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• 25 Reasons to Remain Cautious

  Posted Jul 01 2008, 11:28 AM by Todd Harrison
  Filed under: FedEx, Best Buy, economy, United Parcel Service, nike, fortune brands
  Rating:
  1.  Stocks are firmly in a downtrend.
  The S&P 500 is down roughly 20% from the market peak on October 11, 2007.

  2.  Corporate spreads are rapidly widening.
  Investment grade bonds yielded as little as 0.30% more than U.S. Treasuries did back in 2003 - but are now as much as 2.30% above U.S. Treasury rates.

  3.  Everyone I know is saying “All is well, buy America.”
  The crowd is usually wrong at extremes.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 16 comments) 12,258 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Singing the JetBlue blues

  Posted Jan 07 2008, 12:38 PM by Robert Walberg
  Filed under: FedEx, Travel, JetBlue, AMR, Continental
  Rating:

  

  In response to a public relations nightmare last February, JetBlue's management team enacted a customer bill of rights to help restore confidence in the airline. It was a bit gimmicky, but the effort seemed to work as the company just announced a 15% year-over-year jump in revenue passengers for 2007.

  Hopefully, management has another gimmick or two up its sleeve to address the nightmarish performance of its stock. Despite the operational improvement, JetBlue's stock is now trading at about $5 per share -- down a whopping 64% over the past 52 weeks.  Being trapped on a grounded plane for 10 hours seems painless by comparison.

  Of course, JetBlue isn't the only airline to see its stock crash and burn over the past year. AMR Corp, Continental Airlines and Alaska Air Group have tumbled by 60%, 55% and 43%, respectively. High fuel prices, an uncertain economy and changes in regulations have contributed to a very turbulent year. Yet JetBlue was supposed to be different.  With leather seats, expanded leg room and free satellite TV/radio for all passengers, this company was supposed to revolutionize the airline industry. So why has JetBlue been more revolting than revolutionary?   Read More...

  Discuss ( 737 comments) 291,187 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• Cyber Monday's surprise winner

  Posted Nov 28 2007, 11:40 AM by Robert Walberg
  Filed under: Internet, Amazon, Retail, FedEx, Blue Nile, Wal-Mart
  Rating:

  

  Now that the dust has settled back on our keyboards, which company was the big winner of Cyber Monday?  Was it a) Amazon with its new Kindle, b) Wal-Mart with its cheap big-screen TVs, c) Blue Nile with its sparkling diamonds, or d) none of the above? 

  If you guessed "d" then you are today's winner.  While anecdotal evidence suggests that each of the highlighted retailers fared reasonably well on Monday, the real winner of Cyber Monday was FedEx. 

  Internet sales totalled a whopping $733 million Monday, an impressive 21% jump over the year-ago total.  But to jack up sales so significantly at a time when consumer confidence is in the toilet required some serious effort -- and by effort I mean discounting prices.  Sales were everywhere online Monday, and that's why I'm not as excited by the retailers as I am by FedEx.  You see slashing prices might jumpstart sales, but it does so at the cost of lowering margins. Lower margins mean slow to no profit growth, and it's earnings growth that ultimately drives stock prices.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 26 comments) 46,179 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this