Two companies devoted to consumer products released earnings this week. One makes items used for cleaning, the other makes goods that you can actually eat.

We'll start with the cleaning-item concern. The Clorox Company (CLX), manufacturer of the iconic laundry bleach, issued results for its fiscal second quarter earlier today. At the time of this writing, shares were higher by 2.4% to a quote of $65.26. Volume was strong. The 52-week low for the stock is $59.07 and the 52-week high is $69. The one-year chart is, well ... not that great.

Continue reading Earnings from Clorox and Kellogg

Earnings from Clorox and Kellogg originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In the current economic environment, a lot of companies are cutting back costs wherever they can in hopes of boosting earnings, but entertainment giant Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) is taking a different approach and spending in hopes of boosting its sales.

Disney is hoping that by completely revamping its retail stores that it will be able to lure in more customers, keep them longer, and encourage more sales. In order to make the best of their new marketing direction, they have enlisted the aid of one of the greatest (in my opinion) retail designers out there, Steve Jobs.

Continue reading While others are cutting back, Disney is spending

While others are cutting back, Disney is spending originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades:

• Citigroup raised Ann Taylor (NYSE: ANN) to Hold from Sell. The firm upgraded shares following the company's Q2 upside and believes guidance for the second half of 2008 is appropriately conservative.
  
• Jefferies upgraded China Sunergy (NASDAQ: CSUN) based on valuation,and improved liquidity and silicon supply outlook.
  
• Stephens upgraded infoUSA (NASDAQ: IUSA) shares to Overweight from Equal Weight to reflect the stock's valuation, new management, improvements in expense controls and the potential to become a takeover target.
  
• Citigroup raised BB&T (NYSE: BBT) to Buy from Hold.
• Stifel upgraded Leggett & Platt (NYSE: LEG) to Buy from Hold.

• Citigroup downgraded Cablevision (NYSE: CVC) to Sell from Buy as they do not expect the company's structural moves to unlock value.
  
• Wachovia dropped Knight Transportation (NYSE: KNX) to Market Perform from Outperform based on valuation.
  

Continue reading Analyst calls: ANN, CSUN, BBT, CVC, VRGY, CME ...

Analyst calls: ANN, CSUN, BBT, CVC, VRGY, CME ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is having kids a bad financial decision? Duh! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In the past day or so, Burger King Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BKC) and Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) have moved in opposite directions in terms of social responsibility and the role that each sees itself playing in the war on juvenile obesity.

Burger King announced that it will "help lead the way in promoting children's nutrition by joining 11 major food and beverage companies that have pledged to focus their advertising to children under 12 on products that promote healthy dietary choices and lifestyles."

The plan is pretty ambitious. In its marketing, it will target children only with products that have no more than 560 calories per meal, less than 30% of calories from fat, less than 10% of calories from saturated fat, no added trans fats, and no more than 10% of calories from added sugars. In addition, the burger giant will stop using third-party licensed characters to market unhealthy foods to children, stop advertising in elementary schools, and promote healthier lifestyles with its advertising. And to make eating healthy food easier, it will develop new items that are low in fat and sugar.

And now on to Starbucks: The company has a long-held policy of not targeting children with its ads. But now, a spokesman for the company says that it is considering adding new drinks and/or drink sizes to appeal to younger customers.

Gallery: Starbucks doesn't market to kids? Yes it does!

Continue reading Burger King (BKC) gets healthier for kids, but Starbucks (SBUX) may target children

Burger King (BKC) gets healthier for kids, but Starbucks (SBUX) may target children originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Debit cards for pre-teens? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jul 2007 00:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shares of Build-A-Beat Workshop (NYSE: BBW) have been fairly lackluster performers since the company's IPO in 2004, but a new concept store called Ridemakerz could change all that, as Build-A-Bear owns 25% of the new venture.

Build-A-Bear has about 300 locations globally, offering children and their parents an opportunity to customize their own teddy bears. Ridemakerz, whose first location just opened last week, will offer fathers and sons a chance to build their own toy cars. According to the New York Times, "Customers select a chassis type (street or monster); body styles (stock or custom, a Ridemakerz brand hot rod, a Ford Mustang GT, or Dodge Ram pickup, to name a few options); paint schemes; sound effects (for example, sirens or race sounds) and style of locomotion (free wheel or radio control) ... After the 10- to 12-inch cars are assembled, there are ample customizing and accessorizing options: tire treads, grille guards, side pipes, snowboard racks and decals. Mr. Andreini estimates that a fully tricked-out vehicle will run about $75, including $25 for radio control. For the budget-minded, there's a stock tuner car for $12."

