As Music Streaming Grows, Royalties Slow to a Trickle

Posted by & filed under Company Analysis, Financial analysis, Growth & Valuation, Industry Analysis, Management Issues.

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 of the earnings scale, can these artists depend on the royalties alone to survive financially?
  • What other sources of revenue should they be cultivating?
  • Is it likely that the royalties paid will change dramatically in the future?

Outsourcing to surge in 2013: study

Posted by & filed under Financial Planning, Management Issues.

Description:  Love it or hate it, outsourcing is here to stay as a standard business practice.

Source:  SmartPlanet.com

Date: Jan 28, 2013

Link: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/outsourcing-to-surge-in-2013-study/11466?tag=nl.e660&s_cid=e660

Questions for Discussions:

  • Why is outsourcing popular?
  • How does outsourcing relate to productivity, costs, and cash flow?
  • What are the financial risks and limits to outsourcing?

Why Apple is down, and Netflix is up

Posted by & filed under Company Analysis, Financial analysis, Growth & Valuation.

Description: How could this be? Expectations drive stocks and Apple disappointed Wall Street while Netflix delivered a surprise profit.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Jan 24, 2013

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/investing/2013/01/24/investing-buzz-apple-netflix-nokia-stock.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Why did Apple’s stock price decline so dramatically on January 24 according to the report?
  • Do you think the stock is oversold?
  • How would you recommend dealing with Apple going forward for the next quarter?
  • What would it take for Apple to return to its recent $700 per share high?

Hasbro cutting jobs after weak holiday

Posted by & filed under Company Analysis, Economic Analysis, Financial analysis, Growth & Valuation, Industry Analysis, Management Issues.

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 report?
  • Would a merger with an electronics game manufacturer make sense?
  • Would you be a buyer of Hasbro today?

 

Making the case for negative interest rates

Posted by & filed under Economic Analysis, Governments & Regulators, Growth & Valuation, Market Analysis.

Description:  Former Fed official Alan Blinder talks about how to fix the economy, where the next crisis will come from, and how scared investors should be.

Source:  Fortune.com

Date: Jan 25, 2013

Link: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/25/alan-blinder-interest-rates/?iid=SF_F_River

Questions for Discussions:

  • What are the major concerns and recommendations made by Alan Binder?
  • Do you agree with his positions?
  • What do you think the effect of negative interest rates would be on investments in general?

 

Why We’ll Still Never See a 100% Reserve Economy

Posted by & filed under Company Analysis, Financial analysis, Governments & Regulators, Growth & Valuation, Industry Analysis, Management Issues.

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 Reserve. It’s a fairly radical place to start.

Source:  Businessweek.com

Date: Jan 25, 2013

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-25/why-well-still-never-see-a-100-percent-reserve-economy#r=hp-ls

Questions for Discussions:

  • What is inside and outside money?
  • What is the relationship bewteen banks and the Federal Reserve in terms of the creation of money?
  • How would stricter rules for banks change their business models?
  • Do you think this would be good or bad for the economy as a whole?

 

Forget a broker, invest based on the Super Bowl results

Posted by & filed under Financial analysis.

Description: In fewer than two weeks, the two best teams in the National Football League will face off in New Orleans for Super Bowl XLVII. The winning team will receive the Lombardi Trophy, along with rings, hats, T-shirts and perhaps even a victory parade in its home city.But could the outcome also tell investors what’s going to happen to the U.S. stock market over the next 12 months, allowing them to invest accordingly? That’s exactly what some economists say will happen – and has been happening since 1967.

Source: SmartPlanet.com

Date: Jan 23, 2013

Link:  http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/report/forget-a-broker-invest-based-on-the-super-bowl-results/1088?tag=nl.e662&s_cid=e662

Questions for Discussions:

  • Explain the basis of the co-relations between the future stock market performance and sports events like the SuperBowl.
  • What do you think explains this co-relationship?
  • Would you invest according to this co-relationship?

Lululemon: Downward facing stock

Posted by & filed under Company Analysis, Financial analysis, Growth & Valuation.

Description: Despite continued growth, investors are punishing Lululemon stock on worse-than-expected guidance.

Source: CNNMoney.com – video report

Date: Jan 15, 2013

Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/investing/2013/01/15/investing-buzz-lululemon.cnnmoney/

Questions for Discussions:

  • Why has the stock price declined recently?
  • Summarize the financial analysis presented in the report.
  • Why would some investors believe there remains much more growth in the future for this retailer?

 

Ali Velshi debunks debt ceiling myths

Posted by & filed under Governments & Regulators.

Description: CNN’s Ali Velshi (@alivelshi) explains the how the debt ceiling works, and why we can’t afford another Congressional stand-off.

Source: CNNMoney.com.com – video report

Date: Jan 11, 2013

Link: http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2013/01/11/ym-debt-ceiling-congress-washington.cnn

Questions for Discussions:

  • What is the debt ceiling?
  • What will happen to interest rates if the debt ceiling is not raised?
  • How should investors approach this situation?

Are Investors Ready to Forgive and Forget?

Posted by & filed under Market Analysis.

Description:  Waiting for: Guffman … Godot … a girl like you. Such anticipations pale in comparison with waiting for the individual investor to return to a stock market that’s broken their heart one too many times over 13 years.But what’s this? There are tentative signs that the era of “equity abandonment,” as the Street quasi-clinically puts it, might be coming to a close.

Source:  Businewssweek.com

Date: Jan 16, 2013

Link: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-16/are-investors-ready-to-forgive-and-forget#r=hp-ls

Questions for Discussions:

  • What is the significance of the return of the individual investor?
  • How do you interpret the recent indicators of behavior?