Scary, Bloggystyle, Jurors, Jim Rice
-This article actually frightened me..
– Adam finds the only thing that might actually cause me to consider a vote for Obama.
– Jurors asking questions, what an idea…
– How can Rice not be in the Hall? Travesty
Eddie Lampert continues to stock Sears (SHLD) with well-known quality brands.
Beginning this spring, Sears becomes the exclusive national retailer to sell the Snapper brand of lawn equipment.
From the Press Release:
“As the leading retailer of powered lawn and garden equipment, we’re very pleased to add another all-star brand to our roster,” said Jeff Rothe, vice president and general merchandise manager for Sears Holdings. “Now consumers have both Craftsman, the nation’s leading and most trusted brand, and Snapper — to select from when shopping at Sears for their lawnmower and tractor needs.
“With these two powerhouse brands, plus our existing brands, Sears offers the largest powered lawn and garden assortment to our customers. Additionally, Snapper’s spokesperson Brett Favre will introduce the new mowers, tractors and their availability at Sears in a new national ad campaign set to appear in late February,” Rothe said.
The Snapper line of products will be available in all Sears Full-line stores, Sears Hardware stores and Sears Dealer stores. In addition, look for a new interactive Snapper site on the lawn and garden page sears.com.
Back in November I posted my thoughts that Lampert was attempting to assemble a “store of brands” that could then be advertised to people. This snapper move in another important step in that direction.
The best part is getting Brett Farve in the deal. His promotional activities for both Snapper and Sears are sure to pay off. Farve is a respected name and to witness his effect, the Wrangler Jeans division of VF Corp (VF) experienced record profits in 2006 and 2007 as Farve became the spokes person for them. In short, what he pushes sells.
Lampert is assembling a great brand lineup and it will payoff. In the meantime the cash position of the company remains strong, the share count is evaporating and the balance sheet is the strongest in the industry.
Disclosure: Long Sears
Ackman is no dummy I will admit but can anyone tell me what he sees in Borders (BGP)?
In an SEC filing late Tuesday Ackman’s Pershing Square followed last week’s total return swap transaction in Borders shares with another.
The Details:
. Pershing Square International, Ltd. (“PSIL”), entered into a cash-settled total return swap with a broker-dealer counterparty for a commission equal to $0.03 per notional share subject to such swap. The swap was entered into on January 8, 2008 and expires on August 5, 2009. Under the terms of the swap (i) PSIL is obligated to pay to the counterparty any negative price performance under $9.7239 for each of the 1,770,100 notional BGP common shares subject to the swap (the “Swap Reference Shares”), plus interest, and (ii) the counterparty is obligated to pay to PSIL any positive price performance over $9.7239 for each of the Swap Reference Shares, plus any dividends paid during the life of the swap.
I just don’t get it. Ideas anyone?
Disclosure: None
UPGRADES
Gold Fields GFI CIBC Wrld Mkts Sector Underperform » Sector Perform
Yamana Gold AUY CIBC Wrld Mkts Sector Perform » Sector Outperform
Agnico-Eagle Mines AEM CIBC Wrld Mkts Sector Perform » Sector Outperform
Kinross Gold KGC CIBC Wrld Mkts Sector Perform » Sector Outperform
Avocent AVCT Needham & Co Hold » Buy
Dime Community DCOM Stifel Nicolaus Sell » Hold
Baxter BAX Citigroup Hold » Buy
Helen of Troy HELE Jefferies & Co Hold » Buy
Western Refining WNR Deutsche Securities Sell » Hold
Dassault Systems DASTY Deutsche Securities Hold » Buy
Hutchison Telcom HTX Citigroup Sell » Buy
Satyam Computer SAY Lehman Brothers Underweight » Overweight
Wipro WIT Lehman Brothers Underweight » Overweight
Infosys INFY Lehman Brothers Equal-weight » Overweight
Avocent AVCT Robert W. Baird Neutral » Outperform
Fed Investors FII UBS Neutral » Buy
Starbucks SBUX Banc of America Sec Sell » Neutral
DOWNGRADES
Teradyne TER AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
Novellus NVLS AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
Lam Research LRCX AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
Kulicke & Soffa KLIC AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
KLA-Tencor KLAC AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
Intevac IVAC AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
FEI Company FEIC AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
Applied Materials AMAT AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
MIPS Techs MIPS Longbow Buy » Neutral
ViaSat VSAT Collins Stewart Buy » Market Perform
Western Digital WDC Caris & Company Buy » Average
Seagate Tech STX Caris & Company Above Average » Below Average
Pharmasset VRUS Stifel Nicolaus Buy » Hold
Circuit City CC Cowen & Co Outperform » Neutral
Best Buy BBY Cowen & Co Outperform » Neutral
Brinker EAT KeyBanc Capital Mkts Hold » Underweight
Intuitive Surgical ISRG Wachovia Outperform » Mkt Perform
Shoretel SHOR Janney Mntgmy Scott Buy » Neutral
Disclosure:
Wednesday’s Picks
Here’s our Fast Money final trade. Our gang gives you tomorrow’s best trade, right now!
