amazon

REITMANS, $16.28, symbol RET.A on Toronto, reports that earnings in the three months ended August 2, 2008 rose 10.3%, to $35.4 million or $0.50 a share from $32.1 million or $0.45 a share a year earlier. Sales fell 0.8%, to $289.5 million from $291.9 million. Same store sales fell 4.5%. In the latest quarter, continuing unseasonable weather, lower consumer confidence and rising gasoline prices reduced store traffic. That in turn dampened sales. However, the strong Canadian dollar and better inventory controls boosted profits. Reitmans is Canada’s largest specialty woman’s wear retailer. The company holds $230.9 million or $4.04 a share in cash. It pays a $0.18 quarterly dividend, which currently gives it a 4.4% yield....

AMAZON.COM $82.13 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 425.9 million; Market cap: $35.0 billion) is launching a new online store called Amazon Video on Demand, which will sell TV programs and movies. Customers can download movies to their computers, or store them at Amazon.com. Customers will also be able to start watching any of the 40,000 movies or TV programs available without having to wait until files are completely downloaded. Unlike most of its competitors such as Apple’s iTunes store, Amazon will use streaming video. That’s similar to programs now available through cable video-on-demand services. Amazon.com is a buy.

GREY ISLAND SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL $0.28, symbol GIS on Toronto, moved up this week after reporting record revenues and earnings. In the three months ended June 30, 2008, Grey Island’s revenues rose 50.1%, to $5.8 million from $3.8 million a year earlier. The company earned $440,795 or $0.005 a share, compared to a loss of $336,682 or $0.004. Grey Island had positive cash flow of $777,879 or $0.009 a share in the latest quarter, compared to negative cash flow of $69,470 or $0.0008 a share. The company holds $11.3 million or $0.15 a share in cash, and has almost no debt. Grey Island continues to successfully expand in the United States. In the latest quarter U.S. sales rose 84.9% to $4.6 million (78% of total revenues), offsetting a 10.4% decrease in Canadian sales to $1.3 million. Grey Island is an Internet-based automated vehicle location and mobile data services provider for the fleet management market. The company is building a growing customer base of mainly municipal and state government customers....

AMAZON.COM, $78.31, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, jumped almost $8 this week after the company reported strong revenues and profits in the three months ended June 30, 2008. Revenues rose 40.8% in the latest quarter, to $4.1 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier. Excluding the favorable impact of foreign currency gains, revenues were up 35%. International sales from Amazon’s UK, German, Japanese, French and Chinese sites rose 47%, or 34% before foreign exchange gains. Earnings rose 202.3%, to $158 million or $0.38 a share, from $78 million or $0.19 a share. The latest quarter included a gain of $53 million on the sale of the company’s European DVD rental assets....

AMERIGO RESOURCES, $1.34, symbol ARG on Toronto, has a contract with Codelco, Chile’s state-owned copper producer, to process the tailings from El Teniente, the world’s largest underground copper mine. Tailings are the waste rock produced in the mining process. Amerigo treats the tailings to extract copper and molybdenum. Amerigo rose this week after reporting lower power costs at El Teniente for the three months ended June 30, 2008. Electricity prices fell 24.7%, to $0.2462 per kilowatt hour from $0.3268, due to higher rainfall and additional hydro-electric sources. (All figures except share price in U.S. dollars.) That’s after Amerigo’s first quarter electricity costs rose 285%, to $13.9 million from $3.6 million. Amerigo has bought two 10-megawatt electricity generators in order to become energy self-sufficient. It expects these to begin generating power later this year. Labor troubles at El Teniente are now settled, but disruptions in the supply of tailings in April and May hurt Amerigo’s second quarter production. Copper production fell 28.6%, to 7.1 million pounds from 9.9 million pounds a year earlier. Molybdenum production fell 27.9%, to 147,508 pounds from 204,647 pounds. However, production should recover in the second half of 2008....

AMAZON.COM $82.52 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 417.7 million; Market cap: $34.5 billion) is the leading bookseller on the Internet (it offers 4.7 million titles), as well as a leading video and music seller. It also has numerous other store categories, including electronics, computer games, toys and tools. Through Amazon Services, the company also offers programs that let sellers market on its web sites. In the three months ended March 31, 2008, Amazon’s revenues rose 37.1%, to $4.1 billion from $3 billion. International sales comprised 48.6% of revenues and rose 44.2%, helped by stronger foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar. North American sales made up 51.4% of the total, and rose 31.1%. Earnings rose 28.8%, to $143 million or $0.34 a share, from $111 million or $0.27. Amazon holds cash of $2.2 billion or $5.16 a share....

BORDERS GROUP INC. $21.32, New York symbol BGP, has struggled lately, due to strong price competition from Internet booksellers and discount retailers. It earned $1.61 a share before unusual items in its fourth fiscal quarter ended February 3, 2007, down 13.9% from $1.87 a year earlier. Sales rose 3.4%, to $1.5 billion from $1.45 billion. However, same-store sales fell 2.8% at its superstores, and 6.2% at its Waldenbooks mall-based chain. The company aims to improve profits with several new initiatives. It plans to close or sell half of its mall-based stores and form its own publishing operation. It will also launch its own bookselling new web site, to replace its current venture with Amazon. Borders is also looking at selling its international operations, or transforming them into franchises. Each of the facets of this plan makes sense to us, but it will take at least a year for Borders to complete them all. However, profits should begin to rise again in 2008. The company will probably maintain its $0.44 dividend, which yields 2.1%....