Eastman Kodak(EKDKQ), in bankruptcy with its shares destined to be worthless, is finally starting to make the moves that might have helped it avert this fate had failed CEO Antonio Perez undertaken them sooner. The company announced today that “it plans to phase out its dedicated capture devices business“. Perhaps part of its failure lies in its insistence… Read More »
Though its influence has finally waned somewhat in recent years, for over a century, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been, and, for many, remains, synonymous with the stock market. News reports continue to proclaim “the market” is up or down, referring to this index. Yet, the index consists of a mere 30 stocks, not particularly representative of… Read More »
Walgreens(WAG) announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire prescription files and inventory from 33 Kmart pharmacies in 16 states from Sears Holdings(SHLD). A quick look at the locations reveals that these are the Kmart locations scheduled to be closed in the next few months. The first transition already happened 3 days ago, though Sears has… Read More »
We have written previously about Sears(SHLD) closing dozens of stores. Now, the Huffington Post reports on some of the small cities and towns where Sears has announced closings that are desperate to keep their stores. Now, at least four of the places affected — Jackson, Miss., Cleveland, Tenn., New Smyrna Beach, Fla., and Harper Woods, Mich. — are… Read More »
We’re usually fans of BusinessInsider‘s sensationalist reporting, but a headline this morning was so far beyond the pale that we felt compelled to comment on it. The headline reads “Amazon Is So Scared of the iPad 3 That It Cut Kindle Fire Orders In Half” The headline’s implication is that as a result of the iPad 3, Amazon(AMZN)… Read More »
We’ve been warning for weeks that Eastman Kodak(EK) shares were too dangerous to own. Kodak finally made it official late last night and filed a voluntary Chapter 11 business reorganization. Citigroup will provide $950 million in debtor-in-possession financing. As we had stated, the company’s liabilities were to great, its ability to monetize intellectual and real property too slow,… Read More »
Unchastened by his unsuccessful proxy fight for a Board seat at Cracker Barrel(CBRL), Biglari Holdings(BH) Chairman and CEO Sardar Biglari has begun aggressively purchasing Cracker Barrel stock once again. Biglari had been held to 9.9% by a rights plan which was voted down by shareholders at the annual meeting in December. Free to acquire more Cracker Barrel stock,… Read More »
It’s been a brutal year for Sears Holdings(SHLD) and a brutal year for Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund ESL investments. ESL has recently handed over shares of AutoNation(AN) to investors, presumably to cover redemptions, but it looks like Mr. Lampert is not willing to part with shares of Sears. The WSJ reports, based on public filings, that Lampert purchased… Read More »
Eastman Kodak(EK) surged 35% today, building on yesterday’s gains. Investors were reacting positively to two pieces of news released by the company. On Tuesday morning the company announced it was restructuring from three reporting segments to two. Under the new structure, Kodak has reduced its number of segments from three to two – the Commercial Segment and the… Read More »
Sears Holdings(SHLD) can’t seem to catch a break. After weeks of falling, Sears stock rallied 8% today on no news. Shareholders should cut their rejoicing short after tonight’s report from Bloomberg that CIT(CIT) will no longer finance vendors for their sales to Sears. CIT would not confirm reports, but Sears spokeswoman Kimberly Freely confirmed the action in an… Read More »