Prada, Not Superman, Keeps The Box Office Growing

July 4, 2006 was a pretty good weekend for the domestic box office, making it seven straight up weekends against the easy 2005 comparisons. With the most anticipated movie of the summer, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, hitting theatres on Friday, my bullish thesis built on a strong 2006 summer box office remains […]

Apple Implicated in Stock Options Scandal

Analysts are predictably defending Apple Computer (AAPL) on last week’s news that the company is caught up in an options backdating scandal. Merrill Lynch did a good analysis showing that options granted very close to the annual low in the share price were only 5% of total options. None of these suspect options were granted […]

Mac Sales Looking Good For Apple

News broke last week that Microsoft (MSFT) won’t have a fresh operating system or a fresh update to Office for the Christmas selling season. On the other hand, all indications are that the new consumer laptops from Apple (AAPL) are selling above initial analyst estimates (which were probably conservative). APPL shares are trading near their […]

Major Layoffs Coming at AOL? If So, It Is Bad News For Time Warner

I read a post on Henry Blodgett’s blog about two weeks ago alluding to the major layoffs at America Online (AOL). I do not know the writer, but I have found the discussion at Henry’s blog to be quite good. SInce then, more outlets are reporting rumors of large layoffs and weak advertising growth. There […]

Tribune Dutch Auction Results Provide Near-Term Support

Tribune (TRB) shares had a big pop last Tuesday after the company announced results of its dutch auction. There was no follow-through since then and the shares are trading just below the $32.50 price at which the tender was complete. TRB is buying 45 million shares at $32.50, the top end of auction range. The […]