Employment Opportunities

20 08 2008

Barack Obama makes organized labor nervous

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Other issues, Google (GOOG), Citigroup Inc. (C), Politics

As he prepares to accept the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama’s allies in organized labor are worried that he is becoming too friendly with Wall Street types such as former Treasury Secretary and current Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) senior executive Robert Rubin.

According to Bloomberg News, a recent presentation by Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO argued that unfettered global traded and inadequate government regulation resulted in lost manufacturing jobs. “It will do us little good if, when the next Democrat moves into the White House, Wall Street takes command of our country’s economic policy,” Bloomberg quotes Trumka’s presentation as saying. The story adds that there is no doubt that Trumka is taking a shot at Rubin.

Trumka is unapologetic. The AFL-CIO already is flexing its political muscle and began looking at candidates for cabinet posts including the Treasury and Energy Departments along with the Federal Reserve. Obama’s advisors deny that Rubin or anyone else has any particular sway over his economic policies. But there definitely is a tilt toward the center going on.

Obama, who backs union goals such as reopening NAFTA and universal health care, recently raised a few eyebrows when he seemed to accept the notion that he can’t pay for these programs only through the capital gains tax. Last week, two Obama advisers wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the Illinois senator would only consider raising capital gains taxes from 15% to 20% instead of as high as 28%. That’s no cause for celebration for investors, but the prospect of an Obama presidency is no reason to panic, either.

This weekend, the New York Times chronicled the battle between Obama and John McCain for the hearts and minds of businesses both large and small. Corporate types are not enthusiastic backers of McCain but are backing him since their favored candidate Mitt Romney got out of the race. Obama, though, does have his share of backers in the corporate world including Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Chief Executive Eric Schmidt. Warren Buffett has also advised him.

Organized labor knows that Obama needs their support. They are going to hold the Illinois senator’s feet to the fire to make sure that he doesn’t forget them even as he tries to make new friends at the boardroom level. It will be a tricky balance to maintain through the general election.

19 08 2008

Google and Motorola to supply Wi-Fi for the masses?

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Industry, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Motorola (MOT)

The FCC is looking at using part of the TV signal spectrum to provide wireless high-speed internet. It is a brilliant idea that is being opposed by a large part of the television industry.

According to The Wall Street Journal, “The Federal Communications Commission will have the final say in the battle between the broadcasters — which fear interference on the airwaves they’ll still be using — and the companies including Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG). and Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) that want to share the television airwaves.”

The fight is a classic example of old media not wanting to give up something that it has “owned” for years because it may help new competition.

Tough luck. Broadband adoption in the U.S. is behind several countries in Europe and Asia, and if the FCC can offer an inexpensive solution to that, it should. The new over-the-air system would have many of the benefits of Wi-Fi, but would be more broadly available.

TV broadcasters say that the new technology could interfere with their signals, but testing can demonstrate whether that is true or not. The FCC has the chance to move broadband adoption forward with one spectacular decision. It should not balk at the chance.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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18 08 2008

TV still top source of news, but internet gaining

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Analyst reports, Google (GOOG), CBS Corp ‘B’ (CBS)

There is a divide along age lines in terms of how people get their news. TV is still in the lead, but that may not last for long.

A Wall Street Journal story looks at the Pew Research Center’s biannual survey on news-consumption habits. Pew’s most important conclusion of the survey is that it “found that 46% of those polled have a “heavy reliance” on TV for news at all times of the day.”

But the median age of the TV loving crowd was 52-years-old. Another group, with a median age of 35, relies primarily on the internet as its news source.

Just as newspapers have faltered as major providers of information, it looks like TV may be seeing its best days. The next generation of people who are moving into their forties and fifties are unlike to migrate to the Tube just because they are aging. Their “internet heavy” habits are likely to stay with them for the balance of their lives.

Over the next decade, major TV network and TV station stocks are likely to be damaged by the trend.

Sell CBS (NYSE: CBS) and buy Google (NYSE: GOOG). Google News taps 4,500 sources and that is going to grow.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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17 08 2008

Before the bell: Futures climb with dollar as oil declines; ADSK, KSS, JWN, ANF,

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Deals, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Dell (DELL), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Market matters, Penney (J.C.) (JCP), Merrill Lynch (MER), Kohl’s Corp (KSS), Abercrombie and Fitch (ANF), Economic data, Nordstrom, Inc (JWN), Oil, Union Pacific Corporation (UNP), MBIA Inc (MBI)

U.S. stock futures were higher Friday morning, indicating stock markets could possibly extend Thursday’s rally as the dollar rose and oil prices fell further. The dollar continues to make gains on the back of growing evidence of global economic softness. Still, several economic readings are due out today, including the New York Empire State manufacturing index , capacity utilization and industrial production — all before the opening bell.

