Expecting Mild Chipotle Earnings As Cost Pressures Heat Up [View article]
Taco Hell is not competition for Chipotle. Yes, margins will be pressured due to rising food costs and an inability to pass them on, but I cannot imagine anyone who has eaten at Chipotle that will think of Taco Smell as an alternative.
The average burrito with drink and taxes is already north of $10 in Chipotle. It's getting pretty steep. For a family of four, that is $40 for a burrito and drink each.
Today's Eurogroup meeting in Dublin shows the sad incoherence of the Cyprus rescue, says Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian. By approving a €10B package, Europe has called on Cyprus to find an additional €6B euros to cover what is now a larger funding hole. It now needs to generate a total of €13B, which is a daunting sum for such a small country. The Troika, says El-Erian, has now botched a Cyprus rescue twice in less than a month. The implications cannot be good for Cyprus - nor for Europe as a whole. [View news story]
You. And me. Via the IMF. And also Uncle Ben who will give them dollars for euros when no one else will accept their euros. He already did it once. Trust me, you and me will pay for the Europeans to lie around on beaches and in their welfare apartments, smoking, drinking wine and cursing America.
Microsoft: Steve Ballmer Deserves The Ron Johnson Treatment [View article]
I finally see a plausible path out of the Windows monopoly. Windows 8 is a shattering failure as a OS. There is nothing to recommend Windows over any other OS now. And if you are going to learn a new OS, why learn Windows *, why not something else?
Secondly, the Office was a big reason to stick to Windows (given it was ported to macs). With Office as a SaaS product on the web, it takes away the other big lever to stick to Windows.
It's a golden opportunity for some company to release a user friendly OS (No, google chrome protoplasm doesn't count, neither does hard core tinkerer versions of linux). The first company to release a very simple OS is going to reap a fortune. I would think taking some old X-window based thing and dressing it on a linux OS might be the ticket.
1. Promise to implement austerity 2. Get money to tide by while the promises are implemented 3. Not take any actual action on the promises of austerity 4. Get threatened with being cut off from more money by Germany 5. Threaten to leave European Union 6. Promise to implement austerity for real next year 7. Get more money to tide over while promises are implemented 8. Cycle repeats from step 3
It's like one of those silly exercise bikes that sell for $14,000 where they outline how fools get parted from their money by being promised a rock hard body by exercising 2 minutes a day.
Date Wal-Mart, Marry Target, Kill Sears [View article]
Seeing is believing. I have made it a practice to drop into Walmarts whenever I'm in several midwestern states. I noticed the empty shelves long before it became a media story. There are shelves in my local walmart which are empty for literally weeks
With Obamacare kicking in, Walmart will use many more parttime employees with consequent employee churn and scheduling difficulties. Things are going to get worse, not better at Walmart, unless they invent a shelf stocking robot. (probably doable using current tech)
J.C. Penney (JCP) confirms Ron Johnson is "stepping down and leaving the company." Mike Ullman, who was J.C. Penney's CEO until Nov. 2011, is replacing Johnson as CEO, and has also been elected to the company's board. Investors don't seem crazy about the choice, JCP now just +0.5% AH. (previous) Update (5:33): Shares are now down 4.4% AH. [View news story]
A nice black eye for Ackman. A CEO who flew each week 2.5 hours each way to California and back to Texas, on the company jet at $42,000 per hour? His commute cost JCP $200,000 per week or $10 million per 50 week year. (JCP reported it as $344,000 per year, most likely based on the cost of a business cost ticket from Texas to California).
This guy blew $42,000 per hour on the company dime while firing tens of thousands of employees who had no role in his bad decisions. Supporting this male Marie Antoinette makes Ackman really look like a hypocrite when he railed against the Herbalife CEO for ripping off the herbalife distributors.
Fisker Automotive, the struggling government-backed hybrid sports car maker, terminates 75% of its staff in what sources said was a last-ditch effort to conserve cash and stave off a potential bankruptcy filing. The company, which raised $1.2B from investors and tapped nearly $200M in government loans, has only around $30M in cash remaining. About 160 workers were fired at a Friday morning meeting at its Anaheim, Calif., headquarters, and were told that the company couldn't afford to give them severance payments. [View news story]
Not to worry. Al Gore made off like a bandit with my tax money by selling his Fisker stake right after the government gave them hundreds of millions of money looted from me and other politically unconnected suckers.
"Come See Our New Home on Android," reads an invite to a Facebook (FB) event set for 1PM ET on April 4. Sources tell TechCrunch Facebook will unveil "a modified version of [Android] with deep native Facebook functionality that may live on an HTC handset." However, it won't be "a full-on rewrite" of Android, which could allow Facebook to maintain access to Google (GOOG) services. Either way, Google has been wary of attempts to tweak Android (and potentially diminish its control). HTC has reportedly been working on a phone with a dedicated Facebook button. (9to5 Google) [View news story]
"Come See How Our Top Execs are Dumping Shares" says the invite in the papers filed at SEC
It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned For U.S. And U.K. Depositors [View article]
Since the FDIC premiums and balance sheet are both jokes, in the event of any significant large bank failure, the FDIC itself will need to be bailed out.
First, the i-banks, hedgefunds and other counterparties will grab depositors funds. Then taxpayers will be told "You are not bailing out the hedge funds and i-banks, you are only helping poor working Americans get their deposits back"
These 3 Well-Known Hedge Funds Are Also In HerbaLife [View article]
When you are talking about "levels of capital" are you talking about investor's capital or capital with leverage? For example if Seneca was leveraged 10:1, then a wipeout on HLF going to zero would destroy about 91% of AUM.
