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.

Google has been moving up recently very nicely with the overall market; but I don't care what the upside potential is, it STINKS as an investment even if it goes to $1,000!

Today GOOG sank about 3% and was down as much as 7% during the day on another company's news. (Perhaps this was just profit taking?) Yahoo reported that its sales will be in the lower half of market guidance. See: Yahoo sees weakness, stock tumbles - CNNMoney

So the market penalized Google -- Why? What if the reason Yahoo! is doing poorly is because Google is doing so well? Perhaps it should have gone up, some more, instead of down. But it did not go up because of the skittish speculation in the stock. Can you imagine what would have happened if Google itself reported some earnings disappointment -- Lookout below!

How can anyone even call it an investment? It is pure speculation. Various analysts and prognosticators have continued to speculate about 12-month price targets based on their perceived revenue models. Google has such a relatively short history that there is little track record to rely upon. You know what I think of analysts, see: Analyzing the Analysts - It's all a joke right?

Of course, analysts have had plenty to say recently; Cramer said that the stock should reach $500, as Brian White pointed out.

Continue reading If GOOG sinks GOOG stinks!

If GOOG sinks GOOG stinks! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Sep 2006 20:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.