Filed under: Earnings reports

The most recent quarter was good for Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM), which reported that its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, and not too bad for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), which posted a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter.

For the quarter that ended December 29, Boston Beer’s net income jumped to $6.8 million, or 46 cents per share, from $2.5 million, or 17 cents per share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue rose 26% to $92.2 million from the same period of 2006. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 35 cents per share on revenue of $88.9 million.

The company credited its performance to drinkers trading up to craft beers, as well as increasing retailer and wholesale support for the craft category and for Samuel Adams. The company noted that its Twisted Tea brand also performed well in the quarter.

For the full year, profit grew 24% from a year ago, to $22.5 million, or $1.53 per share, while revenue grew 20% to $341.6 million.

Boston Beer shares rose $2.02, or 6%, to close at $35.81, and continued to rise in after-hours trading.

Continue reading Boston Beer profit more than doubles; Take-Two posts narrower-than-estimated loss

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Filed under: Earnings reports

The most recent quarter was good for Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM), which reported that its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled, and not too bad for Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), which posted a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter.

For the quarter that ended December 29, Boston Beer’s net income jumped to $6.8 million, or 46 cents per share, from $2.5 million, or 17 cents per share, in the prior year quarter. Revenue rose 26% to $92.2 million from the same period of 2006. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 35 cents per share on revenue of $88.9 million.

The company credited its performance to drinkers trading up to craft beers, as well as increasing retailer and wholesale support for the craft category and for Samuel Adams. The company noted that its Twisted Tea brand also performed well in the quarter.

For the full year, profit grew 24% from a year ago, to $22.5 million, or $1.53 per share, while revenue grew 20% to $341.6 million.

Boston Beer shares rose $2.02, or 6%, to close at $35.81, and continued to rise in after-hours trading.

Continue reading Boston Beer profit more than doubles; Take-Two posts narrower-than-estimated loss

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Filed under: Time Warner (TWX)

A recent SEC filing laid out the “upside“ part of executive compensation for Jeff Bewkes, president and CEO of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). He has received options that gives him the right to acquire 1.5 million shares of common stock. Bewkes’ new options have a $14.92 exercise price and will vest over the next four years.

Bewkes already received options to purchase 950,000 shares in December in connection with his new employment agreement. Former CEO Richard Parsons still remains chairman and he has received 106,500 restricted stock shares and an option to acquire 319,400 shares.

If Bewkes and the team perform and this stock goes back up to $20, Bewkes would net an extra $7.62 million in gains before taxes.

This does not look egregious at all when you consider the situation. Bewkes stepped in right when the economy started a serious slump and negative stock performance had already started well before that. It may take some time for Time Warner’s stock to get back up to $20 because of the economy and the bite of the bear market. Shareholders should be glad to see that he has some serious incentive to perform.

Time Warner shares gained 37 cents, or about 3%, today to close at $14.84. The 52-week trading range before this was $14.64 to $21.97. This stock ended 2007 at $16.45 and shares were above $18 last November.

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Filed under: Time Warner (TWX)

A recent SEC filing laid out the “upside“ part of executive compensation for Jeff Bewkes, president and CEO of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX). He has received options that gives him the right to acquire 1.5 million shares of common stock. Bewkes’ new options have a $14.92 exercise price and will vest over the next four years.

Bewkes already received options to purchase 950,000 shares in December in connection with his new employment agreement. Former CEO Richard Parsons still remains chairman and he has received 106,500 restricted stock shares and an option to acquire 319,400 shares.

If Bewkes and the team perform and this stock goes back up to $20, Bewkes would net an extra $7.62 million in gains before taxes.

This does not look egregious at all when you consider the situation. Bewkes stepped in right when the economy started a serious slump and negative stock performance had already started well before that. It may take some time for Time Warner’s stock to get back up to $20 because of the economy and the bite of the bear market. Shareholders should be glad to see that he has some serious incentive to perform.

Time Warner shares gained 37 cents, or about 3%, today to close at $14.84. The 52-week trading range before this was $14.64 to $21.97. This stock ended 2007 at $16.45 and shares were above $18 last November.

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Google (GOOG)

Steffen Mueller’s past gig was as a product manager at Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), working on Google Maps, Froogle, and Google Web Search. Well, now he’s got his own venture: Topicle.

And yes, it’s focused on the massive search business. Think of it as Google meets Wikipedia. Essentially, Topicle relies on the efforts of users, who collect helpful web links. These are based on voting, using a 1-5 scale.

Ironically enough, Topicle is in a way a move to the past. After all, when Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) got its start, the search results were primarily based on the decisions of, well, people.

In theory, Topicle makes sense and should result in relevant results. However, it’s going to be tough to get critical mass, especially in light of the many search options available for users. Besides, building a site that’s based on user participation is never an easy thing to do.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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Filed under: Other issues

Ever wonder how hedge fund managers get to become hedge fund managers? It’d be pretty interesting to have $1 billion at your fingertips to try and make some loot.