Jeff Macke says short the Dow with Short Dow30 ProShares (DOG) $62.51
Guy Adami likes AT&T (T)$39.16
Karen Finerman says long SPDR (SPY) $138.91 and short iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)$70.02
Pete Najarian recommends owning puts in Countrywide Financial (CFC). $5.37
Tuesday’s Results
Jeff Macke recommends getting long Starbucks (SBUX) on the news that Howard Schultz is returning as CEO. $18.38 Close $20.00 GAIN
Guy Adami likes Johnson & Johnson(JNJ) $66.86 for valuations. Close $66.94 GAIN
Karen Finerman prefers Comcast (CMCSA) $17.0 Close $16.62 LOSS
Pete Najarian thinks Millennium Pharmaceuticals is a buy (MLNM) $14.84 Close $15.21 GAIN
2008 Records:
Brian Schaeffer= 0-1
Carter Worth= 0-1
Jon Najarian= 3-1
Jeff Macke= 3-1
Tim Seymore= 1-1
Guy Adami= 2-2
Pete Najarian= 1-1
Karen Finerman= 0-1
2007 Results (Since 6/21):
Guy Adami= 58-46 = 56%
Jeff Macke= 60-40 = 60%
Pete Najarian= 49-41 = 54%
Karen Finerman= 40-30 = 57%
USG USG Corporation 33.11
USB US Bancorp Del 28.99
RUTH Ruths Chris Steak Hse Inc 7.95
RT Ruby Tuesday, Inc. (G … 8.17
PNBK Patriot Natl Bancorp Inc 15.16
PII Polaris Industries Inc 41.86
PFGC Performance Food Group Co 24.11
MTG MGIC Investment Corpo … 16.08
MTB M & T Bk Corp 74.88
MSO Martha Stewart Living … 7.18
MS Morgan Stanley 47.23
JCP Penney (J.C.) Company … 35.42
JBLU Jetblue Awys Corp 5.07
CAL Continental Airlines Inc 18.81
C Citigroup, Inc 27.55
BSC The Bear Stearns Comp … 73.99
BAC Bank Of America Corpo … 39.07
BA Boeing Co. 81.05
ABK AMBAC Inc 19.88
These stats represent the post Christmas rush.
1. www.walmart.com (WMT)= 7.56%
2. www.bestbuy.com (BBY)= 4.76%
3. www.target.com (TGT)= 4.33%
4. www.circuitcity.com (CC) = 3.07%
5. www.sears.com (SHLD)= 2.25%
6. www.jcpenney.com (JCP)= 2.02%
7. www.macys.com (M) = 1.5%
8. www.kohls.com (KSS)= 1.35%
9. www.homedepot.com (HD) = 1.21%
Couple points. Wal-Mart is still the king and actually gained ground on Amazon (AMZN) who saw a significant decline post Christmas (almost two percentage points).
I am still t a lost to understand how Circuit City can be losing money. The traffic was there all season, they had eyes on their products. They just could not sell them. It is not a “sales associate” problem because they do not come into play online, it was a pricing issue. When online, price win because comparative shopping is easy to do. Circuit City just had their items mis-priced. Simple.
Home Depot made the list for the first time since I began tracking which may mean people began their winter indoor projects. This bears watching as a Home Depot climb up the chart is good for the economy as a whole. It would also be a good omen for the housing markets.
Date from Hitwise
Rocket,CNN, Crain’s NY Business, RI Legislature
– Will he pull a Palmero or a McGwire?
– Another thank you is in store for this mention.
– Another thank you to Aaron Elstein at Crain’s NY for both this interview and mention.
– Now the infighting begins on money they will not even ever see..
Disclosure:
Donate to the ValuePlays Project for KIVA
A special thank you to Aaron Pressman for this mention today on my Starbucks (SBUX) post yesterday.
Disclosure:
Circuit City’s (CC) CEO actually made me spit coffee out my nose when I read his comments regarding thier latest fiasco. It hurt…
I have documented CC’s travails before
Said “Phil the Shill” Monday: “Our sales performance, while disappointing, was in line with our expectations,”. For those of you who do not know what their expectations were, they were “lousy”. Then he continued, saying he will pay attention to giving sales associates the “necessary knowledge and tools needed to improve both sales and margin.” That is when the coffee came out….
It is a nice plan but Phil, you have had this job three years now!! Shouldn’t this have been maybe at the top of the “to do” list in, I don’t know, 2005??
