Simply put, GSO is a hedge fund that's focused on distressed debt. Of course, with the slowing economy, GSO is in a prime spot to capitalize on some nice opportunities.
For example, when the Weather Channel was up for sale, it was tough to get financing for the deal. So why not GSO?
It worked. In the end, Blackstone and Bain Capital teamed up with General Electric (NYSE: GE) to pull off the acquisition. As for GSO, it provided higher-risk mezzanine debt financing.
Of course there are issues. After all, Blackstone has a conflict. But at the same time, the financial markets are mired in a credit crunch. So, if there are essentially no alternatives, GSO is probably going to provide the best offer.
More importantly, Blackstone realizes that there are some juicy opportunities right now. Thus, by having the GSO advantage, Blackstone certainly is positioned nicely.
So, the past few days have been cool ones for the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index. The market saw a nice uptrend. Click here and set the Dow to the one-month timeframe; that graph says it all. It looks like things may be okay from now on, right? Well, don't bet on it. CNBC.com reminds us about the dreaded bear-market rally. And I completely agree with the thesis: we are most likely headed back down once this market happiness runs its course.
It would simply be too easy for investors to have seen the bottom. No way, not with all the problems going on in terms of inflation and financial disasters. Oh yeah, oil has retreated, that's true, but I don't think the energy monster is in permanent hibernation. Not by a long shot. The problem with the past few days is that it plays with investors' emotions. It's played with mine, certainly. I haven't bought a stock in a while, and I really want to buy something. Maybe add to my General Electric (NYSE: GE) trade, my Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) holding. I love the dip in Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and really want to get serious about grabbing shares in Mr. Softy. My 401(k) has a lot of money waiting to be put to work. I want to transfer some of those monies into one or two of the quality mutual-fund offerings at my disposal. I can't stand having money tied up in stable-value instruments.
I just can't make a move yet. I feel that lower prices will be upon us sooner rather than later. Already, many are talking about buying opportunities for oil futures, and I fear those who hold such opinion will turn out to be correct. When oil rises again, stocks will most likely fall, and this summer fun will be just another memory of a day at the beach. I'm not saying there aren't buys out there. Again, Microsoft is looking attractive. Value investing, however, isn't. It's not the style of the day. And when value investing isn't the style of the day, your only hope is to become a deep-value investor and pray that patience is eventually rewarded.
There will be five superheroes competing for the attention of weekend moviegoers come Friday. There's Marvel Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: MVL)'s duo Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE)'s Hancock, General Electric Corporation (NYSE: GE)'s Hellboy (distributed by GE's Universal), and Time Warner, Inc (NYSE: TWX)'s Dark Knight. So, who's going to be the ultimate crime fighter?
I'll tell you which one prevails: Time Warner and its new Batman film, The Dark Knight, has the weekend all locked up. This is set in stone. The Hulk and Iron Man are pretty much done, Hellboy isn't a powerful enough brand name,and Hancock didn't deliver the big numbers I thought it was capable of during its debut weekend (since then, however, the movie has held up well, I have to admit). But you can bet that Dark Knight hits $100 million this weekend. Can you feel the buzz surrounding this blockbuster in the wings? I can. Several reviews I've read were full of cinematic worship for this new entry in the franchise, with special praise reserved for the late Heath Ledger and his portrayal of the fiendish nightmare known as The Joker. There's a decent marketing campaign behind the project, including promotion of the availability of IMAX (NASDAQ: IMAX) screenings. If there ever seemed a movie fit for Imax, this is it. Yeah, Dark Knight can't lose, it can only win big.
Of course, what about Time Warner's stock? It could certainly use a superhero right now, as it has been hovering in recent times not above Gotham City (although that would probably be treacherous enough) but above 52-week-low City. I can't say that a big opening weekend definitely won't move the stock a little just due to the excitement factor, but I wouldn't buy the company ahead of the film (I also wouldn't gamble with IMAX either). Time Warner simply is too large to be affected significantly by one movie. If you consider Time Warner at all, it would be for fundamentals and valuation (I think the company is cheap here, although with this market, I'd rather get it cheaper). Enjoy the movie first, think about the stock later...
Disclosure: I own GE and Marvel; positions can change at any time.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), a competitor of IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), will report its earnings for the fourth quarter on Thursday. According to Trey Thoelcke's earnings summary, the software giant will be expected to produce sales of about $15 billion on earnings per share of 47 cents. These numbers would represent double-digit growth rates for each metric.
According to this estimates page at AOL Finance, Microsoft has cultivated a reputation for being reliable when it comes to delivering on Wall Street expectations. It certainly has the assets to keep this trend going. The company's operating-system monopoly, as well as its incredible success with the Office suite of products, guarantees a steady stream of cash flow and bottom-line predictability. Other investments, such as the Xbox 360 and the company's various Internet properties, aren't as guaranteed. In fact, Microsoft has engaged a very strange battle (strange to me and others, at least) to buy Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to bolster its future prospects on the 'net.