Portfolio.com has an interesting article today entitled, “Digging Up Dirt on Fund Managers“, which explores the people behind the computers in the hedge fund industry. Based upon a recent survey published by the Greenwich Roundtable and Quinnipiac University, researchers claim that almost 82% of investors in hedge funds have decided not to invest with a manager because of allegations of unethical behavior. (See my recent post about a leading hedge fund manager facing time.)

In an industry that is supposedly driven by hard, cold numbers and return on investment, it’s interesting to see how when you get down to it, managing money is still built on trust. The same article quotes Steve McMenamin, executive director of the Greenwich Roundtable, a non-profit research group for investors in alternative assets, as saying, “These fund structures are based on trust. If there’s even a hint of impropriety, investors tend to shy away.”

Interesting findings indeed.

Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.

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Filed under: Other issues

Ever wonder how hedge fund managers get to become hedge fund managers? It’d be pretty interesting to have $1 billion at your fingertips to try and make some loot.

Portfolio.com has an interesting article today entitled, “Digging Up Dirt on Fund Managers“, which explores the people behind the computers in the hedge fund industry. Based upon a recent survey published by the Greenwich Roundtable and Quinnipiac University, researchers claim that almost 82% of investors in hedge funds have decided not to invest with a manager because of allegations of unethical behavior. (See my recent post about a leading hedge fund manager facing time.)

In an industry that is supposedly driven by hard, cold numbers and return on investment, it’s interesting to see how when you get down to it, managing money is still built on trust. The same article quotes Steve McMenamin, executive director of the Greenwich Roundtable, a non-profit research group for investors in alternative assets, as saying, “These fund structures are based on trust. If there’s even a hint of impropriety, investors tend to shy away.”

Interesting findings indeed.

Zack Miller is the Managing Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund.

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Filed under: Products and services, Consumer experience, Google (GOOG)

Steffen Mueller’s past gig was as a product manager at Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), working on Google Maps, Froogle, and Google Web Search. Well, now he’s got his own venture: Topicle.

And yes, it’s focused on the massive search business. Think of it as Google meets Wikipedia. Essentially, Topicle relies on the efforts of users, who collect helpful web links. These are based on voting, using a 1-5 scale.

Ironically enough, Topicle is in a way a move to the past. After all, when Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) got its start, the search results were primarily based on the decisions of, well, people.

In theory, Topicle makes sense and should result in relevant results. However, it’s going to be tough to get critical mass, especially in light of the many search options available for users. Besides, building a site that’s based on user participation is never an easy thing to do.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

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Filed under: After the bell, Good news, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), eBay (EBAY), General Electric (GE), Amazon.com (AMZN), Market matters, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), S and P 500, DJIA, Federal Reserve, NASDAQ

There has been plenty of banter back and forth as to whether the Federal Reserve had lost some of its gusto. Can it have a significant impact given the massive scale of the global economy? Measured by the reaction of Wall Street investors today, the answer is a resounding yes.

Wall Street has finally found a reason for a big rally. The Federal Reserve plans to pump $200 billion into the financial markets to help ease the strain from the credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrial average is up about 416 points at the 12,156 level. That’s the index’s biggest one-day point gain since July 24, 2002. The NASDAQ closed up 86.42 to 2,255.76 and the S&P 500 finished the day at 1,320.65 gaining 47.28.

Among some of our more closely watched stocks Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) rallied to 439.85 +26.23 (+6.34%), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) climbed 127.39 +7.70 (+6.43%) Microsoft was up 29.30 +1.25 (+4.46%), Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) rose 67.15 +3.68 (+5.80%), Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) moved up to 163.07 +7.49 (+4.81%), eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) grew to 26.41 +0.69 (+2.68%), and General Electric (NYSE: GE) was up to 33.40 +1.70 (+5.36%).

Todays move by the Fed implies they had seen enough data, and stories like Dow below 12,000 — do I hear 11,000? Yes I do! to be spooked into action. No one knows what tomorrow will bring but at least for today the Fed was Big Time again!

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money. Disclosure: I own EBAY and do not own any of the other stocks discussed.

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Filed under: Private equity, Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Johnson Controls (JCI), Politics, Presidential elections

Former Vice President Al Gore is doing quite nicely staying out of the current political fray.

Generation Investment Management Ltd., which he co-founded with ex-Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) banker David Blood in 2004, attracted nearly $5 billion to its main Global Equity Fund and is probably restricting inflows into the fund next month, according to Blomberg News.

The fund has some pretty high ideals according to its Web site: “We focus on the economic, environmental, social, and governance risks and opportunities that can materially affect a company’s ability to sustain profitability and deliver returns. Our research plays an important role in forming our views on the quality of the business, the quality of management, and valuation.”

So how does that translate in the real world? Al Gore isn’t providing performance details, according to the Bloomberg story. It’s kind of weird for Gore to be so mum considering that its biggest holding Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) is up more than 60% over the past year in U.S. trading.

Continue reading Al Gore’s fund closes after attracting $5 billion

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