phil'spal

Media Companies to Fed: Tarp Me!

i'll have to second bill's outlook. CC was in bad shape going into BK. the DIP funding is just a stalling tactic. sure, they'll close some stores, fire some people, but the money pit will continue to do it's job of swallowing heideous amounts of cash. the consumer electronics industry is bracing for the worst year in memory. CC suffered from lack of traffic before and there's no reason to think that anything will change. what catalyst am i not seeing that's going to make everything all better in the new year? is the economy and the customer sentiment and the management style and the competition's execution going to all at once change in their favor? BBY and WMT are guiding down, but their customers arent worried about them still being around after new year. CC is getting inventory shipments now. the bugaboo they're faced with is that they have to sell it. at a profit at that. the bigger players are expecting to fight the mother of all price wars to get their share, so profit margin will be the main casualty. CC can scarcely afford much if any margin contraction. they are not equipped to battle in that arena.

sorry, but WMT and BBY beat them. they wont emerge from bankruptcy. when they've used up the DIP bucks, the courts will summon CC's accountants to ask one more question: "if you have 11 chapters and we take away 4 of them, where does that leave you?"