Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), a business centered on music concerts, one that counts Madonna and U2 among its portfolio of artists, promoted its fourth-quarter numbers earlier in the week. After browsing the data, and considering comments on guidance, I'm not sure I would want to buy the stock, even after seeing that it closed on Friday at a 52-week high.

According to BusinessWeek, Live Nation booked an operating loss of $64 million during the three-month period (adjusted operating income was positive, however). Sales went down well over 4%. Free cash flow for the full year, though, as detailed in a table right at the beginning of the press release, came in at nearly $59 million. That table also provides financial information for Ticketmaster, which recently merged with Live Nation.

Continue reading Live Nation: Buy or Avoid After Q4 Performance?

Live Nation: Buy or Avoid After Q4 Performance? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN), which was recently added to the S&P 500, is scheduled to discuss its third-quarter 2009 financial results in a conference call Monday, November 9, at 4:30 PM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.

During the three months that ended in September, Priceline announced a partnership with Ticketmaster (TKTM) and launched a rewards Visa card. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect this leading online travel services provider to report that earnings for that period jumped 18.2% from a year ago to $2.92 per share. And revenue for the quarter is expected to be 23.6% higher to $693.9 million.

Continue reading Priceline.com earnings preview: A sweet deal in Q3?

Priceline.com earnings preview: A sweet deal in Q3? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), a producer of live concerts, closed at $7.19. LYV is expected to report Q3 EPS soon. LYV and Ticket master (NASDAQ: TKTM) announced a merger of equals in February 2009. Antitrust regulators have been reviewing the merger. LYV November option implied volatility is at 73, December is at 70; verses its 26-week average of 79, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Ticket master closed at $10.59. TKTM November option implied volatility is at 66, December is at 63; verses its 26-week average of 73, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

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

Options Update: Live Nation volatility low into EPS and Ticketmaster merger originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It appears that the options market is now making its way into sports, thanks to a company called OptionIt. As we head into the National Hockey League (NHL) season, San Jose Sharks fans can reserve an option to buy postseason tickets.

The Sharks will serve as one of the company's key test markets, along with the Buffalo Bills, Baltimore Ravens, and St. Louis Rams (at least it appears this way according to the company's website) and it hopes to have 10 teams in the fold by the end of the year. With San Jose (a perennial preseason playoff favorite) as a test market, I envision success for OptionIt.

Continue reading JockStocks: Could sports ticket options be the next big investment?

JockStocks: Could sports ticket options be the next big investment? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I thought I'd take a look at two companies that reported earnings earlier in the week that share a couple things in common. First, they deal with music. Second, their prospects have been defined, in part, by the surge of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod/iTunes zeitgeist.

Let's begin with Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG). According to Reuters, Warner Music Group lost 25 cents per share from continuing businesses in Q3. Analysts wanted to see a loss of only 16 cents per share. In last year's Q3, the company lost 6 cents per share. Not a good trend. Warner Music Group's management unfortunately fails to impress.

Continue reading Warner Music Group and Live Nation: Two melodious investments?

Warner Music Group and Live Nation: Two melodious investments? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 08 Aug 2009 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

For the first quarter, Live Nation said that revenues dipped by over 6%. Currency translations affected the top line, so if you strip them out, you get an increase of nearly 3%. The loss from continuing operations expanded by an earsplitting 40% to $1.29 per share. According to this news article, analysts were looking for a loss of only $0.82 per share.

Continue reading Live Nation's Q1 misses expectations by significant amount

Live Nation's Q1 misses expectations by significant amount originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 May 2009 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ticketmaster receives subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department

Ticketmaster receives subpoenas from the U.S. Justice Department originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ticketmaster

Continue reading Is Ticketmaster fleecing its customers, or is Leonard Cohen that popular?

Is Ticketmaster fleecing its customers, or is Leonard Cohen that popular? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), the big, famous concert promoter that counts Madonna as a member of its roster, reported dismal Q4 results on Monday after the bell. A huge write-down in goodwill related to a bad decline in market capitalization led to a loss per share of $4.33. That was many times more than the year-ago loss of 25 cents per share in the similar period. According to this source, Live Nation lost 89 cents per share on an adjusted basis. Wall Street was thinking that maybe the promoter would lose 22 cents per share. Quite the disparity there, eh?

Looking through the press release, I see that there's a lot going on in terms of acquisitions and adjustments. Overall, I came away less than thrilled with the business. I wasn't taken by the statement of cash flows, and I have to wonder how difficult it will be to close on the Ticketmaster (NASDAQ: TKTM) merger. There's talk of antitrust issues.

Continue reading Live Nation not so lively in Q4

Live Nation not so lively in Q4 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ticketmaster gobbles up the competition to enter reselling marketplace originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"We've been a complex enterprise almost from the very beginning 12 years ago, with hundreds of transactions over those years," he said. "And while we've created a lot of value, I've always believed our complexity and many mouthfuls of sentences to explain who we are and what our strategy is have hampered clarity and understanding with all our constituencies, particularly investors."

