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Posted
Nov 20 2007, 11:32 AM
by
Robert Walberg
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Like the song says, "some say love is a Razr that leaves your soul to bleed." Well, my soul has bled waiting for Motorola's stock to turn around. I can't wait any longer -- I'm not Job, after all.
Motorola has been screwing up for so long, it even gets it wrong when it gets it right. Last quarter the company delivered another lousy set of sales and earnings numbers, yet it guided fiscal fourth-quarter earnings to a range of 13 to 14 cents a share -- a few pennies above The Street's consensus. Normally, guiding estimates higher would be perceived as a good thing, and it was at first as the stock edged higher on the news. However, in offering up hope for the fourth quarter and the upcoming year, CEO Ed Zander might have won himself a new contract. And that's bad news.
You see one of the reasons I bought Motorola's stock down at its lows was in anticipation of a new management team. Typically when a struggling company finally ousts its old CEO in favor of someone new and full of promise, the underlying stock tends to rally. Until recently, Zander's ouster was all but certain. But in light of the company's modest progress off a terrible set of numbers, Zander might just hang around. Let's face it, he did take all the credit for the Razr so there might be a board member or two who thinks he's on the verge of another one-hit wonder.
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Posted
Mar 26 2008, 10:16 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Motorola announced this morning that it would break itself into two companies. By sometime next year the handset division will be pulled away from the mobility and enterprise divisions.
The problems is that, even broken into pieces, Motorola isn't worth more than its current market cap. The handset business is simply sinking too fast. (Update: After languishing most of day, the stock rallied to end regular trading up 2.6%.)
In the fourth quarter, Motorola's handset division revenue fell 38% to $4.8 billion. The operation lost $388 million compared to an operating profit of $341 million in the same period a year earlier. The company sold 40.9 million handsets in Q4.
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Posted
Jun 26 2008, 01:18 AM
by
Jon Markman
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It’s easy to imagine that the 25 best-performing stocks in the S&P 500 Index this year are all oil and gas producers, and the 25 worst-performing stocks are all banks and brokers. Yet as we near the halfway mark in 2008, it turns out that there are quite a few surprises in the mix of best and worst.
For instance, the No. 1 stock in the benchmark index this year isn’t an oil producer, but a coal miner, Massey Energy. It’s up 155% so far, rising to $89 from $35 as coal prices have soared in the wake of booming demand in China and India. The No. 2 stock is actually a discount retailer, Big Lots. It’s up 100%, from $15 to $30, as investors speculate it will get a big share of tax-rebate money from low-income Americans.
Most of the rest of the next best 15 gainers
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Posted
Dec 30 2008, 08:52 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Thousands of employees have gone to Glassdoor's site to rant and rave (but mostly rant) about their jobs and share salary information. They also have plenty to say about their CEOs, and Glassdoor reviewed the CEO ratings to find out who's been naughty and nice this year. According to the reviews, the CEO that Santa should have rewarded the most this year is Art Levinson of Genentech, who was praised for making great products and taking care of his employees. Apple's Steve Jobs came in second place, followed by Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. Who was the naughtiest of them all? Steve Odland of Office Depot, who is accused of stifling retail stores with failed business programs and allowing underperforming workers to stay on board. Others on the list include AOL's Randy Falco and Greg Brown of Motorola. Here are the full naughty and nice lists:
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Posted
Feb 12 2008, 06:53 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Firestone. American Motors. Texaco. Pan Am. Worldcom. These large American companies were once at the top of their industries. Pan Am was the leading global airline for decades. All are gone: Some were sold off, others went bankrupt. Who could have predicted it?
There are several iconic U.S. companies that may well not exist at the end of 2008. Some may not even make it halfway through the year. Not all will go out of business. Some may simply be auctioned off in pieces. Others may be bought. These companies will not exist in their current forms as they are known to their shareholders and consumers now.
