Under The Radar News - Tuesday

• No WiMax Mac. Despite persistent rumors, Apple (AAPL) is unlikely to introduce a WiMax notebook at this year's MacWorld, due to its current lack of coverage in the U.S., and Sprint's (S) lack of clarity as to its plans for the technology.
• Car makers prepare for slump. Auto industry executives are turning increasingly pessimistic, particularly regarding sales of luxury vehicles, after Tiffany (TIF) scaled back its earnings forecast last week. Weak luxury sales could further dent automakers' earnings, and portend a widening impact of weak housing and credit markets.
• Saks for sale? An Iceland investor who has voiced interest in buying Saks (SKS) says he's unmoved by recent weakness in luxury retailing, and says Saks shares, which have been hammered in recent days, look "attractive."
• SEC takes fresh look at oil sands. The SEC is reviewing a three-decades-old rule that prohibit companies from booking oil sands reserves as “proven crude.” A change would put Alberta's oil sands on the same footing as conventional crude oil and boost the value of the enormous resource. [Editor: Oil sands investors include BP plc (BP), Imperial Oil (IMO) [70% owned by ExxonMobil (XOM)], Marathon Oil (MRO), Oilsands Quest Inc. (BQI), and Suncor (SU).]
• News Corp. stakes out Bebo. News Corp. (NWS) CEO Rupert Murdoch recently visited social networking company Bebo. Rumors of an acquisition are swirling. Bebo may be attractive because of its presence in the UK market.
• Toshiba slashes prices in HD war. Toshiba cut prices on its HD-DVD players by an average of $50 in a last-ditch effort to save the format following a series of victories for rival Sony's (SNE) Blu-ray technology, signalling it is not yet willing to concede defeat. Margins will take a hit.
• DRAM delays. Qimonda (QI) is postponing the equipment installation at its 12-inch fab in Singapore amid a DRAM industry downturn. The DRAM industry has been hit by huge losses amid plummeting prices. Shares are down 5%.
• BofA's tax windfall. Bank of America's (BAC) recent purchase of Countrywide Financial (CFC) could qualify it for a $500M tax break over the first five years.
• Facebook to buy Plaxo. A Facebook acquisition of online address book service Plaxo is a done deal, a source says. Rumors are it could go for up to $200M.
• Marketers' grim outlook. A survey of 825 global marketers shows expectations of decreased growth, despite strong ad spending on presidential elections and the Olympics.
• Hedge fund takes more helpings of CKE. GSO Capital bought another $3 million worth of CKE Restaurant (CKE) shares, boosting its stake by 16% to 3.4% of the company. A GSO director, Matthew Goldfarb, sits on the CKE board, a factor Ben Silverman of InsiderScore.com says gives the purchase extra meaning.

Comments

[Long-ShortGuy]

Why would Facebook want to buy Plaxo? Plaxo is a service most people I know stopped using years ago.

BTW, "Under the Radar" is really excellent.

[Frank Li]

You were spot on with the Apple-WiMax prediction. Cudos.

[Tom B]

I thought BAC (Which I hold) was insane when they bid for Countrywide. Now, I think they are "crazy like a fox".