– The Fire Phone is a bit underwhelming – weak specs, pricey, gimmicky and exclusive to T. AMZN can push it hard, but few users are likely to be moved to replace their iPhones or Androids. – The upfront price
It is evident that APD has struggled to find the right candidate to replace John McGlade as CEO. The search has taken longer than would have been expected – suggesting that multiple candidates were screened/approached. It is a shame that
The push back that we received when we included KO in our list of consumer staples M&A candidates was fairly intense – but not unexpectedly so – KO isn’t a controversial stock at this point, but rather one that investors
11 states have disclosed insurers’ proposed rates for plans to be sold on the health insurance exchanges (HIEs) in 2015. The enrollment-weighted average rate increase thus far is 10.0%. These states’ 2014 HIE beneficiaries represent 14.6% of nationwide 2014 HIE
Digital wallet-provider LevelUp reports that mobile payments volume increased 22% over 30 days at the 50 merchants where it installed iBeacon. As discussed in our May 30th note, “Apple vs. Banks in Mobile Payments: Update”, the focus of iBeacon is
There is a secular shift in advertising from generic brand advertising on broadcast channels to data-enabled direct marketing on digital channels. Our colleague, Paul Sagawa, reported on the shift in a research note of June 9th titled “The Revolution in
– PCLN’s cash acquisition of OPEN for $2.6B should deliver clear synergies for expanding OPEN into international markets and bundling mobile services with other PCLN properties – PCLN has the resources to stimulate growth and could also lever OPEN’s reservation
JPM’s economic model is to sustain a tangible ROE of 15-16% despite lifting the CET1 ratio (to 10-10.5% from the current 9.6%) by levering higher net interest income over flat-to-down expenses (for a 55% efficiency ratio vs. 59% in 2013);
In news that appears to put an end to the saga of Hillshire Farms (HSH), TSN has emerged as the “winning” bidder with a $63 per share offer. o This implies a 15.7x multiple of EV to TTM EBITDA, rarefied
The debit business in the US is unsustainable. Durbin-regulated banks are losing money on signature debit as the swipe fee has fallen to 24 cents/transaction (from a pre-Durbin 59 cents) vs. Fed estimates for fraud and processing costs at 30
