-Eleven CEO James W. Keyes as Chairman & CEO of BBI on July 2nd.
  
• BBI overall option implied volatility of 58 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price risks.

Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update 7-18-07: Motorola volatility flat into EPS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Jul 2007 11:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Simpsons Movie

Simpsons-mania! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hitting a Homer: The Simpsons marketing blitz originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In a bizarre case of life imitating Bart (sorry, couldn't help it), 7-Eleven has transformed a dozen stores into Kwik-E-Marts, even offering Simpsons-exclusive products like Buzz Cola, KrustyO's cereal and Squishees. The transformation comes as part of the promotional lead-up to the July 27 opening of The Simpsons Movie, the first feature-length version of the popular cartoon.

According to the Associated Press, "For 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and Homer's creators at Gracie Films, the stunt is a cheap way to call attention to their movie, since 7-Eleven is bearing all the costs, which executives of the retail chain put at somewhere in the single millions."

Wow. So far this Kwik-E-Mart stunt has gotten coverage in nearly every media outlet, including CNBC. And none of it has cost Fox a dime! The move comes several years after industry executives turned down an offer to transform select locations of the struggling restaurant chain Applebee's (NASDAQ: APPB) into Hannibal's to coincide with the release of a sequel to Silence of the Lambs.

7-Elevens become Kwik-E-Marts for Simpsons promotion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) announced that it has hired the former head of 7-Eleven, James W. Keyes, to be the video rental company's new CEO. Carl Icahn has been feuding with the out-going chief over his pay package.

Blockbuster recently announced that it is closing more stores as the number of people who want to travel to a retail outlet to pick-up DVDs is dropping. It is also locked in a death dance with NetFlix (NASDAQ: NFLX) over pricing on DVDs through the mail. As one company drops its price to get new customers, the other follows.

Keyes biggest problem is almost certainly that the company has virtually no presence in the movie download business. Large companies including Amazon, (NASDAQ: AMZN), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) are all in the digital video business now.

New CEO. Same problems. No solutions.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

It may not matter that Blockbuster has a new CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.