Retail will be in focus today after two Kohl’s Corp (NYSE: KSS) and Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) reported late Thursday, and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) and Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE: ANF) are due to report before the opening bell.

Kohl’s Corp shares could start higher as premarket indication has them trading 2.3% higher, while Nordstrom’s are trading 4% lower in premarket action. Kohl’s quarterly profit fell 12% from a year ago, but the retailer lifted its fiscal year profit forecast. Meanwhile, upper scale Nordstrom, reported a 21% drop in second-quarter profits and cut full year outlook.

ANF said second-quarter profit fell on lower sales of jeans and T-shirts and forecast full-year earnings per share that trailed some analysts’ estimates. JCP also saw profit decline but beat estimates and issued lower guidance.

Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK) shares are trading 10% higher in premarket action after the design software maker reported stronger-than-forecast second-quarter earnings Thursday after the close.

Bond insurers MBIA (NYSE: MBI) and Ambac (NYSE: ABK) spiked 7.7% and 16.2% respectively premarket after Standard & Poor’s affirmed its AA credit rating on the two companies and said further downgrades were unlikely.

Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A), the investment firm run by billionaire Warren Buffett, revealed a stake in the energy wholesaler NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) and acquired additional shares of train operator Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP). NRG is climbing 5.7% in premarket trading.

Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) will institute a hiring freeze for the remainder of 2008, and will avoid paying UK taxes for decades after it charged $29 billion of losses to its London-based subsidiary, the Financial Times wrote.

Republic Services (NYSE: RSG) overnight rejected the takeover bid from Waste Management (NYSE: WMI), saying its proposed merger with Allied Waste Industries (NYSE: AW) is more favorable. It also is declining to have discussions and negotiations with Waste Management.

BuisnessWeek has an interesting article on the man Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has put in charge of its entry to the digital entertainment market. The former Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) executive will try to overtake Apple’s dominant hold of the market.

The New York Times reports that T-Mobile will be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone powered by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)’s Android software.

16 08 2008

Google Android phone here next month?

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Rumors, Launches, Google (GOOG)

Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been touting its Android mobile operating system platform for over a year. Still without a product to showcase its efforts, many are beginning to wonder if Google has classified Android as “vaporware.” Even though the company is itself not making a single piece of hardware, a mobile handset is the product the customer will use. So, Google, where is it?

Apple, Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G, which admittedly has a few issues, but is still selling like hotcakes, is stealing any thunder Android would have created. T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest mobile operator in the U.S., may have an Android phone on the market sometime in September, according to TMoNews. Still, is it too late for Android to make a huge splash in the mobile pool?

The reported manufacturer of such a phone will be Taiwanese smartphone heavyweight HTC. Reported pricing will be $399 without a contract, or near $150 with a two-year contract. Google may be taking the Apple route, as this Android phone will tightly feature most of Google’s consumer services, and you may even need a Google Gmail account to set up service for the Android phone.

Yes, this sounds like Apple’s locked-into-the-manufacturer procedure, doesn’t it? If T-Mobile uses the Apple iPhone model for requiring an expensive data plan and with spotty 3G service (who knew?), then the Android phone won’t make a splash, but a trickle. Many of us are looking to Google to provide an excellent mobile operating system that is open, flexible and robust. Perhaps we may be waiting a bit longer — and so will Google shareholders.

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15 08 2008

Before the bell: Futures higher after WMT, ahead of CPI; (AAPL, INTC, MER, GM ..

