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bear_mkt
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I'm an individual investor and trader. I'm currently retired. My professional work experience has been in commercial real estate, working for a major supermarket company and for an urban development corporation. Bear_Mkt is my pseudonym -- bear seems to be my usual investing view. Don't take... More
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Dollar Crisis
  • Hughes after Howard Hughes - book - RTN 0 comments
    Sep 27, 2011 12:14 AM | about stocks: RTN
     There's a new book out about what happened to Hughes Aircraft after Howard Hughes stopped running it.  The link is below. Most of the Hughes biographies and movies deal with the mysterious and eccentric Howard Hughes himself. This deals with the company.
     
    Growing up, I was intrigued by Hughes Company's magazine ads. Very understated and mysterious. Usually just  text on white paper with a simple blue logo, appearing in places like "U.S. News," regarded as the news weekly for businessmen, rather than the flashier Newsweek or Time.
     
    I learned a lot of the company's work was classified, satellites and electronics.  Top Secret. In short, the stuff that appeals to a kid growing up in a new world full of Sputniks, Cold Wars and James Bond movies.  Years later, I used to drive past vast Hughes Aircraft buildings in Southern California and wondered if  dashing secret agents were chasing KGB spies.  
     
    The Hughes engineers were top fight creative talent who prospered when the company was run by a trust and suffered when it was taken over by a public company. GM. 
     
    Hughes and its engineers could outpace the Japanese in going from concept to production.  The creative process slowed down after GM took the over and a layer of GM management bureaucracy was placed over them. How different the world would have been if Hughes had taken over GM.
     
    Hughes Aircraft was gradually sold off. What's left of Hughes Aircraft is now part of Raytheon and NewsCorp.  
     
    Raytheon metrics - RTN
    Price = $40.41
    PE, ttm = 7.43
    Yield = 4.4%
    Payout ratio = 32%
    52 week performance = down 11.7% (vs S&P 500, down, 1%)
    Analyst sentiment - generally bullish
     
    (FWIW -- I'm not planning on reading the book. The review was enough for me.  I am currently papered over for years after my latest Borders buying spree. )

    Just my opinion.
     
    ============
    Book review: 'Hughes After Howard'
    Former Hughes Aircraft Co. President D. Kenneth Richardson recounts the aerospace company's rise and fall after Howard Hughes' reign.
     
    Themes: Hughes, electronics, NewsCorp, Raytheon Stocks: RTN
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