Those excited about Apple's (AAPL) dividend might want to cast their minds back to what happened to Microsoft (MSFT) when it bowed to pressure and started payouts in early 2003. "Microsoft within two years quickly moved from a growth company to a boring, fuddy-duddy, income-producing company," says Villere partner George Young. [View news story]
Apple management can do whatever it wants, but I can't imagine any sane individual buying their stock for $600/share without receiving some kind of dividend.
But hey, if people are misguided enough to keep buying at these levels, why would management even consider distributing any of the large cash reserves they have that can be used for more productive purposes?!?
Why we love politics: "I no longer share that view," responds Energy Secretary Steven Chu when asked by a Senator about his 2008 statement saying, "We have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." Chu today: "Of course we don't want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down." [View news story]
Gas was over $4 a gallon in 2008, when this statement was made. When Chu wanted to boost prices to European levels, he was referring to a cost of $7-8 per gallon at the time. Given the policy measures taken by the current administration, they still seem very intent on raising prices to these levels. However, it would be political suicide to proclaim this publicly.
It's a tough row to hoe when your target demographic finds it hard to land jobs and is saddled with student loan debt, warns researcher WSL Strategic Retail. While Gap (GPS -0.7%) is the poster child for gearing corporate strategy around hip young adults - Urban Outfitters (URBN), Aeropostale (ARO), and other names in the sector are also afflicted with same consumer malaise. The problem in a nutshell: Almost 25% of 18- to 34-year olds don't make enough money to cover basic expenses. [View news story]
You may be right, and I don't know how the levels of discretionary spending have changed over the years. However, it's more difficult to save money when expenses are high, and wages/employment are relatively low.
Buy low, sell high: With national advertisers reported to be fleeing Rush Limbaugh's radio show, John Carney can't help but wonder if Pandora (P +0.1%) or Sirius XM Satellite Radio (SIRI +0.1%) should make a value play and add "el rushbo" to its programming. [View news story]
I think you may be misguided as to who Rush's audience is. It's mostly conservative baby boomers, who happen to control a majority of the wealth in this country. I'm not a Rush listener, but I do know that he's an advertising powerhouse.
Buy low, sell high: With national advertisers reported to be fleeing Rush Limbaugh's radio show, John Carney can't help but wonder if Pandora (P +0.1%) or Sirius XM Satellite Radio (SIRI +0.1%) should make a value play and add "el rushbo" to its programming. [View news story]
The fact of the matter is, Rush has a loyal listening audience, and has probably gained more listeners after the controversy. Advertisers are doing this to "save face", but will be right back advertising with him when the smoke clears.
It's a tough row to hoe when your target demographic finds it hard to land jobs and is saddled with student loan debt, warns researcher WSL Strategic Retail. While Gap (GPS -0.7%) is the poster child for gearing corporate strategy around hip young adults - Urban Outfitters (URBN), Aeropostale (ARO), and other names in the sector are also afflicted with same consumer malaise. The problem in a nutshell: Almost 25% of 18- to 34-year olds don't make enough money to cover basic expenses. [View news story]
"Basic expenses" refers to necessities like housing, food, transportation. I won't claim to be an expert on previous generations, but I can't imagine they encountered a situation where a large portion of them were tens of thousands in debt before ever getting that first "real" job(which may or may not exist in today's economy). With the skyrocketing cost of tuition and the reluctance of baby boomers to leave the job market, this problem will only continue to get worse for the next 5-10 years.
Looking further down the line, it would probably be wise for the baby boomers to begin hoarding cash, because they simply won't be able to count on younger generations having the money to purchase their assets.
Is Chimera Investment Corp. A Good Long-Term Investment? [View article]
Depending on how a person defines "Long Term", I believe it can still be a good one. Personally, I bought my shares over the Summer at $2.55, so it's already been a good investment for me. I don't mind holding the stock for a while, as the dividend is still very good, but if the price goes up to $4 or so, I'd be tempted to sell immediately and enjoy the gains.
I don't read a lot of Krugman and don't consider myself a huge partisan one way or the other, but it's pretty wild how his "economic science-based opinion" fluctuates so widely based on the platform of the Democratic party. This is another example.
We Think Pfizer Is Ridiculously Cheap [View article]
No kidding about Alzheimers. Considering that Alzheimers is a condition with the capability of devastating the American population, you would think there would be more of an effort into new treatments for it. The problem is, since people generally get Alzheimers in the final 5-10 years of life, there isn't enough money to be made from recurring treatments. Instead, there are a lot of dollars going into treating things like MS, where people will be on expensive treatments for 40+ years. Since MS is a debilitating disease contracted when a person is relatively young, I'm all for them coming up with innovative treatments. However, Alzheimers is the type of condition that will affect a much larger percentage of the population and will require a 24 hour able-bodied caretaker. Should be interesting to see how things sort themselves out in the near future.
