wall street
Global X Social Media ETF, $19.04 symbol SOCL on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 1.05 million; Market cap: $20.0 million; www.globalxfunds.com), invests in companies that provide social networking, file sharing and other web-based media applications. This ETF holds 28 social media stocks from the U.S. (49.1% of assets), China (28.0%), Japan (13.4%), Russia (8.4%), Taiwan (0.8%) and Germany (0.5%). The fund’s MER is 0.65%. The Global X Social Media ETF began trading on November 14, 2011....
GANNETT CO. INC. (New York symbol GCI; www.gannett.com) publishes 99 newspapers in the U.S. and U.K., including USA Today, its flagship paper. It also publishes 680 magazines and weekly papers and owns 23 U.S. television stations....
CONAGRA FOODS INC., $31.88, New York symbol CAG, fell 5% this week after the company warned that weaker-than-expected demand for its brand name foods, such as Hunt’s ketchup, Peter Pan peanut butter and Slim Jim meat snacks, is hurting its earnings. As a result, the company now expects that it earned $0.37 a share in the first quarter of its 2014 fiscal year, which ended August 31, 2013. This forecast excludes unusual costs related to its recent purchase of Ralcorp Holdings, the largest maker of private label food in the U.S. Even so, ConAgra’s forecast is well below the consensus estimate of $0.45 a share. The company is now adjusting its pricing and marketing strategies to spur its sales, but lower ingredient costs and savings from the Ralcorp merger will still let it meet its debt repayment goals in fiscal 2014 and 2015....
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC., $46.34, New York symbol VZ, has agreed to buy the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it doesn’t already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon Wireless is a joint venture that sells wireless services to 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. In the second quarter of 2013, it supplied 67% of Verizon’s revenue and 80% of its earnings. The company will pay $130 billion for Vodafone’s stake. That’s almost as much as Verizon’s $132.6-billion market cap (or the total value of all its outstanding shares)....
TELUS CORP., $33.31, Toronto symbol T, rose 3% this week on news that U.S.-based Verizon Communications (New York symbol VZ) is buying the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it does not already own from U.K.-based Vodafone Group (Nasdaq symbol VOD). Verizon is a recommendation of Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter that focuses on U.S. stocks. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture that sells wireless services to 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. Verizon is paying $130 billion U.S. for Vodafone’s stake, which is just below its $132.6-billion U.S. market cap (or the total value of all its outstanding shares). Shares of Telus fell from their recent peak of $37.94 on May 22, 2013, to $29.52 on June 27 on fears that Verizon would buy two smaller Canadian wireless carriers, Mobilicity and Wind Mobile, and bid on new wireless frequencies, or spectrum. However, in the wake of the Vodafone deal, Verizon announced that it would not enter Canada’s wireless market at this time....
Last week I pointed out that learning what not to do can be the hardest and costliest part of an investor’s education. In that issue, I focused on how this applies to technical analysis—the practice of trying to base investment decisions on past trading and market history. This week I want to expand on what I said, since the idea applies to a wide range of narrow approaches to investing. To succeed as an investor, you have to take a broad view in making investment decisions. Technical analysis and other narrow views do sometimes seem to “work” for lengthy periods, of course. But they only work for a minority of the time, and they never work consistently. Instead, they run hot and cold. As with all random events, their successes occur in bunches. These bunches of successes come in random lengths, with random beginning and end points. It’s easy to see how this applies with technical analysis, which has an arcane air about it. But the same principle works for something as straightforward and commonsensical as, say, value investing....
NORDSTROM INC. (New York symbol JWN; www.nordstrom.com) mainly sells clothing, accessories and footwear. The company owns and operates 248 stores in 33 states. In the second quarter of its 2014 fiscal year, which ended August 3, 2013, Nordstrom’s sales rose 6.3%, to $3.2 billion from $3.0 billion a year earlier. Same-store sales rose 4.2% on strong demand for men’s apparel, men’s shoes and children’s clothing. Online sales jumped 37%....
VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC., $47.38, New York symbol VZ, is negotiating with U.K.-based Vodafone Group plc (Nasdaq symbol VOD) to buy the 45% of Verizon Wireless that it doesn’t already own. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture that sells wireless services to 100.1 million subscribers in the U.S. In the second quarter of 2013, it supplied 67% of Verizon’s revenue and 80% of its earnings. Buying full control could cost Verizon as much as $130 billion. That’s almost equal to the company’s $135.6 billion market cap (or the total value of all its outstanding shares)....
J.C. PENNEY CO. INC., $13.50, New York symbol JCP, operates more than 1,100 department stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Over a year ago, the company switched to an everyday low prices strategy. It felt the move would entice shoppers to come into its stores more often and not wait for clearance sales. However, the plan alienated Penney’s regular customers. In response to a sharp drop in its sales, the company switched back to its original marketing strategy....