So, here's what investors should be looking for. I will be very interested in what management has to say about its thoughts regarding Yahoo! and its utility for Microsoft. Is it an absolute necessity? I doubt it, and I really do hope that shareholders will finally get some closure on this subject. The best thing would be for Microsoft to announce that it is done with the portal. And in terms of the Xbox 360, I would be interested in hearing any new marketing strategies being readied for the holiday season and if the current recessionary environment will have any effect on sales. Microsoft recently reduced the price for one Xbox 360 model as a way of increasing that system's value proposition in relation to the Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo (OTC: NTDOY) Wii. The company also has entered partnerships with General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal and Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), according to Variety, to make its Xbox Live asset even more attractive to users looking for cool content such as movies and TV shows.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) didn't see a huge reaction to its earnings on Friday. I think the stock closed up by only a couple pennies. But at least its NBC Universal asset scored a hit with Hellboy II: The Golden Army. According to Boxofficemojo, it topped this weekend's domestic box office with a gross of more than $35 million. Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Hancock, however, is close. That film was in second place with a haul of $33 million. By the time final figures are out, Hancock could find itself in first place, but I doubt that's going to happen. This really seemed to be Hellboy's weekend. I have to say, though, that Hancock did much better than I thought it would for its second weekend at bat. The film will easily pull in over $200 million, maybe $250 million, before all is said and done.
Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D was number three with over $20 million. Not a particularly great debut, I don't expect too much action in the coming weeks from this one. Now, Wall-E is an important project for Disney (NYSE: DIS) shareholders since it is another effort from Pixar. Investors are still trying to figure out if the price paid for Pixar will be ultimately worth it. Wall-E is doing pretty well; it came in fourth over the weekend, and its total box-office take so far is about $162 million. Incidentally, Eddie Murphy failed horribly with his film Meet Dave. The movie, from News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), came in seventh with a little over $5 million. I didn't even know it was in the marketplace.
GE and Universal scored again at the multiplex with Wanted, which came in fifth. Its cumulative gross is now more $110 million. See that? GE can leverage quality content to bring in the revenues. If NBC Universal can synergize better with hits like these, then perhaps there won't be such pressure in terms of dumping the asset. For now, though, NBC Universal is a show-me division, and it better keep the hits coming to placate the board.
Disclosure: I own Disney and GE; positions can change at any time.
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the news on Fannie and Freddie is great, but we still have earnings looming ahead.
Chance to sell? Every time has been a chance to sell. Every big futures lift. I struggle to think how this time will be different. In 24 hours, the Fannie (NYSE: FNM) (Cramer's Take) and Freddie (NYSE: FRE) (Cramer's Take) fiasco will be behind us. Instead we will be faced with more earnings, and the earnings, while conceivably not horrid -- how bad can Intel's (NASDAQ: INTC) (Cramer's Take) be given the destruction of AMD (NYSE: AMD) (Cramer's Take)? -- won't be great, either. The bulls' best hope is a rally that was put off from Friday after GE's (NYSE: GE) (Cramer's Take) good numbers that showed lots of businesses doing well.
All last week I was picking at stocks, trying to build positions in names I like on the way down.
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) may be in talks to buy its rival European rival TNT, according to a report from the Financial Times. TNT shares have jumped 25% in Europe.
General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) announced Monday it will supply parts for Gulfstream Aircraft Corp.'s G650 business jet in a deal worth potentially more than $100 million. Separately, GE said it would develop with Safran SA a new line of fuel efficient jet engines to compete with United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) Pratt & Whitney.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may have sold as many as 425,000 of its new 3G iPhones in the first three days after the handset made its debut, in line with projections and despite serious technical and activation problems. Apple and AT&T (NYSE: T) sold a combined 225,000 in the U.S. Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray & Co. predicts Apple will sell 4.08 million this quarter.
Early in the day, rumors that a government bailout might destroy the value of the common stocks of Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) sent the shares down almost 50%. Comments by the government and an offer by the Fed to provide short-term funds to the firms helped, a little. At the close, FNM was off about 22% and FRE was down about 3%.
Welcome to the General Electric Q2 2008 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the program over to your host for today's conference, Dan Janki, VP of Investor Communications.
Dan Janki, Vice President, Investor Communications
Thank you. First of all, I would like to welcome everyone. Joanne and I are pleased to host today's conference call. The press release went out this morning at 6:30 AM with our financial information; that, along with today's presentation and supplemental financials, is available at our investor website at www.ge.com/investor. You can follow along via the webcast or you download and print the information. Today's presentation does contain forward-looking statements based on the world and economic environment as we see it today, and it is subject to change.
