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Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), the largest consumer electronics retail chain in the U.S., may be eyeing another service provider acquisition to follow up on the Speakeasy purchase earlier this year. Speakeasy was a provider of IT services to small businesses, and Covad Communications (AMEX: DVW) is a larger broadband internet service provider. Is Best Buy really staking an offensive in the business world with one completed and one rumored acquisition? You bet.
Best Buy for Business is a division of the retail giant that wants to be the products and service provider for small and medium businesses as the chain branches away from strictly consumer retail to broaden its portfolio and diversify revenues from the vagaries of retail that can change like the wind.
According to Broadband Reports, talks of an acquisition have been on-again, off-again for a while and may not be an acquisition of Covad in its entirety, but perhaps its VoIP business only. This would make sense, as Best Buy has recently stepped up its VoIP business in order to bring more competition to the telecom world. At this time, Covad is valued at about $194 million based on its current stock price of $0.65 per share on the American stock exchange.
The FDA is soon expected to issue an alert to physicians about "serious risks" regarding the use of drugs to diagnose heart problems while using ultrasound imaging machines, reported the Wall Street Journal. The key drug is Bristol-Myers Squibb's (NYSE: BMY) Definity and General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) Optison.
According to the Wall Street Journal's "Heard the Street" column, there's no quick recovery in sight for AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR), as significant revenue gains are not apparent and the company is saddled with high costs.
JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) are expected to reveal combined losses of about $3B on holdings of mortgage securities and leveraged loans when they report Q3 results this month, reported the Financial Times.
OTHER PAPERS:
A consortium led by Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) is believed to be the frontrunner in the GBP4B auction of Southern Water, the utility that supplies water to more than 1 million households in the Southeast, reported the U.K. Times.
The short interest for the NYSE is out for the second half of September. The NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) actually showed a small increase in the total shares short on the NYSE: the September 28 settlement short interest was 11,878,834,897, above the 11,841,051,529 reading of September 14, 2007. This represents 3.1% of the total shares outstanding.
The raw truth is that this is actually a very small gain of only just over 37,000,000 shares. But it follows what was a large drop from mid-August to mid September as mid-August was in the midst of the market malaise with 12,466,511,521 shares listed as being short. Just at the end of last month I had noted that short selling Internet stocks showed mixed results. There had previously been a large drop in major banking stock short interest, but we also showed how housing and retail stocks had been under short selling pressure.
You can see the full list of the September 28 settlement date short stocks at the site, but here are the top 10 (with short interest):
Customers at Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) stores may have walls full of slim, flat-panels televisions to pick from. But trying to make a decision about which TV to buy means more than picking large or larger. Increasingly, it requires deciphering a baffling array of terms that have come to define the current state of broadcast and television technology.
According to a recent survey conducted by the largest consumer electronics chain in the U.S., consumers are more confused than ever about just what is an 'HDTV.' Try the below terms on for size. If more than two terms confuse you, you're not alone:
It seems that whenever you talk to someone about the music industry, the discussion eventually comes to the steep decline that has occurred in the past few years as the growth of digital downloads has affected the sales of CDs. Whenever I think about that decline, it's hard to see it simply because I still purchase a large quantity of CDs and only a handful of downloads per month. Still though, when I do download an album it always (and I mean always) comes from Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes Store, primarily because I own an iPod.
While that may sound like a complaint, it really isn't because I have always found the iTunes Store very usable and the iPod very convenient, but the reality is that not everyone shares that opinion. For some users, the question of accessibility has become a major issue, and iTunes dominance in the market affects how accessible they view the market. This is not without warrant of course -- no matter the success of Apple with the iPod and iTunes; it is still a dominating product in a shrinking field. This view does not even take in the account of CD users.
