sony

NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC. $26.66, New York symbol NWL, fell 8% this week after it warned that its fourth-quarter sales would be unchanged from a year earlier. That’s mainly due to slowing sales of office products such as pens and desktop accessories. Despite the lower sales, Newell still expects to earn $1.80 a share in 2007 thanks to its cost-cutting plan. The stock trades at just 14.8 times that estimate. Newell Rubbermaid is a buy. SONY CORP. ADRs $55.00, New York symbol SNE, gained over 10% this week after state-owned Dubai International Capital announced that it had acquired a “substantial” stake in the company. The stake is likely under 5%, because Japanese securities law requires a full public disclosure from Sony on any holding over 5%....

FIDELITY FOCUS CONSUMER INDUSTRIES FUND $17.49 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (Fidelity Investments Canada, 483 Bay St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N7. 1-800-263-4077; Web site: www.fidelity.ca. Load fund — available from brokers) invests mainly in U.S. consumer goods and services companies. Consumer spending is a key part of the U.S. economy, accounting for approximately two-thirds of activity. Fidelity Focus Consumer Industries Fund’s top holdings include Procter & Gamble, Nestle SA, Tesco, CVS Caremark, Toyota Motor, British American Tobacco, PepsiCo, Philips Electronics, Comcast Corp. and Sony. The $8.4 million fund is broken down by industry as follows: 9.6% in Media, 12.6% in Food products, 8.6% in Household products, 10.1% in Food & staples retailing and 9.2% in Automobiles....

Here are three Fidelity funds that hold much of their portfolios in one specific sector. We generally advise against investing in funds that concentrate in one economic sector. For example, a fund concentrating in financial services is particularly vulnerable to any setbacks in that sector, or to interest-rate rises. However, all of these Fidelity funds stick with high-quality stocks. If you do invest in these funds, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so these funds won’t overly concentrate your holdings in any one sector. FIDELITY FOCUS CONSUMER INDUSTRIES FUND $17.49 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (Fidelity Investments Canada, 483 Bay St., Suite 200, Toronto, Ont. M5G 2N7. 1-800-263-4077; Web site: www.fidelity.ca. Load fund — available from brokers) invests mainly in U.S. consumer goods and services companies. Consumer spending is a key part of the U.S. economy, accounting for approximately two-thirds of activity....

WASHINGTON MUTUAL INC. $29.09, New York symbol WM, earned $0.23 a share in the third quarter of 2007, down 70.1% from $0.77 a year earlier. The drop came from a nearly 500% increase in loan loss provisions, mainly due to weakness in the housing market. Writedowns of asset-backed securities also hurt earnings. Revenue fell 2.9%, to $3.4 billion from $3.5 billion. Washington Mutual hoped that recent moves to cut its exposure to subprime mortgages would make its mortgage operation profitable by the end of 2007. However, losses at this division will likely continue into 2008. The stock fell over 10% on the news. But the company’s other main businesses, retail banking and credit cards, continue to attract new customers and expand revenues. That should help Washington Mutual maintain its $2.24 dividend, which yields 7.7%....

APPLE INC. $131.77, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, aims to solidify its 70% share of the digital music player market with its new line of iPods, including a version that can wirelessly connect to the Internet. A new alliance with the Starbucks coffee chain will also make it easier for iPod users to wirelessly download music from Apple’s iTunes music store. However, the stock fell 10% on news Apple is cutting the price of its iPhone by a third. The company will soothe the feelings of customers who bought an iPhone prior to the price cut by giving them a $100 credit toward future purchases. Investors took the price cut as a sign that iPhone demand is already weakening, just two months after its heavily hyped launch. But Apple may hope to make up the lost revenue in bigger iPhone sales volumes, particularly in the Christmas selling season, and possibly from the benefit of introducing Apple products to a larger segment of the public....

GAMESTOP CORP. $50 (New York symbol GME; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 159.0 million; Market cap: $8.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Extra risk) earned $0.13 a share in its second fiscal quarter ended August 4, 2007, up sharply from $0.02 a year earlier. Sales rose 35.0%, to $1.3 billion from $963.3 million, while same-store sales grew 29.1%. Most of the growth is due to strong sales of new game machines from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. Demand for used games is also high, and accounts for half of GameStop’s profit. But at 34.7 times its projected fiscal 2008 earnings of $1.44 a share, the stock is vulnerable to unexpected product shortages or delays in the release of new games. GameStop is a hold....

SONY CORP. ADRs $46 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap; $46.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) aims to increase sales of its PlayStation 3 video game console with a new add-on device called “PlayTV”. This product will let users record and play back high-definition movies and TV shows. Sales of PlayStation 3 have lagged behind new consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo, mostly due to its higher price. But sales should improve as software companies release more games that take advantage of the PlayStation 3’s advanced processing and video chips. Another key to PlayStation 3’s long-term success is its ability to play high-definition Blu-ray DVD movies. Although Paramount Pictures and its affiliate DreamWorks recently decided to back HD-DVD, a rival high-definition format, other major studios including Sony’s own Columbia Pictures will continue to support Blu-ray. Leading retailers such as Target and Blockbuster are also dropping HD-DVD players and movies in favor of Blu-ray....

APPLE INC. $132.30, Nasdaq symbol AAPL, rose to a new all-time high following the successful launch of the iPhone. The new product uses an estimated $266 worth of parts, which suggest it will produce a gross profit of roughly $250 per unit. Apple aims to sell 10 million iPhones in the first year, which works out to an aggregate profit of $2.5 billion. The company earned just $2.0 billion or $2.27 a share in the fiscal year ended September 30, 2006. However, Apple is unlikely to dominate the mobile phone market in the same way its iPod quickly captured a big part of the music player market. If Apple fails to meet its iPhone sales target, the stock could fall sharply. Apple is still a hold....

SONY CORP. ADRs $51 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; ADRs outstanding: 1.0 billion; Market cap: $51.0 billion; WSSF Rating: Above average) has outfitted its new PlayStation 3 video game player with its Blu-ray high-definition DVD technology. Sony feels this will help Blu-ray become the dominant format for high-definition DVDs. The plan seems to be working. Blu-ray now has about 70% of the market. Video rental chain Blockbuster now plans to carry only Blu-ray titles, which should spur more demand for Blu-ray players. Sony is a buy....

ALLTEL CORP. $68.60, New York symbol AT, has accepted a $71.50-a-share takeover offer from private investors. The stock is trading below the offer price, which means the likelihood of a better offer is low. However, Alltel has no controlling stockholder, so a competing bid is possible. Alltel is now a hold. MICROSOFT CORP. $30.48, Nasdaq symbol MSFT, has agreed to pay $6 billion for aQuantive, Inc., a publicly traded firm that helps companies improve the effectiveness of their online advertising. Microsoft has roughly $28 billion (roughly $3.00 a share) in cash, so it can easily afford the purchase price....