Then, in case we missed it when they release horrific number last month, Phil said “Our efforts to turn around the business have led to greater disruption than we anticipated,” I don’t even know what that means!! Did someone forget to order TV’s?
He continued, “but we continue to believe that we are on the right path to return to sustainable, profitable growth and increasing shareholder value,”. Does he really think anyone believes that? I mean really?!?
Based on these results, Schoonover reaffirmed his outlook for a “modest loss” before taxes for the fourth quarter. Modest? Want the translation? He has absolutely no idea…
Oh yeah… Memo to Herb Greenberg, still want to stick with your 2007 “Worst CEO” pick? I will give you a do over..
Best Buy (BBY) reports Friday.
Disclosure: Will never own shares in any company Schoonover is affiliated with.
A little more than an hour after I hit the “publish now” key on my Starbucks (SBUX) post Monday, Chairman Howard Schultz swept in and did what I suggested he do 6 months ago, he fired CEO Jim Donald.
Let’s review my recommendations:
-Fire CEO Donald
-Grind US expansion to a near halt.
-Invest in the stores big time. So many of them are just dirty and so crowded with everything from coffee machines to lawn mowers for sale.
-Every location that could possibly have a drive-thru should be equipped with one
-Give investors a dividend
-Prices, they have to come down, not up.
It would seem that Schultz took 1 thru 3 and decided to enact them immediately. In a statement, Schultz’s immediate goals are:
— improving the current state of the U.S. business by refocusing on the customer experience in the stores, new products and store design elements, and new training and tools for the Company’s store partners to help them give customers a superior experience;
— slowing the Company’s pace of U.S. store openings and closing a number of underperforming U.S. store locations, enabling Starbucks to renew its focus on its store-level unit economics;
— re-igniting the emotional attachment with customers and restoring the connections customers have with Starbucks(R) coffee, brand, people and stores;
— re-aligning Starbucks organization and streamlining the management to better support customer-focused initiatives and reallocating resources to key value drivers; and
— accelerating expansion and increasing the profitability of Starbucks outside the U.S., including redeploying a portion of the capital originally earmarked for U.S. store growth to the international business.
Now all that is well and good and the firing of Donald was the right thing to do. Let’s remember though, Starbucks is a near 14,000 store behemoth and any fixing will not be done overnight. The stock got a nice pop after hours Monday but let’s be honest, we know this drill. Starbucks is going to report dreadful numbers when they announce Jan, 30th and that is the reason Donald is gone. There is nothing Schultz can do between now and then to change that. Get rid of the old guy, lump all the crap on him and let the new guy start fresh. It is textbook.
Also, the competition that has been taking customers away from Schultz in droves is only getting better. The competitive landscape Schultz faces today in no way resembles that of his previous tenure in the CEO chair. He’d be wise to recognize that, Donald sure as hell didn’t.
Is Starbucks better off today that it was Monday morning? Yes it is. But, these changes will take time and the stock is by no means a buy here even with Schultz in charge. I need to see him address his competition rather than attempt to blow of its significance. If he cannot do it, I do not see shareholders being much happier in December than they are right now.
That being said, if he does address it, does fix the mess in the stores and actually comes up with affordable alternatives, shareholders will be happy. Hoe happy? After a 40% decline in 2007, just treading water ought to suffice.
Here is the rub though, with both McDonald’s (MCD) and Starbucks trading at virtually identical multiples, if you had to buy one, with the US possibly going into a recession, why would you pick the high price alternative?
Are folks going to give up their high prices lattes for more affordable ones if their pockets are pinched? I think so to….
