Video: Analyst calls RIM results a ‘disaster’
April 2, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Governments & Regulators, Industry Analysis, Management Issues
Description: BNN speaks to Peter Misek, Analyst, Jefferies.
Source: BNN.ca – video report
Date: 03/30/2012
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the managerial and financial aspects in this report.
- Do you think RIM stockholders can recover?
- What strategy would you recommend to management?
Best Buy’s moves meet with investor skepticism
April 2, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Financial Planning, Growth & Valuation, Management Issues
Description: Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. electronics chain, swung to a fourth-quarter loss, hurt by charges and lower sales of notebook computers and televisions.
Source: Marketwatch.com
Date: 03/30/2012
Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/best-buy-swings-to-loss-to-shut-50-stores-2012-03-29?siteid=nwtwk
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the reasons for Best Buy’s financial problems.
- Do you think they can be resolved easily?
- What are the arguments for avoiding the stock because of these problems and those for seeing this as a buying opportunity?
Apple becomes a portfolio must-have stock
March 26, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Financial Planning, Growth & Valuation, Management Issues
Description: Now that it will start paying a regular dividend, Apple Inc. has become a must-have for portfolio managers with blue-chip stocks in their investment funds.
Source: Marketwatch.com
Date: 03/20/2012
Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-becomes-a-portfolio-must-have-stock-2012-03-20?siteid=nwtwk
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the reasons given for such positive endorsement of Apple.
- Do you agree with the assessments?
- What are risks associated with Apple stock?
- How can an investor mitigate those risks?
Goodbye to Goldman: Will Blankfein Be Next?
March 19, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Governments & Regulators, Growth & Valuation, Management Issues
Description: Some day, when they write the definitive history ofGoldman Sachs (GS), Wall Street’s 143-year-old warehouser of brass rings, the date March 14, 2012, will stand in infamy. If you haven’t already heard, that’s when Greg Smith, an executive with the bank in London, resigned with guns a-blazing, in a corporate revenge fantasy worthy of a sequel to Office Space. The 12-year veteran—he started as a summer intern during college—penned an op-ed in the New York Times that wasted zero time to cut to the damning chase:
Source: Businessweek.com
Date: 03/14/2012
Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-14/goodbye-to-goldman-will-blankfein-be-next
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the criticisms made by Greg Smith.
- How has this report evaluated the impact on the firm?
- What are the managerial implications for Goldman?
Investing in Foreclosures: How One Company Does It
February 6, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Growth & Valuation, Industry Analysis, Management Issues
Description: Buying foreclosures to turn them into rental properties is tricky business. Mack Companies, a Chicago real-estate firm, invests in about one out of every 40 homes it inspects. MarketWatch’s Amy Hoak looks at why some make the cut and others don’t.
Source: Marketwatch.com – video report
Date: 02/03/2012
Questions for discussion:
- Describe the financial analysis required before this firm buys.
- What are the risks associated with this sort of investing?
Why Cisco parks $43 billion overseas
January 30, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Economic Analysis, Governments & Regulators, Growth & Valuation, Management Issues
Description: Cisco’s John Chambers says the 33% tax rate on foreign profits prevents companies from repatriating the money and creating jobs.
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 01/26/2012
Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/26/n_davos_chambers_investment.cnnmoney/
Questions for discussion:
- Where are Cisco’s profits invested in today’s global economy?
- How is this issue a business, economic, and political issue?
- Is there a way to mitigate the drain on lost profits to the U.S. economy?
Weidner: There’s a Rotten Side to Apple’s Success
January 30, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Growth & Valuation, Industry Analysis, Management Issues
Description: Marketwatch’s David Weidner makes a stop on Mean Street to point out that amid all of Apple’s recently reported financial successes, there is a familiar dark side to all the good news. Photo: Reuters.
Source: Marketwatch.com – video report
Date: 01/26/2012
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the criticisms levied against Apple? Are they fair?
- How should investors regard these points when considering investment choices?
- Does the image of Apple’s products overwhelm its “dark” side of business practice?
- Is management practice any different than at any other big global corporation?
Why you shouldn’t blame ETFs for wild markets
January 30, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Economic Analysis, Governments & Regulators, Growth & Valuation, Management Issues
Description: Critics say the popular funds are causing stocks to swing wildly together. Finding proof is another matter.
Source: Fortune.com
Date: 01/27/2012
Link: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/01/27/etfs-market-swings/?iid=SF_F_Lead
Questions for discussion:
- Summarize the reasons ETFs are blamed.
- Do you agree with these views?
How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work
January 30, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Economic Analysis, Financial Planning, Governments & Regulators, Growth & Valuation, Industry Analysis, Management Issues
Description: When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president. But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke,President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States?
Source: NYTimes.com
Date: 01/22/2012
Link to article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html?hp
Link to video: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/20/business/the-iphone-economy.html?ref=business
Questions for discussion:
- How does Apple illustrate the global nature of business today?
- Why, according to the report, will these manufacturing jobs never return to the U.S.?
- Do you agree with this view?
- What does this report suggest managers do in order reduce the loss of manufacturing employment?
- How can future employees – in the U.S. and elsewhere – prepare for work in a global market for jobs?
- Is there a role for governments here?
How Nike keeps running up profits
January 23, 2012 by Brahm Canzer
Filed under Company Analysis, Economic Analysis, Growth & Valuation, Management Issues
Description: With the stock up 120% in the last three years, Nike pushes more retail in emerging markets.
Source: CNNMoney.com – video report
Date: 01/20/2012
Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2012/01/20/n_nike_china_oil.cnnmoney/
Questions for discussion:
- Why are inventories a concern for a company like Nike?
- Do you think the growth prospects are good for the company?
- What level of growth do you believe is realistic? Explain your thinking.
- How do oil prices affect the company?
