KSTHANE

8 Comments

    • Fast Food Looks for Growth [view article]
      "ZERO" being the number one answer tells us nothing. If 100 people were surveyed and 51 people answered "ZERO" while the other 49 people answered with a differing number of times per month then I think it would be pretty easy to make the case that MCD has a pretty strong hold on the market. Oh, and let's not forget that the survey is probably biased downwards because some people will not admit to eating at McDonald's in a survey due to the health stigma attached. Another criticism of the survey that you didn't cite is taht a 100 person survey is a tiny, tiny sample size.

      It's much more productive to analyze whether fast food is dead by looking at the comps. McDonald's registered negative monthly y/y comps in the US for the first time in 5 years back in I think either December or January and weather was the blame. Comps from there on out have exceeded analyst expectations every single time. This is ignoring international comps which are growing in high single digits...and the company gets 65% of revenue from outside the US!

      If investors want to keep trading this stock based on the perceived "health" of McD's products, or on U.S. comps or other anecdotal evidence then more power to them.       Jun 24 04:58 PM
    • The Importance of Stock Picking, Illustrated in Oil [view article]
      I agree with wez. The general message to do more research makes sense, but the examples don't. Toys are made from plastic which is made with oil so are toys a related product? Valero and Exxon are about as different as Hasbro and Exxon considering the former in each case are just resellers of a reformulated (though obviously, Hasbro moreso) commodity. May 12 02:27 PM
    • Spitzer: Self-Destruction [view article]
      Nobody actually cares about the fact that he got with a prostitute, they care about the fact that Spitzer vigorously prosecuted prostitution rings as a DA and then turned around and participated in one. I think the hypocrisy is more daunting than the fact that he wanted to get his di*k wet. Mar 11 03:38 PM
    • Lampert's Move Is All About Brands [view article]
      It will still take this strategy some time to play out. Let's say that they do start selling their better known brands through places like Target, HD, Lowe's Autozone, etc and they start closing marginal stores, what are the remaining reasons to go to the good Sears stores? If you can go to Target to pick up your favorite brand of boxer shorts, what reason do you have to go to Sears? Over time, I think this strategy could work but in the interim they're going to be left with a lot of stores that don't sell very much stuff. Jan 24 12:17 PM
    • Duly Listed Chinese Equities Top List of World's Biggest Companies [view article]
      Dually Nov 05 02:51 PM
    • Duly Listed Chinese Equities Top List of World's Biggest Companies [view article]
      Dually Nov 05 02:51 PM
    • LDK Solar Serves Notice, Brings Top Firms to the Fight [view article]
      So spending several hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of shareholder money to clear the air is better than spending a few hundred thousand dollars?

      I'm not advocating that LDK go out and hire some washed up hack of a lawyer to represent them, I'm simply suggesting that if there is nothing to worry about, any corporate law firm would be able to get them through this. A well known, but not top tier, law firm would put their best people on this and put forth an incredible effort because of the good publicity it would bring their firm.

       Nov 01 11:06 AM
    • LDK Solar Serves Notice, Brings Top Firms to the Fight [view article]
      Wouldn't it be just as reasonable to expect the hiring of top tier law firms to be bad news? Couldn't this be interpreted as analogous to OJ hiring Johnny Cochran as his defense attorney?

      If the company is supremely confident in their position and the claims are baseless, why spend tons of money to clear the air when you can get a run of the mill law firm with a good track record to clear the air instead?

      I'm not going to comment on whether I believe LDK has done anything wrong or not; but the assumption that hiring top tier law firms to deal with the issues is a sign that the company has done nothing wrong goes against all conventional wisdom.       Oct 31 01:28 PM
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