Warner Music Group (WMG) was out of favor with the market today. At the time of this writing, shares of the company were down over 16% on big volume. Wall Street did not appreciate the fourth-quarter release.

According to TheStreet.com, a loss, on an adjusted basis, of 3 cents per share was recorded. Analysts were hoping for a profit of 5 cents per share. The cited article goes on to report a not-so-comforting outlook for the near future. And in further bad news, TheFlyOnTheWall.com mentions a downgrade on the stock.

Continue reading Wall Street hates Warner Music Group's Q4 report

Wall Street hates Warner Music Group's Q4 report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warner Music (NYSE: WMG) closed at $5.11. WMG August and November option implied volatility of 92 is near its 26-week average of 96, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price movement.

Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) a producer of live concerts, closed at $4.70. LYV over all option implied volatility of 77 is below its 26-week average of 109, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Options Update: Warner Music volatility flat, Live Nation low originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• John Meriwether, whose Long-Term Capital Management lost $4B in 1998, has new troubles with JWN Partners, as his Meriwether's largest hedge fund has fallen 28%, and another market fund is also down. Investors have until Monday to ask to pull out their investment, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported that failed mortgage provider New Century Financial might be able to get back some of its lost funds by suing its auditor KPMG, according to a court appointed investigator who looked at the company's demise.
• After reaching a deal that allows its customers to access many of Universal Music's songs, the Financial Times reported that Nokia Corporation (NYSE: NOK) is in talks with the other three leading record companies - Sony Corporation's (NYSE: SNE) Sony BMG, EMI and Warner Music Group Corp's (NYSE: WMG) - about giving its customers access to their catalogues.

• Comscore has released its February "U.S. paid clicks" report, according to a source, which reportedly said Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) paid clicks in the U.S. during the month increased 3% year-over-year; however, the 'slight, slight improvement' from January may not actually be, the Silicon Alley Insider reported, since Comscore did not adjust for Leap Year. Google's paid clicks in December were up 12% and up 27% in November.

Newspaper wrap-up: John Meriwether is back; New hedge fund problems, angry investors originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Napster

Continue reading Napster plans for user-friendly MP3s

Napster plans for user-friendly MP3s originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 07 Jan 2008 14:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Amazon music download library grows with addition of Warner Music Group originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Dec 2007 18:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warner reaches deal to market Frank Sinatra originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warner Music Group profits fall off originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• In an interview with the Financial Times (subscription required), Carl Icahn said of Motorola (NYSE: MOT): "There is value there, and if that value doesn't manifest itself, I as an activist, would think very seriously about coming back."

• Universal Music is in talks with Sony Corporation's (NYSE: SNE) Sony BMG and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) over launching a music subscription service to be called Total Music, which would be free on certain devices, reported the Telegraph.
• While Emerging Memory Technologies CEO Sreedhar Natarajan would not confirm the deal, stating "I'm under a non-disclosure agreement," it is clear that EMT has been acquired by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM), the Ottawa Citizen reported.
• Lehman Brothers analyst Douglas Anmuth believes Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) will launch a mobile phone similar to that of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone in February, reported the Independent.
• The Associated Press reported that Nomura Holdings (NYSE: NMR) announced that it will close its mortgage-backed securities business in the U.S., and expects a group pretax loss of between $240M and $510M for the quarter ended in September.

• According to Unstrung.com's sources in the finance community, Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is expected to enter the WiMax arena before the end of the month, and Navini Networks is Cisco's preferred target.

Newspaper wrap-up: Icahn looking at Motorola originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal's "Ahead of the Tape" focused on the upcoming earnings report from American International Group Inc (NYSE: AIG) after the close today, as a fresh barometer to gauge the subprime market -- AIG has exposure as a lender, insurer, and investor.
• With uncertainty in the debt markets, Virgin Media Inc's (NASDAQ: VMED) plans to sell itself were put off until conditions improve, reported the Wall Street Journal.
• The Financial Times reported that Oleg Deripaska, the owner of Russia's biggest aluminum maker, has acquired a stake in General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) of just under 5%, say two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

• The Chinese government, which holds $1.33 trillion in foreign reserves, has made economic threats against the U.S., saying it may liquidate its holdings in U.S. Treasury bonds if the U.S. imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation, reported the Telegraph.
• The New York Post has learned that Warner Music Group Corp (NYSE: WMG) may go private due to its plummeting stock price and negative investor sentiment towards the music industry in general.

