Friday, February 22, 2013

OH NO!!!!!

Why do these rear view looking "analysts" have to ruin a good thing???? 


Update: Make That Two Analysts With $1,000 Targets On Google
It’s the latest Internet meme: raise your price target on Google to $1,000.
OK, so maybe we’re not talking Harlem Shakes videos here, but there does appear to be a trend forming.
As I noted previously, Bernstein Research analyst Carlos Kirjner has upped his target on the Internet search engine to $1,000. But it turns out he has company. CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets analyst James Lee likewise is showing the stock some love this morning, reiterating his Buy rating and upping his target to $1,000, from $900.
“We expect the [cost per click] improvement to accelerate on the back of Google’s recent announcement of a new ad management system,” Lee writes in a research note. “The purpose of this change is to simplify the ad-buying process in the multi-screen environment and increase the adoption of mobile search. The current system is segmented and complicated, barring less-sophisticated advertisers like local merchants from participating.”
Lee says the new system will have multiple beneficial effects:
  • Improve mobile pricing through wider adoption.
  • Drive mobile CPCs on par or higher with the desktop.
  • Alleviate concerns that desktop volume might be slowing or declining.
Concludes Lee: “We believe that the likely accelerating mobile CPC trends could potentially reaccelerate Google’s revenue growth.”
GOOG today is up $6.82, or 0.9%, to $799.28.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

And still No. 1 !!!!!!!

One BCS computer still ranks Notre Dame No. 1, because it’s the BCS

By Frank Schwab | Dr. Saturday – Thu, Jan 10, 2013 1:56 PM EST
You saw the BCS Championship Game, right? Well, at least the parts that mattered before turning to something more interesting, most notably Alabama rolling to a huge lead over Notre Dame and ESPN showing A.J. McCarron's girlfriend (I've seen better).

So you know that Alabama is the best team in the nation (no &^%$ way!). Nobody in their right mind would pick Notre Dame ahead of Alabama after witnessing the carnage that was 42-14 on Monday night (why not? or you mean nobody in their wrong mind)  Oh, but the BCS has a computer that still prefers the Irish (algorithms at its best). So let the BCS bashing continue (Keep the BCS).

The Colley Matrix, one of the six computer systems used by the BCS, has Notre Dame ranked No. 1 and the Crimson Tide No. 2. Notre Dame's final ranking was 0.973997 to Alabama's 0.961139. Notre Dame had an edge in strength of schedule (Can't argue with the facts). Alabama won more games against top 25 teams in the rankings (what a bunch of bs, Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky..!). Margin of victory is not part of the calculations (why should it, Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky?). No matter how the computer spit out that reading, it's worth mentioning again: An entity the BCS uses still prefers Notre Dame to Alabama. (it's worth repeating again)
An entity the BCS uses still prefers Notre Dame to Alabama.
They're not going to make Alabama give back the trophy over it or anything (time to sue!), and it's just one of the many rankings the BCS uses to determine who plays in the final game (not who is awarded the championship) but it just shows once again that there are flaws in the process (what flaws are we talking about?).

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Is UGG's really that uggly???

Is Ugg losing some of its brand cachet?

Discounts on flash-sale site sparks concerns for parent Deckers




By Andria Cheng, MarketWatch
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Deckers Outdoor Corp., known best for selling sheepskin boots, has seen its shares lose more than three-fifths of their value since reaching an all-time high of $118 last October, and the stock slumped another 8.7% Tuesday.
At issue are growing concerns about the company’s flagship Ugg brand losing its appeal while grappling with increased sheepskin and labor costs. The brand is crucial for Deckers because it alone generated $1.2 billion of sales, or 87% of Deckers’ total revenue last year.
Ugg classic boots
Goleta, Calif.-based Deckers DECK -8.38%  also has other brands, including Teva and Sanuk sandals.
Yet the red flag over Ugg boots was raised again on Tuesday, after Sterne Agee analyst Sam Poser reported receiving an email alerting him to limited-time sales of in-season, classic Ugg styles in basic neutral colors from flash-sale site BeyondtheRack.com. The analyst added that was the first time he’s seen the boots on sale at such a discount site, and that he called Beyond the Rack to verify the authenticity of the shoes and learned the stock didn’t come from Deckers itself.
“It means some retailers have excess inventory,” Poser said in an interview, noting there were discounts of 15% to 50% off regular prices — including one discounted to $179 from $210. Those shoes are the “stuff people think of when they think of Ugg. This is the first sign of the prices starting to break. It means demand has gone down. Early reads on Ugg sales are not promising [and] bodes poorly for fall sales.”