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Wal-Mart (WMT), Intel (INTC), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Merrill Lynch (MER), Amgen Inc (AMGN), Economic data, Oil

Stock futures were higher Thursday morning, as bulls tried to answer to two bear days. Wal-Mart reported this morning, beating estimates and boosting guidance as well as Street sentiment. Still, coming ahead is inflation data at 8:30 a.m. Economists expect CPI to rise 0.4% in July, and could very well impact markets. Meanwhile, oil prices rose and the EU reported that euro-zone economy contracted 0.2% in the second quarter.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), the world’s largest retailer, reported a second-quarter earnings growth of 17% to of $3.4 billion, or 87 cents a share, beating analyst estimates of profit of 84 cents a share. Revenue rose 10% to $101.6 billion, slightly below estimates. The company also boosted its full-year earnings forecast. The company benefited from the challenging economic conditions as shoppers looked for lower prices. Its cost cutting measures also helped. WMT shares are gaining nearly 1.5% in premarket trading.

As Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares rose in recent years, many have tracked its progress as it surpassed one major company after another in market capitalization. Well, All Things Digital noticed that Apple can put another check mark, this time as it passed Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Yes, Apple is now larger than Google.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) is announcing a new component with new technology that will let computers wake up from their power-saving sleep state when they receive a phone call over the Internet. No longer will computers have to remain full-powered to receive calls, enabling them to act as replacements for the telephone.

While Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE: MER)’s CEO John Thain vowed last week to maintain the firm’s 35-cent quarterly dividend, the options market doesn’t believe him and is pricing a significant cut of roughly 50% to the dividend. If it happens, it would the first since it went public in 1971.

Also battered by recent economic downturn and the slumping U.S. auto market, General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) is seeking to speed up the restructuring plan and said it may be able to reap more of the $10 billion in projected savings this year instead of in 2009. GM also had preliminary contact with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska on a possible sale of its Hummer brand, according to Reuters.

Analyst calls:

Goldman Sachs added Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ: AMGN) to its Conviction Buy List.
Merrill Lynch downgraded Credit Suisse (NYSE: CS) from Neutral to Sell, citing valuation and the potential for more write-downs.

14 08 2008

Closing Bell: Dow has another triple-digit down day; NVDA gains, GM declines

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: After the bell, Major movement, Earnings reports, Deals, Google (GOOG), General Motors (GM), Market matters, Genentech Inc (DNA)

Today was another very volatile day with stocks posting triple-digit DJIA losses. Shares opened and traded lower, then recovered sharply before falling back down at the end of the day. Oil and commodities rose. Oil was up over $3.00 to over the $116 a barrel mark on soft inventory levels and reports Russia is seizing a Georgian pipeline. With gold rising almost $17.00 and the dollar falling, it almost felt like the commodity trades were coming back on. There was a drop in import prices, but that wasn’t enough to keep the bears from roaring today.

Here are Wednesday’s unofficial closing bell numbers:

DJIA 11,536.22 (-106.25)
S&P500 1,288.87 (-3.72)
NASDAQ 2,428.62 (-1.99)
10YR T-Bond 3.947% (+0.029%)
52-WEEK LOWS
ANALYSTS UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) saw shares down marginally today as the stock was down 0.8% at $498.53 in the final minutes before the close. Jim Cramer interviewed Google’s CEO & Chairman on CNBC today and he brought back that $750 Target.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) took a beating on another Moody’s debt downgrade. While everyone should have known this data, shares were down almost 8% at $10.22 in the final minutes ahead of today’s closing bell.

Genentech (NYSE: DNA) was up a little more than 0.5% at $98.43 in the final minutes after it rejected Roche’s $89.00 cash bid and offered Roche to choke up more cash.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) managed to escape the hangman after reporting disappointing earnings, recording a loss due to a $196 million charge to cover its technical issues in graphics processors. But a $1 billion share buyback plan compared to its market cap of $6 billion saved the day. This was a key trading alert stock today and shares were up over 10% at $12.24 in the final minutes.

12 08 2008

Cramer on BloggingStocks: Exodus from oil may goose tech

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN), Intel (INTC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Adobe Systems (ADBE), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wachovia Corp (WB), Stocks to Buy, Cramer on BloggingStocks, Technology

TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer says all that money has to go somewhere, and this is a likely destination.

Clash of the ideals! Oil’s down, and what can you buy when there’s so much bad bank news? What can you buy when Wachovia (NYSE: WB) (Cramer’s Take) is boosting reserves and Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)) (Cramer’s Take) is still being pursued by authorities and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) (Cramer’s Take) says July stunk and UBS (NYSE: UBS) (Cramer’s Take) is so tarnished that you can’t believe it was once the most conservative blue chip out there.

The answer is tech, of course!

