udirtyrat

Citi's Pandit: Still Going in Circles

I'm a shareholder and at a very nice price from the low 15s and you know what! Personally I don't think he cares to make you excited or not and neither do I. This is not a popular contest and it's not american idol, so deal with it. I like the prospects for the future of the company long term and with a dividend with a very nice percentage I'm willing to take that chance. For me with such a good price the downside is very minimal and I'm not concerned, especially if Mr. Pandit has a vision that doesn't look the same as others.

Johnson & Johnson Profit-Taking Likely, Offering Better Entry Point

The question is...What better price? Just because what happened in the past doesn't necessarily mean the future is foretold. Energy is dead, for now, financials are stable but unsure and tech is a wash. You got anywhere else that's this safe? I didn't think so.
You could argue that for the last 5 years everyone was on the oil bandwagon or "short" run that JNJ wasn't on anyone's screen. JNJ is probably the best run company in the entire market. The cash flow is HALF of their outstanding debt and if they use just a bit of that to rid itself of that overhang, what little it is, then the stock will be another 10% higher from these highs. Nope...your argument is off base and this is where the price should be.

Is Microsoft Out of Ideas?

If I knew that the value of my own company is much, much higher and didn't see where else I could grow the company that makes sense, I might as well buy my own shares.
Out of ideas....hardly, but most of the MAJOR companies that have hordes of cash do in fact buyback their own shares. Does this hinder innovation, hardly. If Ballmer hadn't said anything about Yahoo back in Jan 08 the stock would be well over $32. Just the fact that they attempted to buy Yahoo but the question of growth.
This crap sidetracked where Msft was going as a stock price. Now that it hit 25 I'd say the real value here IS to buy back my own shares. Stock is already up about 15-20% since then. Yahoo purchase would put it in a hole of 30 billion of debt that would take 10 years to pay off. Yahoo doesn't have that kind of return value. It's lucky it breaks even. Don't worry in about a year Yahoo will be down to 15. Yang & the board have less than a year to turn things around and that's not likely.

Missing: 200 Million Yahoo! Shares from Last Friday's Annual Meeting

You can bet Yang & Co. will come up, like magic, with some mumbo jumbo reason that just won't make any sense. If the BOD DID get that high percentage of "for" votes I'd figure that can't at this stage say otherwise. Everyone is LOSING their shirts, what more can happen. If Miller has an exodus of shareholders selling in his fund the loss will be catastrophic.

Making Starbucks Exciting Again

Article is out of touch with what is going on. Means nothing that Schultz is back at the helm. S. Jobs never left to really come back. CEOs come and go. M. Dell came back! Did that make an instant impact?.....NO! At least in technology things are constantly changing and the money being spent is for something that is better than before. Problem is that when "tastes" change there's nothing else to take its place. Sandwiches was idea or the breakfast play and that was a dead loser.
It's fast food liquid! but with coffee you have customers who really DO care how the drink is made. For one thing it takes a lot longer than 3 lousy hours to make a difference. Teenagers aren't "Barista's" by a long shot and the espresso for dummy machines were a bore. It's an INSULT to the profession that they're called Barista's with those machines....really! Just call them partners....end of story. They can't tell you the perfect timing of an espresso! Why the grind needs to be adjusted depending on the weather! The machine was only there to make the drinks "FASTER" not better....that was the biggest failure. Now you'll have the cost to change back, but will he? Workers in this environment change too often to waste time on proper training...that's why the stupid machine was put in....WRONG!
I guarantee you a so-called Barista couldn't tell you what bean to use if you ran out of espresso beans! Or what makes the perfect shot!
I love my espresso and I visit the Starbucks EVERY SINGLE DAY but that doesn't mean I like it. Problem is that there's nothing else to take its place that is close by.
Listen....it DOES make a difference on customer service, but if you go every single day and you order the same drink, EVERY SINGLE DAY, wouldn't you expect that at least they'll remember your name! Never mind the drink....this is what makes me sick. What it really comes down to is kids don't give a damn and they move on. Building more stores is like issuing more stock....it dilutes the value. Starbucks HAS lost the edge.....and value. Of course time will tell.