Facebook's Revival: The Ship Has Sailed [View article]
"Billionaire Steve Cohen and his investment team at SAC Capital Advisors...."
I wonder what Cohen knows that the rest of don't? It couldn't be some material insider information, could it? Not fine, upstanding Steve Cohen right?
Referencing Steve Cohen is a rather good way of destroying credibility for whatever thesis you are building. I agree with your thesis, btw, but that is irrelevant to the point.
Splunk - The Next Google Or The Next Goner? [View article]
But...but....but, sir, you are denying the vast uses of unstructured data...the basis for valuation of Splunk, CRM and many many other "big data" companies...one day these companies will provide something than anecdotal evidence of the uses of "Big Data"...maybe even something that we can measure using data...do you not know the new political correctness is to appreciate only unrelated, random piles of unstructured data, because these are so obviously superior to relational, normalized data
Expecting Mild Chipotle Earnings As Cost Pressures Heat Up [View article]
The average burrito with drink and taxes is already north of $10 in Chipotle. It's getting pretty steep. For a family of four, that is $40 for a burrito and drink each.
Today's Eurogroup meeting in Dublin shows the sad incoherence of the Cyprus rescue, says Pimco's Mohamed El-Erian. By approving a €10B package, Europe has called on Cyprus to find an additional €6B euros to cover what is now a larger funding hole. It now needs to generate a total of €13B, which is a daunting sum for such a small country. The Troika, says El-Erian, has now botched a Cyprus rescue twice in less than a month. The implications cannot be good for Cyprus - nor for Europe as a whole. [View news story]
Microsoft: Steve Ballmer Deserves The Ron Johnson Treatment [View article]
Secondly, the Office was a big reason to stick to Windows (given it was ported to macs). With Office as a SaaS product on the web, it takes away the other big lever to stick to Windows.
It's a golden opportunity for some company to release a user friendly OS (No, google chrome protoplasm doesn't count, neither does hard core tinkerer versions of linux). The first company to release a very simple OS is going to reap a fortune. I would think taking some old X-window based thing and dressing it on a linux OS might be the ticket.
Why Cyprus Must Leave The Euro [View article]
1. Promise to implement austerity
2. Get money to tide by while the promises are implemented
3. Not take any actual action on the promises of austerity
4. Get threatened with being cut off from more money by Germany
5. Threaten to leave European Union
6. Promise to implement austerity for real next year
7. Get more money to tide over while promises are implemented
8. Cycle repeats from step 3
It's like one of those silly exercise bikes that sell for $14,000 where they outline how fools get parted from their money by being promised a rock hard body by exercising 2 minutes a day.
Date Wal-Mart, Marry Target, Kill Sears [View article]
With Obamacare kicking in, Walmart will use many more parttime employees with consequent employee churn and scheduling difficulties. Things are going to get worse, not better at Walmart, unless they invent a shelf stocking robot. (probably doable using current tech)
J.C. Penney (JCP) confirms Ron Johnson is "stepping down and leaving the company." Mike Ullman, who was J.C. Penney's CEO until Nov. 2011, is replacing Johnson as CEO, and has also been elected to the company's board. Investors don't seem crazy about the choice, JCP now just +0.5% AH. (previous) Update (5:33): Shares are now down 4.4% AH. [View news story]
This guy blew $42,000 per hour on the company dime while firing tens of thousands of employees who had no role in his bad decisions. Supporting this male Marie Antoinette makes Ackman really look like a hypocrite when he railed against the Herbalife CEO for ripping off the herbalife distributors.
Fisker Automotive, the struggling government-backed hybrid sports car maker, terminates 75% of its staff in what sources said was a last-ditch effort to conserve cash and stave off a potential bankruptcy filing. The company, which raised $1.2B from investors and tapped nearly $200M in government loans, has only around $30M in cash remaining. About 160 workers were fired at a Friday morning meeting at its Anaheim, Calif., headquarters, and were told that the company couldn't afford to give them severance payments. [View news story]
"Come See Our New Home on Android," reads an invite to a Facebook (FB) event set for 1PM ET on April 4. Sources tell TechCrunch Facebook will unveil "a modified version of [Android] with deep native Facebook functionality that may live on an HTC handset." However, it won't be "a full-on rewrite" of Android, which could allow Facebook to maintain access to Google (GOOG) services. Either way, Google has been wary of attempts to tweak Android (and potentially diminish its control). HTC has reportedly been working on a phone with a dedicated Facebook button. (9to5 Google) [View news story]
It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned For U.S. And U.K. Depositors [View article]
First, the i-banks, hedgefunds and other counterparties will grab depositors funds. Then taxpayers will be told "You are not bailing out the hedge funds and i-banks, you are only helping poor working Americans get their deposits back"
It Can Happen Here: The Confiscation Scheme Planned For U.S. And U.K. Depositors [View article]
Facebook Valuation Model Shows Stock Is Worth Less Than $20 [View article]
Facebook Valuation Model Shows Stock Is Worth Less Than $20 [View article]
These 3 Well-Known Hedge Funds Are Also In HerbaLife [View article]
Facebook's Revival: The Ship Has Sailed [View article]
I wonder what Cohen knows that the rest of don't? It couldn't be some material insider information, could it? Not fine, upstanding Steve Cohen right?
Referencing Steve Cohen is a rather good way of destroying credibility for whatever thesis you are building. I agree with your thesis, btw, but that is irrelevant to the point.
Splunk - The Next Google Or The Next Goner? [View article]
if I hear "big data" one more time I'll puke.