Plus, the confusion was costing Diller money.

Continue reading IACI split is a stunning reversal by Barry Diller

IACI split is a stunning reversal by Barry Diller originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ticketmaster, the leading ticket sales website owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp (NYSE: IACI) is being sued by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The NBA basketball team accuses the company of anticompetitive and monopolistic practices.

According to the Associated Press, "The Cavaliers allege in the lawsuit that Ticketmaster is trying to prevent the team's Flash Seats secondary-ticketing Web site from competing with the ticketing giant. Flash Seats provides season ticket holders a way to sell and transfer seats electronically _ a system that is superior to Ticketmaster's TeamExchange program, the lawsuit says."

Ticketmaster has also sued the team, claiming that its contract makes the relationship with Flash Seats illegal.

As Doug McIntyre wrote earlier, IAC reported disappointing earnings today sending the stock down more than 5%. But the drop does not appear to be attributable to the Ticketmaster lawsuit.

Zac Bissonnette is a partner and writer for Hedge Funnies, a satirical take on the financial markets.

Cleveland Cavaliers sue Ticketmaster originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Fortress Investment (NYSE: FIG) volatility flat. Investors compare FIG to Blackstone (NYSE: BX). FIG, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $36 billion assets under management, has a market cap of $10.5 billion. Blackstone, a private equity firm, initial public offering was priced at $31 a share, valuing BX at about $33.6 billion. BX manages $88.4 billion, including $19.6 billion in its most recent buyout fund according to Bloomberg. FIG overall option implied volatility of 38 is near its 21-week average according to Track Data.

IAC/InterActive (NASDAQ: IACI) option implied volatility flat at 27. IACI closed at $35. Stifel Nicolaus said on 6/20/07 that it was "upgrading shares of IACI to Buy from Hold and initiating a $42 12-month target price. Our upgrade of IACI is based on 60% probability of a material corporate event occurring within the next 6-months." IACI overall option implied volatility of 27 is near its 26-week average of 25 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price fluctuations.

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

Option update 6-22-07: FIG volatility flat as investors compare to Blackstone originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Jun 2007 11:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer signed a bill last week eliminating state-imposed price restriction on reselling event tickets, effectively legalizing scalping. More and more states have been repealing anti-scalping laws in recent years, paving the way for companies like eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) subsidiary StubHub to create a market for the resale of tickets.

As "deregulation" of scalping continues, StubHub and similar companies should prosper. It's hard to understand why it's taken so long for so many states to eliminate these antiquated laws. According to the Boston Globe, "The justification for anti-scalping laws has been the desire to prevent fans from paying exorbitant amounts for tickets."

But if someone wants to pay $5,000 for a ticket to see the Rolling Stones, why would the government interfere? Who exactly is being protected when the state tells a guy who wants to buy a ticket from someone who wants to sell it that he's not allowed to see the concert.

There's really no economics-based justification for anti-scalping laws. It appears to be a reaction to the unsavory perception of the business, but I can think of plenty of other unsavory industries that are perfectly legal. Now I'm going to go look at my cell phone bill and try to figure out why it's so high.

New York legalizes ticket scalping -- why not? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The mobile search trains of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) left the station some time ago. Even Nokia (NYSE: NOK), the world's largest handset company has its own search function.

With the estimates for mobile-based advertising pointing to $11 billion, according to Informa PLC, no one wants to be left behind.

IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI) will launch its own Ask Mobile software, which will include features from some of the parent's other websites, including City Search and Ticket Master. It will be introduced with Sprint (NYSE: S).

No matter how well the service works, it has two drawbacks. The first is that Ask.com is among the smallest search operations, with about 5% of the U.S. market. It brings that small share and a relatively late introduction to the mobile space to the table. It is also forming its first partnership with the weakest of the Big Three mobile carriers, which may be an indication it could not get AT&T Wireless (NYSE: T) or Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) to take the product.

Better late than never.

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

IAC Interactive makes play late in mobile space originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 13 May 2007 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley expects the purchase to reaccelerate growth for the company. Meeker has an "Outperform" rating on EBAY and expects StubHub to help eBay's struggling tickets category whose growth dropped to 19% in the fourth quarter of 2006 from 31% a year earlier.
• Robert S. Peck of Bear Stearns even thinks that with StubHub, eBay could become a "formidable competitor" to the largest online ticketing platform, Ticketmaster and its TicketExchange. Ticketmaster is owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp. (NASDAQ:IACI).
• Jeetil Patel of Deutsche Bank who has a Hold rating on EBAY warns that the core business continues to struggle. He is more cautious.
• Douglas Anmuth of Lehman Brothers believes the acquisition is a good fit strategically.
• Justin Post of Merrill Lynch thinks that with StubHub, eBay will probably control 40% of the secondary ticket market.

Reaction to eBay's StubHub purchase originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Barry Diller grows his own with AskCity originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.