Market Currents

• Friday, December 18, 2009

• 10:35 AM The battle for market share among e-book readers intensified after Amazon (AMZN) said Kindle sales for December to date are its best ever, barely halfway through the month. Amazon also announced it would begin selling Kindle with free expedited shipping, while Barnes & Noble (BKS) struggles to get its new Nook e-book reader into customers' hands. Comment!

• Thursday, December 17, 2009

• 08:17 AM Citi lifts its price target on Amazon.com (AMZN) to $170 from $140, noting the online retailer's ongoing obsession with innovation & customer experience; competitive moats; and Citi's double-double thesis (online sales and AMZN's share thereof could both double over the next decade). Shorts could get punished this morning. AMZN +0.5% premarket. 5 Comments

• Sunday, December 6, 2009

• 16:47 PM Amazon.com (AMZN) denies media reports, says it has no plans to open brick-and-mortar stores - anywhere. 6 Comments
• 09:10 AM London property owners say Amazon.com (AMZN) has launched a secret search for brick-and-mortar stores. Amazon may want to cash in on rising customer demand for click-and-collect, where shoppers buy online and then pick up their order from a nearby store. Comment!

• Friday, December 4, 2009

• 07:22 AM Publisher Hearst Corp. plans to compete head-on with Amazon.com's (AMZN) Kindle store with a new digital service called Skiff, which will sell digital versions of newspapers and magazines for e-readers. Hearst says Skiff publications will more closely resemble their print counterparts, including advertising, which could make them more lucrative for media companies. Comment!

• Monday, November 30, 2009

• 17:30 PM Online sales on "Cyber Monday" were up 16% from a year ago, according to Coremetrics' survey of 500 retailers, following on some strong online numbers from Friday. Amazon.com (AMZN) reports electronics, toys and kitchen items are among their top sellers today. 6 Comments
• 10:39 AM Cyber Monday lifts shares of Amazon.com (AMZN) to an all-time high of $135.25. Currently +2.4% to $134.95. 1 Comment

• Friday, November 20, 2009

• 14:07 PM Barnes & Noble (BKS -1.8%) sells out its first run of Nook e-readers, and won't ship more until after the New Year. With e-reader supply issues at Sony (SNE) as well, Amazon.com (AMZN) may have a bigger opening for Christmas Kindle sales. 1 Comment

• Thursday, November 19, 2009

• 10:56 AM Palm's (PALM -4.2%) new Pixi - just four days on the market - is already being heavily discounted, with Amazon.com (AMZN) selling the smartphone for just $25, a 75% price cut. Staggering, but perhaps necessary, John Paczkowski says, "given early and widespread complaints about the device’s slow operating speed, some unfavorable reviews and the fact that the Pre" is now selling for under $80. Comment!
• 09:25 AM Sony (SNE) says its new Daily Edition Reader - promised to be ready for the holidays - will only ship Dec. 18 through Jan. 8, adding that the actual delivery date can’t be guaranteed. Barnes & Noble (BKS) said the same last week. Late orders could leave the field wide open to Amazon (AMZN). Separately, Sony pushed back its elusive 5% operating profit margin target - originally slated for 2008 - to 2013. Comment!
• 09:20 AM Wal-Mart (WMT) CEO Raul Vasquez throws down the gauntlet on price wars: "If they react and match our prices, we're going to continue to lower our prices." Last month Wal-Mart (WMT) initiated a book/video price war with Amazon.com (AMZN) and Target (TGT). 2 Comments

• Friday, November 6, 2009

• 08:52 AM Wal-Mart (WMT) expands its price war with Amazon.com (AMZN) and Target (TGT) from books into video, cutting prices on 10 highly anticipated DVDs to $10 and drawing price matches from the other combatants. (previously) 1 Comment

• Wednesday, November 4, 2009

• 17:49 PM Rupert Murdoch repeated some dissatisfaction with Amazon.com (AMZN) during News Corp.'s (NWS) earnings call, saying his firm sees just $6-$6.50 of each $15 WSJ subscription sold on the Kindle. "That is not a great deal. Amazon treats those people as their customers, not our customers." More e-readers are coming, he said, and he'd be open to deals. 4 Comments

• Monday, November 2, 2009

• 18:03 PM Price wars usually end up hurting everyone, eroding the pricing power of an entire business, but Amazon.com (AMZN) and Wal-Mart (WMT) tried something new with their battle over books: making others bear the costs, notably big booksellers and brick-and-mortar retailers. 1 Comment

• Friday, October 30, 2009

• 12:51 PM Amazon.com's (AMZN) secret to its soaring cash-flow growth? Steadily lengthening the time it takes to pay suppliers - now 64.6 days, up from 59 days last year and 49 in 2003. Amazon's working capital management is to be envied, but investors shouldn't get too used to it: You can't keep extending payment terms with your vendors forever. 1 Comment

• Friday, October 23, 2009

• 16:51 PM Even after its huge day - trading at 56 times its estimated earnings - is Amazon.com (AMZN +26.8%) still cheap at $118.49? The median price target for Wall Street analysts is $125, and FBR and Benchmark say $130 and $143 respectively. 6 Comments