Filed under: Law, Employees, Scandals

Performances of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas resumed today at 11 A.M. after a Manhattan judge ordered its stagehands back to work from a strike that has left Broadway dark.

The show is strictly a holiday affair, with performances set to end January 6. Producers cited a special contract between the show and Jujamcyn Theaters, and argued that the stagehands couldn’t strike. They have also sued the strikers for $35 million.

But this is just a single victory for producers, who are still losing millions in revenue from the strike that centers on how many stagehands a show must hire. While the stagehands union is certainly not the blue collar, middle American union that most of us think of when we hear “organized labor,” this is an interesting case. To some, the efforts by the union to require that producers hire more stagehands than they feel is necessary is indicative of how unions hinder business.

But to others, millionaire producers depriving stagehands of their jobs is Scrooge-like.

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Filed under: General Electric (GE), Short stories, Advanced Micro Dev (AMD), Corning Inc (GLW), Countrywide Financial (CFC), EMC Corp (EMC), Qwest Communications Intl (Q)

It is usually an interesting read to see what is going on in overall NYSE, AMEX, and NASDAQ short selling. Today we looked over various short interest reports based upon November 15, 2007, on the NYSE, which is fresh data for U.S. traders because of the Thanksgiving holiday. The total NYSE Short Interest went up from 11.932 billion shares on October 31 up to 12.387 billion shares as of November 15. This is the second increase in a row but within recent month data.

Below is a summary of some key NYSE short interest changes:

Stock	(Ticker)	11/15/2007	10/31/2007	%ChangeCorning	(NYSE: GLW)	12,678,622	16,112,839	-21.31%EMC 	(NYSE: EMC)	50,028,872	61,281,674	-18.36%  VMware	(NYSE: VMW)	11,681,831	10,440,110	+11.89%

There were also many key net share changes in short interest, and here are a few of the key names:

Stock		(Ticker)	11/15/2007	10/31/2007	Net ChangeCVS Caremark 	(NYSE: CVS)	67,661,461	37,871,140	+29,790,321Mirant Corp 	(NYSE: MIR)	50,241,294   	23,796,710   	+26,444,584Qwest Comm. 	(NYSE: Q) 	66,747,528   	82,000,170   	-15,252,642General Electric(NYSE: GE) 	61,608,091   	66,708,279   	-5,100,188

Out of financials, Countrywide Financial NYSE:CFC) led the charge with more than 112 million shares. Here are some expanded short interest notes:

• Financial and general
• Key decreases in NYSE short interest
• Key increases on NYSE short interest

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Filed under: Competitive strategy, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Housing

The best investors always look away from the crowd. No doubt, it’s not easy to do - but it can result in some big-time killings.

That’s been the case with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS). According to a piece in the Times Online, the premier investment bank was the only major firm to effectively deal with the subprime mortgage mess.

Basically, the folks at Goldman realized that mortgages were being issued to those who simply couldn’t pay the bills. Hmmmm….maybe that’s a problem, huh?

Continue reading Goldman Sachs: A simple investing lesson

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Filed under: Mattel, Inc (MAT), Stocks to Buy

As the whole nation heads out today to the local mall looking for bargains, investors can “save 30%” by purchasing Mattel (NYSE: MAT). With shares trading near a 52-week low, last week’s announcement that it is raising its dividend by 15% to 75 cents/share is intriguing. It’s no secret that the company’s share price has been sent reeling, due to the damage from excess levels of lead being found in paints used in some of its products. While this was a PR fiasco that cost the company millions in lost sales and damage control, large companies with well-known brands can generally weather this type of storm. That’s what makes the dividend raise even more interesting. In this day and age of company buybacks, the fact that the company is actually distributing more of its profits to investors is commendable.

With retailers offering enticing discounts to shoppers this holiday season, I would expect Mattel to benefit greatly from this. Additionally, more and more of its sales come from outside the US, and with growing disposable income throughout the world, it stands to reason that people in developing countries are also going to spend much more money on holiday presents than ever before.

Continue reading Going shopping? Mattel is on sale

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Wendy’s Intl (WEN), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Technical Analysis, Stocks to Buy

As some folks may not realize, most of the food products we see in the grocery store are provided for us by a relatively limited number of firms. On the bakery side, one of the big outfits is an 88-year-old company headquartered in Thomasville, Georgia.

Flowers Foods (NYSE: FLO) is a leading producer and marketer of packaged bakery foods for retail and foodservice customers. The firm’s Bakeries division makes bread, rolls, buns and other bakery items for distribution throughout the southern U.S. Its Specialty division makes snack cakes and frozen bread products for retail and vending customers nationwide. Among the company’s top brands are Nature’s Own, Cobblestone Mill, Sunbeam, Blue Bird and Mrs. Freshley’s. Clients include Burger King (NYSE: BKC) and Wendy’s International (NYSE: WEN).

