Is Matt Harrigan cut-out for this Bidness?
The question must now be asked . . . does Matt Harrigan of Wunderlich Securities possess the requisite temperament to properly execute the duties of an analyst? Ok, look, the guy is a little green around the gills . . . that much we all know. But after last year's debacle with the February OEM revisions and his knee-jerk downgrade on the eve of a 10-Day-Run above the $1.00 delisting threshold, at a time when there was very little tolerance for "headline risk," you think he would have learned a valuable lesson.
Not so! The on-the-job-training simply didn't stick and with scant few details emerging about a "Howard Stern Lawsuit," Matt Harrigan races back to the panic-room and cuts his price target from $2.00 to $1.65. Instead of waiting for a clearer picture to emerge, instead of waiting to review Siri's answer to Stern's complaint, instead of simply amending his last research note with an added caveat such as:
"Risks to the opinion: A pending litigation matter of Stern v. Sirius XM, filed March 22, 2011, which is in the process of being more fully evaluated, has the potential to pose significant risk to the valuation model."
When you look at the actions of someone like, oh, say Tuna Amobi or Jim Goss for example, you see a steady hand, a level head and an even temperament . . . professional qualities that are essential if the analyst's opinions are to be respected by the investment community. For a single faux-pas, the investment community may be forgiving . . . but two false-starts and it's time for an early shower.
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Slacker CEO Slams Pandora's Sham
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The latest issue of Radio Ink features a cover story on Slacker CEO Jim Cady. The article covers the streaming radio company’s backstory (they were originally going to deliver content via satellites) and why the service is called “Slacker.”
Interestingly, Cady reveals that the “majority of our plays come from one of the 135 professionally curated stations,” not the custom artist-based streams. He also takes a shot at Pandora’s 80 million registered users figure.
“Our number is in the 23 to 24 million [range]. That’s a meaningless number because Pandora’s number inclues everybody that’s ever listened to one song on Pandora in the last 10 years.” A more useful figure, in Cady’s opinion, is the number of active users in the last 30 days, of which Slacker boasts 4-5 million.
http://www.radioink.com/sectional.asp?id=28721
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Houdini's "radio girl" Dorothy Young has died
I was sorry to read this one. Had just visited the Houdini Exhibit at NYC's Jewish Museum back in December and saw no mention of Dorothy Young. Have never seen mention of her in the many Houdini bio's I have read either . . . wish I had known.
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When radio was still new illusionist Harry Houdini used a giant radio as a prop in his 1926 act to look into the future and reveal the “Radio Girl of 1950.” That was Dorothy Young, who died this week at age 103.
http://www.rbr.com/radio/houdini-s-r...-has-died.html
The Three Faces of Howard?
eve black:
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"howard said the charlie sheen thing crazy. He said he read that les moonves has been talking to the people at warner brothers about getting charlie back. He said moonves wants a solution to bring him back to the show so they can make it work. Howard said it's the same story with les. It's all about the money.
Howard said les tried to sue him and there were actually some overtures made for him to go back to cbs radio. He said that they never stick to anything there. howard said he would never go back since they tried to sue him. He said he tends to think there is something wrong with that. He takes it personally when they sue him. "http://marksfriggin.com/news.htm#wed
eve white:
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howard suing sirius xm. 03/23/11. 6:20am
howard took a call from a guy who asked about this lawsuit he has with sirius xm. Howard said he is suing them. He said he has never gotten on the air and discussed his financial situation. That's just not something he does. He said this ties in with that so he won't say a lot about it. He said he's an honest guy and he's operating from an honest place. He said he knows one thing and he's honest and he believes that he's been dealt with unfairly. He said it's not comfortable to be doing this but that's what he thinks he has to do. He said he can't get into it much more than that. Howard said he isn't asking for anything that isn't his.
The caller said that it seems like howard always lives up to his side of contracts and the companies are the ones who pull out. Howard said he's not going to get into it much more than that. He said it's very unfortunate. The caller asked how management is treating him now. Howard said he hasn't had any interaction with them since the lawsuit was filed.
The caller asked if he had checked out bubba on raidoio.com. Howard said he hasn't but he's sure whatever bubba is doing is good.
Robin said this whole thing is shocking. Howard said he couldn't handle this any other way. He said he feels like breaking up a dressing room but he won't be doing that.