Newspaper wrap-up: Warner Music (WMG) may go private originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 08 Aug 2007 09:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The four largest handset manufacturers in the world are setting up a music service with major music publishers. They hope to use the new product to compete with key features of the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. According to the FT, Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Samsung, and Sony Ericsson will offer a flat-fee music service in Europe and Asia.

The new initiative will take music from Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG), Universal Music, EMI, and BMG.

Although the service will not begin in the US, there is every reason to think that it will head here. The new "MusicStation" service will be preloaded onto phones.

Access to iTunes is one of the major selling features of the iPhone. The large handset companies have good reasons to want to make the iPhone less attractive. If its sells well in the US, it will almost certainly be offered overseas, and the big phone manufacturers will be waiting with features to keep its sales low.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Bigger competition for Apple iPhone originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Barron's Online's (subscription required) "Inside Scoop" section reported that Thomas Everist, an MDU Resources Group (NYSE: MDU) board member since 1995, has sold a total of 742K shares for a total of $22.6M in MDU stock since May 2, according SEC data.
• The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that EMI Group (OTC: EMIPY), the third largest music company by sales agreed to sell to Terra Firma Capital Partners for $4.74B, possibly ending its seven year battle with Warner Music Group Corp (NYSE: WMG).

• According to the New York Post, citing people familiar with the situation, the weakening housing market and other issues are making it difficult for Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD) to sell its professional supply business.
• Discovery Communications is in talks with CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) to sell half its Discovery Times channel and form a joint-venture partnership, according to sources close with the situation, reported the Washington Post.

• According to an NDP Group report, April sales of Nintendo's (OTC: NTDOY) Wii consoles were almost 3.5 times higher than Sony Corporation's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3, reported DigiTimes.com.

Newspaper wrap-up 5-22-07: Home Depot having trouble selling unit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Baird cut ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ: VCLK) to Neutral from Outperform, citing the FTC inquiry.

• aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) was downgraded to Sell from Buy after the company was acquired by Microsoft (MSFT) and because aQuantive no longer trades on fundamentals. Kaufman and Gabelli also cut aQuantive to Hold from Buy.

• Cigna (NYSE: CI) was downgraded at Prudential to Neutral from Overweight on valuation.

• Warner Music Group's (NYSE: WMG) downgrade to Sell from Neutral at Pali Research was based on the lower industry outlook, which Pali believes revenues are likely to fall at least 10% for the industry in 2007, along with the company's release schedule.

• Bear Stearns downgraded Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU) to Peer Perform from Outperform on the acceptance of the higher bid.

• Medtronic Inc (NYSE: MDT) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley...

• Georgia Gulf Corp (NYSE: GGC) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Matrix USA.

• Stifel cut Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB) to Hold from Buy.

• UBS downgraded Intuit Inc (NASDAQ: INTU) to Neutral from Buy.

• Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE: OXY) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy list.

• Friedman Billings downgraded downgraded CapitalSource, Inc (NYSE: CSE) and Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE: CFC) to Market Perform from Outperform.

Analyst downgrades 5-21-07: AQNT, CCU, CI, CFC and WMG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 May 2007 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) and online services company Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE: CRM) may form a partnership to better compete with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), reported the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
  

