Continue reading Correction: Phil's Masters Win Costs Sponsors $1M

Correction: Phil's Masters Win Costs Sponsors $1M originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Perhaps lost in all the Tiger Woods related news surrounding the company is Thursday's earnings announcement from Nike (NKE).

Late in the day, Nike announced second-quarter earnings of $375 million, or 76 cents per share. A year ago, Nike raked in $391 million, or 80 cents per share. Total revenue for Nike dropped 4% to $4.4 billion. The Street expected Nike to report earnings of 71 cents per share on revenue of $4.4 billion.

Continue reading A Look at Nike's Earnings Report

A Look at Nike's Earnings Report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I really thought that last week was the last time I was going to address Tiger Woods ... I guess I was wrong. Reports are surfacing (in UK's The Sun) that Elin has told Tiger that he needs to quit golf. Well, well, well, if (and that is a big if) this is true, we may find out exactly how much of a family man Tiger is.

The coverage that this whole mess has received is more than Michael Jackson, and it doesn't look like it is going to stop any time soon. Of course, the fact that Tiger couldn't keep the driver in the bag is the reason that the whole situation has gone to H-E-double hockey sticks in a handbasket; so he has to live with the consequences. He wants privacy, but that just ain't going to happen Tiger, especially not during the Internet age.

Continue reading JockStocks: Will Tiger quit golf?

JockStocks: Will Tiger quit golf? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What do you get for the person who has everything? Well, maybe you buy him a piece of history. The U.S. Marshals Service has done all the hard work, and now you can take advantage of it... maybe even at discount prices! Possessions seized from Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff are set to go under the gavel in New York City on Saturday, so bring your checkbook and your appetite for luxury. The money will be used to compensate the victims of Madoff's crimes.

Continue reading Holiday shopping Madoff-style

Holiday shopping Madoff-style originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I have waxed poetically about how much I like golf in the past -- some may even say that I am obsessed (like Tiger Woods' lawyers -- kidding). With the great city of Cincinnati finally wrapping up winter and seeing that bright glowing orb known as the sun, I can't help but think about getting out there on the links and destroying some landscaping.

One sure way to tell that golf season is right around the corner is when your local Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) starts touting itself as the golf headquarters. Well, guess what happened over the weekend? That's right, I saw my first golf commercial. My question is, will the start of golf season be enough to help the sports retailer put the recent downturn behind itself and push forward?

There can be no doubt that the recent downturn in the economy has beaten down and battered the retail sector, and DKS is no exception. On a weekly basis, the stock has descended steadily since 2007 -- wilting under pressure from its 10-, 20-, and 50-week moving averages.

Continue reading JockStocks: Is Dick's Sporting Goods about to tee off and drive higher?

JockStocks: Is Dick's Sporting Goods about to tee off and drive higher? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Will Tiger's return breathe life into Nike?

Will Tiger's return breathe life into Nike? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Well, there go my chances of playing on the Professional Golf Tour (PGA). Of course, it has nothing to do with the fact that I can't keep my golf ball out of the water. Nor can I curb my temper enough to regroup after one of my many horrifying shots. However, all that can be worked on through a lifetime of lessons (though I believe I am beyond help) -- but rumor of a facial-hair policy for the PGA means I will never join Tiger, Phil, or Sergio on the tour.

Reportedly, the PGA Tour has started working on a set of guidelines covering appearance and decorum on the course. Supposedly, this plan has been in the works since last summer. The GolfWorld article linked to above notes that this was around the time that Mike Weir (a Canadian) sought advice from Wayne Gretzky on how to succeed in the FedEx Cup playoffs. Gretzky tells Weir to grow a playoff beard (a long-standing tradition in hockey), which would be verboten with this new rule.

Continue reading JockStocks: Is the PGA sacrificing its 'everyman' appeal?

JockStocks: Is the PGA sacrificing its 'everyman' appeal? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Fortune Brands sees golf sales slump

Fortune Brands sees golf sales slump originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our feature on Money Losers of 2008. See all 20.

When Nike (NYSE: NKE) signed then 15-year-old teenage golf phenom Michelle Wie to an endorsement contract, it and the rest of the golf world envisioned her bringing to women's golf the kind of attention and money that Tiger Woods has brought to the men's game. When she won her first (and only) tournament, her combination of a powerful swing and camera-loving beauty confirmed she was destined for stardom.

And she did succeed -- in gaining endorsement and appearance money, at least. In 2007 alone, she raked in an estimated $19 million, making her number four on the Forbes list of "Top 20 Earners under 25." The only fly in the ointment was that, as her income skyrocketed, her golf game tanked.

Perhaps she was struggling under too-high expectations. As a 16-year-old, she played in the Men's Tour's Sony Open, missing the cut by only four strokes, but generating incredible press coverage. By the end of 2006, however, she was routinely missing the cut by many strokes in each tournament she entered.