With the beta launch this week of Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN) MP3 store, Apple finally has a competitor that will be able to challenge iTunes with sales and prices, not to mention that the DRM-free (Digital Rights Technology) downloads will be playable on the iPod, among other portable devices. Amazon's DRM-free tracks are not limited to music from EMI Group PLC and numerous independent labels, either. Certainly both of these differences will aid the new Amazon "iTunes" store, but the very fact that it remains an online store adding an MP3 section means that it should fare well against a store dedicated strictly to media digital downloads.
North America's number-one specialty retailer of consumer electronics began life as a 1960s St. Paul, Minnesota shop called the "Sound of Music." The firm is more diversified now, but still does a good business in tune-oriented devices. Its yellow tag logo is one of the best recognized corporate symbols anywhere.
Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics, offering home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services. The firm operates through some 1,200 retail stores across the United States, throughout Canada and in China. Subsidiaries include Best Buy, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Pacific Sales Kitchen and Bath Centers, Magnolia Audio Video, Jiangsu Five Star Appliance and Speakeasy. Major competitors include Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL).
The firm pleased investors last week, when it reported Q2 EPS of 55 cents and Q2 revenues of $8.75 billion. Analysts had been expecting 44 cents and $8.45 billion. A 3.6% comparable store sales gain was driven by higher revenue from the computer, flat-panel television, video gaming and mobile navigation areas. Management also guided FY08 EPS to the upper end of the range $3.00-$3.15 ($3.03 consensus). The stock popped above 50-day and 90-day moving average resistance on the news and then began defining a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Stocks often leave flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.
Telecom companies are in trouble these days as more and more customer dump landlines for cellphones and use Voice-over-IP (VoIP) products instead of those expensive home telephone services. Did you ever think retailers would be competing with telecom companies for customers?
Best Buy, Inc.'s (NYSE: BBY) Best Buy for Business subsidiary has you covered on that topic, as the division of the nation's largest consumer electronics company is introducing its "EasyVoice" VoIP service for businesses. Best Buy's new service offering is being marketed on a "cost per employee" basis, starting at $19.95 per employee. This appears to be the largest-yet launch of a service that was born out of the Speakeasy purchase earlier in the year.
Will Best Buy be able to service companies at the required quality of service level that businesses demand? If telecom issues erupt with consumers, the world generally doesn't stop spinning. But, with companies, telecom problems cause revenue flow interruptions and customer service nightmares. As Best Buy begins to compete with established telecommunications companies with its new telephone service, it needs to keep that high in its mind. That, or customers will turn tail to companies like AT&T, Inc. (NYSE: T) just as fast as they went to Best Buy for phone service.
MOST NOTEWORTHY: The small-cap bank sector, Waste Connections, Warnaco Group and Intersections were today's noteworthy upgrades:
Lehman upgraded the small-cap bank sector to Neutral from Negative as they expect the group to benefit from the decline in short-term interest rates and the steeping yield curve. The firm upgraded Associated Banc-Corp (NASDAQ: ASBC), Pacific Capital Bancorp (NASDAQ: PCBC) and Westpac Banking Corp (NYSE: WBK) to Equal Weight from Underweight.
Friedman Billings added Waste Connections (NYSE: WCN) to its Top Picks list. The firm believes the company can outperform the group and overall market in an economic downturn.
Warnaco Group (NASDAQ: WRNC) was upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan on valuation and growth potential.
JMP Securities' checks indicate that Intersections (NASDAQ: INTX) is on track to meet EPS expectations for the quarter and is well positioned to beat their 2008 EPS estimate of 80c. The firm raised shares to Strong Buy from Outperform.
Consumer electronics leader Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) reported better-than expected second quarter earnings this morning. The largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. said that it saw revenue of $8.75 million for the quarter, an increase of 15% from the year-ago quarter. Apparently, all those flat-panel television sale decreases were not as damaging as feared.
But that's not what Best Buy execs pegged as the reason for the quarterly lift. Back-to-school sales were single-handedly referenced as the reason for the increase, which means computers, computers and more computers. Either that, or students were buying new stereo receivers and plasma TVs for those dorm rooms. Some smart ones maybe bought washing machines and dryers (heh).