We will be going through today in the presentation an update on second quarter operations and financial results and our outlook on third quarter. To do that we have our Chairman and CEO, Jeff Immelt; and our Vice Chairman and CFO, Keith Sherin.
Want to know how bad it is? Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares are down on the day the geeks around the world are waiting in line for the new iPhone, which has gotten rave reviews. Amazing. If people are looking for an excuse to buy Apple, this may be it.
As a General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) shareholder, I am not happy with the loss of 32% of my capital under the current CEO. The previous two CEOs -- Reg Jones and Jack Welch -- have changed GE under their reigns. Thanks to the fall of Communism, many countries -- such as China, Russia, India and others -- are investing over $1 trillion in their efforts to bring their people into the 21st century, according to the Courier-Journal. Thanks to its Infrastructure unit -- which provides jet engines, power plants, locomotives and other products -- GE is well positioned to take a big share of that opportunity.
Today's GE earnings report confirms that. The infrastructure unit boosted its revenues 26% to $17.5 billion in the second quarter of 2008 and its segment profit climbed 24% to $3.2 billion. Unfortunately, that outstanding performance was masked by all the other flotsam in GE's portfolio. Now, according to Reuters, GE stock -- which had been up 2% in premarket trading after meeting its 54 cents a share outlook for Q2 earnings from continuing operations -- is down 1.3% due to a forecast of flat to down third-quarter profits at GE's finance units and an uncertain outlook for capital markets.
How Growth Destroyed Brand Value at Starbucks Founder and CEO Howard Schultz had a great concept, and it worked for a while. But too many new stores and diverse products changed the experience. Starbucks: How Growth Destroyed Brand Value - BusinessWeek
How to Make the Most of Your Trip to a Warehouse Club (and Spend the Least) Here are five ways to whip inflation when you shop at Costco or one of the other warehouse clubs. You won't save much money if you get sidetracked by the bling and the flat-screen TVs. Here is how to really shop at one of these clubs. Five Ways to Whip Inflation When You Shop at a Warehouse Club - Kiplinger.com
On the heels of the move by General Electric (NYSE: GE) Thursday to spin-off its consumer and industrial division, today we have news that Citigroup (NYSE: C) is selling its German retail banking business for $7.7 billion.
According to MarketWatch: "Citigroup said Friday that it's going to sell its German retail banking business to France's Credit Mutuel for 4.9 billion euros ($7.7 billion) in a deal that will strengthen its balance sheet and help it focus on faster-growing businesses."
This is a smart move for the company in order to clean up its balance sheet, but it's just a small step. If the company truly wanted to provide shareholder value, it could spin off the credit cards division, separate domestic and global consumer banking, spin off the capital markets division and so on. I admit that I haven't done all the work on this but my hunch is that if Citi would break up the company the combined parts would be valued significantly higher than where it is now trading.
While selling the division helps the balance sheet, unfortunately the impact for shareholders is muted. I would much rather see it follow the path of GE and give shareholders a share of this business and other businesses.
At least this sale is a start.
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 7/11/08.
U.S. stock futures were lower Friday morning after General Electric (NYSE: GE) reported its flat quarterly profits and as concerns remain over the problems at government sponsored mortgage companies Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE). Some economic data is also on tap, but barring any breaking announcements, it seems stocks will drop at the start of trading, especially if oil continues its way up.
On Thursday, U.S. stocks managed to post gains. What might have given a big push to stocks, a large multi-billion takeover of Rohm and Haas by Dow Chemical, was offset somewhat by concerns over the solvency of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and another surge in oil prices. The Dow industrials ended 81 points higher, or 0.73%, the S&P 500 rose 8 points, or 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite added 22 points, or 1.03%.
Oil concerns may very well continue today as crude oil rose for a third day, to within $1 of a record, on supply concerns rising from a possible strike on Brazil oil platforms coupled with further unrest in the Middle East and Nigeria. Oil already soared $5.60 Thursday, or 4.1%, to settle at $141.65 a barrel. Today, crude oil for August delivery rose as much as $3.45, or 2.4%, to $145.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange
On the economic front, May trade balance is due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT. At the same time, import and export prices in June will be released. The University of Michigan also is due to release at 10:00 a.m. a preliminary reading on consumer sentiment in July.
The Blackstone Group LP's (NYSE: BX) $930 million purchase of GSO Capital Partners early this year didn't get much fanfare. But so far, it looks like a stellar deal.
Microsoft
TheStreet.com's Jim Cramer says the news on Fannie and Freddie is great, but we still have earnings looming ahead.
The markets are 
As a 
U.S. stock futures were lower Friday morning after General Electric (NYSE: 
Comfort Zone Investing: Exploit volatility with constant dollar investing
Merck earnings preview: No miracles expected
Apple reports Monday -- buy AAPL before earnings?
