Wall Street Journal Confirms AOL Rumors

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal carried an article confirming the rumors I have been writing about concerning major changes at AOL. The most important takeaway is that AOL wouldn’t be considering such drastic action unless the deterioration in fundamentals was accelerating. That means dial-up subscribers are still leaving at a fast clip, broadband subscribers under the […]

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 […]

Univision Sale Supports Upside in CETV But Has Few Other Ramifications

The Univision (UVN) auction came grinding to an end with announcement that the company would be sold for $36.50 per share or $12.3 billion. The private equity financed buyers will also assume debt of $1.4 billion. After adjusting for acash and other assets, the total value of the deal is about $13 billion. Analysts estimate […]

Another Up Weekend For The Movies

If my bullish thesis on the summer box office is to come to fruition, it should be evident over the next few weeks with the back to back openings of Superman Returns and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (POTC) on June 28th and July 7th, respectively. These are two of the most anticipated […]

Conference Call With NTL CEO

On Monday morning, UBS Cable Analyst Aryeh Bourkoff hosted a conference call with Stephen Burch, CEO of NTL Incorporated (NTLI). I thought the call went well although the stock went down on Monday and Tuesday. I continue to hold all of Northlake’s long positions in NTLI and feel the stock offers incredible value at current […]

Box Office Continues To Strengthen

The box office was up for fifth consecutive weekend, led by a solid second weekend for Cars and respectable openings for three new films: Nacho Libre, Fast and Furious Tokyo Nights, and The Lake House. The Break-Up and earlier releases like X-Men and The Da Vinci Code continue to pull in moviegoers. Although the summer […]