Continue reading Serious Money: Jumpy stock market but Special 'K' doing fine

Serious Money: Jumpy stock market but Special 'K' doing fine originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ford's Fusion sees record sales for fifth consecutive month

Ford's Fusion sees record sales for fifth consecutive month originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ford now sits as a disadvantage. At least, for now.

Ford now sits as a disadvantage. At least, for now. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ford resists cutting dealer network, unlike GM and Chrysler

Ford resists cutting dealer network, unlike GM and Chrysler originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 May 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Bill Ford: What a great time to be in the auto business

Bill Ford: What a great time to be in the auto business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The advertising industry's "same old, same old" tack on strategic consumer messaging is tired, no matter how innovative the ad glitz is. Engaging consumers by encouraging a two-way line of communication is where it's at for a whole new crop of consumers.

Continue reading New Ford TV ads made by consumers

New Ford TV ads made by consumers originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ford (F): Do people really want hybrids? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Sep 2008 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ford to extend buyout offers to more employees next week originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Jul 2008 09:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ford Q4 earnings preview originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Jan 2008 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ford models lead list of 'most delightful vehicles' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ford finding success in RVs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• While the new Escape looks like it emerged from the 1990s, this small SUV looks distinctly 21st century. Shame on Ford.
• It's like if you want a decent American car, you have to move to Europe to buy one.
• Ford, listen up. I love Fords. I always have. I love THIS Ford Kuga. Next time I go out to buy a car, it will not be a Ford - because you think I do not deserve the chance to buy the Kuga. And that, Ford is why your unit sales stateside are going to continue down the toilet.
• Americans also don't particularly care about quality - just look at the pervasiveness of mcdonald's et. al. what do Americans like? a lot of cheap, style-free [expletive]. kinda like the escape.
• Your home market deserves better, Ford. Stop slapping us in the face!

Ford (F) making great cars -- but not in the U.S. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Liveblogging Ford Q2 earnings

Liveblogging Ford Q2 earnings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Jul 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

General Motors is up nearly $1 so far today to $37.75 as of this post. An upgrade by J.P. Morgan is fueling today's rise.

Yet the road to recovery General Motors (NYSE: GM) continues to not be any easy one. In addition to plummeting sales in June for its U.S. operations, the company's recent share rally may be over in the face of labor worries once again. At least June sales for GM in India posted a healthy gain, or there would not be that much to talk about on the positive side for the automaker.

At the end of last week, GM shares took a downturn to the tune of more than 3% as investors sensed skittishness on the part of GM based on a downgrade from Bear Stearns from "peer perform" to "outperform." Again, union concessions from the UAW are to blame a bit, even in the midst of rumors that a more favorable labor deal may be on the way to GM, saving the automaker some cost as a result.

As has been the case for quite a while, higher labor costs continue to nip at the heels of both Ford (NYSE: F) and GM -- and it's something that most foreign auto competitors have avoided. Want figures? How about GM's $70/hour employee cost versus Toyota's (NYSE: TM) $40/hour employee cost? Yes -- both pay and benefits are factored in there. It's really not hard to see why GM has been (and probably will always be) at a cost disadvantage compared to the competition.

GM dealing with higher labor costs originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Jul 2007 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The first company in my series of the top 25 stocks for the NEXT 25 years is about to be acquired. Color Kinetics (NASDAQ: CLRK) is being pursued by Dutch-based company Philips Lighting for $34 per share. The Dutch company is the world's largest lighting company.

The $34 per share offer represents a $688 million total acquisition price. Color Kinetics management has endorsed the deal and is encouraging shareholders to accept the offer.

Color Kinetics brings a rich portfolio of patents to the marriage. With 64 patents having been granted and another 100+ patents-pending, Color Kinetics brings to Philips the next generation technology of LED lighting products. Color Kinetics had won many high-profile lighting contracts recently, including the dash-board lighting work for Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F). The new-generation LED-based lighting systems had not yet been economical for residential housing applications, but the market is indeed moving in that direction.

With Philips owning Color Kinetics technology, the residential market will be within its reach in the near future. Color Kinetics is selling to Philips for nearly 7 times revenues, a rich valuation, but certainly not when considering the growth rate of Color Kinetics, 35-40%, and its patent portfolio.

Oh well, we still have 24 companies left on the original list of 25 stocks for the NEXT 25 years...

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research.

Top 25 for NEXT 25 Years: Color Kinetics offered $34 by Philips originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Editorial director of Automotive News is claiming that General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) and DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE:DCX) are in serious discussions for GM to acquire the Chrysler division from DCX. You gotta be kidding.

