Description: Facebook Inc. (FB) reported a plunge in fourth-quarter profit on higher spending, even while it made long-awaited progress luring advertisers eager to reach mobile- device users. Source: Bloomberg.com – video report Date: Jan 31, 2013 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-30/facebook-profit-drops-amid-higher-spending-on-features-ad-tools.html Questions for Discussions: Summarize the financial analysis presented in this report for Facebook. Explain the reasoning for… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Industry Analysis
As Music Streaming Grows, Royalties Slow to a Trickle
Description: Like plenty of music fans, Sam Broe jumped at the chance to join Spotify two summers ago, and he hasn’t looked back. Source: NYTimes.com Date: Jan 28, 2013 Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/business/media/streaming-shakes-up-music-industrys-model-for-royalties.html?ref=media&_r=0 Questions for Discussions: What does this article have to say about the royalties earned by artists? As small business people on the lower end… Read more »
Hasbro cutting jobs after weak holiday
Description: Shares of toymaker Hasbro fell on disappointing fourth quarter sales and layoff news. Rival Mattel was lower too. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: Jan 25, 2013 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/investing/2013/01/25/investing-buzz-hasbro-mattel-toys-jobs.cnnmoney/ Questions for Discussions: Why have sales declined for the firm? How should management respond to the trends in customer behavior that were highlighted in the… Read more »
Why We’ll Still Never See a 100% Reserve Economy
Description: “I’m going to start with a model of a perfectly safe 100 percent reserve economy,” said Robert Lucas, “…which looks better and better to me.” Lucas, a Nobel Prize-winning economist at the University of Chicago, was speaking two weeks ago at a panel in San Diego to mark the 100th anniversary of the Federal… Read more »
Harry Winston to Use Swatch Cash for Diamonds Purchases
Description: Harry Winston Diamond Corp. (HW)’s $1 billion sale of a luxury unit to Swatch Group AG (UHR) provides the cash to invest more in diamond mining, a business that last year was more than twice as profitable as jewelry. Source: Bloomberg.com Date: Jan 15, 2013 Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-15/harry-winston-to-use-swatch-cash-for-diamonds-purchases.html Questions for Discussions: Explain the logic of… Read more »
A Goldman Sachs Trading Team Sidesteps the Volcker Rule
Description: Sitting onstage in Washington’s Ronald Reagan Building? in July, Lloyd Blankfein said Goldman Sachs Group (GS) had stopped using its own money to make bets on the bank’s behalf. “We shut off that activity,” the chief executive officer told more than 400 people at a lunch organized by the Economic Club of Washington, slicing… Read more »
Apple’s Stock: Analysts’ Price Targets Vary Wildly
Description: For years, analysts could forecast Apple’s (AAPL) stock movements with a single word: up. The company’s hit parade of new products like the iPhone and iPad led to record-breaking quarterly profits and expectations that Apple could become the first U.S. corporation with a $1 trillion market value. Bullish analysts saw their own careers climb… Read more »
GM Buying 200M Shares, U.S. to Exit in 12-15 Months
Description: Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) — Bloomberg’s Dominic Chu reports that General Motors will purchase 200 million shares of its stock from the U.S. Treasury as part of the department’s plan to sell its entire holding of GM stock within 15 months. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “In The Loop.” Source: Bloomberg.com – video report Date:… Read more »
It’s getting interesting for Apple again
Description: The market is starting to pick up some good feelings again. The Sturm and Drang playing out in the capital is pretty impressive. Emotions in the market are starting to dissipate. I think there has been some heavy tax selling of big names from investors trying to manage their 2012 tax bills. Source: Marketwatch.com… Read more »
Renault Sells Volvo Shares for $1.92 Billion to Cut Debt
Description: Renault SA (RNO), which is losing sales faster than any other European carmaker, sold its remaining Volvo AB (VOLVB) stake for 12.8 billion kronor ($1.92 billion) to boost funding, ending an 11-year run as the Swedish truckmaker’s largest owner. Source: Businessweek.com Date: Dec 13, 2012 Link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-12-12/renault-to-sell-volvo-shares-worth-2-billion-to-cut-debt#r=bloomberg Questions for Discussions: What is the reasoning… Read more »
