Why Batteries Are Too Valuable To Waste On Solar Power Integration And Electric Cars [View article]
The good thing though about electric cars and hybrid cars (even if the battery tech is not the most efficient) is how they shift energy source from Oil (imported) to Coal/Nuclear/Natural Gas (domestic) as far as the operating life of the car is concerned.
Apple's Cash Hoard Is An Asset, Not A Liability [View article]
With a P/E ex-cash of < 10, AAPL's business is currently priced to under-perform the market moving forward by 33% (based on the fact the avg S&P P/E is about 15).
If you believe AAPL should be able to grow between zero and very slightly over the next few years, then today's price still represents a bargain.
Amazon's (AMZN -0.5%) first debt offering since 1999 will reportedly include bonds with maturities ranging out three, five, and ten years. The company - which doesn't have any outstanding bonds at the moment - will only say at this point that the funds will be used for general corporate purposes. [View news story]
Who will blink. Can AMZN wipe out all competition before the spigot of cash (stock/debt issuance) runs out?
Amazon (AMZN +0.3%) acknowledges it received a claim from France's taxing authority for $252M to cover what it calls "the allocation of income between foreign jurisdictions" for the years 2006 through 2010. The move follows efforts by counterparts in the U.K. to question the company along with U.S.-based firms Starbucks and Google over similar issues. [View news story]
I now think AMZN's plan is the following: "give away" the retail margin in exchange for the customer relationship with the end game being going after GOOG's business: superior advertising venue. Search on AMZN, advertise on AMZN.
Later if they kill everyone else off, THEN crank the retail margin when users have no other choice.
Amazon And Its Indefensible Valuation [View article]
When the LivingSocial performance was helping the bottom-line, AMZN didn't hesitate to obfuscate the contribution. Now that it isn't, oh well that was just LivingSocial, not AMZN.
Amazon.com, The Devil In The Details: Gross Margin [View article]
That's the kind advantage AMZN has against the likes of BestBuy. AMZN doesn't have to earn anything from operations as long as they can just print money to pay their labor costs. Who needs actual income if you can just make it from thin air?
Amazon's Imminent Liquidity Crunch And Share Price Collapse [View article]
These are cogent arguments being presented about the viability of the business. It would be better if we could have something argued in response that extended to something beyond "It hasn't tanked yet, therefore it won't"
Don't Buy The Amazon Kindle Fire HD Hype [View article]
Ebbers, Skilling & friends were all hailed as geniuses. Dismissive of questions about their complex operations. Only later did we find out the truth. I'm just saying, AMZN sounds more and more like that. So complex, so little transparency. And BTW we do have at least some known accounting tricks going on in the form of long term lease agreements that don't show up as debt, and exaggeration of AWS margins. Legal, I am sure but distorting. Makes you wonder what else is going on.
All-in? Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos confirms that its expanding network of warehouses across the U.S. will help reduce delivery times for online shoppers - potentially to the point that same-day delivery will be an option in some markets. It's a move that analysts say could either make the company the dominant retailer for decades or keep it mired with low profits due to the high costs of investing in the new warehouses. [View news story]
If he has that many warehouses, how is AMZN any different than Bricks & Mortar -- apart from the extra shipping costs?
The Folly Of Amazon.com's Tablet Strategy [View article]
I think their thesis is that by selling so low, amazon will carve out a big part of the market and when they are big enough they will start selling at higher margin on the hardware.
Amazon.com Throws Down The Gauntlet [View article]
AMZN's plan to eventually make money by putting all other retailers out of business seems to be working for Books (Borders dead, B&N very weak) and Electronics (Circuit City dead, BestBuy in serious trouble).
I think there is no question AMZN was lethal to the other booksellers w/ their loss leading bestsellers. They just nuked their most profitable products by selling below cost. Still can't believe the DoJ didn't sue them for that.
But I am not so sure AMZN is what's killing the Electronics retailers.
#1 CircuitCity was an Own Goal. They were dead before the rise of AMZN in this space
#2 The crash in TV prices: Affects AMZN too
#3 The stagnation of PC sales: Affects AMZN too
#4 The move to digital goods -- loss of Game, CD, and DVD sales. AMZN is affected by this too. They are getting digital downloads in their place for CDs & DVDs but thanks to the incredibly low price of the online offerings: free Prime video streaming, $1 games, single songs (instead of albums), and the shrinkage of the market due to piracy, the new world is much less lucrative than the old world.
The one thing BestBuy does have going for it is that they get to sell a broad range of AAPL products like the iPad which AMZN is not allowed to sell.
I guess what I am saying is that if AMZN's electronics business (their biggest or 2nd biggest) were a separate business, it probably would look less healthy than BestBuy which is nearing bankruptcy.
Google's Phony Beat [View article]
Apple App Store Vs. Google Play [View article]
Why Batteries Are Too Valuable To Waste On Solar Power Integration And Electric Cars [View article]
Apple's Cash Hoard Is An Asset, Not A Liability [View article]
If you believe AAPL should be able to grow between zero and very slightly over the next few years, then today's price still represents a bargain.
Amazon's (AMZN -0.5%) first debt offering since 1999 will reportedly include bonds with maturities ranging out three, five, and ten years. The company - which doesn't have any outstanding bonds at the moment - will only say at this point that the funds will be used for general corporate purposes. [View news story]
Amazon (AMZN +0.3%) acknowledges it received a claim from France's taxing authority for $252M to cover what it calls "the allocation of income between foreign jurisdictions" for the years 2006 through 2010. The move follows efforts by counterparts in the U.K. to question the company along with U.S.-based firms Starbucks and Google over similar issues. [View news story]
Later if they kill everyone else off, THEN crank the retail margin when users have no other choice.
Amazon And Its Indefensible Valuation [View article]
Amazon.com, The Devil In The Details: Gross Margin [View article]
Amazon's Imminent Liquidity Crunch And Share Price Collapse [View article]
Don't Buy The Amazon Kindle Fire HD Hype [View article]
Don't Buy The Amazon Kindle Fire HD Hype [View article]
All-in? Amazon (AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos confirms that its expanding network of warehouses across the U.S. will help reduce delivery times for online shoppers - potentially to the point that same-day delivery will be an option in some markets. It's a move that analysts say could either make the company the dominant retailer for decades or keep it mired with low profits due to the high costs of investing in the new warehouses. [View news story]
The Folly Of Amazon.com's Tablet Strategy [View article]
Amazon.com Throws Down The Gauntlet [View article]
I think there is no question AMZN was lethal to the other booksellers w/ their loss leading bestsellers. They just nuked their most profitable products by selling below cost. Still can't believe the DoJ didn't sue them for that.
But I am not so sure AMZN is what's killing the Electronics retailers.
#1 CircuitCity was an Own Goal. They were dead before the rise of AMZN in this space
#2 The crash in TV prices: Affects AMZN too
#3 The stagnation of PC sales: Affects AMZN too
#4 The move to digital goods -- loss of Game, CD, and DVD sales. AMZN is affected by this too. They are getting digital downloads in their place for CDs & DVDs but thanks to the incredibly low price of the online offerings: free Prime video streaming, $1 games, single songs (instead of albums), and the shrinkage of the market due to piracy, the new world is much less lucrative than the old world.
The one thing BestBuy does have going for it is that they get to sell a broad range of AAPL products like the iPad which AMZN is not allowed to sell.
I guess what I am saying is that if AMZN's electronics business (their biggest or 2nd biggest) were a separate business, it probably would look less healthy than BestBuy which is nearing bankruptcy.
Apple: Pandora's Achilles' Heel? [View article]