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GM discusses brand strategy, opens bag, releases cats

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 by admin

financials, fritz, fritz henderson, FritzHenderson, general motors, GeneralMotors, gm, gm brands, GmBrands

GM President Frtiz Henderson came squeaky clean about the state of GM’s brand portfolio, hurdles and losses. On the issue of too many brands, he admitted that the reason GM still has so many is that it is simply too expensive to kill any one of them. GM spent almost a billion large putting Oldsmobile to sleep, and with The General coming off a $3.25 billion Q1 loss, every half penny counts. In the mean time, GM will have to make do with its four new brand czars.
Henderson and CFO Rick Young also admitted that sales projections could be described as “rosy,” the word “Delphi” is beginning to rhyme with “albatross,” and that the intergalactic rise in gas prices has changed consumer buying habits “faster than we thought.”

Fritz summarized the situation with: “We have to adjust. We have to learn how to make more money in cars and crossovers and tighten our belts with regard to cost expenditures.” That’s not the writing on the wall, that is the wall itself. Thanks for the tip, throwback!

[Source: CNN Money]

Apple Q2 earnings call preview

Monday, April 21st, 2008 by admin

aapl, financials, liveblog, quarterly results, QuarterlyResults

Over at Apple 2.0, Phillip Elmer-DeWitt has an excellent preview post on Apple’s earnings report, scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at the market close. We’ll be liveblogging the earnings call at 2 pm PT/5pm ET if you care to join in for the fun.

Despite spectactular sales and earnings growth for AAPL over the past couple of years, the Q1 earnings report (which featured extra-conservative guidance by Apple and some indications of a softening on iPod demand) triggered a selloff in the stock, with a drop in price from the lofty $200 highs at the end of 2007 (seen above) as profit-taking and recession fears drove investors to take their money and run. Will iPhone sales and Mac unit growth push profits (and the stock price) back towards the roof? Tune in Wednesday to find out.

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