Continue reading Amazon (AMZN) second quarter earnings preview

Amazon (AMZN) second quarter earnings preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay jumps following first quarter earnings

eBay jumps following first quarter earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay (EBAY) first quarter earnings preview

eBay (EBAY) first quarter earnings preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Holiday shoppers spent 3% less online in 2008

Holiday shoppers spent 3% less online in 2008 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the poor outlook for this economy has stemmed the flood of takeovers from abroad we'd normally see in this kind of market.

Where are the Europeans? Where are the Asians? Where are the Middle Easterners? Are they all cowed into not buying our companies despite the decline in the dollar?

Consider that there have been only two deals above $10 billion this year: AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN) (Cramer's Take), which bought Medimmune for $15 billion, and Saudi Basic Industries, which purchased GE Plastics for $12 billion. No one has taken advantage of the astounding decline in the U.S. dollar to buy up enterprises.

Take two that seem absurdly low: Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR) (Cramer's Take) and Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) (Cramer's Take). Both companies have bought in an immense amount of stock. Both companies now trade at $5 billion in value. Give them a 25% haircut and you can see how much these name-brand companies are marked down.

But nobody cares.

Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Why foreigners find U.S. buys so unattractive

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Why foreigners find U.S. buys so unattractive originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Because the business of manufacturing nearly everything has been deferred to China, it seems to me that there must be some great opportunities in store for those who learn to communicate in the Chinese language. Corporations large and small have already taken hold of this thinking and I believe that companies wishing to thrive in a true global sense are duty bound to maintain staff fluent in English, Spanish, Chinese, and a host of other languages. Gone are the days when speaking English was the "responsibility" of foreign corporations wishing to do business with us. If we want to keep pace, we need to drop our attitude of superiority and realize that the world of business has some staggering new rules.

I'm not doing a promotion here. I'm merely examining the current business conditions and investigating some options. When considering the fact that one out of five people on this planet speaks some form of Chinese dialect, doesn't it make good sense that we should be interested in communicating with them? Perhaps they don't understand that we don't want lead in our children's toys. Wouldn't you like to explain that to them?

Continue reading The Chinese language for business: Its time has arrived

The Chinese language for business: Its time has arrived originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• CIBC downgraded shares of Toronto Dominion (NYSE: TD) to Sector Performer from Outperformer following the Commerce Bancorp (NYSE: CBH) acquisition, as they see integration risks and believes the deal will limit the company's ability to buyback stock.
  
• Cytec Industries (NYSE: CYT) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, as they believe near-term risks to demand and margins could bring a better entry point by 1H08. Target lowered to $75 from $79.
  
• Collins Stewart downgraded shares of Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ: CRNT) to Underperform from Buy on valuation and uncertainties surrounding the stock, which include the NEC infringement issue and increased competition.
  
• Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) was downgraded to Accumulate from Buy at ThinkEquity. The firm is cautious on the sustainability of PC related demand and questions component order levels relative to PC sell through.
  
• Banc of America downgraded shares of Navteq Corporation (NYSE: NVT) to Neutral from Buy following Nokia's (NOK) proposed buyout.

• JP Morgan downgraded Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (NYSE: RIO) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• Goldman removed Johnson Controls (NYSE: JCI) from its Conviction Buy List.
  
• Citigroup downgraded GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) to Hold from Buy.
  
• Friedman Billings downgraded Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE: BAM) to Neutral from Outperform.

Analyst downgrades: TD, CYT, CRNT, MU and NVT originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Tompkins plc (NYSE: TKS) to Neutral from Sell on valuation as they believe the company's exposure to the weak U.S. residential and automotive markets is priced into shares.

• RBC Capital raised Commerce Bancorp (NYSE: CBH) to Sector performer from Underperformer. They view the terms of the consent order as a positive and believe the company will now consider a sale given the resignation of CEO Vernon Hill. Keefe Bruyette also upgraded shares of Commerce to Market Perform from Underperform.

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Tribune Co (NYSE: TRB) to Buy from Hold as they believe the going-private transaction will be completed.

• ThinkEquity upgraded Progressive Gaming (NASDAQ: PGIC) to Buy from Accumulate following a recent trip to Macau and marketing meetings with management that reinforced their confidence in the company's long-term viability and strong market positioning...

• Goldman upgraded Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ: COST) to Buy from Neutral.

• Wachovia raised The McClatchy Co (NYSE: MNI) to Outperform from Market Perform.

• InterOil Corp (AMEX: IOC) was upgraded to Strong Buy from Outperform at Raymond James.

• JP Morgan added Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) to its Focus List.

• Banc of America added Archer Daniels Midland Co (NYSE: ADM) to Buy from Neutral.

Upgrade summary 7-02-07: ADM, CBH, COST, LVS and TRB originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One day after my colleague Sheldon Liber wrote an interesting posts about railroad stocks, Bloomberg News reported that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) had become the largest shareholder of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (NYSE: BNI)

Coincidence? I think not.

Liber wrote that Burlington Northern along with CSX Corp. (NYSE:CSX) and Norfolk Southern Corp. (NYSE:NSC) were worth watching. He even noted that, "If you read any commentary from Warren Buffett you will learn that he looks for strong cash flow as a sign of success and resists investing in companies with a lot of debt."

It has about $6.7 billion in long-term debt. Free cash flow after dividends was $712 million in 2006. The railroad reports earnings April 24. Analysts are expecting earnings of $1.09 on revenue of $3.67 billion, according to Thomson Financial. The mean target price for the stock, which closed Thursday at $82.92, is $88.54.

Shares of Burlington Northern are bound to jump when the market reopens Monday when investors try to go all board.

Sorry, I couldn't resist one bad railroad pun.

Warren Buffett hits the rails originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 08 Apr 2007 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) highlighted the possibility of a merger between XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI).
• XM Satellite Radio has softened its stance about a possible deal with Sirius Satellite Radio, but any deal between the companies would face obstacles from the FCC.
• Starbucks Corp (NASDAQ: SBUX) rival Dunkin' Donuts plans to open its first store in Taiwan today as part of a regional push into mainland China. Starbucks also has expansion plans for China.
• Commerce Bancorp (NYSE: CBH) is under federal investigation by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in conjunction with the Federal Reserve, due to the company's transactions with bank insiders.
  
• The Financial Times (subscription required) wrote that handset maker Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE, NASDAQ: ERIC) moved closed to pushing aside Samsung for third place in market share behind Nokia Corp (NYSE: NOK) and Motorola, Inc (NYSE: MOT); last year it overtook LG Electronics.
  

• The New York Times reported that the Chief Independent Investigator has found that a top Interior Department official was told nearly three years ago of a "legal blunder" that allowed drilling companies to avoid billions of dollars in payments for oil and gas pumped from publicly owned waters.
• The Toronto Sun reported rumors that Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is working to get the Beatles catalog onto its iTunes service.
  
• Investor's Business Daily mentioned Varian Semiconductor (NASDAQ: VSEA) positively in the "New America" column.

Newspaper wrap-up 1-17-07: Apple iTunes to get Beatles tunes? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.