If this does catch on, and it seems likely that it will, the growth could be explosive. Build-A-Bear grew from one store to more than 300 in ten years and, with the support of Build-A-Bear already there, Ridemakerz could much more quickly.

With the huge popularity of NASCAR and cars in general, Ridemakerz could be the catalyst for shares of BBW to rapidly gain in value. The shares are trading right around their price from a year ago, indicating that much of the upside of Ridemakerz is not yet priced in.

To learn more about Ridemakerz, see the company's website.

Is Ridemakerz the new Build-a-Bear? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 11:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Thursday's Wall Street Journal took an interesting look at some of the problems facing teens looking for summer work. As someone who worked numerous jobs during my high school summers (not all that long ago), I thought I'd offer some tips. I learned far more working during high school than I did in the classroom (although I could also say that about watching cartoons and blowing my nose), and this was partly a result of finding jobs that were unique and matched my interests. So here are my tips:

Don't focus on the money...unless you have to. In some families, cash is so tight that the teenage worker needs to earn as much as he or she can, and I understand that. But if you're not in that situation, the best advice I can give you is to not worry about how much the job pays. There's a good chance that you will be forking over tens of thousands of dollars for your child's education and a dollar or two an hour will hardly make a dent (even if your child doesn't blow it on clothing, video games, and dates), and a good high school job can be a great education -- and it pays! So don't let money stop your child from taking a job he'd love over one he isn't so excited about.

Continue reading Tips for a summer job for teens

Tips for a summer job for teens originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 10 May 2007 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Predatory lenders luring in college students with credit card offers they don't understand, and mortgage brokers sticking lower-income people with subprime mortgages when they would have been better-served with one of the federally-subsidized programs. PeachDirect offers luxury items to college students on installment with exorbitant interest rates.
• Hungry-Man's thousand-calorie breakfast, which contains 231% of the recommended daily value for cholesterol in one serving. So the recommendation is that you consumer 2.3x as much cholesterol at breakfast as you should during that entire day. No one should eat this product, and companies shouldn't market products that are by definition bad for you.
• Several years ago, The Illinois lottery put up a billboard in a poor Chicago neighborhood with the slogan, "This could be your way out." Of course, people should never gamble with money they can't afford to lose. If you're poor, you by definition can't afford to lose money. It's wrong for anyone, most of all the government, to prey on society's least fortunate.

These are just a few of the examples that come to mind when I think of companies marketing to people who shouldn't buy their products. Can you think of others?

Beer for tots, lottery for the poor, and other cases of evil marketing originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Maria Bartiromo, Money Honey -- now for kids? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

My son Everett, who's almost four, was so excited when a "Starbooks" (as he calls it) was built on the corner a few blocks from our front door. He knows Starbucks as a reliable outlet for chocolate cow (the little Horizon milks with the picture of the cow) and glazed doughnuts. Several local Starbucks have little reading areas for families with children. Every time we drop in to our corner coffee shop, we run into other children packed in strollers and baby carriers. In our neighborhood, at least, Starbucks is all about young children.

The company officially has a policy that it won't market to kids. Yet anyone who's been in a Starbucks outlet recently has noted a not-subtle shift. First there was the Laurie Berkner DVD (the first DVD marketed in Starbucks) -- she's a wildly popular children's singer. Then Dan Zanes CDs joined Berkner on the shelf. A few months ago I was unsurprised to see, next to heaps of stuffed bears, barrels of brightly-colored children's books (Dot and Dash, a ladybug and a turtle, go on adventures through "Mango Mooka Forest" and "Strawberry Summit," where muffins grow in the trees and chocolate rice krispie treats peak from behind oversized fruit).

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Starbucks' "written policy says its 'overall marketing, advertising and event sponsorship efforts are not directed at children or youth,' although some 'community activities' end up reaching kids. The company reviews marketing materials to avoid distributing ones that could be 'inadvertently appealing to youth.' " Yet June was welcomed in with the company's summer drink lineup; many of them available in non-caffeinated and decidedly kid-focused versions. As the Journal pointed out, the company staged marketing events at zoos and other kid-friendly locales.

Continue reading Starbucks for babies: changing its no-marketing-to-kids tune?

Starbucks for babies: changing its no-marketing-to-kids tune? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 07 Jul 2006 13:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.