Deckers didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The stock was last at $43.82, down 41% so far this year.

Poser already cut his rating on Deckers stock in July to underperform from neutral, citing concerns that the shoe company’s Asian and European sales won’t improve this year and that sales will likely be hurt by higher prices and little innovation in its Ugg Classic category. He said then that he expected inventory to far outpace demand, leading to discounts. Poser also cautioned Deckers could lose its fashion customers to brands such as Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. KORS -2.50%  

“It’s clear to us that the Ugg ‘fashion trend’ has faded,” Poser wrote in a note Tuesday about the brand, which has been worn by celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker. “The question remains as to how much of the Ugg business is weather-related and how much is fashion-related.”
“We continue to believe that there are material risks to both guidance and the overall health of the Ugg brand,” he added. “If prices on Classics break down, we believe that the future of the Ugg brand may be at risk.”

Deckers has said the bulk of Ugg business is done in the third and fourth quarters, and that weather has had a greater impact on its business in the past two years.

Retailers’ concerns about demand for Uggs and not being stuck with excess inventory has led to a change in wholesale orders for Ugg, Poser said. Whereas in the past retailers would buy about 70% of their fourth-quarter orders in October and November, because they didn’t want to be short of Uggs to meet demand, this year retailers are only buying 30% to 40% of their orders during the same period, according to the analyst.

Uggs are sold at chains including Nordstrom Inc. JWN -1.97%  and Saks Inc. SKS -1.68%  Wholesale sales have surged to $915.2 million last year from $291.9 million in 2007, the company said in a regulatory filing.

DECK 43.95, -4.02, -8.38%
At a Goldman Sachs presentation earlier this month, Deckers Chief Operating Officer Zohar Ziv said the company is dealing with what he described as a “perfect storm,” where sheepskin prices the past two years rose about 80%, hurting this year’s profit by about $1.40 a share; and by a European downturn that’s hurt retailers across the board. He also cited weather as a concern.

Ziv pointed out that Deckers is broadening its product assortment and decreasing classic styles as a percentage of its total, and that he expects sheepskin prices to come down. Other brands such as Teva and Sanuk are trending well, according to the executive.

Deckers also is still cautious about not overdistributing the brand, he said, and consumer surveys show there’s continued demand for Uggs. “We still think there are significant growth opportunities both domestically and clearly many more internationally,” Ziv commented.

=======================================================================
Comment:

Interesting how the analyst from Stern Agee is critical about Deckers being sold at Beyondtherack.com but then praises Michael Kors.  Look below, Michael Kors watches being sold at Beyondtherack.com on 09/18/2012.   Since I do have an account with beyondtherack.com and I have seen plenty of Michael Kors products offered in the past besides watches, I'll post future Kors sales as they come up in Beyondtherack.com.