• The U.K. Times reported that Warner Music Group Corporation (NYSE: WMG) is expected to offer EMI Group (OTC: EMIPY) a "£100 million sweetener" to try and keep the company from accepting an offer from private equity.
• According to The Observer, Royal Bank of Scotland (OTC: RBSPY), along with its partners Fortis and Banco Santander Central Hispano (NYSE: STD), hope to "table" a £47 billion offer for ABN Amro Holdings (NYSE: ABN) this week.
• The Observer reported that a private equity consortium is considering a $15 billion offer for Virgin Media Inc (NASDAQ: VMED).
• Cadbury Schweppes ADS (NYSE: CSG) is planning to return £5 billion to shareholders through a special dividend or share buyback, according to The Observer.
• The Sunday Telegraph reported that UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) will offer to buy out the pension schemes of some of the leading FTSE100 companies next week.
• Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) may be looking to acquire British social networking site Bebo, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
• The Bollywood film producer, Eros International, is expected to announce a partnership with Google Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, the Sunday Telegraph reported.
• Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Limited's (NASDAQ: TEVA) Copaxone will face generic competition for the first time, but will not see an impact immediately, Ha'aretz reported.

• The Orange County Register blog looked at a transcript from IndyMac Bancorp Inc's (NYSE: IMB) first quarter conference call, where the CEO Michael Perry said: "When you see that delinquency number in the press of 13% subprime delinquencies, it's hugely understated. It is absolutely hugely understated. And the prime delinquencies are overstated. The subprime delinquencies are more like 18, 20, 22% delinquencies and that's where I think you're going to see the problems."

Newspaper wrap-up 5-21-07: Google may form partnership with Salesforce.com originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 May 2007 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Second quarter losses and digital growth for Warner Music originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 May 2007 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG) may be in a lawsuit with online retailer AnywhereCD, but the company is doing something right, and that appears to be their advertising. With the coming summer music season, all of the major albums by big artists are being released. Warner will release Linkin Park's third album Minutes to Midnight on May 15th, a highly anticipated album by the rock sextet.

The company appears to have taken the enormity of that band into their consideration of how to best market the album. The biggest change in album marketing I've noticed is the appearance of TV commercials that feature the new single "What I've Done" over the album art, followed by the release date (I've rarely seen a new album by such a large band marketed this way). Additionally, the album has been available for pre-order on Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes Store since mid-April, well before pre-orders are typically made available, and features "secret bonus tracks" that are exclusive to that store. In my local Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) store's weekly ad this morning, the album is also available for pre-order and carries special pre-order offers. The album is still two weeks from being released.

These rather minute advertising successes may not increase album sales, but they certainly increase the awareness listeners will have of the album and the release. That is what makes Warner's success this month vital for the company, especially as their prices slowly rise. Last week alone they increased steadily to gain nearly a $1.

Warner Music's advertising strategy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It was twenty years ago today... well not exactly, but it was 1987 and five of the world's most influential musicians came together to record a b-side for George Harrison's "This Is Love" single. Harrison , along with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and ELO's Jeff Lynne, recorded "Handle with Care" and created supergroup history. You may not remember the Traveling Wilburys, or even have known those artists were involved, but in 1988 their album Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 reached #3 on the Billboard albums chart and sold more than 2 million copies.

For more than 10 years that album along with the follow-up two years later, have been unavailable. This summer Rhino Records, an imprint of Warner Music Group (NYSE:WMG), will re-release both Traveling Wilburys albums as well as bonus video material in a special reissue set. It's an interesting re-issue for this summer, not because it does not deserve to be re-issued, but because it is part of the re-issuing of George Harrison's post-Beatles career by his estate (here is the press release).

Warner caught a lucky break with these reissues because most of Harrison 's material reverted to EMI (he was originally with the London-based label as a Beatle and a solo artist). It was assumed that these two albums also reverted, but those assumptions were obviously wrong.

This reissue will do quite well because it was a collaboration between five talents and received such high praise upon its initial release. By comparison Harrison's solo material was often hit or miss.

Continue reading Warner Music gets lucky break

Warner Music gets lucky break originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of firms have been eyeing Kroger Co (NYSE: KR) on the expectation that the company will soon begin exploring a leveraged buyout with the help of investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS).

