Today, INEOS announced that it would close the Grangemouth petrochemical complex in Scotland with the loss of around 800 jobs. This comes at the end of a lengthy dispute with unions around pay, flexible working agreements and a change in
– Apple is all-in on its premium price strategy, defiantly raising its price point for the iPad Mini and holding the line on the iPad Air in the face of falling market share. – The new iPads are terrific, and
– NFLX posted 3Q13 upside surprises for subs and earnings, and promised more of the same for 4Q13 – no surprise, the stock is up big after hours. – Global subs are up 36.7% to 40M, US subs up 24%
– GOOG posted an excellent 3Q13 – ex MOT sales were up 18.9% YoY and net of TAC up 22.6% – bouncing back from the 2Q13 miss in a strong web ad market – Profitability was particularly strong. EPS beat
Medicare pays for 85 pct of US dialysis treatment; since 1Q2011 Medicare has paid for treatments on a bundled basis, i.e. with a single payment covering all of dialysis providers’ costs including drugs Erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESA’s) are roughly 1/4th
– TWTR’s original S-1 showed 2Q13 US MAUs up just 2% QoQ, raising some concerns that US penetration was stagnating – An amendment filed tonight showed US user growth re-accelerating in 3Q13, up 8.2% QoQ and 32.5% YoY, not far
There were a number of articles yesterday suggesting that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering dialing back its requirements on the use of ethanol in 2014. This news should not come as a surprise to anyone given the EPA’s
On the face of it Alcoa might be an interesting stock given the extremely attractive valuation, an economic recovery (although muted) from the trough and thus the potential of the usual cyclical recovery. But it has not played out that
TWTR’s S-1 affirms its considerable growth and profit potential. Sales have more than doubled YoY, driven by 44% growth in users, 16% growth in visits per user, and 23% growth in ad revenues per visit. We believe that all of
We tend not to get bent out of shape (or comment on) the kabuki theater that is Washington politics these days unless it starts to impact the consumer (i.e. Food Stamps, sequestration cuts, etc.). In the case of the current
