Ben Berkowitz is the business news editor at AOL. His weekly column highlights business stories with significant implications that were overlooked at first glance.

The story you didn't read this week but should have is that Bill Gates is heading for the exit on housing and energy stocks. When the world's richest man, who certainly has money to burn, says "nah, no thanks" to an entire sector, pay heed.

Gates sold out of a laundry list of stocks: KB Home (NYSE:KBH), Centex Crop. (NYSE:CTX), Pulte Homes, Inc. (NYSE:PHM), Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN), Beazer Homes USA, Inc. (NYSE:BZH), Ryland Group Inc. (NYSE:RYL) and WCI Communities, Inc. (NYSE:WCI) in the housing space; and AES Corp. (NYSE:AES), Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX), Consolidated Edison, Inc. (NYSE:ED), Dominion Resources, Inc. (NYSE:D), Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE:DUK), FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE:FPL) and Ameren Corp. (NYSE:AEE) in energy and utilities.

His move in housing was particularly striking - a November filing by his foundation showed new positions in a number of home builders, only to then sell the shares by Dec. 31.

Could it be that the housing market is just so lousy that Gates does not feel compelled to bother? This is a man who is so rich that, if he sold off everything he owned, he could give every man, woman and child in the United States something like $160 and still have plenty of money left over for the Egg McMuffins he was once known to favor.

Continue reading The story you didn't read: Gates heads for the exits

The story you didn't read: Gates heads for the exits originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Feb 2007 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT): if you own it fine. If you are looking to make a lot of money, why buy it? Yes, we've heard about Zune. Big deal, I say. X-Box, so what? Vista might be real catalyst, perhaps. MSN a cash cow? That's another work in progress -- but it is a player.

I love MSFT's balance sheet, profit margins, and dreamy cash flow. But with all the stories about Microsoft and various initiatives, management and ideas, I just don't see what all the fuss is about. As a company it's nice. If you were along for the pre-2000 ride that is wonderful. But now it's a slow moving behemoth that will continue to grow a little bit at a time and never ever be what it was -- a high growth stock.

The stock buy back did not go as planned because management actually realized the shares are worth less and needed support. They could not buy enough because silly shareholders think the company is worth more than management does.

Well, I disagree with shareholders and agree with management instead. They will continue to be supporting the share price, keeping it from falling to $19 or $20 even as each new initiative is slow to add to revenue.

If you disagree with my view, as many will, then please stop telling us why the stock will rise and tell us what you think projected (speculation) earnings will be for each segment and what has specifically made you so optimistic. Throwing out numbers is ridiculous with no economic facts to back it up.

Why does anybody think the stock, now at $25.70, will be $30, or $35 or $60? Why shouldn't it be $19? Why shouldn't it have an average P/E? I would like to know. I would like to make some money too. I just can't figure it out -- enlighten me.

Continue reading Microsoft (MSFT): Nice company, mediocre investment

Microsoft (MSFT): Nice company, mediocre investment originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 23 Aug 2006 14:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today, Microsoft announced that Bill Gates will be stepping back from his day-to-day role at Microsoft (effective July 2008 ... talk about your advance notice!) to spend more time with his foundation. It's not retirement, he said, but "a reordering of my priorities." The market seems suspicious of his new values (five years ago could you ever have imagined Bill Gates, the man excoriated by so many for his heavy-handed competitive behavior, saying "with great wealth comes great responsibility"?). The stock had been up 19 cents on the day, to $22.07, but had already lost half of that gain in after hours trading by 5 p.m.

In other news, Microsoft is using our fear -- of identity theft, phishing, viruses and the bane of everyone's existence, adware -- to hype its Vista operating system. Fear sells. Microsoft SVP Bob Muglia told a group at the TechEd conference in Boston that Vista will be the most secure operating system, ever, and Nate Mook and Tim Conneally from BetaNews evaluate the statement and provide a variety of points that backup Muglia's strong statement (and maybe that fear will be the operating principle of Web 3.0).

Microsoft after the bell 06-15-06: Gates pulls back, Vista security heralded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Jun 2006 16:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.