Accounting & Investing Info for San Antonio A & M
Thursday July 5, 2012
The world of derivative trading gets larger and larger. Recently JPM CEO Jamie Dimon was reduced to telling Congress he was more worried about Europe than his recent $2 B loss, thanks to his own London Trading 'Whale.' Now rumors have it that the loss was more than that..
I suggest accounting students spend more time on articles such as this. It will be necessary to understand derivative trading so that one can grasp how to account for such transactions.
Tuesday July 3, 2012
Microsoft overpiad for aQuantive – by about $6.2 billion of the $6.3 B purchase price.
Companies must write down investments if they are not worth projected cash flows. aQuantive is an on line advertising uh whatever. MSFT bought this to compete with Google. Meanwhile Google paid half this price for Doubleclick and has made money.
This is just the latest in a string of failed acquisitions for MSFT. The bloom is off the rose. At least Bill Gates was smart enough to know when it was time to declare victory adn leave. Steve Balmer has not been so fortunate. Knowing when to quit is important.
Lucille Ball kept trying to be Lucy into her 70s, and it was a sad decline to watc. Carol Burnet on the other hand exited her successful tv show right at the top, and has been in demand ever since.
Was Gates smart, he usually bought off the competition, or just another guy in the right place at the right time who cashed in with a great IPO?
A dozen years of underperformance now marks both DELL and MSFT. Take a look.
DELL is the red black bars and MSFT is the solid black line.
Both traded at $42 12 years ago. Today Dell is less than a third of that at $12. MSFT at least has enjoyed a leisurely rise fomr its post 9/11 low. It does generate lots of cash but has been unable to effectively utilize it for new products or successful acquisitions.
Here is an interesting ratio chart of PCs versus Macs. Clearly this helps explain why Dell is in decline.
Monday July 2, 2012
Here is the list of the 21 New Taxes Slated to Finance Obamacare.
Monday July 2, 2012
The Daily Ticker reports that NYC is less and less regarded as the financial capital of the World much less the US. Not only are firms moving support sectors out of NYC< it is not just to Connecticutt or New Jersey. Nope, backwaters like FL and Utah are now home, less expensive and convenient.
Recently A German Bank nearly bought the New York Stock Exchange. The flood of regulatikon has led firms to locate at other stock exchanges, no Sarbanes Oxley outside the USA.
Chuck Schumer, are you listening?
June 27, 2012
Gimme Credit is the clevely titled name for a a site that performs respected bond analysis. Their latest call invovles a potential bankrutpcy for Navistar.
Nvistar has bet the farm on the EPA approving its EGR engine technology. So far that has not happened. NAN earned a series of credits that it has used to qualify. EPA allowed a $1900 an engine fine which has now been overturned by a court.
The last thning the administration needs is another firm laying off employees due to non compliance with the EPA.
Wed June 27, 2012
Stockton CA may well take Chapter 9 bankruptcy this week. This would be the largest city in the US to do so. A crumbling real estate market, dropping property taxes, and union pension costs are the cause.
Wells Fargo foreclosed on the proposed City Hall Building. This last link is to Mish's site. He has suggested that it will only take one large city to file Chapter 9. That may open the floodgates for many others to do the same thing. If cities believe they can unwind union contracts that are strangling the finances, they are likely to do so.
It will be interesting to see if this happens before the election in November. Now that hte unions lost their big recall election in Wisconsin I suspect more mayors and perhaps governors will be willing to take them on.
Idaho has two issues on the November ballot to limit collective bargaining rights for teacher unions.
Wednesday June 20 2012
http://libguides.tamusa.tamus.edu/getsmart
Use this URL to access the online library class on how to use the research catabases on our campus.
You will receive a five point quiz grade by bringing you certificate of completion to class.
Wednesday June 20, 2012
Here is a workshop that I will be attending. For those of you unable to attend, I will take notes and post the results.
As a part of our 'Seminars for Charity' series, MGR Accounting Recruiters is holding a seminar specifically for Recent College Graduates to assist them with their job search.
If you have friends, family, or other acquaintenances that may benefit from this material, please feel free to forward the information.
The seminar will be held on Thursday, July 19, from 9:00am – 11:00am, at 901 NE Loop 410, Suite #420.
There is no cost for the seminar, but RSVPs are required for planning purposes.
Further details are below.
Please RSVP through our website at http://www.mgrar.com/webpages.asp?wpid=26
Thank you!
MGR Accounting Recruiters
(210) 826-8000
Tuesday June 19, 2012
Two years after the iPad MSFT debuts the Surface, its own tablet running MSFT 8. It has a clever cover that doubles as a keyboard but…
Why announce it without a price?
What will HPQ and Dell do about tablet offerings now that MSFT is running their own?
This may appeal to PC based companies but
Google has gone nowhere with the android tablet
MSFT partnered with Nokia on a cell phone, Nokia is apparently toast
That leaves Apple as the Last man standing with a phone, laptop, and tablet all that synch with one another.
Kindle looks better every day as an e book reader only.
My guess, better than a ZUNJE …..but Dell and HPQ are big pass thru customers for Windows, how will they react?
Monday June 18, 201452
Students in my classees are aware that I emphasize the importance of obtaining certificiations in your feld. An alert student in one of my classes points out the Certified Global Business Professional CGBP. Training is offered locally, at a price tag of around $1,000. This looks good for Supply Chain and INternational Business Majors.
A tip of the hat to Jason for alerting us to this!
Professor Elam 