Continue reading Money losers of 2008: Michelle Wie, the next Tiger Woods? Nope

Money losers of 2008: Michelle Wie, the next Tiger Woods? Nope originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

Tiger Woods returns to our Money Winners list this year despite a season shortened due to an injury and being let go as a General Motors spokesman. He won four of the six PGA tournaments he entered this year before bowing out with an injured knee. Paul Rogers, a veteran golf writer, who has written for Travel + Leisure Golf, GOLF Magazine, and Links Magazine, who I interviewed via e-mail, called that, "an unheard of rate of success by any current player's standards except his own."

That record made him golf's second-biggest prize winner despite his short season. Rogers says, "To give you a better sense of this
accomplishment, the top money winner on Tour this year, Vijay Singh, competed in 23 events." Rogers also mentioned that Woods is currently designing three golf courses in the Dubai desert, the mountains of North Carolina, and in Mexico's Baja, Calif., for a reported design fee of $25 million each.

Golf Digest magazine estimated in its February issue that by 2010 Woods could be the first athlete to reach $1 billion in earnings. He earned $123 million total in 2007 for total career earnings of $769 million, according to the magazine.

Continue reading Money winners of 2008: Tiger Woods on the road to earning $1 billion

Money winners of 2008: Tiger Woods on the road to earning $1 billion originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 13 Dec 2008 18:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

UBS (NYSE:UBS) is down 4% on concersn it will have more large write-offs.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) is down 3% on the belief it may have to raise more money.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) is off over 3% on news it is buying another steel company.

Randgold Resources (NASDAQ:GOLF) is falling almost 3% as the value of the dollar hurt gold shares.

Stocks may trade differently in the pre-market than they do the regular session.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Pre-market movers (UBS) (BCS) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 07:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

After a U.S. Open victory that was perhaps the most thrilling of his entire career, Tiger Woods will miss the rest of the season to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee.

Obviously this is bad news for his main sponsor, Nike (NYSE: NKE). They pay him handsomely to hit their clubs and wear their hat (although his bag bears the logo for Buick), and watching a close-up of his 18th hole birdie was priceless marketing: as the ball rolled, the Nike swoosh was in plain view.

And in a larger sense, this is bad news for anyone who's marketing on the PGA Tour. It's a well-known fact that golf's ratings plummet for any event Tiger isn't playing in. I mean, who really cares about Justin Leonard and Geoff Ogilvy? There's Tiger and then there's everyone else. Wake me when it's over -- maybe I'll go watch some arena football.

Continue reading Tiger Woods out for the season, bad news for Nike

Tiger Woods out for the season, bad news for Nike originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Is Aldila's complaining about the golf market believable?

Is Aldila's complaining about the golf market believable? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 08 May 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Are golf stocks a good bet for a troubled economy?

Are golf stocks a good bet for a troubled economy? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tiger Woods has been a staple on money lists for over a decade now, so I doubt anyone is unaware of the magnitude of his income. This past year, though, has been a great one even by his standards.

He had an outstanding year on the golf course, with seven tour victories, including a PGA championship and the overall Tour Championship. Along the way, he led the tour with winnings of over $10 million.

This was only the beginning of his cash flow, though. Endorsement money well exceeded his on-course winnings. In addition to his standing affiliations with Nike (NYSE: NKE), General Motors (NYSE: GM) and others, Procter & Gamble's (NYSE: PG) Gillette signed him to a new deal for $10-20 million as part of its "Gillette Champions" campaign. In the fall, PepsiCo's (NYSE: PEP) Gatorade agreed to pay him up to $100 million to license a Tiger Woods brand of sports drink, due out next spring. He also moved forward on his newest venture, golf course design, announcing plans for his first U.S. design, The Cliffs at High Carolina.

Tiger continues to dominate his sport and keep his image positive. Young, vastly talented, and a shrewd businessman, in 2007 he not only drove the green, he raked it in, too.

Be sure to check out more Money Winners of 2007.

Money Winners of 2007: Tiger Woods rakes in the green originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The New York Times DealBook has a pithy, if not entirely fair piece on Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) CEO James Cayne's golfing habits, and their correlation with Bear's subprime troubles. Apparently the writers over there have too much time on their hands because they look up Cayne's golf scores for the past couple months and then plotted them on a graph to find a 35% correlation between his golf game and the company's stock: "That's a fairly weak, but "positive" correlation - which means that as Bear's stock has gone down, his golf game has generally gotten better."

While this is inane and I don't think anyone would argue it has any real value, I would say its significance lies in its inanity. As DealBook writes, "With traders searching for clues to the subprime crisis nearly everywhere, the golf course seems as good a place as any."

As we hears tons of explanations for the market's gyrations, keep that in mind: "Is X any more reasonable of an explanation than James Cayne's golf scores?" Many of the statistics trumpeted by pundits on CNBC probably aren't.