GM has its own share of issues to work out. Why compound its problems with a failure like Chrysler? If Daimler cannot make it work -- and it has the resources, manpower and expertise -- what's going to allow GM to make it work?

The inevitable question will be: Can one plus one make three in this potential scenario? GM, and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) have been losing market share to the Japanese car makers on the low end-to high end markets, not to mention the small truck and SUV market. Chrysler has not been exactly setting any new sales records itself.

If GM were to absorb Chrysler, the initial upshot would be instant market share gains, but are they sustainable and more importantly, profitable? If Daimler couldn't make it a go in the USA with Chrysler, in spite of all the so-called cultural clashes within DCX, what's going to make GM successful? I don't think so...

Georges Yared is the author of "Baby Boomer Investing...Where do we go from here?" and "Stop Losing Money Today." For more info on both books go to http://www.georgesyared.com

Chrysler and GM: Makes no sense originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Feb 2007 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

From Chevys to Toyotas in one generation originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Jan 2007 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As I watch the retreating of prices on a selection of consumer goods I wonder where this is all going. Housing prices have dropped nationwide. Consumer electronics are sliding downward. The "big three", Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F), Daimler Chrysler (NYSE: DCX) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) are reducing sticker shock to the customer. Sure, these are nice things relative to the bottom line as consumers, but is this the signal of hard times to come? If I was seeing an overall increase of incomes at the same time as these price declines I'd be more excited about the "recession". Although the government says we're earning more, at ground level I just don't see it.

No, what I think is happening is the rising of a monster that I have feared for quite some time. We have lost such a significant share of the world's manufacturing output relative to our population that our economy is adjusting itself to compensate for the losses of those well-paying jobs. Don't let Washington fool you. Just because they say employment numbers are good doesn't mean you can sleep better tonight. When it takes three employees in the warehouse at a retail outlet like Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) to earn the same income as one dude used to earn building cars or vacuum cleaners, that's a sad state of affairs. Those three warehouse workers won't be buying flat screen TVs. The auto worker could have bought a couple of them.

Will our government wake up and send word to the World Trade Organization that we're starting to get a bit edgy over here? Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the WTO is a major obstacle to our success. They hold us to marketing price structures that are unrealistic by instituting tariffs and controls that strangle real free trade. At the same time, they refuse to have a hand in requiring the implementation of solid requirements regarding the compensation and treatment of the world's work force. Add in the inability of our own governments, both federal and state, to control spending and the continued upward spiral of out-of-control taxation and you have an economy that is being held hostage to the whims of a limited and scary percentage of power mongers. What can we as wage earners and consumers do about all this?

I'm open for suggestions.

Should there be a deflation index? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Dec 2006 11:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ford CEO reshuffles executive management originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 18 Dec 2006 12:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just call it an eastern hemisphere hedge for DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX).

DaimlerChrysler announced Thursday that it plans to buy 297 million shares of China's Beiqi Foton Motor Co. LTD at 2.75 yuan per share for 816.7 million yuan or about $104 million. Those 297 million shares would represent a 24% stake in Beiqi Foton

Beiqi is China's largest truck maker, and one analyst/economist who follows European / Asia business and trade flows says Daimler's investment is both a hedge and a potential solid-win tactic.

"You have to like this move," said David Chandler, analyst/economist with the Econometrics Group. "Daimler gets a potential low-cost production source for medium and heavy trucks, while at the same time better-positioning itself in the promising Chinese truck market. There are always opportunity costs when you invest, but very rarely does a company get this type of hedge / market opportunity for $100 million. It's a bargain and a solid move."

Chandler said Daimler trails General Motors Corporation (NYSE:GM) in joint-venture deals with China-based companies, so the Beiqi deal represents progress against a major U.S. competitor, as well.

DaimlerChrysler's shares traded slightly lower Thursday at mid-day, down 15 cents to $58.29. Meanwhile, General Motors was down 43 cents to $29.07 and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) had dipped 2 cents to $8.14.

Investment Analysis: The best way for the typical investor to play DaimlerChrysler? Investors who can tolerate a moderate level of risk should buy DCX now, in stages, over the next two weeks: 50% of your position today, 50% next week. Conservative investors -- those who can tolerate only a low level of risk -- should wait and see if DCX pulls back to $56. If it does, and bounces off $56, consider adding a small amount of shares to your portfolio.

Joseph Lazzaro is a news editor at Theflyonthewall.com (subscription required), based in New York.

DaimlerChrysler plays the China card originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.