TOP 100 TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS SITES
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| GM Backs Out of Magna Deal: It's Each Nation to Itself Edward Harrison submits:I have been reading press accounts of the GM decision to back out of the Opel/Vauxhall sale to the Magna (MGA)/Sberbank consortium from various countries. There are a lot of different perspectives on this event in the U.S., Belgium, Spain, Germany, Russia, the U.K and elsewhere, because a lot of players are involved. The conclusion I come to is that economic nationalism is the driving motivator behind much of what you read. To the degree we continue to experience a soft global economy, this should be seen as a warning of how individual actors will respond in the future.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Time for an Automotive ETF Michael Johnston submits:The ETF industry has expanded rapidly in recent years, with hundreds of new product launches covering various regions, sectors, and investment strategies. The surge in ETF product offerings–there are now nearly 1,000 exchange-traded products in our ETF screener–has sparked some speculation that the industry has reached a point of saturation–or perhaps has long since blown through that point. There’s certainly some good support for such a notion. At the end of 2009, approximately 250 ETFs–more than a quarter of the industry–had less than $20 million in assets. The last three years have seen an ETF arms race, as issuers churned out niche products and assumed that investors would be chomping at the bit to get into anything that was first to market. There is little doubt that 2010 will see a wave of ETF closures (it’s started already) as issuers cut their losses on products for which demand never materialized. The “land grab” appears to be winding down, as issuers have begun responding to demand (rather than trying to create it) and success rates of new ETF products has surged.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Harley-Davidson Revs Up on Financial Services Ockham Research submits: By all accounts, Harley-Davidson (HOG) reported one of its best financial performances in quite some time on Tuesday morning, and in response shares rose more than 8% in heavy trading. Although sales slid by more than 19% from a year ago, they still came in slightly ahead of expectations at $1.04B. The company reported net income of $33.3 million or 14 cents in the quarter, but excluding one-time charges the results were considerably better. Harley earned about 29 cents per share ex-items, which was about 32% better than consensus analysts’ estimates. Perhaps most important was the fact that Harley Davidson Financial Services returned to profitability quicker than most had anticipated. HDFS reportedly made about $26.7 million in operating profit during the quarter accounting for roughly 11 cents per share, certainly not a small haul for the unit responsible for large losses in the previous three quarters. The performance of the financial services division clearly outpaced expectations of just narrowing losses. The company added an impressive $1.9 billion in finance receivables, and delinquency rates improved as well. Improving credit trends are a welcome sign to HOG investors, but we also see some considerable reason for concern, primarily in their core business of selling motorcycles. Net shipments fell 28% from a year ago to less than 54k, but the firm did reiterate its forecast for full year shipments of 201k to 212k. We believe that forecast (for declines of between 5% and 10%) implies a rebound in sales activity through the rest of the year. While that is certainly a possibility, we are concerned that the American consumer is still reluctant to commit to this size of discretionary purchase on a wide scale.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Airlines Just Miss Record for Revenue and Ten Year High for Profits Robert Herbst submits:For the 2nd quarter 2010, the nine largest airlines collectively reported $1.86 billion in net profits on $31.7 billion in revenues (net profits exclude $713 million for special items). The Q2 revenue was the 2nd highest in history and just shy of 2008’s Q2 $33.3 billion record. The Q2 profits missed the decade high set in 2007 by only $8 million. Q2 revenue and profits were slightly higher than AirlineFinancials.com projected earlier in the month.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Google Robocars: Smart Move? Wealth Daily submits:By Adam SharpLast Friday, Google (GOOG) raised some eyebrows when they announced the development of cars that drive themselves.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |