Rogers Communication: New Buy Targeting 25% Upside

I have spent this week completing my follow-up work on Rogers Communications (RG), my second favorite presentation from last week’s UBS Media and Communications conference (more on my favorite presentation, NII Holdings (NIHD) coming soon). I liked what I learned and pulled the trigger on an initial purchase of RG for Northlake client accounts, including […]

Recent Apple News

Lots of Apple Computer (AAPL) news today. UBS is out with a note claiming that Apple will enter the wireless via a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). UBS Telecom analyst John Hodulik was discussing this in the hallways of their conference last week but went public with his thoughts today. Given a loyal Mac user […]

December 2006 Model Signals

My attendance at the UBS Media Conference led to the delay in getting the latest model signals up on the website. Fortunately, the models did not signal change for this month. Here is some detailed commentary: There were no changes to the signals from Northlake’s Market Cap and Style models for December. The Market Cap […]

UBS Media Conference 2006

Every year I attend the UBS Media Conference in NY to get a face-to-face update with many companies in the media industry. My goals are to find new ideas for client accounts, gain a better understanding of major industry trends, and connect with other money managers focused on the media sector. Below is a lengthy […]

Commercial Is Cable’s Next Big Opportunity….But Is The Industry Ready?

Bears Stearns Cable Analyst Spencer Wang recently held a conference call with a couple of experts on the opportunity that the cable industry has to offer commercial services. Today, cable is primarily a residential business with commercial customers representing less than 5% of revenue. According to Bear Stearns, the revenue opportunity for cable in commercial […]

Bud Latest Company To Shift Advertising Mix

Advertising Age is reporting that Anhueser-Busch (BUD) “2007 media plans call for significant increases in marketing spending.” However, not surprisingly, the company plans to shift its mix in favor of digital advertising. This is good news for internet advertising driven stocks, most likely those with strong positions in branded advertising such as Yahoo (YHOO). On […]

Technology Advances Assist Media Growth

Rob Martorana, my editor at StreetInsight.com, and I had an email exchange the other day surrounding the advances in digital technology for media playback. Rob was discussing his new 30GB iPod with accessories, his new high def cable set top box, and his first experience watching a DVD in the new blu-ray format. The gist […]

Disney Radio Deal and Weekend Box Office

Just before Thanksgiving, Disney (DIS) and Citadel Broadcasting (CDL) announced a restructuring of CDL’s deal to buy DIS’ radio assets. The total value of the deal has been reduced by $100 million and an additional $200 million of cash due to DIS will now come in the form of CDL shares. Essentially, DIS is trading […]

Sold Sears Holdings

I decided to step to the sidelines on Sears Holdings (SHLD). I sold all shares held by clients and personally last Thursday and Friday. I don’t really see anything in the SHLD that has changed much as a result of last week’s earnings report. However, I do think the falling gross margin and EBITDA at […]

Holiday Box Office Kicks Off This Weekend

This weekend marks the start of Hollywood’s biggest box office period besides the summer. Led by the wide releases of the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale, and Happy Feet, Warner Brothers latest attempt to break into the big time animation game, Hollywood hopes to add a finishing kick to 2006’s rebounding box office performance. […]