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Robert Hanley

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  • Can This Travel Agency Crack the Top Tier?

    By Robert Hanley - April 16, 2013 | Tickers: EXPE, OWW, PCLN

    It has been a tough five year period for online travel agent Orbitz (NYSE: OWW), as it has continually lost ground to competitors Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) and Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE).  The company’s sales remain below the level in 2008 and its profit margin is far below those of its chief competitors.  However, Orbitz’s stock price has been moving sharply higher recently, as investors bet on its potential as more »

  • Has This Pizza Chain Found the Ingredients for Success?

    By Robert Hanley - April 15, 2013 | Tickers: DPZ, PZZA, PZZI

    Despite an operating history that predates larger competitors, like Domino’s Pizza (NYSE: DPZ) and Papa John’s (NASDAQ: PZZA), Pizza Inn Holdings (NASDAQ: PZZI) has had a hard time gaining market share.  While the pizza segment of the quick serve restaurant category grew 8% over the past ten years, according to industry estimates, Pizza Inn has had stagnant sales growth.  However, the company’s latest concept, Pie Five, has more »

  • Can This Travel Agency Crack the Top Tier?

    By Robert Hanley - April 14, 2013 | Tickers: EXPE, OWW, PCLN

    It has been a tough five year period for online travel agent Orbitz (NYSE: OWW), as it has continually lost ground to competitors Priceline (NASDAQ: PCLN) and Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE).  The company’s sales remain below the level in 2008 and its profit margin is far below those of its chief competitors.  However, Orbitz’s stock price has been moving sharply higher recently, as investors bet on its potential as more »

  • No Profits, No CEO...No Good

    By Robert Hanley - April 13, 2013 | Tickers: JCP, M, SHLD

    J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) has been on a losing streak lately, with declining sales, an evaporation of profit, and a bitter court battle with rival Macy’s (NYSE: M) over its private label product deal with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Major investor Vornado Realty, led by real estate icon Steve Roth, sold half of its stock holdings in J.C. Penney last month after getting nervous about the company more »

  • No Profits, No CEO...No Good

    By Robert Hanley - April 13, 2013 | Tickers: JCP, M, SHLD

    J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) has been on a losing streak lately, with declining sales, an evaporation of profit, and a bitter court battle with rival Macy’s (NYSE: M) over its private label product deal with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Major investor Vornado Realty, led by real estate icon Steve Roth, sold half of its stock holdings in J.C. Penney last month after getting nervous about the company more »

  • No Profits, No CEO...No Good

    By Robert Hanley - April 12, 2013 | Tickers: JCP, M, SHLD

    JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) has been on a losing streak lately, with declining sales, an evaporation of profit, and a bitter court battle with rival Macy’s (NYSE: M) over its private label product deal with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Major investor Vornado Realty, led by real estate icon Steve Roth, sold half of its stock holdings in JC Penney last month after getting nervous about the company’s declining more »

  • Sizing Up the Premium Handbag Makers

    By Robert Hanley - April 12, 2013 | Tickers: COH, FNP, KORS

    Any casual trip to the local mall provides insight into America’s shopping habits, a supplemental research method favored by investment guru Peter Lynch. When every other teenie-bopper walks by with a premium-brand handbag, with names like Coach (NYSE: COH) and Michael Kors (NYSE: KORS), perhaps further investigation is warranted. While there are lots of handbag manufacturers at all price points, the premium category is increasingly gaining market share thanks more »

  • Are the Days Numbered for This Networking Equipment Stock?

    By Robert Hanley - April 10, 2013 | Tickers: ELX, MLNX, RAX

    Emulex (NYSE: ELX) may have been one of the go-go stocks of the late 1990s, but recent times have seen the company’s fortunes slip sharply. The consolidation of the server space, now dominated by tech giants HP, IBM, and Dell, has eliminated Emulex’s pricing power on sales of its components, leading to weak profits and a declining stock price. The company’s cheap valuation, with a P/E more »

  • Is This Networking Equipment Stock's Days Numbered?

    By Robert Hanley - April 8, 2013 | Tickers: ELX, MLNX, RAX

    Emulex (NYSE: ELX) may have been one of the go-go stocks of the late 1990’s, but recent times have seen the company’s fortunes slip sharply. The consolidation of the server space, now dominated by tech giants HP, IBM, and Dell, has eliminated Emulex’s pricing power on sales of its components, leading to weak profits and a declining stock price. The company’s cheap valuation, with a P more »

  • A Bidding War in Skin Care

    By Robert Hanley - April 6, 2013 | Tickers: OMPI, TEVA, VRX

    Serial acquirer Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: VRX) thought it had locked up an acquisition of Obagi Medical Products (NASDAQ: OMPI) in late March for $19 per share in cash or roughly $344 million. The purchase would have added leading skin treatment products to the company’s growing dermatology franchise. On April 2nd, though, Germany-based Merz Pharma made a higher, competing offer for Obagi, which led to a counter offer from more »

  • This Industry Owes a Debt to Uncle Sam

    By Robert Hanley - April 5, 2013 | Tickers: NSM, OCN, WAC

    The mortgage servicing companies are firing on all cylinders, with rising assets, profitability ratios, and stock prices. Their business model is pretty straightforward: collect payments from debtors, remit payments to creditors, and provide administration for any legal or settlement issues. While the industry is dominated by the internal units of the large national banks, more stringent government regulations have forced the banks to sell servicing rights in order to meet more »

  • Has This Web 1.0 Company Turned the Corner?