And studying Cayne's golf scores is a lot more interesting.

Is Bear Stearns' CEO's golf correlated with his performance? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Cantor believes HouseValues (NASDAQ: SOLD) may be a lagging indicator of the broader real estate market. As such, it may see its customer and revenue bases contract further in the face of still-sluggish housing data and started shares with a Hold rating.

• Pali Research initiated Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO) with a Neutral rating based on valuation.

• The firm also believes D.R. Horton's (NYSE: DHI) risk to book value and profitability is higher than some of the competition since the company has taken significantly less land charges. Shares were initiated with a Hold rating.

• Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) was initiated with an Outperform at Baird and is positive on Dick's store expansion, market leadership, margin opportunities and fundamentals.

• USG (NYSE: USG) was initiated with a Sell rating at Banc of America, believing wallboard price and profit declines will be worse than expected due to lower housing starts and less spending on remodeling. Their analysis suggests another leg down for housing...

• Morgan Joseph started Jamba, Inc (NASDAQ: JMBA) with a Buy rating.

• Wachovia started Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) with a Market Perform rating.

• Baird started Golfsmith International Holdings (NASDAQ: GOLF) with a Neutral rating.

• Merrill Lynch initiated Bayer AG (NYSE: BAY) with a Buy rating and UBS initiated QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC) with a Neutral rating.

Analyst initiations 7-11-07: BAY, DHI, FO and JNJ originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If mere athletic talent sold product, kids would be lining up for Tim Duncan's shoes, since he is the best player in the NBA. But it doesn't. It takes a combination of extraordinary athletic accomplishment and charisma to push a brand over the top. Three such athletes, Amanda Beard, LeBron James and Tiger Woods, are front and center in this week's news.

Two are at the peak of their pulling power. LeBron James (Nike, NYSE: NKE, Coca-Cola's (NYSE: KO) Powerade) fresh from an astonishing game five of the NBA Eastern conference playoffs, is dominating the sports page, if not the San Antonio Spurs. The Cleveland franchise has gained $185 million in value since his signing, and the $90 million he received from Nike seems like a bargain now. When his contract expires in 2008, he could demand -- $250 million? $500 million? It is possible, by the end of the career, he could be the first $1 billion athlete?

If Tiger doesn't beat him to it. Beginning tomorrow, Tiger Woods (Nike, Buick, General Motors, NYSE:GM) starts his pursuit of the 2007 U.S. Open. He's inked a 5-year, $40 million deal with Nike, and $25 million from Buick. Unlike LeBron, Tiger can look forward to another 30 years of playing, with lots of green jackets and green cash to come.

Continue reading Amanda Beard: Olympic sized...endorsement potential

Amanda Beard: Olympic sized...endorsement potential originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management, whose firms holds about 15% of Ceridian Corporation (NYSE: CEN), doesn't like the proposed $5.3B sale of the company to Thomas H. Lee Partners and Fidelity National Financial Inc (NYSE: FNF), and says he's going to find higher bidders, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The Financial Times reported that British bank Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) has drawn up plans to sweeten its $86B all-share offer for Dutch bank ABN Amro Holdings (NYSE: ABN), by substituting cash for some of the shares it is currently offering for ABN.
• Beginning today, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is embedding its iTunes internet music download service in the British and Irish social networking site Bebo, reported the Financial Times.

• The New York Post has learned that a private-equity firm owned by the Dubai government is close to buying Barneys New York from the Jones Apparel Group (NYSE: JNY).
• The New York Times reported that the Wall Street Journal is set to "shake up its newsroom" by reassigning and replacing several top editors.
• Golf equipment maker Callaway Golf Company (NYSE: ELY) is suing Fortune Brands Inc.'s (NYSE: FO) Acushnet Co, for allegedly violating five Callaway patents for golf clubs, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Newspaper wrap-up 6-13-07: Apple embeds iTunes in Bebo originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I would argue that Adams Golf (OTC BB: ADGO) is among the most flagrantly undervalued stocks on the market today. As a company on the cutting edge of golf technology, Adams has had tremendous success with its recent hybrid irons. Since 2002, sales have increased from $38 million all the way up to 2006's total of $76 million. For the first quarter of 2007, Adams Golf saw its sales surge 25% year over year and, in the second quarter, launched its new Idea A3 hybrid iron set, the next-generation in the hugely successful Idea line of products. The company is growing rapidly, and the brand appears to be gaining traction; it's the number-one hybrid on the three major tours combined. Adams has been profitable every year since 2003 and, excluding the recording of a deferred tax asset, it trades at around 15 times 2006's earnings.

Continue reading The BloggingActivist: Increasing shareholder value at Adams Golf

The BloggingActivist: Increasing shareholder value at Adams Golf originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 10:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.