Volatility Index S P 500 Options-VIX up .20 to 10.
22.
XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:XMSR) -- option implied volatility decreases after SIRI merger of equals announced.
XM Satellite Radio is recently up $1.70 to $15.67.
SIRI and XMSR to combine in $13 billion merger of equals. XMSR shareholders will receive 4.6 SIRI shares for each XMSR share.
RBC Capital Markets says "Incremental synergies for XMSR and SIRI should be approximately $7.96/share and $1.73/share.
We estimate 50%-75% probability transaction will be completed." XMSR April option implied volatility of 49 has decreased below its 26-week average of 53 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risks.
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
(NASDAQ:SIRI) -- implied volatility suggested less risk in XMSR deal. Sirius Satellite Radio is recently up .27 to $3.
97. SIRI is expected to report EPS on 2/27. Bear Stearns says "The deal would need to gain regulatory approvals to be consummated -- at this point, we have yet to form an opinion on whether the deal would receive these regulatory approvals.
" SIRI June option implied volatility of 39 is below a level of 47 from last week according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risks.
Founded in 1995, is a pioneer in online media and marketing. The firm also engages in a lot of market research.
The latest report ndash; a survey of 2,100 web users -- is on the $70 billion US online travel market (yes, it's that big).
Looking over the next three months, about half of online users will rely on the internet as their primary resource. As is typical, though, the numbers skew to the younger demographic, as well as higher-income households.
About two-thirds of the survey group will use the internet for research, as well as a means to purchase tickets. Also, the most popular features of a travel website include checking rates and availability (no, it's not fancy Web 2.0 features).
Yes, the survey is kind of common sense. It's pretty clear that online travel has been a disruptive force ndash;-- and it's only growing in power.
If you want to check out the full report, you can find it in Burst's latest .
Vulcan Materials Co. (NYSE: ) has been on a roll and few on Wall Street noticed.
The company has blown away Wall Street expectations, boosted its guidance, hiked its dividend and now is making an of Florida Rock Industries Inc.
(NYSE: ).
Guess how many analysts have published estimates on the company in the current quarter? Four, according to Thomson Financial.
Did I mention that its shares are up 44 percent over the past year?
You think that's sad. Only one analyst has published quarterly estimates on Mothers Work Inc.
(NASDAQ: ), whose shares are up 59 percent.
The problem is that Wall Street is going to handsomely reward analysts for being the guru on such high-profile industries as construction materials and maternity clothing.
Investors looking for undiscovered stocks are on their own.
Home Depot Inc. (NYSE:HD) today reported fourth-quarter results that were in-line with Wall Street's expectations. The bad news is that they weren't very good.
Net income fell 28 percent to $925 million, or 46 cents per share, from $1.3 billion, or 60 cents, the Atlanta-based company said in . Excluding a 4-cent charge related to severance given to former Chief Executive Robert Nardelli, profit was 50 cents.
Revenue rose 4 percent to $20.3 billion. Analysts expected profit of 50 cents on sales of $20.
8 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
Particularly depressing for Home Depot was the 6.6 percent decline in same-store sales.
Total retail sales fell 2 percent to $17.4 billion. HD Supply, which is may be spun off, was the only bright spot.
Its sales soared 64 percent to $2.9 billion because of acquisitions.
"Reflecting the challenging housing market, our 2006 retail results were disappointing," said Frank Blake, chairman CEO.
"We may not be able to impact the housing market or general economic conditions, but we know that we can improve our performance relative to our overall market share. That will be a central point of emphasis for us in 2007 and beyond."
The company said it will provide details of its turnaround plan and earnings guidance for next year at its February 28 investors' meeting.
It would have been better for Home Depot to release the earnings at the same time as the investors' meeting. Wall Street shouldn't be kept waiting more than a week to hear how Blake plans to revamp Home Depot.
, proclaims that hundreds of eBay user accounts were hacked and then utilized for the systematic defrauding of possibly hundreds of eBay Inc.
(NASDAQ:EBAY) users. Details are sketchy but sources have provided alleged solid proof that eBay security has been compromised in unprecedented scale. The Mirror quotes: "Site user Stephen Reilly, 57, said: "They targeted cars, jewelery, artwork and sound systems.
"
(log in required) on the site's discussion forums and management is reacting in standard eBay fashion by pulling discussion threads and maintaining its practice of routine censorship of any information which may cast an ill light upon executive leadership. It has even been alleged on various eBay-related blogs that eBay is attempting to thwart dissemination of the hacking news across the Internet by spamming the search engines with reports about the possible sale of Britney Spears' hair on the site.
