Third Quarter Box Office Wrap

Following three straight weekly declines, the box office rose 6.6% vs. a year ago this past weekend. The weekend is actually the first one of the fourth quarter. Consequently, I wanted to look back at the completed numbers for the third quarter. Despite the weakness exhibited in the final three weeks, the third quarter still […]

Near-Term Good News For Disney

Yesterday, in the post immediately below, I mentioned that Disney (DIS), News Corp (NWS, NWS.a), and Time Warner (TWX) were all trading at 52 week highs. Departing from the doom and gloom that Dominates most discussion of media stocks, I laid out some big picture thoughts that might be driving the bullish action in the […]

Nothing But Static in Radio Stocks

The New York Times and Goldman Sachs were both out recently with analysis of the radio industr. Commentary in both reports was generally negative, noting the lack of advertising growth and the loss of usage share to other media such as the Internet radio and iPods. The Goldman Sachs report had some very interesting data. […]

Big Media Stocks Performing Surprisingly Well

Wow! Time Warner (TWX), Disney (DIS), and News Corporation (NWS, NWS.A) all made 52 week highs yesterday. On the one hand I shouldn’t be surprised because the Dow and S&P 500 are at multiyear highs. On the other hand, media stocks as a group have been pretty poor over the last few years with key […]

Time Warner Gets Good Price For AOL Germany

Investors have responded favorably to the nice price that Time Warner (TWX) received for its AOL access business in Germany. Citigroup is projecting total proceeds of $2 billion once all of the European access business is sold in the next few months. I consider that a good price, better than I expected, and enough to […]

More Apple Cell Phone Rumors

ThinkSecret.com is reporting that Apple Computer (AAPL) will be launching a cell phone through Cingular early in 2007. The report says that Cingular will have a six month exclusive. This report is just a rumor and based on my own perusal of the ThinkSecret website I wouldn’t put a lot of stock in it. However, […]

Despite Possible Sale Upside in Tribune is Limited

Yesterday, Tribune (TRB) gave up about 25% of its gains since announcing a settlement with the Chandler Family and creation of a committee of independent directors to look at shareholder enhancement opportunities. Supposedly everything is on the table, including the spilt up or outright sale of the company. Investors expecting a big payday due to […]

Zune Not A Near-Term Threat To iPods

Apple Computer (AAPL) shares have continued to rise following the introduction of Microsoft’s Zune music player. Apple has benefitted from growing recognition of the company’s outstanind momentum in Mac sales, excitement over the previewed iTV device, and the introduction of updated iPods for the holiday selling season. Additionally, the Zune has been met with a […]

What’s Going On With Yahoo!?

Yahoo! (YHOO) guides down and its shares trade off 12%. On the same day, Viacom (VIA, VIA.b), Time Warner (TWX), Disney (DIS) and CBS (CBS) all trade higher. Yahoo! says that advertising in economically sensitive industries including automotive and finance showed a sudden weakening. These two advertising categories are important for traditional media companies. At […]

Debating Growth and Value

Last week on Real Money, there was a debate on the growth vs. value question. It began when my colleague, Ed Stavetski asked, “As the economy slows and earnings growth tails off, does one want to own value or growth?” Ed asked the question after reviewing year-to-date returns for the Russell growth and value indices […]