Wait a second. Would anyone mind if we actually had a reason to buy tech beyond the Kindle, the device that made Citigroup gaga about Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) (Cramer’s Take) — not that you needed a device to do that.

Sure, we have pre-seasonality. Remember, you are supposed to buy tech at the end of the summer, not that anyone waits that long.

But what we really have is that quant thinking that Doug rails about so correctly: the CDO of stocks! We take a little bad tech, the lowest-end stuff like RF Micro (NASDAQ: RFMD) (Cramer’s Take) and Parametric (NASDAQ: PMTC) (Cramer’s Take); mix in some mid-tech, stuff like National Semi (NYSE: NSM) (Cramer’s Take) and Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI) (Cramer’s Take); then throw in Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) (Cramer’s Take), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) (Cramer’s Take), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) (Cramer’s Take), Amazon and Adobe (NASDAQ: ABDE) (Cramer’s Take) — yes, Adobe; then split them into tranches, slice ‘em up, and offer a derivative on them for those who want leverage and we have, well, a tech rally!

I know, could it be any more stupid? But there is simply too much money that is betting or leaving oil and gold, and that money goes somewhere. It does not sit idle. Given the ugliness of the banks, it can’t go there today, so it will probably go to tech.

Heaven forbid it actually go to the consumers of energy, but then again, some of these big behemoth funds have taken retail up on that tangential benefit, so there’s at least some correlation. The problem there is that the worst earnings may be in retail, so they are tough to buy. Even the ones I thought might have a turn at hand, like Macy’s (NYSE: M) (Cramer’s Take), which reports tomorrow, have run 60% — how much higher can it go even if it does do a good report? In this market there might be enough shorts in the name for it to rally and then go back down, as someone might recognize this unimportant quarter for what it is: an unimportant quarter!

Meanwhile we are so overbought — plus-4 on my oscillator — that it might not be worth buying anything anyway. The most oversold here is oil and heaven knows, I have tried that trade.

So the “out of oil, into financials” trade gets a rest. The “out of oil, into tech” move continues until we get some bad news. And the “out of oil, into retail” trade has gotten to the nosebleed zone for me — I want a pullback. Maybe we will even get one! Or do pullbacks only come in regular and premium?

Random musings: “Mad Money” is back on at 1:30 again all week and next week, as is my regular show at 11:00. Grueling, in case you were wondering.

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RELATED LINKS:
Oil Sinks Despite Georgian-Russian Turmoil
Cramer: Buy Tech Here
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Jim Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com’s sites and serves as an adviser to the company’s CEO. At the time of publication, Cramer was long Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan.

12 08 2008

Company nicknames: Microsoft nickname is an insult to Mister Softee

Posted by: in Employment opportunities

Filed under: Consumer experience, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT)

This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Mr. Softee below in the comments.

You would be hard-pressed to find a professional stock trader today who didn’t know that “Mister Softee” is Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT) . The nickname is so widely-used among investors that it seems to barely need explanation. But there is actually a quite simple reason for the derivation of the moniker. Here is how I imagine it taking hold:

Once upon a time in a land known as Manhattan, some Wall Street traders were enjoying some after-work beers. After about the fifth brew, these professionals began to gain insights, as they so often do today, into weighty topics.

They pondered the amorous tastes of Ginger and Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island. They debated whether “Freebird” or “Stairway to Heaven” was the greatest rock song of all time. Then, one of the traders had the burst of insight that the ticker symbol for Microsoft (”MSFT”) has some of the same letters as beloved self-serve ice cream Mister Softee. And so, one of the most ubiquitous bits of Wall Street slang was born.

I cringe whenever I hear Jim Cramer or someone else call the world’s largest software company “Mister Softee.” The nickname serves as an insult to the hard working employees of the soft-serve ice cream company who, unlike Microsoft, bring joy to millions on a daily basis. Mister Softee’s products are cheap and delicious. Microsoft’s are expensive and complicated. People who need technical support from Mister Softee can always count on an employee with a napkin and spoon. No such luck with Microsoft.

Maybe we need to figure out a new more accurate nickname for Microsoft, such as “demolition derby,” since its software crashes so much. I can’t think of a snarky way to trash the Zune or Microsoft’s inability to catch Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Perhaps others can pick up the slack.

Until then, leave Mister Softee out of it. That company, which has been bringing the “very best” to kids and families since 1956, has suffered enough from its guilt by association.