Since shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) have dropped so sharply over the last year, the company keeps coming up with ways to convince its investors that it has a handle on things and can run the coffee retailer well in a harsh environment. It will make another attempt at getting its arguments across at its annual meeting Wednesday.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "executives are expected to outline a plan to weather the recession that includes an effort to make Starbucks products seem more affordable, and reassure investors that the company is on track to cut $500 million of costs by the fall."

A report today in the New York Post suggests that shareholders are anxious to oust Kenneth Lewis, CEO of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC). The paper says that a group of angry investors, spearheaded by Jerry Finger, has compiled a list of demands to present at the bank's next annual meeting. Finger and his irate mob will request that the roles of CEO and chairman be split, and the outspoken investor said it's safe to assume that a brand-new chief executive is also high on his wish list.

Finger made headlines last month by filing a class-action lawsuit against B of A, alleging that its merger with Merrill Lynch failed to protect shareholders' interests. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is now investigating that very same matter, and reports say that the AG may demand the return of $4 billion in bonuses to Merrill employees that were rushed through prior to the merger's completion.

It's a well-known fact that corporate governance in general, and annual meetings in particular, are a complete joke. If you believe in shareholder democracy, then please give me the tooth fairy's email address.

But Sunrise Senior Living, Inc. (NYSE: SRZ) has taken the corporate governance parody to astounding heights. On October 16th, 17 months after its last annual meeting, and after options scandals, accounting scandals, and the firing of a CEO among other thing, shareholders will convene for the annual meeting.

The New York Times piece on this travesty sums it up: Welcome to the annual meeting. Now be quiet. Only three directors will be standing for re-election, and no other business issues will be allowed to be discussed.

And we thought the shareholders owned the company, and the board/officers were supposed to be held accountable to them. Hah!

We can only hope Sunrise's assisted-living facilities treat their residents with more respect than the company treats its shareholders.

Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) shareholders sent a symbolic message yesterday about the heft of Chief Executive Terry Semel's $71.7 million paycheck, which was more than double that of any other Silicon Valley CEO last year, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

Three top advisory firms have been urging institutional shareholders to vote against three members of Yahoo's compensation committee, one-third of the investors voted against the slate of directors at the annual meeting, up significantly from 2005, when nearly one-fifth of the investors withheld their votes for directors after a similar campaign.

About one-third of investors also backed a union pension fund's proposal to tie pay more closely to performance.

Reacting in part to shareholder discontent, Yahoo's board approved a controversial package in May 2006 that slashed Semel's salary from $600,000 to $1 but awarded him 6 million options to carry him through a three-year period. Those options were valued at more than $71 million.

Semel has cashed in a total of $446 million in gains since taking charge in 2001. During this time, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) has come to dominate many aspects of Internet searching and advertising.

Meanwhile, investors continue to look for any signs of success from Project Panama.

Anyone who was following the market a year ago remembers Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD)'s 2006 annual meeting, which was botched about as badly as anyone has ever botched anything. It was described as appalling, arrogant, and a bunch of other words that we can't type on a family site like BloggingStocks.

Now that former CEO Robert Nardelli has gone (with his $210 million severance package), new CEO Frank Blake is hoping to do better on the investor relations front. He will personally take questions from investors at the meeting, and won't even use a timer to keep people from rambling!

So far, Blake has come across as the anti-Nardelli: Humble, ready to admit mistakes, and even a bit Buffett-like with his folksy analysis of operations.

While it's all well and good that the company's management has a nicer public image, there is still a lot of work to be done on the operations front. The most recent quarter was a disappointment (as Blake put it, "While we expected a tough quarter, this was worse than we anticipated"), and the company will need to execute a turnaround.

But the nicer public relations campaign should buy Home Depot time with investors. It wasn't so long ago that Jim Cramer was jokingly referring to Home Depot as "Home Despot" -- those days are now behind it. But can the company deliver results?

Monday May 21

• JPMorgan 35th Annual Technology Conference.
• Lowe's Companies Inc (NYSE: LOW) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9am. Lowe's is expected to post sub-par revenue results and an EPS decline, given the continued sluggishness in U.S. housing sector.
• PDUFA date for Shire plc's (NASDAQ: SHPGY) SPD-465 for ADHD in adults.

Tuesday May 22

• Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS) to report Q2 earnings; conference call at 8am.
• Men's Wearhouse Inc (NYSE: MW) to hold conference to at 5pm discuss Q1 earnings, detail its acquisition of After Hours and discuss the impact on 2007 guidance.

Wednesday May 23

• Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 9:30am.
• Abercrombie & Fitch Co (NYSE: ANF) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 4:30pm.

Thursday May 24

• McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD) to hold shareholder meeting at 10am.
• Gap Inc (NYSE: GPS) to report Q1 earnings; conference call at 5pm.

Friday May 25

• Lowe's to hold annual shareholder meeting at 10am. Note that Lowe's reports on Monday 5/21.
• Agilysys Inc (NASDAQ: AGYS) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 11am.

Eastman Kodak Comapny (NYSE: EK) -

Kodak volatility suggests less risk into EPS and closing of $2.3 billion cash asset sale.

EK will report EPS on 5/4. EK has a market cap of $6.7 billion, long-term debt of $2.7 billion with cash and investments of $1.4 billion as of 12/31/06. EK announced in January it has agreed to sell its health group to Onex Corp for $2.3 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to close soon.

EK overall option implied volatility of 27 is below its 26-week average of 31 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing risk.

The Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) -

Boeing implied volatility suggests flat risk into EPS and annual meeting.