Michael Kors

Friday, August 24, 2012

Incomplete information leading to a misleading article by Mark Hulbert

How can you compare present day Apple to Cisco of 2000 without more information??  (another grandstanding, useless, and misleading article by your so called "market expert" who sells information to unsuspecting investors)

See article below:

By Mark Hulbert, MarketWatch
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (MarketWatch) – Apple will not have the world’s largest market cap forever.
That’s hardly an earth-shattering insight, of course. No company — not even Apple — can remain at the head of the pack in perpetuity.
But Apple AAPL -0.93%  fans nevertheless should pay close attention: The average company that rises to the top of the market-cap rankings proceeds thereafter to lag the overall market.
Consider an analysis I conducted of a list provided me by Standard & Poor’s that showed, as of the beginning of each year since 1980, the stock within the S&P 500 index SPX -0.81%   that had the largest market cap. For each of these stocks, I calculated its dividend-adjusted return over the subsequent 12 months, and compared that to the total return of the S&P 500 itself.
These stocks lagged the index by an average of 5.0 percentage points per year. And note carefully that even this number — large as it is — understates the true magnitude of underperformance, since the stocks with the largest market caps have a disproportionate impact on the performance of the S&P 500 itself.
One other data point should also give Apple investors pause: The average company at the top of the market-cap rankings is no longer in the top spot two years later.  


Remember Cisco Systems CSCO -0.49%  ? That company rose to the top of the market-cap list in early 2000, at the height of the Internet bubble. As we know now, of course, Cisco would remain at the top for only a short time. Its stock today is trading at around a quarter of its March 2000 all-time high.
Surprised by these findings? You shouldn’t be. Companies at the top of the market-cap rankings are, by definition, those that are riding a wave of popularity among investors. There’s therefore a good chance that they are overvalued.
In other words, bigger isn’t always better.
This notion isn’t new, of course. On the contrary, it is the core insight behind so-called fundamental indexes, market benchmarks that don’t weight stocks according to their market caps and focus on instead on any of a number of fundamental criteria such as sales, earnings, book value, and so forth. Fundamental indexes regularly outperform cap-weighted ones like the S&P 500.
One way of gauging Apple’s potential overvaluation is to see where the company would rank according to these fundamental criteria rather than market cap. One answer comes from the FTSE RAFI All-Caps US 1000 index: As of July 31, Apple was the 23rd largest company in that index.

 Mark Hulbert is the founder of Hulbert Financial Digest in Annandale, Va. He has been tracking the advice of more than 160 financial newsletters since 1980.

===================================================
Missing information that I will provide here:

In 2000, CSCO earned 36 cents per share for Fiscal 2000.
                                                     Range                 Annual
                                                   stock price      .36 per share annual
07/30/99 to 10/30/99:  .06 eps   37.00 / 29.38        103 to 82
11/01/99 to 01/29/00:  .11 eps   57.63 / 35.00         160 to 97
01/30/00 to 04/29/00:  .08 eps   80.06 / 54.75         222 to 152
04/30/00 to 07/29/00:  .11 eps   71.44 / 50.55         198 to 140

Fiscal 2001                                                         (.14) per share annual
07/30/00 to 10/28/00:  .11 eps   68.62 / 49.81      negative PE
10/29/00 to 01/27/01:  .12 eps   56.75 / 33.31      negative PE
01/28/01 to 04/28/01: (.37)eps  38.25 / 13.62      negative PE
04/29/01 to 07/28/01:  .00 eps     23.48 / 16.20    negative PE

(CSCO Data extracted from Fiscal 2000 and Fiscal 2001 10K reports filed with the SEC.)

Basically, when CSCO had a market cap of over $500 billion during the 3rd quarter of Fiscal 2000, its PE ratio was trading between 222 and 152.

Today, AAPL's pe ratio is about 15. 5 with a market cap over $620 billion.

The takeaway:  Quoting Jim Cramer:  "Do your research" 


Thursday, August 9, 2012

George W Bush versus Barack Obama, from a stock market perspective (first term)

George W. Bush:
                                            DJIA      NDX       S&P 500
01/20/2001  Inauguration:  10,588    2,656        109
08/08/2004                          9,815     1,315          91  
% change                            -7.3%     -50.5%    -16.5%

========================================

Barack Obama

01/20/2009   Inauguration:   7,949      1,137          75           
08/08/2012                         13,176      2,714         140
% change                             65.8%     138.7%      86.7%