Whenever a company decides to leave the stock market and go private, you hear an oft-heard lament: “Wall Street just wants us to deliver the goods this quarter, and they could care less about the future.” Thankfully, Amazon.com’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) Jeff Bezos has never worried too much about that, and has a history of sacrificing short-term results for long-term growth. That has led to some grumbling and share price volatility at times, but you have to admire his company’s long-term track record. Sales, which some had thought might plateau when they reached $10 billion in 2006, are likely to exceed… Read More

Whenever a company decides to leave the stock market and go private, you hear an oft-heard lament: “Wall Street just wants us to deliver the goods this quarter, and they could care less about the future.” Thankfully, Amazon.com’s (Nasdaq: AMZN) Jeff Bezos has never worried too much about that, and has a history of sacrificing short-term results for long-term growth. That has led to some grumbling and share price volatility at times, but you have to admire his company’s long-term track record. Sales, which some had thought might plateau when they reached $10 billion in 2006, are likely to exceed $30 billion this year. Yet to get to $40 billion or even $50 billion in sales, Amazon needs to keep spending now to build new avenues to growth. But in the myopic world of Wall Street, rising expenses are a sin. Shares of Amazon.com are off more than -10% Friday morning after the company delivered an unexpectedly high rate of spending when quarterly results were released Thursday night. Pro forma operating income of $406 million badly trailed the $442 million consensus forecast. Concerns… Read More

In recent weeks and months, we’ve seen a range of companies report solid quarterly results, yet their shares have steadily fallen in sympathy with the broader market. More than a few company executives have grumbled on conference calls that their company’s shares don’t get… Read More

Get ready for the China collapse. Virtually every major media outlet has weighed in with dire reports that the Chinese economic miracle is about to come to an abrupt end. These Chicken Littles note that any strong asset class that looks like a bubble must come crashing down. In the… Read More

With all of the attention paid to quarterly results, investors often lose sight of the bigger picture. Suddenly, a solid growth story becomes a lagging stock. And that’s when you need to pounce. Because when the short-term noise recedes, investors will return to that stock in force. Read More

There’s an old adage in Detroit. You make money selling cars, but you also make money helping consumers finance those purchases. And there’s never been a better time to be a lender. Big firms can borrow money at super-low interest rates, but consumers still need to pay 6%, 7% or… Read More

Love is a fickle thing. When oil prices surged past $100 a barrel in 2008, investors fell madly in love with alternative energy stocks. But when oil prices crashed, and when signs emerged that government budget problems would curtail the industry-friendly subsidies, so did investor ardor for this young industry. Read More

When Walmart (NYSE: WMT) first started trading on the New York stock exchange in 1972, investors were reasonably impressed with the company’s slow and steady growth trajectory. But that was a lost decade of stocks, and the Arkansas-based retailer mostly flew under the radar. Ten years later, though, investors knew… Read More

70 million represents a lot of people for a country, much less for a bank’s customers. It’s nearly a quarter of the United States’ population. In fact, you could add every person in California and Texas together and still not reach the 70 million mark. And that… Read More

Las Vegas is full of tales of the “good old days.” One of the more fascinating is a story that allegedly took place back in 1969. The story goes that Frank Sinatra told every Las Vegas casino owner they either bought their liquor from a buddy of… Read More

“You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” That’s the conundrum that the Obama administration faces as it tries to get doctors, pharmacies, hospitals and patients into the 21st Century. Too many medical professionals have been wary of the digital age, preferring to scribble out… Read More