The action in Lehman Brothers (LEH) this week reminds me of the Bear Stearns debacle that evolved from Friday March 14 through Monday March 17. It started with Lehman’s preliminary announcement of 2nd quarter results on Monday before the open…
The dividend is really important to me. The company feels they can keep it up through the patent expirations, but it seems like it’s going to be difficult. – Kent Croft (subscription required), President, Croft Leominster There’s been a lot of…
Retailers reported supposedly strong May sales this morning. But I don’t know that they were really all that strong. Discounters like Walmart and Costco were strong. But department stores and speciality retailers weren’t all that strong. To me, it continues…
I can’t quite figure out why the market started tanking at 1:30pm EST today (S&P Intraday Chart). I want to cheat and say it was GM’s ugly May Sales Report in which they announced a 28% decline in sales and…
Retailer J Crew (JCG), which has 267 stores all in the US, reduced guidance for 2008 in an otherwise strong 1st quarter earnings report yesterday after the close. They took down full year EPS forecasts from $1.85-$1.87 to $1.70-$1.75 and forecast…
One of the hottest stocks the last two years has been credit card issuer MasterCard (MA). Mastercard has risen almost 700% from its IPO price of $39 a share on May 25, 2006 to its current price around $310 (MA…
The combination of record high fuel prices and continuing difficulties in the housing sector has further accelerated the shift away from large pickups and SUVs to small and medium-sized cars and crossovers. We saw a real change in the industry…
The housing and home improvement markets remained difficult in the first quarter; in fact, conditions worsened in many areas of the country. – Frank Blake, CEO Home Depot Home Depot (HD) reported another tough quarter before the open this morning:…
The generally poor economic outlook, including well-known housing pressures, rising food and fuel prices and a more negative employment picture eroded consumer confidence and impacted discretionary purchases for the home. – Robert Niblock, CEO Lowe’s Home improvement retailer Lowe’s (LOW)…
This is just getting dumb. Nordstrom (JWN) announced after the close 1st quarter EPS of 54 cents a share on a 6.5% same store sales decline. Net income declined by 24%. After a long string of impressive same store sales…