BA will report EPS on 4/25. BA will hold its annual meeting on 4/30. BA announced a $2.8 billion 787 order with Virgin Atlantic today.

BA overall option implied volatility of 22 is near its 26-week average of 23 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Option volume leaders today are: Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Dendreon (NYSE: DNDN) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

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

After Chairman Howard Schultz famous critical interoffice memo, many watchers had dismissed Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) as a growth-story has-been, nothing more than a fast-food chain whose brand was losing its vigor and for which commoditization was imminent. And then, the stock price fell. And we started to wonder: is Starbucks a bargain? Is Starbucks a has-been that could-be-so-much-more? At today's annual shareholder meeting, Schultz attempted to work up the crowd into a frenzy of belief, reiterating the chain's 40,000 store goal and said the company was planning to "build more in the future than we have in the past."

And, says Schultz, "there's never been a better time to be a Starbucks shareholder." Especially if you've just purchased the stock this week, around $29.50, and not at its 52-week high of nearly $40.

Yes, there's never been a better time to buy Starbucks stock -- at around $32, even after its 2%+ rise today, the stock seems a great price if Schultz' projections are right. At 41x earnings, but a more-than-doubling of stores (and, one would hope, earnings) planned in the next decade, this is a great time to be a Starbucks buyer.

As long as you didn't buy in November or May 2006, it may be a great time to be an owner. I'll let you owners decide for sure.

Monday March 19

• Nortel Networks Corporation (NYSE: NT) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 8:30am. Analysts will be focused on Nortel's Mobility enterprise solutions revenue, as well as new business opportunities and clients.

Tuesday March 20

• Two well known technology companies to report -- Adobe Systems Inc's (NASDAQ: ADBE) Q1 conference call is at 5pm, Oracle Corporation's (NASDAQ: ORCL) Q3 conference call is at 5pm.

• PDUFA Date for Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc's (NASDAQ: ALXN) Solaris, a treatment for paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a rare blood disorder.

Wednesday March 21

• The International Trade Commission will hold a public hearing on the Patent Infringement case between Broadcom Corporation (NASDAQ: BRCM) and Qualcomm Inc (NASDAQ: QCOM) at 9:30am.

• Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) will hold a shareholder meeting at 1pm in Seattle. Ferris Baker Watts believes the meeting will alleviate some concerns over a previously leaked internal memo written by CEO Howard Schultz that had a cautious tone.

Thursday March 22

• Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE) to report Q3 earnings; conference call at 5pm. Along with performance by region [North America, Europe, Asia], and evaluation of pricing pressures, analysts will review Nike's revised Air Force One product performance –- deemed a catalyst for growth moving forward .

Friday March 23

• Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) to report Q4 earnings; conference call at 8:30am.
• Virginia District Court to hold injunction hearing between Vonage Holdings Corp (NYSE: VG) and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ).

Sun Microsystems Inc (NASDAQ: SUNW) held its annual investor's day with the investment community yesterday. Analysts seemed not to share Jonathan Schwartz's, CEO of Sun, enthusiasm for where the company is headed.

Here are some opinions from analyst reports which were posted on Barron's Tech Trader Daily:

Richard Gardner of Citigroup believes Schwartz continues to adopt the view that Sun's decision to open source its entire software stack will drive developers and users to its platform(s), eventually creating opportunities to monetize R&D investments. Gardner agrees with the premise that volume drives value, but how much value, for whom and over what time period is still unclear.

Thomas Weisel analyst Kevin Hunt still has concerns regarding the "lackluster" storage business (tape market and integration of StorageTek), and as a result, maintains a Market Weight rating on Sun's shares.

Deutsche Bank's Chris Whitmore believes that Schwartz and his team are driving operational and product line improvements, but that this is more than reflected in Sun's shares. Whitmore believes Sun's operating margin goal requires double digit revenue growth through F09, and maintains a Hold rating with a price target of $5.50.

Goldman Sachs's Laura Conigliaro said, "There are significant execution elements to be hurdled and timing could be lumpy."

While analysts reports are peppered with optimistic caveats, they are few and far between. Also, analysts and investors are still questioning the reasoning behind the convertible bond offering with KKR.

Sun's stock has had a massive rally recently, it might be time to take some profits.

Eastman Kodak (NYSE: EK) will be hosting its annual meeting with the investment community on Thursday in New York. It would be a good idea to listen to or attend this meeting. It appears the turnaround is very much underway.

• Net cash generation of $592 million versus an estimate of $400 million to $600 million, hitting the higher end of the estimate
• Digital earnings grew five-fold, albeit only hitting the lower end of guidance
• Intellectual property development doing well, as it makes progress with its CMOS business and generates profits from its other IP businesses

The negative side of Eastman Kodak's earnings release was slower digital growth than expected as management decided to focus on profitability versus chasing the lower end of the digital camera market.

Kodak ended the year with $1.5 billion of cash on the balance sheet. And will receive $2.35 billion in cash from the health care business disposition.

Antonio Perez, although focused on his task, has demonstrated some nervousness with the investment community as his turnaround strategy hit bumps in the road. However, it appears the biggest bumps have been hit and smoother roads are ahead. Investors need to revisit Eastman Kodak. It is no longer an asset intensive, slow moving company.

In the same proxy filing that indicated Google's co-founders and CEO would continue to receive $1 salaries in 2006, the annual shareholder's meeting date was announced: Thursday, May 11, at 2 p.m. PDT.

The meeting will take place at Google's corporate headquarters, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, and a live webcast of our annual meeting will be broadcast here. We'll be liveblogging the annual meeting right here on Blogging Stocks!