When a company ceases to exist as an independent entity, it is not necessarily bad for shareholders. Some may be worth more in parts. Often a bust-up or merger is what brings owners the most money. Here are the big ones that probably won't make it. (A more detailed assessment is available at 24/7 Wall St.)
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Posted
Apr 10 2008, 02:40 PM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
David Dorman, the former captain and chief of AT&T, has come to Motorola as Chairman. He was greeted with the handset, etc. company's stock hitting a 52-week low at $8.97 (less than half the 52-week high of $19.68). Dorman's first job will be to keep sharp objects away from big MOT shareholder Carl Icahn.
The market is already well aware of the problems at Motorola's handset business. Its global market share has dropped from 22% just over two years ago to about 13% now. Nokia and Samsung have better share and Sony Ericsson is gaining.
Last year, Motorola's handset division lost over $1 billion on revenue of $19 billion. Unit sales may drop below 30 million for Q1, much lower than sales were running last year. The loss may balloon, making the operation worth very, very little.
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Posted
Jan 15 2009, 02:51 AM
by
Bernhard Warner and Matthew Yeomans
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site The Big Money.
The cost (to us) of Bank of America's Merrill Lynch acquisition keeps on climbing. The Wall Street Journal writes that the Treasury Department is set to "give billions in additional aid" to BoA to help close the deal because of the stricken securities firm's "larger-than-expected losses in the fourth quarter." BoA got $25 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program back in October and its need for more money at this point illustrates a "deepening fragility among the nation’s largest banks," writes the New York Times. That's the view from Treasury anyhow. It worries that if the deal falls through it will further undermine the stability of U.S. financial markets, adds the WSJ. The fourth quarter wasn't kind to Deutsche Bank (DB), which warns that heavy trading losses will force it to take a $6.3 billion loss on the back of the global financial meltdown. Meanwhile JPMorgan's (JPM) chief executive has been looking forward and -- surprise -- 2009 looks pretty bleak.
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Posted
Feb 20 2008, 08:38 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Verizon has been the ruler of the walk, but that has changed. Yesterday, the shares hit a 52-week low at $35.19.
The large run-up in Verizon's stock last year was based on two things. The first was that its new fiber-to-the-home TV and broadband service was picking up customers from cable companies like Comcast. That sent Comcast shares to multi-year lows. Comcast's latest earnings showed that the impact of Verizon's initiative was less than expected. More recently the phone company said that it could not get HD set-top boxes to many of its new fiber customers. Motorola had fallen behind in making them. All of a sudden, the $23 billion that Verizon put into the fiber project did not look quite so good.
Then the market was hit with news of a cellular price war between Verizon Wireless and AT&T. T-Mobile got in on the action just or fun. Cellular revenue is what has driven Verizon's revenue and operating income over the last several years as it has lost landline business to VoIP.
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Posted
Apr 07 2008, 12:32 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Activist investor Carl Icahn, whom Fortune says makes more money for shareholders than anyone, has won a round in his ongoing battle with Motorola. Icahn took on Motorola last year, when he invited then-CEO Ed Zander into his office and said, "You have a great company. Why did you screw it up?" Zander is now gone, and Icahn, whose investment company which owns 6.4% of the company, is targeting the board. Today, Motorola allowed two of his handpicked nominees to its board (Icahn originally wanted four). Motorola shares rose 1.5% on the news to close at $9.82. This is good news. Icahn backs off, allowing Motorola some breathing room as it figures out its future. The new directors will likely push the company to spin off its cell phone division quickly. Motorola was looking at next year to split itself in two, a move Icahn said was long overdue. Perhaps Motorola can move on to more important things now, like making decent cell phones.
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Posted
Jun 05 2008, 01:57 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Worst executive job in technology? Head of Motorola's cell phone unit -- an open position the Wall Street Journal says could be filled soon. Why so bad? Oh, let us count the ways: 1. The unit has lost $1.6 billion in 18 months. 2. Most of the senior management has bailed.
3. The Street hates the division, valuing it at just $1 per share.
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