| Ford: Volvo Talks with Geely May Have Hit a Speed Bump TheCarConnection.com submits: A couple of weeks ago, we reported that Crown -- a consortium of American investors led by former auto industry executives -- is making a play for Volvo. The group's bid for the brand is substantially lower than that of current front-runner Geely, but we pointed out that the Americans do have some advantages at the bargaining table, especially when it comes to one of Ford's biggest concerns: intellectual property. China in general, and Geely in particular, aren't known for respecting IP rights, and as negotiations move forward, we suggested that could become a sticking point.Apparently, it has become a sticking point.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Harley Davidson: First Loss in 16 Years Ockham Research submits: “We’ve got Harley-Davidson (HOG) having a tough morning because their orders dropped 53% compared to the same period last year. Going to be a tough time in 2010…” — CNBC’s Squawk on the Street 1/22/2010 Iconic motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson reported an extremely rough fiscal fourth quarter on Friday morning in which the company lost $0.63 per share excluding one-time charges. Overall, including restructuring costs, the company reported a net loss of $218.7 million or $0.94 per share. This is the first quarterly loss for them since 1993, and it was nearly twice as wide a loss as analysts had anticipated. Profits have fallen in nine consecutive quarters and the bigger than expected fourth quarter loss dragged down the fiscal year to a lost $55.1 million or 24 cents per share.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Aircastle’s Strength Behind the Headlines Zachary Scheidt submits: When Aircastle Ltd. (AYR) reported earnings earlier in the month, the headline numbers didn’t look all that impressive. The company reported revenue of $135.8 million which was $22 million below the fourth quarter of 2008, and earnings per share came in at $0.29 (adjusted 0.27) which is significantly below the level of earnings from the same period last year. However, the details regarding the company’s overall business environment were actually quite encouraging.Aircastle is an aircraft leasing company which purchases passenger or freight planes and then leases them under long-term contracts to airlines and freight companies. AYR has taken a very diversified international approach with its fleet of 129 aircraft spread out between 60 different customers in 30 different countries. The focus appears to be passenger planes with only 29% of the vehicles being used for freight. Looking at the length of contracts, the weight average remaining lease term is 4.9 years. This gives investors a fairly stable picture of base revenues for upcoming quarters.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Reading Into Cautious Approach Investors Are Taking Toward Tesla Greentech Media submits: by Michael KanellosAnother day, another dollar.Tesla Motors (TSLA), which brought electric cars back from the endangered species list, raised $226 million in an initial public offering yesterday by selling 13.3 million shares to institutional investors at $17 a share.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Intermodal Container Traffic Stronger in 2010 Mark J. Perry submits: WASHINGTON, D.C. – Aug. 12, 2010 – "The Association of American Railroads today reported only moderate gains in rail traffic for the week ending Aug. 7, 2010. U.S. railroads originated 284,507 carloads for the week, up 3.5 percent compared with the same week in 2009, but down 13 percent from the same week in 2008. In order to offer a complete picture of the progress in rail traffic, AAR reports 2010 weekly rail traffic with comparison weeks in both 2009 and 2008. Note that U.S. rail traffic fell sharply in fall 2008, when the financial crisis took hold.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |