| GM-Magna Fallout: What Business As Usual Is in Russia Craig Pirrong submits: GM (MTLQQ.PK) has finally come to its senses and rejected the sale of Opel to Canadian autoparts maker Magna (MGA)–and its Russian partner (initially Sberbank, but eventually Avtogaz). GM initially agreed to the deal when faced with an existential crisis in the early part of this year; its “choice” of partner was largely driven by Germany’s conditioning of financial support for the deal on GM selling to the Canadian-Russian tandem.GM got cold feet in the summer, as its bankruptcy/government takeover and cash-for-clunkers gave it a financial respite. It was explicitly reluctant to get involved in a deal that could lead to the loss of its technology and intellectual property to a potential Russian competitor; no doubt it was also reluctant (though it did not say so publicly) at the prospect of getting enmeshed (as a minority partner) in the financial and business machinations of Oleg Deripaska, victor in the bloody aluminum wars, unscrupulous businessman, and arguably the world’s largest insolvent. Moreover, recent statements by the EC called into question Germany’s ability to condition its subsidies to favor factories located in Germany at the expense of others in Belgium, Spain, and the U.K.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Small Vehicles for Tomorrow Ryan Avent submits: Let me just add a few additional thoughts about the potential impact of new, small, innovative vehicles on urban forms. I see Sarah Goodyear has featured my posts on innovative vehicles under the headline “Still Looking For That Magic Highway”, which makes me a little uncomfortable. I’m not a techno-utopian, and I certainly don’t imagine that vehicle innovations will lead us toward the visions of 1950s era urban planners, in which personal automobiles whisk us all quickly and cheaply from point-to-point. I think that kind of vision is destined not to be realized, based on simple questions of urban economics and physics. Better personal vehicles will ultimately be good for urbanism. It’s not too difficult to imagine a few reasons why. For one thing, small vehicles will require less space for parking, and autonomous vehicles may not require any parking at all. Parking lots and decks are the bane of walkability. Smaller vehicles, particularly ones which weigh just a few hundred pounds, will be much more pedestrian and cyclist friendly than standard automobiles. They’ll take up less precious road space. They’ll block less of other travelers’ field of vision. And in the event of a collision with a non-driver, they’ll do much less damage.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Earnings Preview: Lockheed Martin theflyonthewall.com submits: Lockheed Martin (LMT) is expected to report Q1 earnings on Wednesday, April 21 before the market open with a conference call scheduled for 9:00 am ET. GuidanceAnalysts are looking for EPS of $1.34 on revenue of $10.62B. The consensus range is $1.27-$1.45 for EPS, and $10.50B-$10.82B for revenue, according to First Call. Lockheed beat Q4 EPS and revenue estimates and raised its FY10 guidance. Since then, the company has won several contracts. On March 2, it was awarded a $568M contract to provide incremental funding for the F-22 weapons systems. Despite these positive events, Lockheed’s F-35 fighter jet project, a main driver of future growth, is four years behind schedule and 62% above original cost estimates, according to a March 22 article by the Washington Post. Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Wright Express: Pulling Back Despite Strong Earnings Eddy Elfenbein submits: Tuesday morning, Wright Express (WXS) came out with a nice earnings report. The company earned 68 cents a share, which was three cents more than estimates. For Q3, they see earnings between 65 cents and 70 cents per share. For all of 2010, Wright sees earnings-per-share ranging between $2.47 and $2.57. That’s pretty good news. Three months ago, Wright said to expect Q2 EPS between 61 cents and 66 cents, and full-year between $2.39 and $2.54. The previous full-year range was $2.26 to $2.46. In other words, the high end of the old range is now below the low end of the current range.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
International Speedway Corporation CEO Discusses Q3 2010 Results - Earnings Call Transcript International Speedway Corporation (ISCA)Q3 2010 Earnings Call TranscriptOctober 7, 2010 9:00 am ETComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |