Chiquita Brands International Inc Analysts May Be Underestimating The... -12/07/09 at 12:51 PM ESTby Peter York

It’s easy to overlook the fact that over 60% of Chiquita Brands International's (NYSE:CQB) banana segment revenue comes from Europe.  As a result, Chiquita is quietly benefiting from a strong Euro.  The upside may actually be as much as $1 per share as the euro now trades at around $1.50, higher than what analysts are conservatively assumi...

Gamestop Inc. Has Favorable Trends Based On Available November Sales ... -12/07/09 at 10:55 AM ESTby Joe Matty

As we approach the dissemination of November NPD data, let's look into VGCharts sales number estimates. It may help prepare us for what's coming for GameStop (NASDAQ:GME). Part I - November Numbers (1st 3 weeks of 2009 vs. 1st 3 weeks of 2008) + Analysis Below are my findings in three comparisons (Top 20 games, Top 10, Bottom 10 of top 20). Sum of Top 2...

Strauss Zelnick: No Regrets, No Responsibility, Take Two -12/04/09 at 1:06 AM ESTby Perry H. Rod

Take Two Interactive's [NASDAQ:TTWO] Strauss Zelnick has done it again.  In July, I profiled Mr. Zelnick, a man who brags about having no regrets and taking no responsibility for his many failures at Take Two. Today, despite being "proud" of sales of titles such as Borderlands and Take Two's NBA title, Mr. Zelnick specifically pointed out that he wa...

SEC OIG Investigating SEC Complicity in Naked Short Selling of Dendre... -12/01/09 at 7:35 PM ESTby Mark Mitchell

The Office of the Inspector General of the Securities and Exchange Commission not long ago submitted a semi-annual report to Congress. There are two items in the report of interest to those of us who have argued that the SEC has turned a blind eye towards, or even assisted, unscrupulous hedge funds that make their fortunes destroying public companies for ...

J.T. Marlin Raises Price Target on Amazon.com, Inc. -11/25/09 at 12:25 PM ESTby Peter York

J.T. Marlin today raised its price target on Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)., from $120 to $500, citing valuation. J.T. Marlin analyst Abbie Halpert joined dozens of sell side analysts in recommending  popular Amazon stock for their clients: "It is the middle of the day today and it has not moved up.  In fact it is slightly down, and we find that ...

Credit Suisse Analyst Raises Outlook on Gamestop Inc. -11/25/09 at 10:30 AM ESTby Perry H. Rod

Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter, who earlier this year raised alarm about Gamestop Inc. (NYSE:GME) when Amazon Inc (AMZN) announced a move into the used game business, is now raising his outlook for Gamestop's fiscal year ending in January.  Balter raised his 2009 earnings per share estimate from $2.46 to $2.54 and his 2010 estimate from $2.70 to $...

Obama Bows, Iran Taunts, and Supply Peaks, Making it Time to Look at ... -11/24/09 at 5:30 PM ESTby Reggie Abaca

A series of events are making it highly probably that we are quickly approaching the day when the United States will suddenly attack Iran and oil prices will rise dramatically.  This type of scenario makes it the right time to invest in oil exchange traded funds: United States Oil Fund LP [NYSE:USO], United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP [NYSE:USL], an...

A Tale of Two Company Blockbuster Franchises: Activision Blizzard's C... -11/23/09 at 4:28 PM ESTby Perry H. Rod

Activision Blizzard’s (NASDAQ: ATVI) Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 recently dethroned Take Two Interactive's (NASDAQ: TTWO) Grand Theft Auto 4 for having the biggest opening week worldwide of any video game in history.  One glaring difference between the business models behind the two franchises is that one comes out with a core sequel each yea...

THQ Inc. Still Looks Overvalued -11/20/09 at 1:46 PM ESTby Perry H. Rod

Hopes are running high at THQ Inc (NASDAQ:THQI).  That's because hope is all they can count on at this point. MX vs. ATV, a product being released on four consoles is coming next week without significant fanfare, according to Amazon bestseller charts and others.  The racing genre as a whole has been underperforming in the past year, as seen rece...

Gamestop Inc. CEO Suggests 2010 Growth Modeling Expectations Are High... -11/19/09 at 11:18 AM ESTby Perry H. Rod

In response to a question about possibly having another 20% year over year software growth year as seen for the company in 2008, Gamestop (NASDAQ: GME) CEO Dan DeMatteo said in a conference call with analysts that Gamestop's early expectations for 2010 growth is not for 20% but rather for "strog single digits to maybe low double digit growth." Analysts e...

Did The Markit Group, A Black-Box Company Partially Owned By Goldman ... -11/17/09 at 6:44 PM ESTby Mark Mitchell

Although much attention has been directed at the contribution made by credit default swaps  to the financial crisis, most discussion has focused on the companies, such as American International Group (AIG), that posted big losses because they sold these instruments without sufficient due diligence. Another line of inquiry has not been pursued, howeve...