Description: Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) reported stronger-than-expected earnings on Thursday and raised its full-year forecast, but warned that a number of factors could weigh on its performance next year, and its shares fell as much as 2.8 percent. Source: Reuters.com  Date: 10/21/2010 Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69K27Y20101021 Questions for discussion: What is the significance of the financial results… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Company Analysis
Google 2.4% Rate Shows How $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes
Description: Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda. Source: Bloomberg.com  Date: 10/21/2010 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-21/google-2-4-rate-shows-how-60-billion-u-s-revenue-lost-to-tax-loopholes.html Questions for discussion: Are Google’s actions unethical or illegal? What does this report have to say about the… Read more »
Facebook employees must pay big to cash out
Description:Â Although Facebook isn’t yet public, employees and other insiders have been able to cash out some of their equity through private stock-sale deals. But the company is trying to dump cold water on that rapidly heating up market: Facebook recently began charging employees a $2,500 fee if they sell their private stock. Source:Â CNNMoney.com… Read more »
Coal India Plans Nation’s Largest IPO as Asia Offerings Surge
Description: Coal India Ltd. will sell as much as 151.54 billion rupees ($3.4 billion) of shares in the nation’s biggest initial public offering, helping the government raise funds to build roads and power plants as IPOs in Asia surge. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 10/13/2010 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-12/coal-india-to-sell-stock-at-225-rupees-to-245-rupees-in-initial-share-sale.html Questions for discussion: Summarize the activities reported and their significance… Read more »
IBM Hits Record as Palmisano Focuses on Software, Services
Description: International Business Machines Corp. rose to the highest level since it went public in 1915 as investors show support for Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano’s strategy of remaking the 99-year-old company. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: 10/07/2010 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-07/ibm-rises-to-highest-closing-price-since-computer-company-s-1915-offering.html  Questions for discussion: Summarize the strategies used by Sam Palmisano to boost IBM share value. Do… Read more »
Facebook Sells Your Friends
Description: How Facebook plans to leverage its 550 million users into the greatest advertising juggernaut since … O.K., only since Google. That’s still huge. Source: Businessweek.com  Date: 09/22/2010 Link: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_40/b4197064860826.htm Questions for discussion: Summarize the financial evaluations made in the article for Facebook? As an investor, how would you play Facebook? What would your… Read more »
Revolution Investing: Apple Going to $1,000
Description: With $40 billion in cash on its balance sheet, Apple can grow earnings 30% to 40% and reach a $1,000 stock price by 2015, according to MarketWatch newsletter writer Cody Willard, who points to the company’s power in apps. Veronica Dagher reports. Source: Marketwatch – video report   Date: 09/13/2010 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/revolution-investing-apple-going-to-1000/DC68E619-2969-41D8-BF81-DE00375729AE Questions for… Read more »
How the Best-Known Brand in Golf is Navigating the Global Economy
Description:Â Like a weekend duffer playing through a summer squall, the golf industry has weathered brutal conditions in recent years. Callaway, the Carlsbad, California-based golf equipment maker, has hardly been immune to the ill winds. After banner years in 2007 and 2008, the company encountered the economic storm that struck the entire industry in 2009,… Read more »
Movers: CROX, NFLX
Description: Crocs stock has been hurting since Labor Day and it’s time for Netflix to raise some money. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report   Date: 09/10/2010 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/markets/2010/09/10/mkts_st_crocs_netflix.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the analysis presented for each company. Do you agree with these positions and ways for investors to play each stock? What would you… Read more »
Sanofi Said to Get $10 Billion Loans for Genzyme Bid
Description: Sanofi-Aventis SA, France’s largest drugmaker, got about $10 billion of underwritten loans to back its bid for U.S. biotechnology company Genzyme Corp., two people familiar with the situation said . Source: Bloomberg.com  Date: 09/10/2010 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-10/sanofi-said-to-get-10-billion-loans-for-genzyme-bid.html Questions for discussion: What does this report have to say about the financial state of some European… Read more »
