| ExpressJet Holdings, Inc. Q3 2009 Earnings Call Transcript ExpressJet Holdings, Inc. (XJT)Q3 2009 Earnings CallNovember 4, 2009 10:00 am ETComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |
What Do Teamsters and Tea Party Protesters Have in Common? TheCarConnection.com submits: At two places during the Detroit auto show—first circulating on a Cobo Hall press-room table, then later slipped under my hotel-room door—I found a leaflet entitled: "Toyota: A Danger to America," carrying the footer, "I ain't dying for a Toyota." Wearing the language and design earmarks of auto-industry union propaganda (yes, I'm a Michigan native), it has a paragraph questioning Toyota's (TM) safety and reliability, and mentioning the automaker's 3.8-million-vehicle recall to fix throttle pedals. Then it goes on to declare that "Toyota is also a danger to good American jobs," mentioning Toyota's plans to close its New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (NUMMI) plant in Fremont, California.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Earnings Preview: Continental Airlines theflyonthewall.com submits: Continental Airlines (CAL) is expected to report Q1 earnings Thursday, April 22 before the market open, with a conference call scheduled for 10:30 am ET. GuidanceAnalysts are looking for EPS of (80c) on revenue of $3.15B. The consensus range is very wide at (96c)-(40c) for EPS, and $2.98B-$3.21B for revenue, according to First Call. Continental reported mixed Q4 results beating EPS but missing revenue estimates. Since then the stock has rallied about 20% to a recent 52-week high of $24.29. Last week it came off its highs mainly due to the volcanic activity in Iceland which cast some doubt on the airline business. Despite the small pullback recent sentiment has been positive as traffic has gradually increased during the quarter. A March 30 Reuters article noted that the airlines were beginning to climb out of the recession and recording strong increases in passenger travel. This was confirmed with Continental’s March traffic which increased 5.2% year-over-year. Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Auto Industry: Domestics Pass Imports in Quality Survey Wall Street Strategies submits:For the first time in 24 years (as long as the data has been compiled) the domestic automakers surpassed their foreign counterparts in customer satisfaction. It was only by a slight margin, but the domestic brands averaged 108 problems per 100 vehicles, compared to an average 109 problems for foreign brands, according to the results of this year's survey. The survey was of 82,000 customers who have purchased a 2010 model year vehicle. For the first time, Ford (F) cracked the top five, jumping from eighth place last year, with 93 problems per 100 vehicles in the first three months of owning or leasing the vehicle. Ford's luxury Lincoln brand had 106 problems per 100 vehicles, making it the highest ranking American luxury brand.Rounding out the top five were Porsche (owned by Volkswagen (VLKAY.PK)) with 83 problems per 100 vehicles (P100), Acura (HMC) (86 P100), Mercedes-Benz (DAI) (87 P100), and Lexus (TM) (88 P100). Porsche took top honors away from Lexus, which was dinged by the recalls during the time period of the survey (February to May). Acura was the biggest mover, gaining 12 spots to the second spot overall from 14th last year. After Ford came Honda, Hyundai Motor Co. (HYMLF.PK), Lincoln, Nissan Motor Co.'s Infiniti (NSANY.PK), and Volvo (VOLVY.PK), all finishing better than the industry average of 109 issues per 100 vehicles.Complete Story » seekingalpha.com |
Will Financials Be Joining the Party Anytime Soon? Alan Brochstein, CFA submits: I started off wanting to write about how Consumer Staples and Utilities have taken out their April (and YTD) highs, which suggests the most conservative investors are buying stocks again (a leading indicator for the market, as I mentioned four weeks ago when I discussed a move to 1229-1250 on the S&P 500 in the next few months): If cautious investors are afraid to buy stocks, how can we expect more aggressive ones to want to buy? In the last few weeks, equities have drawn investors. Specifically, look what's doing really well: Utilities, REITs, Consumer StaplesComplete Story » seekingalpha.com |