Investanomics.com - Seeking Alpha
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McDonald's: Dividends Are Only Part Of The Growth Story
By Investanomics:
McDonald's (MCD) is a company that continues to do exceptionally well. This has been a favorite stock of mine for quite some time now. McDonald's is one of those companies that can give you appreciation as well as provide a nice income stream. McDonald's currently has a dividend yield of 2.9%.
The company continues to execute its plan which is doing extraordinarily well in this difficult environment. McDonald's operating plan is to focus on the 5 Ps, which are people, products, place, price and promotion. Year-to-date operating income for the company is up 9% and earnings per share grew 10% both in constant currencies. In this same period two years ago, McDonald's was serving 58 million customers a day, today McDonald's is serving 64 million customers a day around the world.
I like McDonald's future growth prospects, this is a very important element in any dividend paying stock. You want
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3 Specialty Retailers That Investors Should Add To Their Shopping List
By Investanomics:
Specialty retailers have been quite volatile this quarter; most retailers usually have a strong performance in the fourth quarter, but this year has been very different. With so much uncertainty around the world, many retailers have failed to hit sales targets and have got investors scratching their heads. I would like to give my perspective on what investors should do with these specialty stocks.
Pacsun (PSUN) - Pacsun has been a big disappointment for its investors this year. Pacsun has dropped about 80% since the beginning of the year. Pacsun is a mall based retailer that sells a combination of branded and proprietary casual apparel for teens and young adults.
The company has been faced with declining sales as it struggles to compete. Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2011 were $242.0 million versus net sales of $257.9 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2010. Total company
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Kraft And Sears: 2 Companies That Are Potentially Great Targets For Spin-Off Strategy
By Investanomics:
One of my favorite strategies is investing in companies looking to spin-off divisions. Large companies often look for ways to unlock value for shareholders. In many cases, companies with multiple divisions don't get properly valued by the market. That discrepancy allows those companies to sell or spin-off divisions which will allow investors the opportunity to fully realize the value of the investment.
A good example of this was my article, Fortune Brands: Value Is About To Be Unleashed. I wrote about Fortune Brands in August several months before the spin-off. Fortune Brands planned to separate into two different companies that will both be publicly traded. Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS) will focus on home products and Beam (BEAM) will focus solely on spirits.
There are several ways to play this strategy, but I prefer to buy after the split occurs. That way, if there was a company I didn't
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Coca-Cola: Predictable Dividend Strategy, Healthy Business And Stable Growth Rate
By Investanomics:
Dividend stocks are great investments in times of low interest rates. Dividends give investors that extra cushion that will help stabilize your returns in this volatile market. Coca-Cola (KO) fits my predictable dividend strategy that looks for companies with a healthy business and a stable growth rate.
The company's main business is the manufacture and distribution of non-alcoholic beverages around the world. Coca-Cola has a very stable business and currently has a nice dividend of 2.8%.
The company recently gained global volume and value share in nonalcoholic ready-to
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Ford And Sirius: Profit From Strong Automotive Trend
By Investanomics:
The auto industry is starting to show signs of life once again. The auto industry recently posted some of the strongest sales gains in three years. Some of the biggest winners were US automakers; Ford (F) saw November sales gain 13.3% to 166,865 vehicles. Chrysler was a big winner as well with November sales gaining 45% to 107,172 vehicles. The Big 3 were able to gain market share from Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) in the key US market. Both companies had to deal with disasters that plagued operations and caused production delays.
Consumer confidence is an important indicator when monitoring the auto industry sales. Consumers usually hold back on big purchases when consumer confidence is low. The Consumer Confidence Index in November surged to 56, a nice increase when compared to previous numbers. The auto industry sales should continue to increase; consumers held off on big purchases during the
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Yahoo: Still Opportunity To Profit From A Buyout
By Investanomics:
Yahoo (YHOO) is once again in the news with suitors now starting to submit bids. In my article, What A Yahoo Buyout Means For Investors, I detailed how investors could profit from the eventual Yahoo buyout. This trade is now up about 14%.
Speculating on stocks based off the assumption that the company may eventually be bought out is very difficult. Rumors and speculation are always rampant in the markets, but when you get one right, the payoff is pretty sizable.
I'm going to go over why I felt Yahoo was a good investment at the time of my last article as well as detail if there is still opportunity to profit from Yahoo. I believed Yahoo had a high chance of completing a buyout due to two main factors.
The first factor is that Yahoo has a well known brand in an industry with a tough barrier to entry.
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Sirius XM Would Be Just Fine Without Mel Karmazin
By Investanomics:
Sirius (SIRI) investors have been reinvigorated with the possibility of a large investment or even a buyout by Liberty Media (LCAPA). Sirius is in the middle of a turnaround that will drive growth going forward. As good as the large investment by Liberty Media sounds, some shareholders view it as a bad thing.
Sirius XM CEO Mel Karmazin recently said, "I'm not really good at working for somebody, I just could not be a No. 2,". Karmazin has had a history of not being able to work well with others. Karmazin left then Viacom (VIA) and CBS Corp (CBS) due to repeatedly clashing with CEO Sumner Redstone. Karmazin said this about his previous employer, "I don't blame Sumner at all. I'm just not good at that".
While Karmazin has a good relationship with Liberty Media, he bluntly noted that if Liberty was to take a controlling stake, his role would
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Online Retail: Google's Next Big Idea?
By Investanomics:
Wall Street Journal recently reported that Google (GOOG) may be planning to launch a service that will compete directly with Amazon Prime (AMZN). Google plans to launch a one day delivery service for consumers that purchase goods through its online store. Google doesn't plan to sell the goods directly but instead partner with retailers that would complete the order fulfillment.
This could mean some tough competition for Amazon in the near future. Google is mainly interested in getting users to use its web services to increase traffic. Google makes money off online advertising and I don't see that focus changing. I envision Google using this business more as a tool to gain loyal traffic than trying to profit from the retail side. I wouldn't be surprised to see Google offer this new service for a very low cost or even for free. After all Google's main goal is to gain
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Will The Research In Motion Deterioration Continue?
By Investanomics:
I have been bearish on Research In Motion (RIMM) for several months now. I first wrote about Research In Motion in September and have been short since then. I have taken profits on most of my position but I still have a small short position left.
My most recent article, Research In Motion: HTC Is A Sign That The Knife Will Keep On Falling, detailed how I was predicting Research In Motion to miss earnings and guide lower. Just 7 days after this article Research In Motion came out and said, "Research In Motion no longer expects to meet its full-year earnings forecast of $5.25 to $6 per share because of weaker than expected smartphone shipments, a $360 million after-tax writedown on PlayBook inventories and a $50 million charge related to the October outage."
In this article I will give my thoughts on new questions investors have regarding Research In
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Sony Should Benefit From Strong Holiday Season Given Potential Of 2 New Gaming Consoles
By Investanomics:
Sony (SNE) has been planning to launch two new gaming consoles in 2012. Sony plans to launch the Vita in December 2011 or the first half of 2012. The Playstation 4 is rumored to launch around the same time. Sony is waiting to counter the next generation of Microsoft (MSFT) Xboxes that will be launching soon.
Sony has been under intense selling pressure as the company suffered from declining consumer sales across many of its businesses. Sharp currency fluctuations played a role in the company's loss as well. Sony has dropped about 57% so far this year.
I expect Sony to benefit from a strong holiday shopping season this year. Retailers extended hours and launched aggressive price promotions to bring in shoppers this year. I don't expect sales to remain at elevated levels after the shopping season. This could mean slower television sales once again next year.
I believe Sony
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