PepsicCo (PEP) is in the red at the time of this writing. Investors weren't dazzled by the beverage entity's latest earnings report, I guess. I see a quote of $63.16 on my screen; this means that the shares are off by about 2%. Volume is heavy.

According to the Associated Press, fourth-quarter profit on a reported basis went down five pennies to 85 cents per share. Not good to hear, but here's something that will put shareholders in a happier mood: on an adjusted basis, profit calculated out to $1.05 per share, a figure that was one penny ahead of the overall projection.

Continue reading Should You Sell PepsiCo Based on the Q4 Report?

Should You Sell PepsiCo Based on the Q4 Report? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Serious Money: Buffett Looking Beyond Our Borders

Serious Money: Buffett Looking Beyond Our Borders originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

One of the more bizarre cases of corporate espionage and theft of intellectual property has come to an end, with trading card manufacturer Upper Deck settling a lawsuit filed against it by Konami, admitting to counterfeiting Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

Konami, which owns the rights to the Yu-Gi-Oh! brand, sued Upper Deck last year, accusing the company of illicitly manufacturing and distributing over 600,000 trading cards. Upper Deck executives, including the company's CEO, invoked their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in court, and Konami was seeking damages of between $50 million and $150 million.

Continue reading Upper Deck Settles Yu-Gi-Oh! Lawsuit

Upper Deck Settles Yu-Gi-Oh! Lawsuit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Well, another month's gone by, and I see that the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii system is still the number-one selling console in the United States. Guess I shouldn't be surprised. According to Bloomberg, the Wii moved over 666,000 units in June. Yeah, that may be an evil number, but it's a righteous one to Nintendo, since Sony (NYSE: SNE) sold a little over 400,000 PlayStation 3 consoles last month while Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) convinced just under 220,000 users to adopt the Xbox 360. So if you add the performance of the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 together, it's still less than Nintendo's.

Bloomberg reported that the Wii has been purchased by (or for) 10.9 million gamers, making it the number-one installed platform out there. Driving the results in June was the Wii Fit, which continues to be popular and difficult to get. However, the top-selling game software was not Wii-related, it was PlayStation 3-related, believe it or not. Metal Gear Solid: Guns of the Patriots, distributed by Konami (NYSE: KNM), sold over 770,000 discs. One big opportunity Nintendo needs to work on is third-party attachment rates. As several readers have mentioned to me, the attachment rates for the Wii isn't as good as it probably should be. Most Wii owners are in love with Nintendo-published games, but sometimes don't see the value of software made by other publishers. An increased focus on this would be helpful to the platform and its continued success.

Nintendo is setting itself up very nicely for the holiday season. Sure, it's the height of summer, but it's never too early to be thinking about the holidays, is it? I would love to get into Nintendo's stock, but I am still stubbornly holding out for a better pullback on the ADR's. I'd love to see the price close below $60 at some point.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Nothing can stop the Nintendo Wii originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.