Retail is heating up. A look at the hottest retail ETFs shows that the sector is dramatically outperforming the market so far in 2010 -- up to four times over! That means if you were holding some of the elite retail components in these funds, you would be doing even better.

Take online retailer Overstock.com (OSTK), up over 65% since January 1 to today's opening bell! Any investor who has blacklisted the entire retail sector is missing out on big moneymakers like this company.

Continue reading A Retail Revival: Three Discounters to Buy (OSTK, PCLN, COST)

A Retail Revival: Three Discounters to Buy (OSTK, PCLN, COST) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 May 2010 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI) Q2 results were essentially flat but an analyst's upgraded helped boost shares.
• Borders Group Inc. (BGP) reported strong Q4 earnings due to cost cutting but revenue continued to decline.
• Cal-Maine Foods Inc. (CALM) received an analyst's downgrade on valuation following release of its Q3 report.
• CarMax Inc. (KMX) rose to a new 52-week high following better-than-expected Q4 earnings and sales results.
• Charming Shoppes Inc. (CHRS) posted a smaller-than-expected Q4 net loss and said same-store sales declined.

Continue reading Earnings Highlights: Borders, CarMax, LDK Solar, Mosaic, RIM, Rite Aid ...

Earnings Highlights: Borders, CarMax, LDK Solar, Mosaic, RIM, Rite Aid ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Closing Bell: Could Have Been Far Worse (C, AIB, OXGN, OSTK)

Closing Bell: Could Have Been Far Worse (C, AIB, OXGN, OSTK) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You'll never believe who's dropping dimes to the feds!

Sam Antar, formerly the CFO of Crazy Eddie, known in the New York area for over-the-top commercials that scared the hell out of kids (well, me at least), knows his way around a questionable balance sheet. For 15 years, he was the executive chef of book-cooking, ultimately taking a guilty plea to conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. He stayed out of the clink by taking the stand on the government's side at a 1993 trial, ultimately sending his cousin, Eddie Antar to prison for seven years or so.

Crooks make the best cops, so to speak, and Antar is putting his skills to work. He's out hunting for accounting fraud and sending his analyses off to the SEC. On his blog, the former CFO laid out what he called a "bulletproof case" against Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) - a company that the SEC had been investigating since 2006. The inquiry has been reopened.

Continue reading Crazy Eddie's crazy ex-CFO investigates Overstock

Crazy Eddie's crazy ex-CFO investigates Overstock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Oct 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here's today's update from the irony department -- special thanks to Sam E. Antar for e-mailing it to me. From a FORM 12b-25 filed with the SEC on June 30th:

"The Company recently discovered that it inadvertently issued more shares of the Company common stock in connection with its 401(k) Plan than were registered on the Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-123540) relating to the plan. The Company needs additional time to ascertain the facts relating to this issue and to analyze the effects, if any, on the plan."

Continue reading Overstock issuing phantom stock?

Overstock issuing phantom stock? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A new study published by Matthew Magilke of the University of Utah and Jeffrey T. Doyle of Utah State University suggests that public companies don't time their earnings releases based on how favorable or unfavorable the numbers might be.

This flies in the face of what most observers -- myself included --- have noticed. Unless there's some very rigid schedule for earnings releases, most companies prefer to dump bad news on Friday afternoons -- and if there's a three-day weekend coming up, then that's even better.

Continue reading Study says companies don't time their earnings releases. Oh, really?

Study says companies don't time their earnings releases. Oh, really? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Akamai Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) earnings prospects garnered an analyst's upgrade.
• Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) warned of a loss for the quarter due to the economic slowdown.
• Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) posted lower Q2 profit and revenue that missed estimates.
• Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX) Q2 profit fell but beat estimates, and it reaffirmed its full-year guidance.
• Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) swung to a Q4 loss and warned that low demand will continue.
• Hartford Financial Group Inc. (NYSE: HIG) posted a loss, cut its dividend, and offered weak guidance.

Continue reading Earnings highlights: Toyota, Disney, Merck, Marathon, News Corp. and others

Earnings highlights: Toyota, Disney, Merck, Marathon, News Corp. and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When the Bureau of Economic Research declared that the recession had officially begun in December 2007, the entire retail sector shrugged its shoulders and said, "No kidding."

Shares of companies that deal directly with the consumer, except for the deep discount retailers, have known for some time that the economy was struggling. Sales have been declining steadily and, with the deteriorating operating environment, shares of the retail stocks have been absolutely crushed.

The entire retail group is one of the biggest losers in the market this year, with some stocks down 80% to 90%.

That said, those retailers that offer big discounts, including Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Big Lots (NYSE: BIG), are doing much better on a relative basis.

