Credit Suisse Analyst Raises Outlook on Gamestop Inc. -11/25/09 at 9:30 AM CSTby Perry Rod

Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter, who earlier this year raised alarm about Gamestop Inc. (NYSE:GME) when Amazon Inc (AMZN) announced a move into the used game business, is now raising his outlook for Gamestop's fiscal year ending in January.  Balter raised his 2009 earnings per share estimate from $2.46 to $2.54 and his 2010 estimate from $2.70 to $...

Obama Bows, Iran Taunts, and Supply Peaks, Making it Time to Look at ... -11/24/09 at 4:30 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

A series of events are making it highly probably that we are quickly approaching the day when the United States will suddenly attack Iran and oil prices will rise dramatically.  This type of scenario makes it the right time to invest in oil exchange traded funds: United States Oil Fund LP [NYSE:USO], United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP [NYSE:USL], an...

A Tale of Two Company Blockbuster Franchises: Activision Blizzard's C... -11/23/09 at 3:28 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Activision Blizzard’s (NASDAQ: ATVI) Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 recently dethroned Take Two Interactive's (NASDAQ: TTWO) Grand Theft Auto 4 for having the biggest opening week worldwide of any video game in history.  One glaring difference between the business models behind the two franchises is that one comes out with a core sequel each yea...

THQ Inc. Still Looks Overvalued -11/20/09 at 12:46 PM CSTby Perry Rod

Hopes are running high at THQ Inc (NASDAQ:THQI).  That's because hope is all they can count on at this point. MX vs. ATV, a product being released on four consoles is coming next week without significant fanfare, according to Amazon bestseller charts and others.  The racing genre as a whole has been underperforming in the past year, as seen rece...

Gamestop Inc. CEO Suggests 2010 Growth Modeling Expectations Are High... -11/19/09 at 10:18 AM CSTby Perry Rod

In response to a question about possibly having another 20% year over year software growth year as seen for the company in 2008, Gamestop (NASDAQ: GME) CEO Dan DeMatteo said in a conference call with analysts that Gamestop's early expectations for 2010 growth is not for 20% but rather for "strog single digits to maybe low double digit growth." Analysts e...

Did The Markit Group, A Black-Box Company Partially Owned By Goldman ... -11/17/09 at 5:44 PM CSTby Mark Mitchell

Although much attention has been directed at the contribution made by credit default swaps  to the financial crisis, most discussion has focused on the companies, such as American International Group (AIG), that posted big losses because they sold these instruments without sufficient due diligence. Another line of inquiry has not been pursued, howeve...

Outrageous: Electronic Arts Inc CEO Riccitello Buys His Own Company a... -11/17/09 at 3:33 PM CSTby Perry Rod

What is it about greedy video game publisher executives? Just two years ago at Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS), with only eight months on the job as Chief Executive Officer, John Riccitello announced a buyout of Pandemic and Bioware studios from his former firm Elevation Partners, of which he was one of the founders.  The purchase price looked astrono...

Can Apple Inc. Grow its Earnings by 37% Annually for the Next 10 Years? -11/16/09 at 9:22 AM CSTby Dhananjayan J

ANALYSIS: In using reverse valuation by a discounted cash flow model with a price level of $185 as the base with Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), at the current price, Apple should grow its earnings by 37% annually for the next 10 years with terminal growth of 3%. Now, the question of course is, can Apple grow by 37% annually? With high probability, we feel it is...

The SEC's Case Against Naked Short Sellers of Medis Technologies Ltd,... -11/06/09 at 2:04 PM CSTby Judd Bagley

You can hardly blame Fat Squirrel Trading Group (FSTG) and Rhino Trading, LLC. After all, it was 2007, and illegal short selling was almost the norm. The SEC, in passing a toothless Regulation SHO, had demonstrated that it didn’t care much. With just a few exceptions, America’s financial press had made it clear that the shorts were to be belie...

TheStreet.com Inc's Jim Cramer Asks Blog to Remove Post, Apologize -11/03/09 at 10:36 AM CSTby Reggie Abaca

Stock newsletter website Wall St. Cheat Sheet received a surprise email from Jim Cramer in response to an article critical of TheStreet.com Inc (TSCM) stock.  Taking issue with author Damien Hoffman's title, "Jim Cramer Says Sell, Sell, Sell His Company TheStreet.com," Cramer wrote the following e-mail to the author, according to the website: Subject...

Did Hayman Capital Spread The Goldman Sachs Rumor That Helped Destroy... -10/30/09 at 5:17 PM CDTby Mark Mitchell

It was perhaps the single most important moment leading to the downfall of Bear Stearns. On March 13, 2007, reporter David Faber, live on CNBC, said, “I’m told by a hedge fund that I know well…I’m told that [last night] Goldman would not accept the counterparty risk of Bear Stearns.” Faber and that hedge fund might as w...