cars posts
FeedPosted Sep 22nd 2009 11:50AM by Elizabeth Harrow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports
CarMax Inc. (NYSE: KMX) rallied to a new 52-week high Tuesday after topping analysts' second-quarter earnings expectations. The used-car retailer reported a quarterly profit of $103 million, or 46 cents per share, while net sales jumped 13% to $2.1 billion. By contrast, analysts were expecting net income of just 18 cents per share on $1.77 billion in revenue.
"The government's CARS, or 'cash for clunkers,' program resulted in a spike in traffic in late July and August," explained CEO Tom Folliard. Same-store used-unit sales for the quarter climbed 8%, bouncing back from a 17% drop in the first quarter.
Continue reading CarMax taps 16-month high after solid 2Q earnings
Posted Sep 21st 2009 5:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Good news, Products and services, Management, Competitive strategy, Marketing and advertising, Recession, Financial Crisis

The past couple of months there has been a lot of news over the government's recent "cash for clunkers" program, which was wildly more successful than anyone could have imagined, but left dealer lots short on inventory. General Motors dealers are still dealing with low inventory and have
requested more cars to meet recent demand.
According to the Detroit News, General Motors dealers have requested that the company ship as much as
four times as many cars as the company had planned to build in October.
Continue reading GM dealers want more cars
Posted Aug 13th 2009 3:20PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Good news, Products and services, Industry, Consumer experience, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Money and Finance Today, Financial Crisis

With so many people rushing out to take advantage of the "cash for clunkers" program, American auto maker
Ford Motor (NYSE:
F) has announced that it will be
significantly boosting fourth quarter production.
There has been a lot of debate over whether or not the "cash for clunkers" program is good for the economy, but there is little debate as to its popularity. The program offers up to a $4,500 incentive for people exchanging their old gas guzzlers in for newer, more fuel efficient vehicles, and has been much more popular than anyone could have imagined.
Continue reading Ford boosts fourth quarter production
Posted Aug 8th 2009 10:30AM by Ted Allrich (RSS feed)
Filed under: Comfort Zone Investing, Housing, Recession
The stock market is putting on quite a show, had the best month (in July) in years. Earnings weren't all that great either. Most companies reported about what was expected (lower than last year) with a few exceptions like IBM (NYSE: IBM), GE (NYSE: GE) and especially Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO). Earnings don't explain the enthusiasm investors are showing for all stocks. That comes from a renewed sense of hope, with some data behind the emotion.
Almost every company that made earnings announcement so far said the same thing: the worst seems to be over. They could see where sales were holding, a few were even reporting increases, though not many. But the clear majority said they could see the end in sight for the continuing downward spiral of lower revenues, more lay-offs, continuing cuts in spending.
Continue reading Comfort Zone Investing: Can the rally last?
Posted Aug 6th 2009 4:40PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Rants and raves, Scandals, Politics

The cash-for-clunkers deal has been getting a lot of coverage, and I hate it. I hate the program because I think it's bad for America, will lead to financial problems for the vast majority of people who participate in it, and won't help to solve the economic crisis.
First, a quick recap of how it works: You trade in your old car that gets low mileage and you get a taxpayer-funded rebate of up to $4,500 off the price of a new car. The rebate is $3,500 if the spread in fuel efficiency between the old car and the new car is smaller. In order to get the rebate, your old car has to be junked. In other words, this is not a deal that someone with a car worth more than $3,500 or $4,500 would take.
Continue reading Why I hate cash-for-clunkers, and why you should too!
Posted Jul 29th 2009 2:30PM by Steven Mallas (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings reports, Microsoft (MSFT), Walt Disney (DIS), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Electronic Arts (ERTS), Activision Inc (ATVI), Technology
THQ (NASDAQ: THQI), a video-game software publisher that competes with Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), and my personal favorite, Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), lost well over 6% of its market value during Tuesday's after-hours trading session. The culprit catalyst? First-quarter earnings.
I was a bit surprised by the sell-off at first. After all, sales increased over 77%, and earnings per share on an adjusted basis came in at 10 cents versus a loss of 38 cents one year ago. That sounds awesome on the surface, as does the fact that Reuters says the market was actually expecting a loss of 6 cents per share!
Continue reading THQ powers past estimates in Q1, but should stock be sold?
Posted Jul 2nd 2009 8:00AM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Industry, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), Recession
Auto sales continued to drop in June, but we are starting to see signs that sales may be beginning to stabilize a bit.
The auto industry is still in deep trouble. It is going to take a while before things get back to normal, but before things can even start to improve, they have to stop worsening, and that's what may be happening.
Continue reading Auto sales show signs of stability
Posted May 28th 2009 6:00PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: Forecasts, Rumors, Competitive strategy, General Motors (GM), Employees, Recession, Financial Crisis
There has been a lot of debate over the past couple of months over General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM). What would be best for the company? Government bailout money to help avoid bankruptcy, or should we allow the company to go through bankruptcy proceedings?
If you are on the side of the argument that thinks GM should enter bankruptcy, well, you are about to get exactly that. According to Bloomberg, General Motors plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 1.
Continue reading General Motors bankruptcy right around the corner
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