Filed under: Analyst reports, Toll Brothers (TOL), Housing, Recession

As if pouring salt on a wound, Moody’s came out this day and cut the rating of luxury home builder Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) to junk status. Their rating was cut to Ba1 from Baa3.

As reported in a Bloomberg report, Moody’s said: ” While the company is one of the only remaining home builders that’s currently generating earnings before impairment charges, Moody’s does not expect this to continue, as falling prices and lower absorption rates continue to impact margins.”

Toll Brothers CEO Robert Toll has recently told the market that he thinks that real estate is still in a downward spiral. It seems that Moody’s agrees. While this all maybe true, for long term investors, shares in Toll Brothers are certainly intriguing under $19. Long term, contrarian inclined investors may want to do a bit of research as the shares maybe approaching levels that are hard to refuse.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer’s fund has no position in any stock mentioned, as of 7/3/08.

Share This

Share This

FiReaNGeL writes with an excerpt from a story at e! Science News: “Taking advantage of a one-of-a-kind cosmic configuration, astronomers have measured an effect predicted by Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity in the extremely strong gravity of a pair of superdense neutron stars. Essentially, the famed physicist’s 93-year-old theory passed yet another test. Scientists at McGill University used the National Science Foundation’s Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to do a four-year study of a double-star system unlike any other known in the Universe. The system is a pair of neutron stars, both of which are seen as pulsars that emit lighthouse-like beams of radio waves.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

akutz writes “I’ve had the flu since Tuesday afternoon. My wife picked me up from work with a temperature of 103.6 and it finally broke at 98.7 around 3am this morning. Yay. The problem is that I used my laptop during my periods of feverish deliriousness, contaminating my shiny 15″ MacBook Pro with the icky influenza virus. I am asking my fellow Slashdotters if they have ever sought out a good way of disinfecting their lucky laptops after an illness. Do you use soap? A light acid bath? Just get the family dog to lick it until it looks clean?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

necro81 writes “Barely a month ago, the U.S. Agency of Land Management announced a freeze on applications for solar power plants on federally managed land, pending a two-year comprehensive environmental review. After much hue and cry from the public, industry, and other parts of government, BLM has this day announced that it will lift the freeze, but continue to study the possible environmental effects. To date, no solar project has yet been approved on BLM land.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

arcticstoat writes “Next week, the G8 summit will discuss proposals for new international piracy laws, which include border controls and cooperation from ISPs to identify pirates. The laws will also prevent ISPs from being liable for copyright infringement. If the G8 summit were to agree on these measures and enforce them through international cooperation, could they really cut down piracy, or would they be impractical to enforce?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Earnings reports, Products and services

According to a Billboard article published Wednesday, Neilsen Soundscan has reported an 11% decline in album sales during the first half of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007. Consumers purchased 204.6 million albums between January and June, over 25 million less than a year ago, but luckily not as sharp a decline as the 15.1% that occurred in the first half of 2007 as compared to 2006. Nielsen Soundscan told Billboard that the “drop is fueled largely by the 16.3% decrease in CD sales” despite digital album sales rising 34.4& to account for 15.4% of sales (31.6 million units).

Digital growth is still a productive and lucrative spot for the music industry, with single track downloads growing 30% to 532.7 million units in the first half of the year over first half sales in 2007 of 417.3 million units. Universal Music Group is still the most dominating music company, despite dropping .3% to 31.2% in sales. Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Group also fell, with Sony BMG dropping .5% to 24.8% and EMI dropping 1% to 9.4%. The only major music company to gain any ground was Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG), rising .8% to 20.8%. Independent music companies also rose in the first six months of 2008, capturing 13.9% of the market — up 1%.

Declines in album sales are a constant trend in the music industry, so an 11% drop is no real surprise but the lowered decline over one year ago should cause some relaxation. The only problem with the drop in decline is that album sales are still falling off. Even though Nielsen Soundscan and Billboard both commented on the hope provided by single track downloads, the industry still looks to album sales to justify the recording and marketing of music. If that trend would change, single track downloads would make an obvious market to rely on. Instead, reports about declining album sales will still continue while single track downloads continue to grow.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Filed under: Products and services, General Motors (GM), Mattel, Inc (MAT)

When my wife and I were in Europe a few years ago, we saw the “Smart Automobiles,” automobiles so small that they look like they could have come off an assembly line at a toy plant. The reason we were told that they were so popular in Europe was that gas was high-priced and people there didn’t need to drive large distances over crowded highways. Well, I thought these sort of vehicles would never sell in the U.S. where we like our automobiles as wide and free as freeway at the crack of dawn.

Thanks to $4 gas, my theory has been proven wrong.

General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) may begin producing the Chevrolet Beat in the U.S., a vehicle which according to Bloomberg News is more than a foot shorter than any other vehicle and whose 40-mile-per-hour fuel efficiency is only topped by hybrids. The new service points out that the the automaker has little choice because its current market value is SMALLER than Matchbox automobile maker Mattel Inc. (NYSE: MAT) and a 10th of what it was in 2000. It only took GM billions of dollars in losses but hey better late than never, right?

