Tom Gibbs

Editor's Choice

Automakers Consider Indonesia as BRICs Moderate Growth

By Tom Gibbs - August 24, 2012 | Tickers: GM, HMC, NSANY.PK, TM |

Those analyzing the growth projections for nearly any international company in any industry tend to focus on the United States and the swiftly growing BRIC nations as a guideline as to where the most favorable future growth will come. The model not only takes into account the growing populations of Brazil, Russia, India, and China, but also the relatively higher wealth these nations are experiencing compared to their third world more »
Jeeps to Traverse Russian Terrain

By Tom Gibbs - August 20, 2012 | Tickers: BAMXY, FIATY.PK, F, GM, VLKAY |

One can tune-in to any 1980s or early 1990s program with a Cold War-era Russia setting (I recommend anything MacGyver) to catch a quick glimpse of the output of the nation’s uninspired automotive industry. Following a sub-utilitarianism approach – striving for overall adequacy as opposed to maximizing the happiness of the population – Russian autos were poorly designed, inefficient, and built solely to reach production goals. Russian native Lada – “Lada” translates more »
This Apparel Retailer is in Value Territory

By Tom Gibbs - August 20, 2012 | Tickers: ANF, GPS, GES, RL |

The apparel retailing sector is becoming increasingly dynamic in 2012 as discretionary consumer dollars continue to return. Emerging markets including China are getting their first taste of certain prestigious foreign brands, and historically high cotton prices are putting a strain on industry margins and therefore masking the effect of generally growing top lines. Guess Inc. (NYSE: GES), with its stock price falling nearly 15% since mid-March, has recently appeared to more »
Coinstar Falls, But Isn't Broken

By Tom Gibbs - July 28, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, CSTR, NFLX, VZ |

Coinstar (NASDAQ: CSTR) has taken a big hit late in the trading week of July 23 following the release of its second quarter 2012 financial results. With the shares falling by more than 25% during this month alone, could they possibly be ripe for the picking?

What has Happened?

Although the kiosk-operating corporation was slightly shy of average analyst expectations, the Q2 results were not shockingly negative on the surface more »
ATS Represents Cadillac's Make or Break Moment

By Tom Gibbs - July 21, 2012 | Tickers: BAMXY, DDAIF.PK, F, GM, TM, VLKAY |

The automotive industry has been quite a mixed bag thus far in 2012. Strong sales gains in the United States market have accelerated volume to a 14.1 million seasonally adjusted annualized rate in the first half of the year, which topped average analyst estimates of 13.8 million. The positive news coming from the U.S., however, have been severely downplayed due to continued troubles that all automakers are more »
A Much Bigger Win for Consumers in Long Run

By Tom Gibbs - July 20, 2012 | Tickers: CBS, CMCSA, NWSA, TWX, DIS |

Everybody loves a good underdog story, and last week’s denial of a temporary injunction against Aereo’s entry into the TV-streaming service market highlights the continued difficulties that broadcasters are having in the rapidly evolving entertainment market.

What Has Happened?

Backed by media mogul Barry Diller, Aereo, which grants consumers access to local broadcast TV shows via Internet streaming for a mere $12/month subscription, was originally targeted by more »
Is Arcos Dorados a Better Pick Than McDonald's?

By Tom Gibbs - July 17, 2012 | Tickers: ARCO, BKW, MCD, WEN, YUM |

Despite its relatively simple and frequently copied formula for success, McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) still remains one of the most dynamic entities within the quick serve and sit-down restaurant spaces. The corporation, through the continuous launch of new menu items and the revamping of a large majority of its worldwide outlets, has acted to blur the definition of the greasy burger-flipping fast food joint of the past, and has become more »
Key Shifts in Grocery Business Highlight Supermarket Weakness

By Tom Gibbs - July 16, 2012 | Tickers: FDO, SWY, SVU, KR, WMT |

Quite a bit of buzz was stirring in the grocery industry late in the trading week of July 9^th from the release of several news tidbits. First, large grocery chain operator Supervalu (NYSE: SVU) lost close to half of its market value following the reporting of its dismal first quarter results, the suspension of its dividend, and the announcement that it would pursue strategic alternatives with its troubled operations more »
Will a Fender Investment Strum a Positive Chord in Your Portfolio?

By Tom Gibbs - July 13, 2012 | Tickers: BBY, CBS, COST, FB, VLKAY |

Following a clearing up of Facebook’s (NASDAQ: FB) IPO debacle – the stock has recently risen nearly 30% from its post-IPO low – there are now a slew of other enterprises with enough confidence to offer their own shares on the public market. In addition to online travel search engine Kayak Software and network-security firm Palo Alto Networks Inc., iconic guitar and other musical instrument manufacturer Fender has recently set the more »
A Health Play that Looks Lean and Mean

By Tom Gibbs - July 13, 2012 | Tickers: NTRI, WTW |

One hardly needs statistics to see that the world population is gradually becoming more overweight (although statistics will be provided). More than 65% of Americans over the age of 19 are considered overweight and almost half of these are obese, and due to changing eating patterns and increasingly sedentary lifestyles, an estimated 3 billion people by 2015 will be among the overweight/obese categories.