That is not all. Best Buy added 113 new stores in the quarter (yeah, I can see that helping), all of which sold back-to- school supplies in abundance during the quarter. Best Buy was also said to have taken market share from competitor Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) in the quarter due to newer stores being placed in better locations. Add that to a better customer environment and very good management of cost controls and it's no wonder the retailer is ahead of the competition.
It is official, O2 UK, part of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, and European mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse have clinched the Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone deal in Britain. The iPhone will be sold for 269 pounds ($536) from Nov. 9. The other European deals are expected to be with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom's Orange in France. O2 signed a "multi-year" deal where customers will sign up for an 18-month contract on a tariff of either 35 pounds, 45 pounds or 55 pounds. Investors seem to like the deal as Telefonica shares were up almost 1%.
E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC) are down 7.8% in premarket trading (7:45 a.m.). The discount broker said after the close last night that it planned to exit the wholesale-mortgage business. It also lowered its profit expectations by more than 25% for the year
Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) shares are up 5.1% in premarket trading (7:43 a.m.) after the software maker reported better-than-expected quarterly results after the close yesterday. Adobe's profit more than doubled on strong sales of recently upgraded products.
Companies reporting earnings today: Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) is expected to report earnings of 44 cents a share for the second quarter. Darden Restaurants Inc. (NYSE: DRI) is expected to report earnings of 70 cents a share for its fiscal first quarter. and Kroger (NYSE: KR) is expected to report earnings of 34 cents a share for its second quarter.
Credit market still hitting financial companies and yesterday we heard from Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) saying it expects a "meaningful impact" on third-quarter results at its corporate and investment bank, due to credit market volatility.
Dell Inc (NASDAQ: DELL) said yesterday it received notice from Nasdaq that it was not in compliance with the listing requirements as it is late in filing financial reports for its fiscal second quarter.
The Wall Street Journal writes how Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) are making new pushes into Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) turf as their recent web-based offerings (the recent Zimbra acquisition by Yahoo! and Google Apps) encroach on Microsoft's traditional business.
Okay, so I am not one to play games very often, but after researching the Nintendo Ltd.'s (OTC: NTDOY) Wii gaming console, I figured it would be a good investment for the whole family and would get us all off our collective duffs and force us to be physically active.
Xbox 360? Ehh, a little out of my patience league. PlayStation 3? At this point, I'm not sure how much longer that console will last at the price point -- and it's way out of my league in every way. Nintendo Wii? It invites physical interaction, has decent graphics and is priced right. Ahh, the holy grail for most consumers.
According to recent figures, I'm not the only one who thinks so, as the Wii has reportedly outsold competing consoles from Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) after being available for less than a year. There's a good reason for this -- the Wii is incredibly fun and does not require the latest in home electronics gadgetry plus a huge dose of patience to master. In other words, Nintendo has created an iPod-like, easy-to-use gaming system that, while not technically the greatest, fits the mass consumer best. Hence, it's a sales winner.
Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) has selected Minnesota-based Barrie D'Rozario Murphy (BD'M) as its primary advertising agency that will be charged with the ads and marketing to consumers revolving around Best Buy's "Home Life" business. The "Home Life" segment of Best Buy's business mostly involves the brown and white goods part of Best Buy's inventory (appliances), plus more. I'll suggest, right off the bat, that BD'M change the name to something other than "Home Life."
The change to an ad agency outside of Best Buy's normal corporate ad agent was due to a conflict of interest, so BD'M will now be responsible for corporate consumer communications and marketing planning for Best Buy's appliance business. The Best Buy announcement specifically references tuning into female customers with its "Home Life "business, which makes sense from my perspective. Who uses most of the in-home appliances these days? Easy answer, right?
