Sluggish Blu-Ray Sales Another Headwind

So far my sales of Disney has held up pretty well, down just a bit, while News Corp has fallen about 5%. Disney might be getting a boost from some initial reports that ABC is writing upfront business at decent CPM increases, maybe even large enough to offset potentially double digit down ratings guarantees and […]

Kung Fu Panda and the Upfront

A few brief items in the media world for this morning: Kung Fu Panda opens today. The film has received good reviews and there has not been a major child focused film in theatres since Horton Hears A Who. A strong marketing campaign, good tracking data, and the usual optimism about funny talking animals has […]

June 2008 Model Signals

There were no changes to Northlake’s Market Cap or Style Model for June. The Market Cap model continues to flash a Mid Cap signal while the Style model remains firmly in growth mode. As a result, client positions in the S&P Mid Cap 400 (MDY) and the Russell 1000 Growth (IWF) are being maintained. The […]

Selling Disney and News Corporation

On Friday, I sold all Northlake client positions in Disney and News Corporation. This is a big deal fro me as media stocks are my area of expertise and I believe that these are the two best managed, fast growing companies with the most optimistic long-term competitive positioning. I’ve owned Disney for more than three […]

Box Office Has A Sexy Rebound

A better than expected opening for Sex and the City, a decent second weekend for Indiana Jones, and still great legs from Iron Man powered the weekend box office up 28% from the same weekend last year. A year ago there were no meaningful new openings and the top three films were the third versions […]

Encouraging Action in American Apparel

I am quite encouraged by the action in American Apparel (APP). After getting whacked again on Wednesday off a confusing earnings report and conference call, the stock has bounced back strongly. The initial post earnings trades held above the April lows and unlike in April a rebound got underway quickly. Also, volume spiked for one […]

Thoughts On The Market’s Rally

This rally has been really impressive. The S&P 500 is off less than 3% this year as of Thursday’s close, hardly a blip considering all the angst earlier this year and late last year. I think the largest reason for the rally has been that earnings have exceeded expectations. According to Ned Davis Research, the […]

TV Upfront Season Poses Long-Term Risks

The broadcast TV networks made their upfront presentations this week. As I’ve written before, this year’s upfront is going to be problematical for the broadcast networks (ABC/Disney, CBS, FOX/News Corp, and NBC/General Electric). During the upfront, the networks sell advertising time for the upcoming TV season, in this case the 2008-09 season that begins in […]

American Apparel: Controversy Continues Amid Stellar Growth

Controversial and rapidly growing retailer American Apparel reported 1Q08 results last night after the close. While there are many extremely positive numbers in the results, I believe that several confusing items will cause the shares to trade lower today, possibly much lower. That said, I think the trends in core retail business look better than […]

DirecTV Still Rolling And I Missed It

DirecTV reported another strong quarter. Overcoming potential headwinds from the economy, the housing recession, and the loss of AT&T marketing in former BellSouth territories, DTV produced an across the board beat in its 1Q08. EPS of 32 cents and revenues of $4.59 billion beat consensus estimates of 31 cents and $4.47 billion, respectively. EPS grew […]