Collins Stewart Analyst Downgrades Apple and Western Digital -04/24/09 at 11:26 AM CDTby Perry Rod

Ashok Kumar, a little known analyst from Collins Stewart, has been making many negative calls as of late.  This morning he downgraded Western Digital (WDC) and Apple Inc. (AAPL), which may have caused those stocks to fall in the early morning hours on Wall Street. This week, Kumar also had negative things to say about AMD after its report, and last w...

SEC Enforcement Chief Lands New Job - Overstock CEO and Others Stunned -04/14/09 at 7:37 PM CDTby Perry Rod

During Linda Thomsen's tenure as head of the enforcement division of the SEC, Harry Markopolis, a former investment officer with Rampart Investment Management in Boston, was writing a series of persuasive letters to the SEC informing them of the statistical impossibility of Bernie Madoff’s investment returns.  Despite being intimidated by the S...

The DTCC: Unregulated Buying, Clearing, Settling and Short Selling -03/05/09 at 11:07 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

According to Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock (OSTK), The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which assumes a role that requires government oversight, is completely unregulated. In a message posted on the Deep Capture business blog, Byrne says he hired two securities lawyers to find out who actually regulates The Depository Trust an...

Strange Occurrences, and a Story about Naked Short Selling -01/27/09 at 6:15 PM CSTby Mark Mitchell

Evidence suggests that Bernard Madoff, the “prominent” Wall Street operator and former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, had ties to the Russian Mafia, Moscow-based oligarchs, and the Genovese organized crime family. And, as reported by Deep Capture and Reuters, Madoff did not just orchestrate a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. He was also the pri...

eBay Reports Results and Investors Continue to Sell -01/21/09 at 4:29 PM CSTby Perry Rod

EBay (EBAY) reported a quarter that beat the street view.  But that wasn't enough for after hours traders, who were focused on their light forcast of .32-.34 non-GAAP earnings, which would be over 20 percent below last year's first quarter. Ebay's stock has been a major victim of the economic turmoil.  Even if eBay were to report earnings this y...

Never Underestimate a Virtual Monopoly Like eBay -01/14/09 at 11:42 AM CSTby Perry Rod

Ebay (EBAY) may be a great case in point about the current state of market valuation and the lack of confidence in stocks in general.  As of September, eBay's balance sheet was very strong, with over 3 billion in cash, representing about $2.50/share.  Meanwhile, their shares now trade at around $13 while analysts estimate earnings of about $1.65...

A 2009 Look At Best Buy - Is It Even a "Buy" ? -01/02/09 at 5:11 PM CSTby Mahyar Hashemi

I've been following retailer Best Buy (BBY) for several years.  I always liked the logo, the store and their clean aggressive business model. But I'm surprised that the stock has even held up as well as it has given the market declines.  A year ago, earnings expectations were more than $4 and now the current year's guidance is at $2.60 with the...

Will The American Consumer Save the World Economy? -11/30/08 at 12:04 PM CSTby Mahyar Hashemi

Retail industry research firm, ShopperTrak RCT, has declared that total Black Friday sales rose 3% this year, to about $10.6 billion nationwide. So far, that appears to be higher than expected as analysts have cut their outlooks considerably. Overall sales for the holiday are expected to rise 2.2%, which would be higher than the 2002 holiday, where sales ...

The Most Difficult Climate We've Ever Seen, He Says -11/12/08 at 10:16 AM CSTby Peter York

Best Buy (BBY)'s CEO Brad Anderson single handedly sank the U.S. stock market Wednesday morning with some pretty strong words about the state of the U.S. economy: "Since mid-September, rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior have created the most difficult climate we've ever seen.  Best Buy simply can't adjust fast enough to maintain our earning...

Circuit City Falls -11/10/08 at 10:48 AM CSTby Perry Rod

Just six months after Blockbuster made its ridiculous offer to buyout Circuit City (CC) for 1.35 billion, now Circuit City is filing for bankrupcy. First off, what does this tell you about Blockbuster's management.  Everyone involved, including Carl Icahn, now have egg in their face.  Although they ultimately did not pull the trigger on the buy...