Flowers Foods surprised Wall Street earlier in the month, when it reported Q3 EPS of 24 cents and revenues of $475.2 million. Analysts had been expecting 22 cents and $472.2 million. Management also guided FY07 EPS to $0.98-$1.02 (98 cent consensus), FY07 revenues to $2.027-$2.034 billion ($2.03B consensus), FY08 EPS to $1.07-$1.17 ($1.09 consensus) and FY08 revenues to $2.20-$2.258 billion ($2.16B consensus). The FLO share price popped through major moving average resistance on the news and has since been defining a bullish “flag” consolidation pattern. Stocks frequently exit flags moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with five “strong buys,” one “buy” and three “holds.” The FLO Price to Sales ratio (1.03), Price to Book ratio (3.20), Price to Cash Flow ratio (12.91), Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (20.07) and EPS Growth rate (26.32%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages. Institutional investors hold about 69 percent of the outstanding shares. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock has traded between $17.37 and $23.71. A stop-loss of $19.50 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.

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Filed under: Products and services, Apple Inc (AAPL), iPhone, Technology

This post is part of our Hottest Products of 2007 feature. Also check out our other Hottest Products of 2007 posts and let us know which product you think is the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Of all the items we selected for our Hottest Products of 2007 list, the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone is probably the one that best fits the description of a no-brainer. News of the combination phone, web browser, music and video player and digital assistant dominated the tech world for months before its release. When the company abruptly dropped the price for the Christmas season, the anger of early adopters who had paid full retail again dominated the news.

Now the company has rolled the same touch-screen tech that enthralled users of the iPhone into its newest iPods, effectively making competing brands look archaic by comparison.

Continue reading Hottest Products of 2007: Apple’s iPhone calls out competitors

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Filed under: Major movement, Good news, Industry, Target Corp. (TGT), Black Friday, Options, Technical Analysis

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) shares have been soaring today. Traders seem to be excited as the start of the holiday shopping season sees many shoppers packing stores to buy discounted TVs, toys and electronics. The entire retail industry is higher today, with TGT one of the biggest winners. If you think that the company won’t fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on TGT.

The stock hit its 52-week high of $70.75 in July and set its 52-week low of $50.25 in November. TGT opened this morning at $53.98. So far today the stock risen since the open and notched an intra-day high of $57.00. As of 12:15, TGT is trading at $56.99, up $2.89 (5.3%). The chart for TGT looks bearish and steady while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.

Continue reading Target (TGT) soars on Black Friday

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Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Management, Competitive strategy, UAL Corp (UAUA), Delta Air Lines (DAL)

Earlier this month, rumors hit the market that United Airlines (NYSE: UAUA) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) were considering a possible merger. Shortly afterward, Delta officially denied the rumors, but not surprisingly, United Airlines CEO Glen Tilton did not deny that they were considering merger options, as many industry analysts believe that United is the perfect company for a possible merger.

The airline, which took flight in 1930, filed for bankruptcy following the 2001 terrorist attacks and has appeared to be preparing for a sale ever since emerging from its bankruptcy proceedings. United came out of bankruptcy last year, but the company is still up to its eyeballs in debt, and boasts a miserable 2% profit margin over the past year.

When looking at United a couple of factors jump out at you pointing to the notion that the company feels a merger is the best avenue to explore:

Continue reading Is United Airlines looking for a suitor?

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Filed under: Major movement, Good news, Options, Technical Analysis

GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE: GSK) shares have been soaring today on news that the company’s rotavirus drug candidate Rotarix provides protection against the five most commonly circulating forms of the virus. If you think that the company won’t fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on GSK.

The stock hit its 52 week high of 59.98 in April and set its 52 week low of 47.49 in November. GSK opened this morning at $51.28. So far today the stock has hit a low of $53.97 and a high of $56.87. As of 11:35, GSK is trading at $50.82, up $2.95 (6.1%). The chart for GSK looks bearish and steady while S&P gives the stock a 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

Continue reading GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) gets good news from drug trial

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Filed under: Deals, Industry, Charles Schwab Corp (SCHW), TD AmeriTrade Holding (AMTD)

CNBC is reporting that Schwab (NASDAQ: SCHW) and TD Ameritrade (NASDAQ: AMTD) may be in talks to buy troubled discount broker E*Trade (NASDAQ: ETFC). The news has pushed up E*Trade shares as much as 23% to $5.25.

The problem is that if the broker’s mortgage securities investments are as severe a problem as some analysts think, the company may not be worth more than the $3.46 where the stock traded a few days ago. Those buying into the rally could be burned if an offer is well below the current price.

Any deal would probably be based on selling the customers of the discount brokerage unit and keeping the damaged securities on the balance sheet within the remaining public company. There is no guarantee that the cash paid for the customer base would not be eaten up if the market for these distressed securities drops further.

E*Trade may be worth over $5, but it could also be worth a lot less.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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