BD'M will have to coordinate with Best Buy's overall ad agency -- BBDO -- to ensure branding and imaging are kept consistent, but it will be interesting to see how this new partner will refresh the marketing of appliances to the American female shopper. BD'M has a long roster of creating female-targeted marketing (Nordstrom, Jaguar and Lee, to name a few brands), and how the company will get Best Buy customers excited (if that's possible) over home appliances. Perhaps it could use a tagline like "Spin your way into Best Buy today." On second thought, scratch that.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) September volatility elevated as expected into 9/18 EPS.
BBY is expected to report EPS on 9/18.
RBC Capital Mkts says, "our price target of $61 is based on approximately 17 times our FY09 EPS estimate of $3.60."
BBY September option implied volatility is at 41. BBY over all option implied volatility of 32 is near its 26-week average of 30 according to Track Data, suggesting flat outer month risk.
CVC, a leading entertainment & communications company controlled by the Dolan family, closed at $34.62.
The Dolan family's proposal of taking CVC private at $36.26 a share will be voted on at special meeting of CVC shareholders on 10/24/07. CVC has secured its board and its special committee approval.
CVC December call option implied volatility is at 22; puts are at 27, near its 26-week average of 23 according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price risks.
Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.
Once Microsoft Inc.'s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Halo 3 game is launched in September 25th, much of the nation will see some retail madness as old and new gamers line up (and sleep) in those long lines just to get a crack at buying the newest, best game for the Xbox 360 gaming console. Naturally, Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY) locations will roll out the game with a considerable fanfare.
Will the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer take advantage of the hoopla? I hope so.
In fact, some locations will be holding midnight parties the night of September 24th, similar to recent kickoff for the Sony PlayStation 3 and 2005's launch of Halo 2. Best Buy generally provides some kind of 'surprise' and freebie to go along with events like this.
In terms of marketing strategy, certain gaming titles (and consoles) and the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone are about the only consumer electronics items that generate this kind of fervor. In this instance, Best Buy should milk it for all its worth by providing "20% off new titles" coupons to those that attend the launch party and buy the new Halo 3 game when it is released in a few weeks. The company can afford this kind of promotion to keep the fishing hook in the mouth of as many gaming title purchasers as possible.
In the field of retail, there are surge years and flat years. Finding ways to grow when the chips are down takes innovative thinking and quick action, and that strategy appears to be at the root of why Best Buy Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is able to open newer stores in existing markets without cannibalizing sales from older stores. How does it manage this? The premise is pretty simple, and it will be playing out in retail sectors from general merchandise to electronics from this point forward.
Similar to discounter Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Best Buy grew in the 1990s by using the "big box" strategy of having all merchandise in its stables under one large roof. In effect, the "one stop shop" mentality, although Best Buy's was limited to consumer electronics more than any other category. These are different times, and consumer niches are now the fuel for growth. As such, the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer is opening newer stores in markets it already serves that tailor product selections to the surrounding consumer demographics.
In some cases, providing only niche stores can kill you. But, when you add niche stores to the mix with "do everything" locations in the same market, things have a tendency to work out rather well.
Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), the largest consumer electronics retail chain in the U.S., may be eyeing another service provider acquisition to follow up on the Speakeasy purchase earlier this year. Speakeasy was a provider of IT services to small businesses, and Covad Communications (.gif){kind=logo}
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had been expecting 44 cents and $8.45 billion. A 3.6% comparable store sales gain was driven by higher revenue from the computer, flat-panel television, video gaming and mobile navigation areas. Management also guided FY08 EPS to the upper end of the range $3.00-$3.15 ($3.03 consensus). The stock popped above 50-day and 90-day moving average resistance on the news and then began defining a bullish "flag" consolidation pattern. Stocks often leave flags moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.
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Game Changer: Google hits $200 billion market cap -- is $500 billion in sight?
Interview with the head of Xerox's (XRX) Webster research lab
General Electric (GE) Q3 quarterly results preview