• The New York Post reported that Warner Music Group Corp (NYSE: WMG) may look to merge with EMI Group plc ADR (OTC: EMIPY) by appealing directly to the music labels shareholders.
• According to the Sunday Express, Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) is set to receive a bid of $52-$58 per share, valuing the company at $50B, from a consortium of Middle Eastern investors and American buyout firms.
• The U.K. Telegraph reported that the Royal Bank of Scotland is preparing to delay any rival offer for ABN Amro Holdings (NYSE: ABN) until after Barclays plc ADS (NYSE: BCS) reveals its bid for the company.
• From BusinessWeek's "Inside Wall Street" section:
• Oppenheimer oil guru Fadel Gheit says rumors have resurfaced that Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM) may go after oil and gas company Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN).
• Napco Security Systems Inc (NASDAQ: NSSC) is hoping GatewayX, a new product introduced in January, will spark a rebound.
• Seed and crop-protection company Syngenta AG ADS (NYSE: SYT) looks to have upside ahead, due to brisk demand for corn to make ethanol is boosting farmers' need for Syngenta's products to fight field pests.

Newspaper wrap-up 4-9-07: Kroger in play? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 09:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Pali Capital upgraded shares of Warner Music Group Corp (NYSE: WMG) on valuation.

• Matrix USA upgraded Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc (NASDAQ: RRGB) to Hold from Sell on valuation.

• Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK.A) was upgraded to In Line from Underperform at Fox-Pitt, Kelton.

• UBS upgraded ARM Holdings plc (NASDAQ: ARMHY) to Buy from Neutral as the firm believes the company will be a significant beneficiary of the acceleration in 3G handset adoption in 2007.

• Wachovia upgraded Pactiv Corp (NYSE: PTV) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation.

• Baird raised Patterson Companies (NASDAQ: PDCO) rating to Outperform from Neutral.

• BMO Capital raised UCBH Holdings, Inc (NASDAQ: UCBH) rating to Outperform from to Market Perform.

• O2Micro International Ltd (NASDAQ: OIIM) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Oppenheimer citing a possible near-term court settlement with Samsung, which provides significant earnings leverage.

Analyst upgrades 3-29-07: Berkshire Hathaway & Warner Music Group upgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 29 Mar 2007 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to the Wall Street Journal's (subscription required) "Heard on the Street" column, JP Morgan Chase and Company (NYSE: JPM) is working on its growth without acquisitions, by bulking up its Hollywood business and its pension-advisory business.
• The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that China's economic-planning agency said it would allow Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) to build a chip plant in the northeastern city of Dalian.
• The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) has raised its bid for Nikko Cordial by 25.9% to around $13.4B.

• CNet.com has learned that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is close to acquiring privately held Tellme Networks, which a deal expected to be completed later this week.
• The U.K. Times reported that Warner Music Group Corp (NYSE: WMG) is struggling to justify raising its bid for rival EMI Group (OTC: EMIPY), because it does not believe it can risk an improved offer without having access to EMI's books.
• According to the Independent, Diageo plc ADS (NYSE: DEO) is expected to bid for Absolut vodka owners Vin & Sprit despite worries about competition.

Newspaper wrap-up 3-13-07: Microsoft to acquire Tellme Networks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Mar 2007 09:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

These are tough times for the music industry. With declining CD sales, a surprising leveling-off in legal downloading, and rampant piracy problems, there have been very few bullish signs for the record industry. The once legendary Tower Records declined into bankruptcy, and publicly-traded music retailers like Trans World Entertainment Corp. (NASDAQ:TWMC) and Handleman Company (NYSE:HDL) have seen their share-prices sink towards all-time lows. Warner Music Group (NYSE:WMG) is trading more than $10 off its 52-week high of $31 per-share.

But in what may be a sign that at least insiders see value in the industry, WMG is currently involved in a takeover fight with the EMI Group of Britain, (LON:EMI) which counts the Beatles among its artists. On Friday, the EMI Group rejected WMG's $4.1 billion takeover proposal, characterizing it as inadequate given the potential for cost-savings.

The combination of one major player making a bid for another major player, and the bid being rejected as too low indicates that industry executives still see value in their industry. Since they do, you may want to look anew at it as well.

EMI rejects Warner's overture originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.