Author Archive
Dole IPO busts out of the gate
Perhaps the little guy is finally catching on to the games that Wall Street loves to play.Last Thursday, Dole Foods (DOLE) priced its IPO at $12.50 per share, well below an expected range of $13-$15 a share. Based on that, you might have expected…
3 busted IPOs to buy now
Is the market turning into a raging bull?
One sure way to tell if a bull market is back is by examining the number of private companies lining up to become publicly-traded securities.
That number seems to be rising. Last week private equity giant The …
401k Match Makes a Comeback
Yesterday I wrote about perks for jerks. Today, the little guy gets his due.
While the economy may not be producing jobs sufficient to relieve persistent unemployment, corporations are feeling good enough to reinstate 401k matches to those currently em…
Perks for jerks keep rolling
After all we have been through, the plush perks for bank CEOs and executives continue to grow unabated. Do they have no soul?Apparently not. The government has bailed these guys out to the tune of $700 billion or more, yet the golf club memberships and…
New chief, same problems at Playboy
A lot of print magazines are closing their doors. But like a young teen with a secret stash, Alex Vaickus is holding onto his hard copies of Playboy.Named the new president of Playboy Enterprises (PLA) last week, Vaickus boldly proclaimed that th…
Obama takes aim at defense industry
President Obama’s shift in policy regarding missile defense in Europe marks the beginning of the end of the defense stock trade. For the entirety of the Bush administration defense stocks enjoyed a tailwind that provided fuel for significant gains.Thos…
Olympic rejection will hurt U.S. companies
Perhaps it was wishful thinking to believe that global sentiment could change with a new president in Washington in less than a year. While we are taking positive steps to renew goodwill, we still have a long way to go.The shocking headline that Chicag…
New heir at the house of Morgan
This morning I saw an interesting interview with Alan “Ace” Greenberg, former chief executive of Bear Stearns, on CNBC. Asked to comment on the views of JP Morgan (JPM) Chief Jamie Dimon, Greenberg demurred and backed the banking genius 100%.“Wha…
The Gap’s revival is in its jeans
The economy is improving, but does that mean people will again go out and blow a few hundred dollars on designer jeans? I don’t know about you, but I certainly will not.Instead, I’m falling back onto old standby: The Gap (GPS).
Do you remember when G…
Tavern on the Green files for bankruptcy
The operator of New York’s famous Tavern on the Green announced yesterday that it was filing for bankrutpcy, a few months before the storied restaurant changes hands.Citing losses due to the recession, the company said the city’s decision not to re…
3 homebuilding stocks about to get hot
There is a lot of money being made in the recovery of the housing market. Are you participating? If not, you should be.
Last week, I recommended a very small publicly traded company that makes doors and windows in Florida to readers of my paid investin…
Is death care where it’s at?
Generally speaking, human beings are pretty smart. In a period of unemployment and low (if any) wage growth, we tend to gravitate toward industries that are growing. It is a pretty simple phenomenon.It makes sense then that during the worst recession i…
What’s wrong with investing in gold
With gold hitting $1,000 per ounce again, giant producer Barrick Gold (ABX) announced that it would begin the process of eliminating all gold hedges. In order to pay for the plan, the company will raise $3 billion by selling new shares of its stock.Thi…