Now Citigroup changed its call? Today the analyst woke up to the truth? What the heck has Citigroup been doing for the past year? Rip Van Winkle syndrome? What's going on? Talk about closing the barn doors after the horses have run off!

When I read Kevin Shult's report earlier today that Citigroup cut Vonage Holdings Corp (NYSE: VG) to Sell from Hold on patent litigation concerns as the firm believes the risk to profitability has increased, I did not know whether to laugh or cry for Citigroup's clients. The harshest critics might accuse Citigroup of not changing the call until it had most of its clients out of the stock. Or perhaps, as Cramer reminded us, Citigroup has been shorting the stock and wants to push it down and out?

The analysts calls, upgrades and downgrades, are one of my pet peeves in the investment world. I know of few other things that are so often wrong, so misguided, so untimely and so worthless. I can't believe people are being paid six- and seven-figure incomes for this crap. Last year I went on a rant when Piper Jaffrey issued a twelve month price target for Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) in January of 2006 of $600. It did not come close and it will be lucky if the stock hits that number any time in the next two years. More importantly, as far as I know, Piper Jaffrey hasn't change its view publicly. Seems analysts just sling arrows into the sky and let them land where they may, and think nothing of it.

So now, after the stock has already collapsed, the courts have ruled, the stories of its limited prospects have been chiseled in stone, Citigroup is feeling queasy about Vonage and changed its call. There should be an analysts hall of shame or maybe, just put their pictures up in the post office.

Related story: Cramer, Cramer, Cramer -- You screwed up buddy!

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Citigroup cuts Vonage from hold to sell -- a little late originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you are looking for value in the stock market there are never a lot of choices in relation to the number of public companies available. While there should be more opportunities in a down market than in an up market, from my perspective that is not always true. In any market you are going to find, by definition, that half of the public companies are above the mean in terms of value and half are below. Among those below the mean, further analysis usually indicates that most of these stocks deserve to be there.

The following is a 10-year chart for Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC):

I have been following the stock of this company, that I do banking with (as well as others) for several years. Among the many reasons to have an interest in the stock is that one of its major shareholders is Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A and BRK.B). If Warren Buffett is buying a stock, one must take a look even if only for educational purposes. So I have been watching and not buying. As anyone can plainly see, WFC would have been worth buying at almost any point in the last ten years. Some points better than others, but all leading upward in the long run.

Continue reading Chasing value: Wells Fargo

Chasing value: Wells Fargo originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Feb 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This is my 100th story so it has sentimental value since I am not a writer by training. When I accepted a BloggingStocks position I was not sure I would be able to work it into my schedule, much less whether anyone would even care about what I had to say. But so far, so good.

I wanted my 100th post to have some meaning so I have decided to write about companies that have withstood the test of time. We are rapidly closing in on 2007 and United Parcel Service will be celebrating its 100th anniversary. In 2007 the cumulative histories of these five diversified companies will total 692 years of business success. Most of the histories have been gathered from other sites which I have included for those who want to learn more.

United Parcel Service Inc. (NYSE:UPS) Started in 1907.

Continue reading 692 years strong: Citi, BUD, AT&T, JNJ, & UPS

692 years strong: Citi, BUD, AT&T, JNJ, & UPS originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As a long-term shareholder I appreciated news of the breakout of Time Warner Cable.

Now, I'm sure some clicking on this post thought that maybe a typo had escaped the editors, but I did mean "muddle" in the title of this post and not "middle". Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) has been encouraged for some time by shareholders, Carl Icahn, analysts, and various prognosticators and their like to give the market place a clear picture of the company's assets, company's goals, and to unlock their hidden value. This is value that many viewed as mired in a muddle of slow-moving, misdirected pieces aggregated in a conglomerate, lead by a board that just did not get it or get with it.

The news that TWX is going to release Time Warner Cable, which flies under the banner TWC, from its corporate bondage was welcomed by Wall Street and I'm sure Mr. Icahn. In fact this plan may be one of the things shared with Carl Icahn months ago that pacified him and his investor group from "throwing things" in the meetings with Chairman Richard Parsons. This and dramatic changes at the AOL division which are still ongoing.

Continued clarity of purpose and strong leadership will continue to bring value to TWX in the coming years so I will be holding on for a while.

There are many companies stuck in the muddle that should give some thought to this issue of clarity and give investors something they can understand while demonstrating they themselves (corporate executives) know what they are doing.

Other companies that I believe are stuck in the muddle include the following: Yahoo (YHOO); Sun Microsystems (SUNW) which is just plain stuck; General Electric (GE) which should at least tell us why they must continue to own NBC; Microsoft (MSFT) is less muddled lately and 2007 should be their opportunity to come clean; Citigroup (C) is going nowhere fast with lots of potential and nothing happening -- this is one that should definitely "speed up, slow down, or get the hell out of the way"; Ford (G) and General Motors (GM)... could they be more muddled up? Anybody want to add to the list of muddled companies? There are plenty.

Disclosure: In addition to owning TWX, I own Ford bonds bought at a discount to face value. I hold no other position long or short in any other stock mentioned.

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Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for Design and Research of an Architecture & Planning firm.

Time Warner Cable no longer stuck in the muddle originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is now a bloated company. Naturally, not all of it is bad. But, at the company's current scale, there are issues to contend with that might be more easily resolved in leaner and meaner pieces. This is the first in a two-part story.

We all would love to be bloated by Microsoft's cash hoard, patents, growth history, depth of management, research & development strength, and certainly the company's potential to bring product to market.

Nevertheless it is time to consider Micro'soft' vs Micro'hard'. The development of the XBox, and now the Zune -- and with the possibility of Microsoft stores in the air -- make this a timely consideration. I am not promoting breaking up the company without very deep and measured analysis of the merits (Peter Cohan had some analysis of this very topic, in June), but given Microsoft's size and slower growth prospects it is worth considering.

The break-up of many of our largest corporations has been a topic of discussion as investors seek to maximize company potential.

Continue reading Micro'soft' vs Micro'hard' -- Break it up fellas!

Micro'soft' vs Micro'hard' -- Break it up fellas! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Sep 2006 17:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.