Filed under: H and R Block (HRB), Boeing Co (BA), Whole Foods Market (WFMI), Hilary On Stocks, Lockheed Martin (LMT), Intuit Inc (INTU), Politics, Presidential elections, Northrop Grumman (NOC)

While the race for Democratic nomination for president seems to be 67% wrapped up with Hillary Clinton getting the nomination, the Republican nomination is far from settled. According to Intrade.com, a betting site where you can bet on the outcome of the elections, Mike Huckabee has been gaining a lot of ground recently.

As a stock analyst, I can recognize a healthy, up-trending chart, and support for Huckabee has taken off in the last two months, from a 3% chance of the Republican nomination to a 12% chance of the nomination.

Continue reading Will another Arkansas governor sweep the White House?

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Filed under: Business of sports

Not so long ago, the NHL seemed like it was on the brink of losing what little cultural relevance it had left. The lockout irritated the sport’s loyal fans, and less-loyal fans simply lost interest. Attendance was weak, and what were thought to have been important contests were getting beaten in the ratings by arena football games.

Now, Nashville investor David Freeman has led a group buying the Nashville Predators franchise for $193 million — a strong vote of confidence in the league’s future.

The last NHL team to be sold was the St. Louis Blues in 2006. The Blues fetched $150 million. An NHL-commissioned report found that, during the 2002-2003 season, the NHL’s 30 teams lost a total of $273 million.

It seems like efforts to rein in player salaries may be making the league more competitive financially, and the NHL could be back on the road to profitability.

Now all it needs is a young stud to revive mainstream interest the way that Wayne Gretzky did many years ago. If the league can get behind promoting him, 20-year old Penguins phenom Sidney Crosby could be their man.

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Filed under: International markets, Other issues, Exxon Mobil (XOM), Middle East, Chevron Corp (CVX), ConocoPhillips (COP), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Commodities, Oil

Wall Street and academia are two fields that publish a great deal of research, albeit for different objectives and audiences.

Wall Street has a tendency to emphasize mainline research, a process that produces a great deal of specialized, up-to-the-minute research, but one that also can sometimes overlook — even intentionally exclude — research by niche or lesser-known researchers.

In focus: oil

One example: oil prices and the U.S. economy. Wall Street abounds in research describing oil’s impact on U.S. GDP. As most investors/readers know, the current consensus holds that as oil prices rise, the U.S. economy slows, and if it rises too high it can throw the economy into a recession.

Continue reading Despite oil’s climb, U.S. economy bends, but doesn’t break

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Filed under: Television, Politics

It’s the end of an era. At 77 years of age, Pat Robertson, the influential founder of The 700 Club is turning over the role of Chief Executive Officer at Christian Broadcasting Network to his son, Gordon. Pat Robertson has been CEO since he founded the network in 1960, and has been arguably the most influential figure in the evangelical movement for most of that time. His recent endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for president, who is pro-choice, shocked the political world.

This comes during a time of great change for television ministries. The guard appears to be changing with the recent deaths of Jerry Falwell and Tammy Faye Messner.

Senator Charles Grassley is launching an investigation of some television ministries, and has called into question their tax-exempt status, in light of the exorbitant compensation packages that some executives are taking home.

I have also wondered about the fund-raising tactics of some television ministries, particularly in the case of ministrimercials subscribing to the prosperity doctrine, promising viewers huge financial returns on their donations — I’ve suggested that this might even be a form of securities fraud.

Special thanks to The Salt Lake Tribune for giving some publicity to my thoughts on this matter.

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Filed under: Blogs, Getting started, Books, Personal finance

Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Stockerblog has released its list of 100 investment books — the site adds that these are just the last 100 books the site has mentioned in the past couple of years, but if they’re good enough to discuss, that’s probably an endorsement of some kind. The list contains some classics and a lot of books you’ve probably never heard of.

Rather than rehash all the classics that every investor worth his or her salt has read, I’m going to give a list of a few of my favorite investment books that are either new but not bestsellers or long and forgotten. Click on the title for my review:

R. Foster Winans’ Trading Secrets: This is a richly-written morality tale of sorts about the insider trading scandal that ruined Winans’ career.

Continue reading Great gifts! The top 100 investment books!

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Filed under: Consumer experience, Marketing and advertising, NIKE, Inc’B’ (NKE)

Back in August, I wrote about all the beaten-down shoe stocks currently on the market: companies like Rocky Brands (NASDAQ: RCKY), Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL), Phoenix Footwear Group (AMEX: PXG), and Shoe Pavilion (NASDAQ: SHOE).