Don’t get be wrong. I’ve nothing against the Chevrolet Beat. Judging from the pictures I’ve seen on the internet. it looks okay, not my cup of tea, but then again that’s why we have chocolate and vanilla. Thanks to Al Gore, I understand about global warming and feel guilty that I own the small SUV that I drive. Nonetheless, the Chevrolet Beat and other automobiles enjoy it scare me.

What’s going to happen to passengers in the Chevrolet Bolt and other micro cars who are unfortunate enough to be in an accident with one of my fellow SUV drivers? Are these vehicles hearty enough to stand up to the rigors of America’s highways and byways? Will Bolt drivers be as smug as hybrid owners if that’s even possible.

First as anyone who has seen my picture will learn, I am not what they call a svelte American. My people — we hate to use the “F” word — have grown accustomed to having enough room for our ample frames in the non-sedan vehicle of our choice. Considering that car dealers are avoiding taking SUVs in trade-ins like the plague, we’ve got plenty of time to go on a diet.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Launches, Consumer experience, Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Marketing and advertising, MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA)

Billboard reported Thursday that MasterCard Inc. (NYSE: MA) has launched a new campaign titled “Roots of Rock” that offers free downloads for cardholders from Universal Music Group. Apparently the free aspect of the campaign is limited and after 100,000 songs have been downloaded, MasterCard will begin to charge $0.80 per track. Even after the credit card company begins charging for downloads, pricing for tracks is still lower than Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)’s MP3 Store ($0.89) or Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iTunes Store ($0.99).

Cardholders who also make a buy by August 31 will be “entered into a sweepstakes with a grand prize of having a meet and greet with Jon Bon Jovi, Eric Clapton or Kenny Chesney.” MasterCard executive Amy Fuller told Billboard with the new campaign, the company has “created unparalleled music experiences with three of the world’s most popular artists, providing consumers with an intimate perspective on these icons that few fans will ever have.” But those fans will have to win the sweepstakes.

MasterCard’s campaign to offer free downloads is like numerous other programs that are linked with music companies, but it offers to take the digital market to a larger consumer base. Lowered prices (eventually) for the campaign mean that Universal Music Group will continue to hold on to the lead in music sales, if only because the music company is the only one on board with MasterCard. Consumers that might not have ever downloaded a track might be enticed to try out the campaign and the sweepstakes. This type of growth is what the music industry will need if digital sales are ever going to replace physical sales successfully and completely.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Good news, Rumors, Products and services, Marketing and advertising

Despite a 66% drop from first week sales of 721,000 duplicates, Coldplay’s fourth album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends retains the top spot on the Billboard 200, selling 249,000 duplicates in the album’s second week of release. Billboard reported the chart placement Wednesday and noted album sales are down 7.66% in the last week while dropping 13.2% behind the same week totals from one year ago.

The album was released in the United Kingdom three weeks ago tomorrow, while it has only been out in the United States for two weeks. It debuted large in the UK, selling 302,000 duplicates in the first three days it was out and selling 500,000 copies after ten days. Sales in the U.S. over seven days are obviously larger than the UK figures, pointing to rumored hopes from the band’s music label EMI that the album would provide a significant boost for the company during the summer and possibly the year.

I’ve had the album since it was released, reporting that very day about the packaging of a vinyl and CD copy together that seemed to hint EMI was aware that consumers listen to music more frequently on MP3 players even if they prefer vinyl copies for nostalgia or the entire experience. Two weeks at number is impressive in today’s market and although sales dropped 66%, 249,000 duplicates is a nice figure for one week. If continued rumors are true that the band will release another album within a year and a half, the future of EMI might be more and more based on the success of one band.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Share This

Filed under: Products and services, Launches, Wal-Mart (WMT)

When Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) releases a new line of jeans next month from Levi Strauss, the eyes of the apparel industry will be tightly fixed on the world’s largest retailer. The new denim jeans, which will be from the “Totally Slimming” line of Strauss’s “Signature” line of jeans made specially for Wal-Mart, will promise to be comfortable yet produce a tummy-tightening fit for you ladies out there.

Now, these type of jeans have been available from department stores for a premium price for a while now. They’re designed to automatically change that figure (no lipo required) while not feeling like a 19th-century corset. Wal-Mart’s contribution to the process will, of course, be it’s sub-$20 pricetag. Expect these jeans to fly off the shelves, literally. Even in the face of an economic downturn in the U.S., Wal-Mart has plodded along just fine. Products like these — with prices like these — will only reinforce the retailer’s staying power in uncertain times

Levi’s new product is designed to hold in thighs and lift the butt, among other things. As usual in full-service discounters, you can buy all the ice cream and potato chips that will bulk up the cellulite, then find the clothing solution to hide that nastiness right in the next aisle. Wal-Mart’s new Absolutely Slimming product was tested by Wal-Mart women shoppers last November and proved a large success. For $20 a pair, these will draw even more women into Wal-Mart stores. If the retailer is smart, it’ll build a huge ad campaign around this product.

Share This

Share This