Word: analysts
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...tenure, the firm is not yet profitable, but it is viable. Vivendi stock is about $26 after touching a low of around $9 in August 2002, and Merrill Lynch last month became the latest investment bank to upgrade the stock from neutral to buy. Thanks to Fourtou, says Merrill analyst Julien Roch, "Vivendi is now in the best shape it has been for a long time...
...anything, it's that a slug of real estate lends tremendous stability to an investment portfolio. So don't fall victim to the rate jitters. REITs can thrive so long as any interest-rate climb is slow and takes place over an extended period, says Christopher Haley, a REIT analyst at Wachovia Securities. And that's just the scenario many economists anticipate, as the rebounding economy finally generates jobs and pushes up the price of everything from aluminum to zinc. The best REITs focus on apartment buildings, where vacancy rates are poised to start falling next year...
...Superman. I can conquer anything." All starting at $329 a night. For the chains, creating these special sanctums is a response to the popularity of boutique hotels, which have siphoned off customers. With average room prices rising just 1.9% this year over last, says Bjorn Hanson, a hospitality-industry analyst at PricewaterhouseCoopers, this strategy allows hotels to attract well-heeled customers without alienating a more price-sensitive clientele. They can do this efficiently, too, by using the same operations staff...
...those groups--Windows and Office--account for 62% of revenue and the lion's share of profits. The others deal with mobile devices, business services, entertainment, the Internet (MSN) and server software. Those last two are marginally profitable; the others are optimistic bets on the future. Says Jupiter Research analyst Joe Wilcox: "It's like dealing with two giants and five pygmies." Kevin Johnson, Microsoft's vice president of worldwide sales, who is regarded by many as heir apparent to Ballmer, defends the reorganization: "The value we deliver comes from collaboration between the groups...
Google's IPO filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week removed the cloak from the secretive company's financial health, and the numbers dazzled. "We were amazed," says Kathy Smith, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, an IPO-research firm based in Greenwich, Conn. "We never expected to see such a large, profitable company." Google is used by more than 100 million people a month and sells text-based ads that Web surfers actually want. Revenues are just a third less than Yahoo's. The company expects to raise $2.7 billion from the IPO, which would make...