Despite the increasing number of side more »
A Harman Investment has Never Sounded this Good

By Tom Gibbs - July 13, 2012 | Tickers: BAMXY, DDAIF.PK, HAR, TM, VLKAY |

Audio guru Harman International (NYSE: HAR), a primary competitor to privately traded Bose and Pioneer in the automotive, consumer, and professional audio technology market, has gone through an extremely shaky operating period over the past five years. With nearly 70% of its revenues riding on the sale of automotive-geared audio products, the corporation’s revenues dropped by more than 30% in 2009 alongside the dramatic slowdown of the global automotive more »
GM Surprises Market -- Not in a Good Way

By Tom Gibbs - July 12, 2012 | Tickers: BAMXY, F, GM, TM, VLKAY |

General Motors’ (NYSE: GM) shares are down by as much as 3% during intraday trading on July 12, nearing its 52-week price low of $19/share, on a very curious news tidbit just released by the corporation. Karl-Friedrich Stracke, who took over GM’s European division from the retiring Nick Reilly this past January, has stepped down from the leadership position to take on “special assignments” with the corporation’s more »
Cummins Drop Highlights Potential Opportunity

By Tom Gibbs - July 12, 2012 | Tickers: CAT, CMI, DE, JOY, PCAR |

Cummins (NYSE: CMI) has had a heck of an experience over the past five years. With revenues tied very closely to global GDP levels, the diesel and natural gas engine manufacturer’s revenues were crushed by nearly 25% in 2009 after double-digit top line increases in the prior year. Following the bottoming out in the mid-recessionary climate, Cummins has made a huge resurgence – growing revenues by an average of 30 more »
When to Not Be Fooled by Cheap Price Valuations

By Tom Gibbs - July 10, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, BBY, RSH, S, SPLS |

Many investors following a strict value investing framework have made extremely successful careers in the location of small, obscure, forgotten, out-of-fashion, and most importantly, cheap enterprises. If one looks long and hard enough, such firms with an attractive potential upside can be found across the board in many different industries. However, no firm is better representative of the aforementioned value adjectives in the consumer electronics retail space than RadioShack (NYSE: RSH more »)
Will Kayak Make a Big Splash in the Online Travel Market?

By Tom Gibbs - July 10, 2012 | Tickers: EXPE, FB, HTZ, INTU, PCLN |

The online travel industry has taken off and soared into the skies following the global travel slowdown experienced in 2009, with key players including Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) and Priceline.com (NASDAQ: PCLN) enjoying huge top line growth over the past three years. Online travel spend now represents half of all global e-Commerce transactions (IDC, 2011), and with a continued rebound in the global travel industry and an increased penetration of more »
Nike's Dip Highlights Investor Opportunity

By Tom Gibbs - July 2, 2012 | Tickers: ADDYY, LULU, NKE, UA |

It appears that Christmas does in fact come early in 2012, and this July (well, late June) investors should take a special opportunity to get into Nike (NYSE: NKE) stock on the cheap.

What’s Happened?

Nike finished the trading week of June 25^th on a sour note with the release of its fiscal year-end 2012 financial results. Shares plummeted by as much as 12% following the public’s more »
Diesel's Rosy Future

By Tom Gibbs - June 28, 2012 | Tickers: F, GM, TM, VLKAY |

The updated average fuel economy standards under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) law is not necessarily recent news, but it is still the underpinnings of the most important changes the auto industry has faced over the past two decades. Originally established in 1975 and mandating that automakers reach an average (between cars and light-duty trucks) of 18 miles per gallon across their vehicle lineups, CAFE was most recently updated more »
The Chocolate King Outlines Robust Growth Plan

By Tom Gibbs - June 27, 2012 | Tickers: KRFT, NSRGY, PEP, HSY |

Hershey (NYSE: HSY) started out the week of June 25^th on a high note with its global expansion and long-term growth projection presentation. The company’s management hardly made the prospectus a light read – at 250+ presentation slides – but the projections do show that there is reason for non-Hershey investors to take a closer look into the corporation’s growth story. What are some of the highlights?

Background

Hershey more »
IPG Deserves Closer Look After Mass Sell Off

By Tom Gibbs - June 25, 2012 | Tickers: GM, IPGP, PG, BA, VLKAY |

IPG Photonics (NASDAQ: IPGP), a developer and manufacturer of a broad line of high-performance fiber lasers, fiber amplifiers, and diode lasers, has had a very diverse experience over its past five-year operating history.

After 20 years of perfecting its core fiber laser product line – investing heavily to reduce the technology’s cost of ownership and growing its wide base of blue chip customers – the corporation experienced a dramatic revenue and more »
Will Microsoft's New Hardware Scratch the Surface of the Tablet Market?

By Tom Gibbs - June 21, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT, NOK |

What’s Happened?

Following much ado regarding Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) secret Monday afternoon event, the corporation has announced Surface – its first major push into the tablet market. To be released this fall, the 10.6-inch, 1.5-pound Microsoft Surface is not only a product obviously directed toward Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) similarly sized iPad, but it will also represent one of the first launches of the upcoming Windows 8 more »

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