Continue reading Stock up on Overstock.com (OSTK)

Stock up on Overstock.com (OSTK) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shares of Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) fell sharply on Friday after the company reported yet another quarterly loss and disclosed that it would have to restate its earnings. In the press release announcing the restatement and earnings, CEO Patrick Byrne told investors that "The total effect of the errors over the five and a half year period (during which we generated nearly $3.5 billion in revenues) is a reduction in revenue of $12.9 million and a $10.3 million increase to cumulative net loss."

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't material. And there's certainly no reason to think this is anything other than an error -- a result of Overstock being a sloppy, poorly run company with a distracted CEO battling the imaginary demon of naked short selling, but not accounting "fraud."

Here's the best part: One of the imaginary demons that Patrick Byrne was out battling was Gradient Analytics, a small independent research outfit that Overstock sued for putting out negative research reports. Earlier this month, the lawsuit was settled. In that press release, Overstock said that "Gradient now believes that, to the best of its knowledge, Overstock's stated accounting policies did in fact conform with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and regrets any prior statements to the contrary."

Here's my question: was Overstock aware of the need for an earnings restatement when it settled the lawsuit? Or did it push through a settlement just before it disclosed that Gradient's allegations of accounting issues were proven to be right on the money? We may never know.

The larger point is that Overstock shareholders would be much better off if Patrick Byrne devoted his energy to managing his company, not lashing out at anyone who says mean things about him.

Overstock announces earnings restatement originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) beat Q2 estimates, offered guidance, and announced a quarterly dividend.
• Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE: COF) profit tumbled as consumers stopped paying off credit cards.
• Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) mixed Q2 results were boosted by international operations.
• Eaton Corp. (NYSE: ETN) reported strong Q2 numbers but shares still fell afterward.
• Genentech Inc. (NYSE: DNA) did not meet analysts' estimates but lifted its full-year outlook (see transcript).
• Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) posted strong results that fell short of Wall Street expectations.
• Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) better-than-expected Q2 results lifted other tech stocks as well (see transcript).
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) posted better-than-expected Q2 results (see transcript).
• Lawson Software Inc. (NASDAQ: LWSN) net income fell due to an auction-rate securities related charge.
• Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) Q2 results topped expectations despite lower profits on weak demand for Barbie.
• Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) posted better-than-estimated Q2 earnings on strong sales growth.
• Overstock.com Inc. (NASDAQ: OSTK) fell nearly 30% after reporting earnings for the second quarter.
• Rockwell Collins Inc. (NYSE: COL) posted strong Q3 results due to long-term government contracts.
• Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) preliminary Q1 results sparked an after-market rally.
• Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) beat low earnings expectations and also raised its quarterly dividend.
• Yum! Brands Inc. (NYSE: YUM) beat Q2 expectations due in part to strength overseas, but shares fell.

For more highlights from this week, see: Citigroup, eBay, IBM, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft and others

The earnings crunch continues next week. Among companies scheduled to report are Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Merck (NYSE: MRK), Texas Intruments (NYSE: TXN), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS), Wachovia (NYSE: WB), Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Anheuser-Busch (NYSE: BUD), AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), McDonald's (NYSE: MCD), PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), Boeing (NYSE: BA), Hershey (NYSE: HSY), and Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.

Earnings highlights: Google, Intel, JPMorgan, Coca-Cola, Nokia and others originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading My best stock ideas: Looking through Q2 and into the second half of 2008

My best stock ideas: Looking through Q2 and into the second half of 2008 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) reported impressive numbers yesterday -- and by impressive numbers, I mean another loss years after projections of profitability -- and its shares shot up more than 30%.

Gary Weiss reported on the less optimistic part of the press release that the company issued, but I'd like to take a second to point out something to investors. Even if the company's fundamentals are improving, this is still one of the creepiest public companies on the planet and it's wasting shareholder money on its creepy stalking campaigns.

If you go to DeepCapture.com -- CEO Patrick Byrne's website for trashing critics including Gary Weiss, Jim Cramer, Eliot Spitzer, and a couple of message board posters you've probably never heard of -- in the upper right hand corner of the site, you'll see a little ad: "Click here to shop Overstock.com. 5% of your purchase will go to support this effort." That link brings you to http://www.overstock.com/?TID=deepcapture where, presumably, any order you make will be tagged by the company to funnel 5% of the sale to the "effort."

What exactly is the money being used for? Former white-collar criminal and Overstock-critic Sam E. Antar received an email from former journalist Mark Mitchell: "I am writing a story about short-selllers (sic) and their relationships with independent researchers and the media. I would like to give you the opportunity to respond to various allegations regarding your work." He goes on to say that the article will be published on DeepCapture.com.

So here's the question I have: Why is Overstock.com's board of directors allowing Patrick Byrne to funnel money from the company's sales to a pet project aimed at pseudo-investigative pieces on short-sellers and their relationships with independent researches and the media?

