New Purchase: Time Warner

Following completion of Time Warner’s 2Q08 conference call I purchased the stock widely across the Northlake client base and in my personal accounts. The purchase is based on my new, more bullish view of the company’s prospects over the next 12 months. TWX finally seems to be emerging from a prolonged period of restructuring and […]

The Dream Is Over

I sold all client and personal positions in Dreamworks Animation (DWA) on Tuesday after it had rebounded from overzealous selling following its own 2Q08 report. The sale of DWA was a result of my trading thesis falling apart when the company indicated that higher than expected international marketing costs would take away the earnings upside […]

Why Is CETV Struggling When I Think It Will Double

Central European Media Enterprises (CETV) remains my favorite media stock for all time horizons. Despite my enthusiasm the shares have performed poorly this year. Although, within the media stock universe, the 20% drop since June is not unusual. Neither is the 36% decline from the 52 week high. However, there is one big difference. CETV […]

August 2008 Model Signals

Once again there were no changes to Northlake’s monthly Market Cap and Style models. The Market Cap signal remains mid cap and the Style signal remains growth. As a result, Northlake continues to own the S&P 400 (MDY) and the Russell 1000 Growth (IWF) for assets devoted to this strategy. The Market Cap model remains […]

Good Results, Bad Trading at CETV

I am working a longer comment on CETV, probably to be posted on Monday, but given the crazy trading following yesterday’s earnings report and conference call I wanted to offer some brief insights. The quarter was good, better than consensus and matching the very highest estimates which included my own. Romania and Croatia were across […]

Dreamworks Thesis Falls Apart

My thesis on Dreamworks Animation fell apart when the company reported 2Q results after the close on Tuesday. While I understand the 10% decline in the stock, I think it is overdone and actually leaves value in the shares ahead of catalysts that are coming but not until October and November. The problem is there […]

Headwinds Increase For Rogers

I began to sell Northlake’s position in Rogers Communications last week ahead of its earnings report. I thought the report would be OK but given growing signs of slowing growth in wireless worldwide, I thought there might be some downside to RCI’s numbers. I also thought that it would take a really good report to […]

NII Comes Through and the Sentiment Turns

What a difference a day makes! After Tuesday brought nothing but bad news for wireless investors, NII Holdings (NIHD) reminded us that there can still be winners in the group. NIHD jumped almost 8% at the open and built on the gains to close 11% higher. The company reported great 2Q08 results with pretty much […]

Apple Guidance Is The Problem

Listed below is my live commentary which was posted on RealMoney.com from last night on Apple from before and during the conference call. Without reviewing analyst commentary from the morning after I’d add a couple of things. On September quarter guidance, the gross margin would be the lowest since December Q 2006. The operating margin […]

Batman Saves Gotham and Hollywood

It’s been kind of hard to miss the news on the record breaking opening of The Dark Knight but I’ll try to put my usual Wall Street spin on the numbers. The Dark Knight’s $155.4 million is the best ever three day opening, beating Spiderman 3’s $151.3. The Dark Knight also set a single day […]