User 156150

Countering Greenberg's Report on Hanesbrands

You have swallowed the Hanes pitch hook, line & sinker. As someone who follows the story but currently has no position. I will tell you what is going to happen here. The next quarter will look very good and will draw a lot of people into the turnaround story. I hope you sell your stock then because these guys are totally promotional and are playing games...

Microsoft's Capital Allocation Strategy is Highly Suspect

It is easy for people to say that Microsoft is wasting shareholder money when they don't run the company. The reality at Microsoft is quite different. The company sees the competetive threat Google poses in an industry that is rapidly turning into a monopoly (i.e. Internet advertising). Microsoft seems to be among the few that see both sides of the coin. On the one side internet advertising will be a huge market and if they develop a second place spot to Google then the acqusitions will pay for themselves. Most people see this as accurate, but don't think Microsoft can accomplish that. On the other side (and most people don't seem to be grasping this) Google has developed a new revenue model for the software industry which is based on advertising. It is now conceivable that this model will eat away at the fabric of Microsoft unless the company is able to transition over to this model. I do not own Microsoft and I think Google is a better bet long term, but for Microsoft this is a very very expensive insurance policy. We will probably never know whether it made sense, but this company is not run by idiots. Bill Gates (who really still runs the place via Balmer) knows this is a calculated bet in a very high stakes game. Anyone who doesn't like high stakes games can go buy railroads (like both Buffet and Gates). No one can tell me whether Google or Microsoft will be around in 20-50 years, but we all know the railroads will...