Posted Feb 15th 2007 6:17PM by
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EMI reported last night that its stock sales fell more than 10% yesterday.
(See: ) According to Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) this came after the group, based in London, predicted their second profit warning of the year. The company blames the problem and falling shares on North American CD sales, a comment which follows the announcement made by the group to combine Virgin and Capitol Records into one company in the United States.
The Yahoo! article also cites plans EMI had to merge with Warner Music Group (NYSE:WMG) being abandoned after unsuccessful rulings by European courts. EMI and WMG have been toying with a merger since 2000 and this was the third failed attempt by the two music giants.
Had they been successful (any of those times) it would have reduced the number of major music distributors down to three (the other two being SonyBMG and Vivendi Universal). I'm perplexed by the statements of EMI regarding sales of CDs in the North American market. An article in the February 2007 issue of Spin Magazine proposed 10 ways to "fix" the music business.
I won't quote them all, but the most pertinent to the assessment of CD value in this case is making the format less expensive and stopping the practice of releasing different versions of an album several months apart. Another idea the article pitches is the reinvigoration of the record store, especially after the fall of Tower Records last fall.
The major problems of a chain like Tower or Virgin Megastore is that they rely only on niche markets catering big city listeners.
Still, they lack the network of larger chains like Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) or Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) (neither a record store in essence) that can service listeners and buyers in various and unlimited markets. If there were a way of combining all these elements, a record store could certainly flourish if it was a larger chain of smaller stores with lower priced merchandise (not just CDs). The CD could certainly use the benefit of being lower priced, especially when it is quicker and easier to get the same album of songs from digital services.
The flux of the business does not make any of these suggestions easily workable or feasible, but the market must devote enough resources to one or the other if it intends to survive completely intact.
Posted Feb 8th 2007 5:45PM by
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Yesterday morning I briefly that Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
(NASDAQ: ) a partnership with Frank Sinatra Enterprises to create a new, exclusive radio channel dedicated to Frank Sinatra. Siriusly Sinatra, will be launched soon and would be a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, commercial-free channel featuring a weekly show hosted by Nancy Sinatra.
Siriusly Sinatra will be the only channel available on radio that is produced by the Sinatra family.
Other artists from the big band, swing and traditional pop genres will also be featured. Not only that but, believe it or not, Sirius will create The Chairman's Hour, hosted by Frank himself, based on archival material of both spoken word and music. No wonder Nancy Sinatra said that Sirius has "become the programming leader in satellite radio.
"
To be honest, I personally cannot stand any of the dedicated channels. After listening to a dedicated channel for a while, I just don't care how rare a recording is, or how much I like the performing artist. But that may just be me.
..
Meanwhile, today, XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.
(NASDAQ: ) that NASCAR superstars Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. are gearing up for the new season of their exclusive XM Satellite Radio shows starting February 15, three days before the Daytona 500.
Posted Feb 8th 2007 2:52PM by
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Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: ) took an ethical stand last year when it decided back in June that it would stop selling live lobsters and crabs in its stores nationwide. We hear today that the company has decided to bend the rule for just one of its stores where it now will be .
Next week Whole Foods will be opening their first store in the great state of Maine which has long been synonymous with the live lobster business. When the store opens, customers in the Portland store will be able to pick up something that no other Whole Foods store has to offer . .
. live lobsters.
But if you are an animal activist, don't get too carried away just yet.
The company has only decided to offer up the live crustaceans at their new store because they feel they can do so in a "lobster friendly" manner.
There are two main reasons why the marketplace for live lobster makes some people shudder. The first being the way the animals are usually crammed on top of one another in their tank, and the second being the process of boiling the animals alive.
Posted Feb 8th 2007 12:02AM by
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HSBC Holdings PLC (NYSE: ) that its loan impairment charges and other credit risk provisions in 2006 are now expected to be 20% above the consensus estimate of $8.8 billion made by analysts, due to higher-than-earlier expected provisions for its US mortgage business.
HSBC now expects their mortgage loss to be $10 billion.
New Century Financial Corporation (NYSE: ), a large subprime mortgage lender, projected a fourth-quarter loss, and said it expects to restate each of the previous three quarters' earnings lower because it did not set aside enough money to buy back subprime loans that went bad.
This unwinding of the mortgage market is just beginning. Large financial institutions have been reporting spectacular results due to gains in fixed income and credit related trading.
It appears this era is over. While investors often refer to equity bubbles bursting, credit bubbles are equally as ugly. Watch out for more blow ups.
Keywords: Satellite Radio, Posted Feb, Wall Street, Home Depot, Xm Satellite, Xm Satellite Radio, Whole Foods, Sirius Satellite, General Imaging, Sirius Satellite Radio
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