Beijing announces an 11.2% increase in its military budget, pushing defense spending above $100B for the first time (U.S. = $740B). "China has 1.3B people, a large territory and long coastline, but our defense spending is relatively low compared with other major countries," says lawmaker Li Zhaoxing. [View news story]
You may have a point there, but I could easily see a situation where that turns into WW3.
Beijing announces an 11.2% increase in its military budget, pushing defense spending above $100B for the first time (U.S. = $740B). "China has 1.3B people, a large territory and long coastline, but our defense spending is relatively low compared with other major countries," says lawmaker Li Zhaoxing. [View news story]
I just hope that China doesn't develop a Military-Industrial complex. That wouldn't be a whole lot of fun to deal with.
We Think Pfizer Is Ridiculously Cheap [View article]
So you believe the World's top selling drug is going to be replaced by Centrum vitamins and a $2 generic version? A large part of Pfizer's past success was due to buying up smaller drug companies, and now that the industry is basically controlled by a corporate oligarchy, they have failed to innovate.
We Think Pfizer Is Ridiculously Cheap [View article]
Of course Pfizer is cheap, because they're about to lose the patent on Lipitor(the World's top selling prescription drug). Some may see this as a buying opportunity, but I don't believe they really have anything viable to replace it.
Seeking Alpha Passes One Million Members -- 5 Things You Need To Know [View article]
Those excited about Apple's (AAPL) dividend might want to cast their minds back to what happened to Microsoft (MSFT) when it bowed to pressure and started payouts in early 2003. "Microsoft within two years quickly moved from a growth company to a boring, fuddy-duddy, income-producing company," says Villere partner George Young. [View news story]
But hey, if people are misguided enough to keep buying at these levels, why would management even consider distributing any of the large cash reserves they have that can be used for more productive purposes?!?
Why we love politics: "I no longer share that view," responds Energy Secretary Steven Chu when asked by a Senator about his 2008 statement saying, "We have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." Chu today: "Of course we don't want the price of gasoline to go up, we want it to go down." [View news story]
It's a tough row to hoe when your target demographic finds it hard to land jobs and is saddled with student loan debt, warns researcher WSL Strategic Retail. While Gap (GPS -0.7%) is the poster child for gearing corporate strategy around hip young adults - Urban Outfitters (URBN), Aeropostale (ARO), and other names in the sector are also afflicted with same consumer malaise. The problem in a nutshell: Almost 25% of 18- to 34-year olds don't make enough money to cover basic expenses. [View news story]
Buy low, sell high: With national advertisers reported to be fleeing Rush Limbaugh's radio show, John Carney can't help but wonder if Pandora (P +0.1%) or Sirius XM Satellite Radio (SIRI +0.1%) should make a value play and add "el rushbo" to its programming. [View news story]
Buy low, sell high: With national advertisers reported to be fleeing Rush Limbaugh's radio show, John Carney can't help but wonder if Pandora (P +0.1%) or Sirius XM Satellite Radio (SIRI +0.1%) should make a value play and add "el rushbo" to its programming. [View news story]
It's a tough row to hoe when your target demographic finds it hard to land jobs and is saddled with student loan debt, warns researcher WSL Strategic Retail. While Gap (GPS -0.7%) is the poster child for gearing corporate strategy around hip young adults - Urban Outfitters (URBN), Aeropostale (ARO), and other names in the sector are also afflicted with same consumer malaise. The problem in a nutshell: Almost 25% of 18- to 34-year olds don't make enough money to cover basic expenses. [View news story]
Looking further down the line, it would probably be wise for the baby boomers to begin hoarding cash, because they simply won't be able to count on younger generations having the money to purchase their assets.
Is Chimera Investment Corp. A Good Long-Term Investment? [View article]
Three lunchtime reads:
1) Krugman: What Greece means
2) New cars, housing, and economic recovery: Great expectations?
3) As Fed meeting nears, it awaits clearer economic signals [View news story]
We Think Pfizer Is Ridiculously Cheap [View article]
Beijing announces an 11.2% increase in its military budget, pushing defense spending above $100B for the first time (U.S. = $740B). "China has 1.3B people, a large territory and long coastline, but our defense spending is relatively low compared with other major countries," says lawmaker Li Zhaoxing. [View news story]
Beijing announces an 11.2% increase in its military budget, pushing defense spending above $100B for the first time (U.S. = $740B). "China has 1.3B people, a large territory and long coastline, but our defense spending is relatively low compared with other major countries," says lawmaker Li Zhaoxing. [View news story]
We Think Pfizer Is Ridiculously Cheap [View article]
We Think Pfizer Is Ridiculously Cheap [View article]
Chimera's Mixed Signals: Another Delayed Filing, But Company Maintains Dividend [View article]