If Patrick Byrne wants to use his own money to wage his self-proclaimed jihad, that's his business. But he should leave corporate assets out of it.

Shop at Overstock, support cyberstalking! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chalk up another problem for Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), the failing online retailer run by the wacky CEO Patrick Byrne. Yet this law enforcement investigation doesn't appear to come with any "celebration" by Byrne.

Byrne is usually proud of the company's failures, but the announcement of the latest law enforcement investigation was buried deep in a press release about the latest set of quarterly losses: On April 15, 2008, we received a letter from the Office of the District Attorney of Marin County, California, stating that the District Attorneys of Marin and four other counties in California have begun an investigation into the way we advertise products for sale, together with an administrative subpoena seeking related information and documents. We follow industry advertising practices and we intend to respond fully to the subpoena and cooperate with the investigation.

This investigation is in addition to the ongoing investigation by the SEC, as well as the litigation between Overstock and Gradient Analytics. Gradient sharply criticized Overstock in its research reports and Byrne and company cried that the reports were not true. (Oddly enough, the company still has not turned a profit several years later, and is still a horrible investment.)

Note to Patrick Byrne: Those who have bad things to say about Overstock, its business model, its operations, and its never-ending financial losses aren't necessarily short sellers who are trying to profit off bad news. Many of them are realists who have figured out how awful your company is. Sorry, but sometimes the truth hurts.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE, performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Overstock.com being investigated by law enforcement in California originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Apr 2008 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Patrick...been following your yeoman work in this area ... I must say it mirrors my own experience over the past several years with Universal Express, Inc. and Richard Altomare ... you should know that Altomare and his general counsel are about to rain on their parade in the 2nd circuit court very shortly...since USXP is so far along in their particular battle (having already won two judgments against the naked shorts), and most who follow this area admire you for your fearless position against the entrenched low-lives operating this scandal for the misguided forces on wallstreet ... do not forget the small but equally worthy fights also going on in this vast battlefield...

Continue reading Is Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne defending the Universal Express fraud?

Is Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne defending the Universal Express fraud? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading eBay (EBAY) sellers' strike plays into the hands of smaller competitors

eBay (EBAY) sellers' strike plays into the hands of smaller competitors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Overstock (OSTK) looks to capitalize on eBay (EBAY) seller's strike

Overstock (OSTK) looks to capitalize on eBay (EBAY) seller's strike originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne continues diversionary tactics originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 14 Dec 2007 17:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you want to get Patrick Byrne's take on naked short selling and the alleged conspiracy (involving class-action lawyers, hedge funds, and journalists) against his company, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK), then Deep Capture, the Movie is a good place to get it.

In the 45th slide of the presentation, to provide evidence of the journalistic conspiracy, Mr. Byrne plays a clip of former New York Post business editor Dan Colarusso speaking to Herb Greenberg, Joe Nocera, and Dave Kansas: "When I think of Patrick Byrne ... We have barrels of ink and stacks of money and all the resources in the world at our disposal, legal and, indeed our media, to crush him."

Is this indicative of a conspiracy? Speaking on Mad Money with Jim Cramer about Mr. Byrne, Herb Greenberg said that "the real conspiracy, if there's a conspiracy, is a conspiracy by these people to silence the critics."

Exactly. And here's a tip for Mr. Byrne: Journalists tend to be big believers in free speech. When you attack their ethics, attempt to intimidate them into silence, and an employee of your company sets up a website to smear them -- that angers journalists, and they jump to each others' defense.

Was there a conspiracy of journalists against Patrick Byrne? I seriously doubt it. But Byrne's efforts to silence his critics have made him an enemy of journalists and lovers of the First Amendment everywhere. Maybe that's the conspiracy.

A media conspiracy against Patrick Byrne? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Let's look at a couple examples. First, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A), Warren Buffett's conglomerate. In 2006, the company put out 16 press releases and earned about $11 billion. So the E/PR ratio is 687.5 million. For every PR the company put out, it earned $687.5 million. The press releases generally concerned major acquisitions, Buffett's record-breaking pledge to the Gates Foundation, and quarterly reports. That sounds like a business that's focused on creating value for shareholders through operational success -- and letting the story tell itself. So far it's worked out well for shareholders, as investors who put just a few thousand dollars with Mr. Buffett at the beginning of his career are worth millions.

Continue reading The financial metric that sorts through the hype: The public relations-to-earnings ratio

The financial metric that sorts through the hype: The public relations-to-earnings ratio originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At least it's good to see that the board at Whole Foods takes ethics seriously, and is willing to take actions to ensure that its executives don't do anything to jeopardize the company's reputation or get it in trouble with regulators.

Overstock directors: Where are you?

Whole Foods bans executives from message boards originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.