Disclosure: Long McDonald’s, No position in Starbucks
UPGRADES
Cascade CAE DA Davidson Neutral » Buy
Texas Industries TXI BB&T Capital Mkts Hold » Buy
Clean Harbors CLHB Wedbush Morgan Buy » Strong Buy
Gilead Sciences http://finance.google.com/finance?q=c Credit Suisse Neutral » Outperform
St. Jude Medical STJ BMO Capital Markets Market Perform » Outperform
C.R. Bard BCR BMO Capital Markets Market Perform » Outperform
Health Management HMA Wachovia Mkt Perform » Outperform
Bed Bath & Beyond BBBY JP Morgan Underweight » Neutral
Agilent A Banc of America Sec Neutral » Buy
Rigel Pharms RIGL Fortis Bank Reduce » Buy
Realty Income O Wachovia Underperform » Mkt Perform
El Paso EP Wachovia Mkt Perform » Outperform
Nalco NLC Citigroup Hold » Buy
Ecolab ECL Citigroup Hold » Buy
Landstar System LSTR Bear Stearns Peer Perform » Outperform
Maxygen MAXY MDB Capital Group Neutral » Buy
DIRECTV DTV Lehman Brothers Equal-weight » Overweight
Lam Research LRCX Lehman Brothers Equal-weight » Overweight
Vulcan Materials VMC UBS Sell » Neutral
Salesforce.com CRM UBS Neutral » Buy
DOWNGRADES
Huron Consulting HURN JMP Securities Mkt Outperform » Mkt Perform
CB Richard Ellis CBG JMP Securities Strong Buy » Mkt Outperform
Technology Investmt Cap TICC Jefferies & Co Buy » Hold
Asset Acceptance Capital AACC Jefferies & Co Buy » Hold
Encore Capital ECPG Jefferies & Co Buy » Hold
Portfolio Recovery Assoc. PRAA Jefferies & Co Buy » Hold
Silicon Image SIMG AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
Teva Pharm TEVA AmTech Research Buy » Neutral
Hibbett Sporting HIBB Wedbush Morgan Buy » Hold
OmniVision OVTI Needham & Co Buy » Hold
UnitedHealth UNH Stifel Nicolaus Buy » Hold
Shuffle Master SHFL Deutsche Securities Buy » Hold
Network Appliance NTAP UBS Buy » Neutral
IBM IBM UBS Buy » Neutral
Motorola MOT RBC Capital Mkts Outperform » Sector Perform
Valspar VAL Citigroup Hold » Sell
Rohm and Haas ROH Citigroup Buy » Hold
Best Buy BBY Bear Stearns Outperform » Underperform
Pearson Plc PSO Lehman Brothers Equal-weight » Underweight
Goodrich GR Deutsche Securities Buy » Hold
Orbcomm ORBC UBS Buy » Neutral
UAL Corp. UAUA Soleil Buy » Hold
Disclosure:
Donate to the ValuePlays Project for KIVA
Bear Stearns (BSC) Chief Executive James Cayne is resigning under pressure from shareholders, with British billionaire Joe Lewis the largest shareholder and the stock down 53% in the last year, could a deal for the company be in the works?
A deal for the bank from another is doubtful ans the only ones capable at this point are JP Morgan (JPM) and Goldman (GS) and I just do not see either being the least bit interested. But, there is something interesting here that could happen. Bear is essentially a trading house as investment banking was only 20% of revenues last year.
Could a hedge fund, looking at going public such as a KKR or SAC come into play and pick up Bear on the cheap (it is valued at less than $9 billion). That $9 billion is before the next round of write downs that are surely due which will op off more vslue from the company. This would enable the hedge funds to do a quazi IPO like they have been talking about without the expense and drama doing one now would entail.
With his investment down over $100 million, Mr. Lewis might just be open to owning a piece f a hedge fund with KKR’s a r SAC’s track record…
Just a thought…
Disclosure: Long Goldman
Tuesday’s Picks
Jeff Macke recommends getting long Starbucks (SBUX) on the news that Howard Schultz is returning as CEO. $18.38
Guy Adami likes Johnson & Johnson(JNJ) $66.86 for valuations.
Karen Finerman prefers Comcast (CMCSA) $17.0
Pete Najarian thinks Millennium Pharmaceuticals is a buy (MLNM) $14.84
Monday’s Picks
Jeff Macke like Procter & Gamble (PG) $72.02 Close $72.49 GAIN
Guy Adami agrees with Macke and recommends Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $65.84 Close $66.86 GAIN
Pete Najarian likes Anderson (ANDE) $46.76 Close $ 46.23 LOSS
Jon Najarian says short iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM) $72.09 Close $72.25 GAIN
2008 Records:
Brian Schaeffer= 0-1
Carter Worth= 0-1
Jon Najarian= 3-1
Jeff Macke= 2-1
Tim Seymore= 1-1
Guy Adami= 1-2
Pete Najarian= 0-1
2007 Results (Since 6/21):
Guy Adami= 58-46 = 56%
Jeff Macke= 60-40 = 60%
Pete Najarian= 49-41 = 54%
Karen Finerman= 40-30 = 57%
WEN Wendy’s International … 22.88
WMG Warner Music Group Corp 4.99
USG USG Corporation 34.15
TOL Toll Brothers, Inc 16.72
TMS Thomson 11.71
TLAB Tellabs, Inc 5.74
SHFL Shuffle Master Inc 9.84
SEE Sealed Air Corp New 21.68
OC\ Owens Corning New 18.85
NWL Newell Rubbermaid Inc 23.62
NT Nortel Networks Corp New 14.05
JCP Penney (J.C.) Company … 36.15
JAVA Sun Microsystems Inc 16.05
HOG Harley-Davidson, Inc 41.63
HOC Holly Corporation 44.68
DELL Dell Inc 21.31
BX Blackstone Group L P 19.35
BSC The Bear Stearns Comp … 76.54
