liberty posts
FeedPosted Mar 5th 2008 12:00PM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst Reports, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), duPont(E.I.)deNemours (DD), Analyst Initiations
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MOST NOTEWORTHY: Microsoft, IPC The Hospitalist Co and DuPont were today's noteworthy initiations:
- Jefferies believes Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) bid for Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) and more conciliatory tone towards regulators signals a shift in strategy from defense to offense. The firm started shares with a Buy rating and $33 target.
- Wachovia believes IPC The Hospitalist (NASDAQ: IPCM) is well-positioned to gain share in the fragmented hospitalist market given its experienced management team, operating history, and proven track-record; shares were initiated with an Outperform rating at Wachovia and with an Outperform rating and $27 target at Credit Suisse.
- DuPont (NYSE: DD) was initiated with an Outperform rating and $57 target at Credit Suisse, as they believe the company's number two seed position in North America looks secure.
OTHER INITIATIONS:
- B. Riley initiated VASCO Data Security (NASDAQ: VDSI) with a Buy rating and $18 target.
- Morgan Stanley initiated Liberty Entertainment (NASDAQ: LMDIA) with an Overweight rating; shares were also initiated with an Outperform rating at Wachovia.
- Credit Suisse added shares of Elan Corp (NYSE: ELN) to its Focus List and started shares with an Outperform rating.
Posted Aug 20th 2007 4:45PM by Kevin Shult (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad News, Industry, Magazines, Daimler (DAI), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)
BusinessWeek put together a list of the
most recalled new cars in 2007. What is surprising is that four out of the top five vehicles were imports, and not domestic cars.
Chrysler's (NYSE:
DAI) Jeep Liberty, with 149,605 recalls, was the only domestic in the top 5. Chrysler had three other significant recalls, including the new Dodge Nitro, Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler Sebring.
General Motors (NYSE:
GM) had two vehicles recalled, while
Ford's (NYSE:
F) lone recall was from its Expedition line, and only totaled 10,000 SUVs.
Toyota's (NYSE:
TM) Sequoia hit No. 2 on the recall list, with 533,000 vehicles recalled. This is a surprising improvement from l
ast year, where Toyota recalled nearly 700,000 vehicles.
The new
Volkswagen (OTC:
VLKAY) Beetle took No. 1 on the recall list; triggered by the potential for a brake light switch to malfunction in over 1 million vehicles if it was installed incorrectly.
Take a look at
BusinessWeek's slide show
here.
Posted Jul 3rd 2007 10:18AM by Kevin Shult (RSS feed)
Filed under: Before the Bell, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Bad News, Caterpillar (CAT)
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Caterpillar Inc (CAT), Movie Gallery (MOVI), Cache, Inc (CACH) and Manor Care, Inc (HCR) were today's noteworthy downgrades:
- UBS downgraded shares of Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) to Reduce from Neutral and lowered their target to $70 from $78 to reflect decelerating revenues in the company's core businesses, global capacity additions in construction machinery, competitive concerns and valuation.
- Soleil downgraded Movie Gallery (NASDAQ: MOVI) to Sell from Hold following comments after yesterday's close about missing certain debt covenants.
- Suntrust downgraded shares of Cache (NASDAQ: CACH) to Neutral from Buy citing the company's attempt to reconstruct itself in a difficult economic period with tough comps and in a waning trend cycle.
- Manor Care (NYSE: HCR) was cut to Market Perform from Outperform at Wachovia, citing the acquisition by the Carlyle Group. Soleil cut Manor Care to Hold from Buy on the news...
OTHER DOWNGRADES:
- UBS downgraded BG Group (NYSE: BRG) to Neutral from Buy.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).Posted Feb 15th 2007 9:00AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Internet, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Daimler (DAI), Ford Motor (F), JPMorgan Chase (JPM)
MAJOR PAPERS:
- Barron's Online's (subscription required) "Inside Scoop" reported that Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) director Edward Kozel spent $595,200 buying 20,000 shares of Yahoo on the open market.
- The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported that Brady Dougan will succeed Oswald Grubel as CEO of Credit Suisse Group ADS (NYSE: CS).
- The Financial Times (subscription required) reported that DaimlerChrysler AG (NYSE: DCX) has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) to explore Chrysler's future. "All options are on the table," said chairman Dieter Zetsche.
OTHER PAPERS:
- According to the Detroit News, Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is offering cash rebates on the new Ford Edge crossover, but says the move is a testament to the new vehicle's success. Automakers usually add incentives when they are having a difficult time selling selling a particular model.
- The Telegraph wrote that several media companies have accused Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) of selling advertising for two piracy websites, and smaller advertisers are complaining that their ads are appearing on sites with no content that may be run by fraudsters.
- Investor's Business Daily's "New America" column focused on Liberty Media Corporation Interactive (NASDAQ: LINTA), which owns the QVC home shopping network. The article notes that QVC had revenues last year of about $5.5B, concluding a run of 20 years of increased sales.
Posted Jan 18th 2007 9:47AM by Eric Buscemi (RSS feed)
Filed under: General Electric (GE), Intel (INTC), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), , Monster Worldwide (MNST), Barclays plc ADS (BCS)
MAJOR PAPERS:
- The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) had M&A news on General Electric (NYSE: GE) and Tribune Co (NYSE: TRB).
- According to sources, General Electric is in talks to buy Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) Diagnostics Arm and a deal could come as soon as today.
- Tribune received at least three sharply "varying proposals" from bidders but none offered a premium for the entire company.
- Prosecutors are intensifying their criminal probe into stock-option manipulation at Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST), prompted in part by emails written by the company's ex-counsel.
- The Financial Times (subscription required) reported, citing local industry officials, that China is considering a plan by Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) to build a chipmaking plant in Dalian.
OTHER PAPERS:
- The New York Times reported that Barclays (NYSE: BCS) has agreed to pay almost $400 million over 20 years for the naming rights to an American indoor sports arena, the planned future home of the Nets basketball team, when it relocates to Brooklyn in 2009.
- The New York Post wrote that Liberty Media (NASDAQ: LCAPA) CEO John Malone could be interested in Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) subsidiary Rainbow Media Holdings since Cablevision's special committee rejected the Dolan family's going-private offer.
- Investor's Business Daily's "New America" column mentioned GPS maker Trimble Navigation (NASDAQ: TRMB) positively.
Posted May 17th 2006 3:52PM by Anne Metz (RSS feed)
Filed under: Products and Services, Television, Time Warner (TWX)
Last week -- for a mere $735 million --Time Warner bought Liberty Media's 50% stake in Court TV (prior to the buyout, Court TV had been a joint venture for TWX and Liberty Media).
The talking heads
are busy pontificating about what this does to the value of Court TV, arguing that this puts the company at about $18 per subscriber.
I, of course, am far more interested in pontificating about what this will do for Court TV. My fears:
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Johnson & Johnson's Income Falls 23%
Burberry Shares Leap on Sales Update