    By Robert Hanley - April 5, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, EBAY, OSTK

    Despite its small relative size, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) survived the dotcom meltdown of 2000 and the subsequent online retail wars that took out many of the early internet pioneers. While the company’s more successful rivals, like eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have broadened their business mix, Overstock continues to focus on providing brand-name merchandise at discounted prices through its online marketplaces. After being left for dead more »

  • Has This Web 1.0 Company Turned the Corner?

    By Robert Hanley - April 3, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, EBAY, OSTK

    Despite its small relative size, Overstock.com (NASDAQ: OSTK) survived the dotcom meltdown of 2000 and the subsequent online retail wars that took out many of the early internet pioneers. While the company’s more successful rivals, like eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) have broadened their business mix, Overstock continues to focus on providing brand-name merchandise at discounted prices through its online marketplaces. After being left for dead more »

  • Are the Starz Aligned for This Video Network?

    By Robert Hanley - April 2, 2013 | Tickers: CBS, STRZA, TWX

    Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA) became a public company in January 2013, after being spun off from former parent Liberty Media, which didn’t have Starz in its future plans. The company is one of the top video programming networks, along with CBS’ (NYSE: CBS) Showtime and Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) HBO. However, the video networks have become a slow growth business with cost pressures from both network distributors and newer more »

  • Are These Software Makers Ripe for the Picking?

    By Robert Hanley - April 2, 2013 | Tickers: BMC, CPWR, IBM

    As information technology becomes continually more integral to businesses’ operations, the technology sector’s profits have become less variable and more predictable. The sector produces profits throughout the business cycle, which has attracted the attention of the big investment funds. In the mainframe segment, both BMC Software (NASDAQ: BMC) and Compuware (NASDAQ: CPWR) have been targeted by hedge fund Elliott Management, as well as gaining interest from other private equity more »

  • Riding on Mr. Icahn's Coattails

    By Robert Hanley - April 1, 2013 | Tickers: ARII, CVI, FDML

    Like him or hate him, Carl Icahn has built a multi-billion dollar fortune based on an ability to discern value and an unwavering dedication to realizing the desired results for himself and his partners. While his earlier methods were somewhat dubious, Mr. Icahn’s recent activities are indicative of a long-term strategy. Indeed, he returned outside partners' money and folded his funds into publicly-traded Icahn Enterprises back in 2011. So more »

  • The Danger of the One-Hit Wonder

    By Robert Hanley - March 27, 2013 | Tickers: AFFY, AMGN, VRX

    The drug development field is a potentially lucrative, although always dangerous area for small companies and their investors to participate in. The development process can take up to fifteen years from start to finish, at which point companies can look forward to managing post-approval activities and monitoring the drug manufacturing process. Even at the end, things can unfortunately go wrong. For a cautionary tale, let’s take the case of more »

  • The (Ma)lone Ranger Strikes Again

    By Robert Hanley - March 26, 2013 | Tickers: CHTR, LMCA, SIRI

    John Malone’s Liberty Media (NASDAQ: LMCA) empire has been doing deals at a feverish pace lately, with a recent spinoff of its Starz programming network and the acquisition of a majority stake in Sirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI). In its latest deal, the company’s founder returned to his roots with a $2.6 billion purchase of a major stake in regional cable provider Charter Communications (NASDAQ: CHTR). So more »

  • Should You Take Mr. Dell's Offer?

    By Robert Hanley - March 25, 2013 | Tickers: DELL, HPQ, IBM

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last few years, you are aware of the struggles of the personal computer (PC) manufacturers, principally Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and HP (NYSE: HPQ), that are trying to transform their businesses into diversified technology providers. While sales of PCs have fallen, sales of tablets and mobile phones continue to leap higher as consumers gravitate toward smaller, internet-connected devices. Unfortunately, the share prices more »

  • Deal or No Deal, This Spirits Maker is a Winner

    By Robert Hanley - March 22, 2013 | Tickers: BUD, SAM, STZ

    Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ) has spent the past decade transforming itself from a sleepy, regional wine maker into the world’s largest premium wine company, with well-known brands that include Robert Mondavi and Ruffino. From 2009 through 2011, the company sold off its value-priced spirits and wine operations, while reinvesting the funds into the premium-priced beer and wine category, an area that continues to win a larger percentage of the more »