Basically, selling shoes without a strong brand name is a tough business. Companies like Phoenix and Rocky are seeing their margins crushed by competitive forces, and retailers like Finish Line, Shoe Pavilion, and Genesco (NYSE: GCO), owner of stores like Journeys, are having a hard time making any money.

Innovation is they key to success in the industry, and there have been a few stories recently about companies looking to do just that. Nike (NYSE: NKE) and Foot Locker (NYSE: FL) have teamed up to launch House of Hoops, which aims to be a “destination” for basketball consumers.

At its Nike stores as well, the leading basketball footwear company is realizing that, to differentiate itself and expand margins, it will have to provide customers with more than just a nice shoe: they need a unique shopping experience.

Continue reading Innovation is key for shoe sellers in tough market

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Filed under: Earnings reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Amazon.com (AMZN), International Business Machines (IBM), Oracle Corp (ORCL), Technical Analysis, Stocks to Buy, Technology

Netezza Corporation (NYSE: NZ) provides data warehouse appliances. The company’s Netezza Performance Server integrates database, server, and storage platforms in a purpose-built unit to enable detailed queries and analyses of stored data. The firm serves companies in telecommunications, e-business, retail, financial services, analytic services, government and healthcare. Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is a major customer. IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) are competitors.

Netezza surprised the Street last week, when it reported Q3 EPS of four cents and revenues of $33.4 million. Analysts had been expecting breakeven earnings and revenues of $29.4 million. The company had no outstanding debt at the end of the quarter. Management also guided FY08 revenues to about $120 million ($115.37M consensus) and FY09 revenues to about $160 million ($149.53M consensus). Needham subsequently reiterated its “buy” rating on the issue and boosted its price target to $19. NZ shares popped on the news and then moved into the initial stage of a bullish “pennant” consolidation pattern. Prices frequently exit pennants moving in the same direction they were traveling on entry. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Continue reading Netezza Corp. (NZ) shares defining bullish ‘pennant’ pattern

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Filed under: Management, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Wal-Mart (WMT), Costco Wholesale (COST)

It was hard to argue with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT)’s ruthless efficiency and emphasis on cost-cutting at all costs when it was producing results.

But as the five-year chart below shows, Wal-Mart’s stock has been a serious laggard of late. Meanwhile, its more socially conscious discounting cousin, Costco (NYSE: COST) has been on a tear.

Over the past five years, shares of Wal-Mart have lost more than 10% of their value. Costco is up better than 100% over the same period.

Continue reading Costco does well by doing good — pay attention Wal-Mart!

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Filed under: Stocks to Buy

Look for Textron (NYSE: TXT) to continue to benefit from the global economy’s tailwind.

Strong global economic growth should continue to generate solid demand of the company’s Cessna jets and planes, which accounted for 51% of its profits. Further, analysts expect Textron’s Bell division to perform well in 2008-2009 on strong commercial and military helicopter orders.

Textron’s Industrial division should also post solid results, manufacturing everything from golf carts to lawn care machinery to auto parts. A decent, stable dividend adds to the mix. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for TXT are $3.49/$4.09.

Continue reading Textron looks to the skies for earnings

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Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Technology

With last week’s BusinessWeek article expecting a verdict on the proposed merger between Sirius Satellite (NASDAQ: SIRI) and XM Satellite (NASDAQ: XMSR) soon, I feel that it’s imperative that the regulators let the deal happen. Without a deal, both companies will continue to incur heavy losses, and the future of satellite radio will be in jeopardy. It’s ironic that the antitrust lot are worried about a monopoly, but without a merger, the entire industry could be finished.

With plenty of competition coming from traditional radio, internet radio, and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iPods, the government’s worry over lack of competition is unfounded. Rather, the money saved by the merger in new customer acquisition will help keep the companies solvent. Doug McIntyre had a nice analysis of the deal a few weeks back, and he feels that with both stocks’ recent rise, Wall Street is telling us that 1) they think the merger is going to go through, and 2) it would be mutually beneficial if it does.

If we can get a quick resolution to this, after months and months of foot-dragging by regulators, and the resolution is in favor of the merger, then this will be a defining movement for the satellite radio industry as it moves ahead and becomes a true media force to be reckoned with.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer has no position in any stock mentioned as of 12/03/07.

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