Search results for Anthony Mirhaydari
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Posted
Jun 19 2008, 09:19 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Back in April, brainy Wall Street analysts expected the vast majority of Americans to save or pay down debt with their economic stimulus checks. Indeed, poll after poll indicated a growing population of newly converted pinchpennies. But old habits die hard: As soon as those U.S. Treasury checks hit mailboxes in the first week of May, our nation of manic consumers forgot all about Ricardian equivalence, rising inflationary pressures, and eroding personal balance sheets. Instead, they did what they do best, and pushed retails sales well past expectations for the month.
Big-time electronics retailer Best Buy -- as indicated by its recently released quarterly results -- was a popular offloading point for those rebate checks as HDTVs, Blu-rays, and iPods took the place of mortgage payments, retirement accounts, and debt reduction. Revenues jumped 13% to $9 billion, helped by store expansions in North America and China, with comp-store sales up an impressive 3.7%. Margins were helped by strength in the company's Geek Squad services team and in sales of extended warranty plans
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 06:59 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
InBev's $46 billion cash offer for Anheuser-Busch is turning into a global economic nightmare for those proud of their Great American Lager. It's bad enough that a Belgian brewer run by a bunch of Brazilians is trying to buyout the last of the great U.S. beer makers -- this after Miller was made South African in 2002 and Coors became part-Canadian in 2004.
But now, fate has it that the best hope for keeping Anheuser free from the clutches of foreigners rests with the Fernandez family, controllers of Grupo Modelo, the Mexican brewery famous for Corona.
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Posted
Jun 25 2008, 09:15 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
For Circuit City and its investors, the last couple years have been nothing but torture. Witness the epic share-price decline of nearly 90% over the past two years. Witness the glimmer of hope brought about by Blockbuster's proposed takeover offer in April, which is backed by Carl Icahn, only to see the market severely discount any chance of it happening. Witness yesterday's anticlimactic shareholders meeting where the biggest news was that activist investor Mark Wattles compared corporate due diligence to canine mating rituals.
Although things are dour, they aren't lacking in excitement: Shares in both Circuit City and Blockbuster have been wildly volatile in heavy trading as investors set the odds and outcomes of a possible pairing of the two struggling brands.
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Posted
Jun 27 2008, 07:37 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Since InBev launched its audacious $46 billion offer for Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch, investors, analysts, and proud American beer drinkers have all been awaiting word from the executive suite in St. Louis: What's it going to be, yay or nay to the Brazilian-led but Belgian-owned predator?
Yesterday, in a scathing rebuke, CEO August Busch IV didn’t just say no but made an impassioned call to arms. He called the unsolicited offer "financially inadequate" and not in the best interests of shareholders. He touted management's efforts to boost shareholder value through its Blue Ocean cost-reduction program. He stressed the brewer's global footprint. He flaunted Anheuser's renowned brand-building abilities and the power of the Budweiser and Bud Light brands. He even made it personal and told InBev CEO Carlos Brito to take his money and his big dreams elsewhere.
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Posted
Jun 30 2008, 07:29 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Wal-Mart has finally decided to do something about its staid white-on-blue logo and red, blue, and grey color scheme. In a surprising move for a company that acted as though it was too big, too powerful, and too damn cheap to bother with its image problem, Wal-Mart's new face to the world will be a white "Walmart" logo and starburst on a burnt orange background and brick store exterior. This is according to planning documents filed for a new Wal-Mart Supercenter outside Memphis.
Accompanying the new look is a new, smaller store format that features "new department titles, less signage, curved lines and earth-tone colors" according to company public affairs and government relations manager Dennis Alpert. The building will also feature lighting systems that turn on when they detect a shopper in close proximity, large skylights, and other "green building elements" in an effort to conserve energy.
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Posted
Jul 01 2008, 10:31 PM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Finally, some good news from Starbucks: the coffee-shop behemoth is closing 600 stores and cutting 12,000 jobs, roughly 7% of its global workforce.
This is a gutsy move for founder Howard Schultz, who just recently retook the helm with broad pronouncements of returning to roots and reigniting the "emotional attachment with customers" that has been lost over time. After all, Starbucks now has 16,226 locations, up from just 1,886 over the last 10 years. With operations in such faraway lands as Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Argentina, and Romania, Starbucks' expansionist future once seemed boundless.
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Posted
Jul 08 2008, 10:57 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
As $100 fill-ups become the norm and resale values for gas-guzzling vehicles plunge, owners of trucks and SUVs are getting a painful lesson in what economists call "demand destruction." In addition to switching from Ford F-150s to Toyota Priuses, rising oil prices may force Americans to follow Europeans with one car per family.
This would be the worst of all worlds for investors, since not only is the product mix shifting from high-margin truck-based products to lower-margin economy cars, but overall volumes would decline as well.
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Posted
Jul 14 2008, 01:28 PM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Soft-drink companies are bracing for a slowdown in what has been a surefire moneymaker: Selling filtered tap water, straight up or with flavor and nutrients as "enhanced water" beverages. But the companies still offer opportunity for investors.
Not only are people shying away from water costing the equivalent of $12 a gallon when gasoline is over $4 a gallon, but environmental sensitivity to those ugly, non-biodegradable plastic bottles is on the rise as well.
A recent survey by venerable Morgan Stanley beverage analyst William Pecoriello found 16% of consumers are reducing bottled water consumption due to environmental concerns. This is up from just 5% last year. Of these, 34% are reusing their plastic water bottles more often while 23% are just going with tap water instead.
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Posted
Jul 17 2008, 11:55 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
One of the best ways to play a recession is to buy candy, chocolate and other treats that have a big impact on the brain's pleasure center.
Unfortunately, Hershey, America's largest and arguably most iconic confectioner, has been a dog with lots of problems: a lame product portfolio, strengthened competition, rising materials costs, inefficient operations and a lack of exposure to blossoming international markets.
Now, with shares trading at five-year lows, a recovery may be underway.
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Posted
Jul 21 2008, 01:41 AM
by
Anthony Mirhaydari
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It's not just health-conscious diners who should be concerned about restaurants like Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, and Texas Roadhouse.
With food and fuel inflation at critical levels, investors should be worried about the health of the entire casual dining sector, including companies like Darden Restaurants and Brinker International, operators of Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Chili's.
All must contend with rising food prices, especially for meats, seafood, and dairy products at a time people are drastically reducing discretionary driving and rediscovering the joys of eating in.
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