International Speedway Posts Solid Results
The NASCAR racetrack owner posted strong results Thursday. The firm’s middle class consumer is returning slowly.
Brian Nelson
June Same Store Sales Actually Weren’t Bad
Though a few companies fell short of expectations, we thought June same-store sales numbers were mostly positive. We think lower energy prices may have reinvigorated the US consumer during the month.
Strong Auto Sales Continue in June
Sales in the US remained strong throughout June. We think SAAR will remain above 14 million units for the remainder of 2012.
Ancestry.com’s Subscriber Growth Remains Strong
On Monday, Best Ideas Portfolio holding Ancestry.com (ACOM) announced that it has added its 2 millionth active current subscriber, alleviating concerns regarding a subscriber growth slowdown in light of shaky consumer discretionary spending. We continue to expect Ancestry.com’s subscriber growth trajectory to be robust through the end of this year and into 2013 thanks to the release and digital indexing of the 1940 US Federal Census. We also find it probable that Ancestry.com’s management remains in talks with private-equity firms for a sale of the firm. But even if talks do not amount to much, we’re content with the recent pricing action from Ancestry.com and expect the firm’s shares to continue to converge to our estimate of their fair value … Read more
Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca Purchase Amylin
The two pharmaceutical companies will collaborate to commercialize the diabetes portfolio of Amylin. We think the deal is value neutral.
KB Home’s Results Are Consistent With Lennar’s; New Housing Improving
The challenged homebuilder KB Home reported a better than expected loss for its second quarter as both margins and demand increased.
Research In Motion Continues to Struggle
Struggling phone-maker Research In Motion posted another weak quarter and announced Blackberry 10 will ship in calendar 2013. The company may have patent value, but its operations continue to struggle.
Ford’s North American Story Is Intact But Challenges Remain
We still like Ford, but we think shares of the automaker will be challenged in the near term.
Nike’s Fourth-Quarter Results Were Very Disappointing
Nike reported fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday. Top-line growth at the firm was strong, but it did not fall to the bottom line.
Google Enters the Tablet War by Attacking…Amazon
Google announced its Nexus 7 tablet yesterday. We don’t think the product will truly compete against the iPad or the Surface.