Cramer Discovers Central European Media Enterprises

Central European Media Enterprises (CETV) shares will pop sharply on the open and likely be volatile for a couple of days because Jim Cramer mentioned it as a buy on his popular CNBC show Mad Money. Cramer moves stocks because he has lots of followers. He also has lots of detractors which is why I […]

Weekend Box Office Report: Thanksgiving

With the box office in a seasonally important season, I plan to issue occassional updates when key movies open or key weekends pass. This past Thanksgiving weekend generally contained good news for the big Hollywood studios and that means investment implications exist for Disney, Time Warner (Warner Brothers), Viacom (Paramount), Sony, News Corporation (20th Century […]

NY Times Article Provides Support For Northlake’s ETF Strategy

Over the weekend, the New York Times ran an article about a new study of investment strategies. The article supported Northlake’s ETF rotation strategy by endorsing a strategy of monthly rotation among actively managed mutual funds based on four separate macroeconomic factors. This article caught my eye because after more than two years of developing […]

Follow-Up Data Points From Disney Conference Call

After reading through analyst commentary on Disney (DIS) this morning I wanted to provide a few additional data points that were not included in my earnings summary. These points do not change my conclusion that the quarter was slightly worse than expected and the outlook for share gains in the next few months is worse […]

Disney Reports Mixed Quarterly Earnings

Disney (DIS) reported mixed 4Q05 results, slightly worse than analyst estimates on a segment basis. Analysts didn’t seem too concerned about the quarter on the conference call, however, as there were very few questions about the details. Rather the focus was on long-term issues and the forecast for 2006. I think the questions on long-term […]

Latest Harry Potter Film Tracking Above Expectations

Despite widely expected success, executives at Time Warner (TWX) have to be happy with the $102 million opening weekend for the latest film in the Harry Potter series. Even adjusting for ticket price inflation, the opening of Goblets of Fire was the strongest of any film in the series since the first movie. International box […]

Previewing Disney’s September Quarter Earnings

Disney (DIS) reports after the close tonight. Current consensus estimates call for EPS and revenue of 18 cents and $7.9 billion, respectively. EPS are down a penny from a year ago and revenue is up 5.5%. Operating income growth is projected at just a 2.2% gain. These headline figures mask a better underlying story as […]

Central European Media Enterprises: News From Prague Meeting Is Good

The news from Prague about last week’s analyst meeting for Central European Media Enterprises (CETV) sounds good. Nothing earth-shattering but a good turnout, solid presentations by local operating management, and a reiteration of guidance with increased detail on a country-by-country basis all bode well for the shares. I still think the seasonally strong 4Q will […]

Mixed Quarter For Lions Gate But Results Set To Improve

Lions Gate Entertainment (LGF) reported a mixed quarter with revenue and free cash flow slightly ahead of estimates and EBITDA and EPS at the very low end of the range of analyst estimates. The disparity among theses figures is due to film accounting which often leads to mismatches between cash and non-cash expenses and the […]

With Private Equity Sniffing, NTL Getting Interesting

Speculation reemerged two weekends ago that the NTL-Telewest (NTLI-TLWT) deal may be intercepted by private equity investors. As reported by the UK newspaper The Sunday Express, Ajax Partners is considering joining a group of private equity firms with deep media experience that had previously been rumored to be interested in the deal. The original group […]