Continue reading Could Martha Stewart Living mag be troubled?

Could Martha Stewart Living mag be troubled? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 08:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

Celebrities -- they're more than superior human beings, they're money-making machines. If these celebrities were stocks, which would be the shrewd buy?

One sure sign of celebrity is first-name recognition, and today's contestants have certainly reached that pinnacle. Oprah and Martha are brands known worldwide, Oprah for compassion and wisdom, Martha for style and elegance.

Martha Stewart's brand is still tainted by her 2004 insider trading conviction and her stretch in Camp Cupcake. Before then, her growth from model and stockbroker to America's favorite lifestyle celebrity was impressive. After authoring the bestselling book Entertaining in 1979, she transitioned to television with her hit show Martha Stewart Living, for which she gathered several Emmys. In 1987, she inked a lucrative deal with déclassé retailer Kmart as a lifestyle consultant, to help it break into higher price-point retailing. In 1990, with Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) she launched Martha Stewart Living Magazine. The zenith of her career came in 1997 when she took herself public. The IPO for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) made her a billionaire.

Continue reading Money Face-Off: Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart

Money Face-Off: Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Though Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) today reported decent second-quarter results, its future as an independent company remains in doubt in the wake of News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) $5 billion acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. (NYSE: DJ).

First the numbers. The company reported a net loss of $6.37 million, or 13 cents per share, compared with a loss of $1.17 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 7.7% to $73.4 million. Excluding one-time items, the company's loss was 9 cents. Wall Street was expecting a loss of 9 cents on sales of $71 million, according to Thomson Financial.

Chief Executive Susan Lyne, who has done a better job running Martha Stewart Living than Stewart herself, expects the New York-based company to return to profitability this year. The company maintained guidance for revenue this year of $333 million to $340 million and for $68 million to $75 million in the quarter.

Investors, though, are clearly expecting more from the domestic diva. Shares of the company have plunged more than 38% this year. The few Wall Street analysts who cover the company seem lukewarm on the stock at best and there is little chance that sentiment will change.

Though Martha Stewart is a formidable brand, the company remains a tiny fish in the vast media ocean. Sooner or later, it will get swallowed up by a bigger fish or even a shark like News Corp.

Martha Stewart earnings were a good thing, but future is uncertain originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mergers come to sectors in waves and now its media's turn.

There are many companies that would be of interest to either public or private buyers including Gannett Co. (NYSE: GCI), E.W. Scripps Co. (NYSE: SSP) and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO).

Shares of Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher, have tanked more than 20% over the past five years as advertisers fled to the Internet. The company, though, has a solid management team that has made many accretive acquisitions.

Scripps has long been a favorite on Wall Street. The company's cable business, which includes the Food Network and HGTV, is great and its newspaper business is no worse off than others, which I realize is faint praise. Its shares are down 13% this year.

Martha Stewart Living, whose shares have plunged 15% this year, has defied the skeptics.

Even though the company recently said its first quarter loss widened, the results did beat Wall Street expectations. Chief Executive Susan Lyne has done a good job in expanding the Stewart brand. The recent prepared food deal with Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST) seems to have potential.

Other targets include The New York Times Co. (NYSE: NYT), which I've argued before, satellite radio companies XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NYSE: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) and Belo Corp. (NYSE: BLC), which owns the Dallas Morning News along television and radio stations.

Media merger mania isn't slowing down soon originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 04 May 2007 10:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. You can vote for Martha Stewart as the magnate you'd like to see lose all her money.

Some might wonder whether domestic diva Martha Stewart has already lost her fortune, but the answer is a resounding no.

In 1995 New York Magazine declared this business magnate, author, editor, and commercial spokesperson to be the "definitive American woman of our time." In September 1997, Stewart secured funding to consolidate the various television, print, and merchandising ventures related to the Martha Stewart brand into a new company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE:MSO). Stewart served as chairwoman, president, and CEO, and when the initial public offering rallied by $20 per share, Stewart became a billionaire. She continues to be the majority shareholder, with a commanding percentage of voting power in the company.

In 2002 Stewart sold shares of a pharmaceutical company days before the company's patent application for a new drug was denied. Accusations of insider trading resulted in Stewart's conviction in 2004 for obstruction of justice, and she served five months in prison. She had to step down from her executive positions at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and she lost her seats on the boards of Revlon and the New York Stock Exchange.

Since her release from prison, her time has been spent reviving her empire. She hosts the day-time Emmy-nominated television program Martha, is again involved in her magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and has published new books. The price of her company's stock has rebounded significantly.

Best & Worst: Should Martha Stewart be kicked off the comeback trail? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Martha Stewart and SEC settle originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Aug 2006 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.