Top 10 High-Yield Dividend Stocks

A good summary of the top 10 dividend stocks to be holding. Courtesy of TheStreet.com.

To Blackstone or Not to Blackstone...That's the Question

With all the hype around Blackstone's IPO, I had mentioned before the offering that it wasn't as good as a deal as it looked. The limited nature of the shares in the overall structure and expected returns, were not going to be there. Now with the potential looming increased tax rates, Blackstone will just become another stock that sucked the shareholders dry, not unlike what happened to the Vonage IPO...shareholders left holding the bag will wonder.


More reading here, courtesy of the Financial Times.


BX Chart since the IPO;

Airbus Problems – Can a Change at the Top be far Behind?

UPS cancelled its order for the freight version of the Airbus A380 today, a year after competitor FedEx did. Parent company EADS has had its problems, but you can’t help but think about a possible solution to their problems, with the infighting going on.

Thinking back to a certain North American automaker, there is a person at the top that most certainly could offer something to EADs/Airbus, to help improve things over the next few years. Although Mullaly has only been at Ford for a few months, it is possible that since his entrance to the top job at Ford, that he may have second thoughts with the ability to turn the company around in the next year or 2, given the latest sales results, mortgaging the company, etc. Ford has said that it expects to turn around to profitability in 2009…if Mullaly can pull that off, wouldn’t a move to EADs/Airbus be the next logical solution, to moving up the corporate or industry ladder, especially given his background in aviation?

Ford had made the big step by bringing an outsider…could they continue on, if Mullaly left for bigger and better things at Airbus, his former company’s nemesis? Anti-competition issues aside, I am sure that Airbus would love to have Mullaly at its helm, and I am sure that Mullaly himself would seriously consider abandoning Ford, given the recent developments at Airbus/EADs.

Ebay a Bargain? I Don't Think So...

With Ebay taking a hit in price this year, you have to wonder if it can get back on track. I don't think so, as their core business growth is slowing, and there is no real word on what the strategy is for the long term. It would seem that their growth is based on raising user fees for listings, and the acquisition trail hasn't yielded the results expected. What does Ebay need to do?

First and foremost, Ebay has to improve the ecommerce participation rate amongst users. Although there is growth with businesses using ecommerce, there is still a largely untapped market of individual users out there that still are wary of ecommerce. If Ebay can make the big sell to these people, then things might get better for them over the short term. For the longer term, Ebay will have to come up with a better plan to improve growth.

Maybe Meg Whitman is out of steam on this one...I don't see the stock price beating the indices any time soon.

Pier 1 - Worth a Look?

With the housing market slowing down, now might be the time to look at companies that would benefit from people deciding to spruce up their existing homes, instead of buying a new house.

I came across this today, which was interesting, courtesy of CNN Money;

PIER ONE: CEO Marvin Girouard says he is stepping down. Not a moment too soon if you ask me. He's been The Man since 1999 and during his tenure, PIR (Charts) went way up and then way down. (From $25 to $7 over the past three years.) They had Kirstie Alley as a pitch person. Then one of the "Queer Eye" guys. They also tried a catalog. Most important though, the company's strategy of importing and selling trendy home furnishings had been copied by the likes of Target (Charts), Wal-Mart (Charts) and others, especially Bombay Company. Still, I think, this one might perk up, now that the big guy is on the way out.

If they could get it together and find something that the public will like, besides wicker furniture, there may be something that can be made...

HP - Can the Stock Price Hold?

HP's board really screwed up...by authorizing the investigation into the board leaks, and the resulting press mess over how the investigation has unfolded.

These types of messes usually affect the stock price. However, I think that HP will survive the attention. Should Dunn resign? Absolutely...unless it can be shown that she didn't have any knowledge on how the investigation was executed.

I expect Hurd to keep his distance, as he should, and let's hope that the success of the company to date, is not lost, due to illegal investigation methods.

Shame on you, Keyworth!