Howard said he can't get into the details of the suit. He said he would like to but he's trying to use his head. He said he's ready to go home now. He said he'd like to talk about this because now he's distracted. He said this whole thing is not pleasant. He said he knows robin wants to ask him stuff but he can't talk about it. He said that this is something that has happened to many people and he's just one in a long line. He said that he's going to continue his association with the company. This is just a business argument. He said he has to take a break to get his mind off of this. He said he's very distracted right now. Howard said he has to calm himself down after that. He said he feels like taking his shirt off right now. It's very weird.
jane:
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"the problem is there are too many friggin lawyers. There should only be two law schools, harvard and yale and if you can't get into either one then you don't go to law school. That would cut down on all these frivolous lawsuits!"
Cheap way to get net radio in your car
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"Show me a portable gadget these days that can play music — iPhone, Android phone, tablet, laptop, whatever — and I’ll show you its feeble, pathetic built-in speakers. If you want better sound, you could put on the earbuds — or get a portable wireless speaker."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/te...ogue.html?_r=1
Slacker Growth Curve Flattens
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After two months of double-digit growth related to Ando’s beginning to measure their mobile streams, pureplay Slacker‘s AAS flattened (i.e., up 2%) from December to January, putting them in 4th place with an AAS of 26,338.
http://www.andomedia.com/ranker/Ranker_Jan2011.pdf
Google begins Dog-Fooding
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"Google has begun testing Google Music internally, a sign that the much anticipated service is nearly ready to launch.
Employees at the online behemoth have begun a process commonly referred to in Silicon Valley as dog-fooding, in which employees try out a new service or product, music industry sources told CNET."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20...#ixzz1HepMJZF6
Good Pissing Match Worth Watching & Learning!
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. . . in a suit filed in federal court in New York on Monday, Emmis sues Alden and its principal Randall Smith, alleging improper stock trading behavior last Spring. The company claims that Smith violated the SEC rules about "short-swing profits" in February, March and April 2010, when it engaged in transactions known as cash-settled equity swap agreements.
http://www.radio-info.com/news/lates...uyout-of-emmis
Best Way to Lose New Clients!
This might be one of the single best advertisements I have seen for NOT seeking investment help from Gramercy Capital Mgt. Corp.!
This article is an embarrassment filled with factual inaccuracies, speculation, unsupported claims and assumptions, an apparent lack of basic research, gross omissions and seemingly libelous attacks on the business acumen of David Frear.
Here are a few snippets from Joan's masterwork . . . but I must warn you, there is a good chance you might pee yourself silly reading her drivel:
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Eventually Sirius caught up with XM and then merged with it after a long contentious battle through the U.S. regulators and the Congress.
I guess I missed the big celebration the day Sirius caught-up to XM; I hope you didn't over-indulge Joan. You too have a good memory Joan, it seems like just yesterday that Congress had a contentious debate over the merger. I think I may have even watched it on CSPAN. That vote on the House floor was a real nail-biter; and the Senate, I feared it would never pass the senate.
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Poor decisions by Mel Karmazin CEO based on very bad advice from CFO David Frear left the company with insufficient cash and cash flow to pay the interest on its debt.
Yes in deed Joan, why I remember saying to julietoo . . . I said Julie, if we could only somehow manage to scrape up the payments for the interest on this debt with the couple 100 million COH we have available, we wouldn't even have to worry about Charlie Ergin's unwillingness to roll the Feb-Converts or the Shylocks' refusals to restructure the maturing bank loan in May. Hey David, you readin this? I know, I know . . . just another crackpot; I don't know pal, you got a pretty thick skin but if I'm you . . . I gotta draw the line somewhere.
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Bankruptcy was imminent when John Malone and Liberty Media (LINTA) swept in with enough cash to buy 40% of Sirius."
Yes in deed Joan, it was a good thing John Malone "bought" that 40%. Seems like only yesterday me and relmor were dancing a jig we were so happy to have found a "buyer." Having Malone buy that 40% was a much better option than trading it for a short-term bridge loan. You got some sharp memory Joan . . . must be why you're a "Top Stock Picker."
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Malone loves tax loss carry-forwards and Sirius has them in spades. However, they will evaporate if Liberty moves to acquire the rest of Sirius prior to May 2012 so we have another year to wait to find out how that will play out.
Hey Joan . . . do they cover "Reverse Morris Trusts" in the CFA curriculum?
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His attorneys assert that they were included in distributing Howard’s content to XM subscribers and therefore those subscribers should count for the bonus.
Good point Joan . . . whadda ya say we pay Howard for the million or so XM subscribers who hear Howard's content via the "Best of" programming and call it a day? Oops, sorry, that extra million still doesn't hit the bonus target; my bad.
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When interviewed this week about this compensation dispute, Stern was very circumspect and acknowledged the contradiction between his job to promote Sirius XM at the very time he is suing them.
Yes Joan . . . that was quite an interview, wasn't it? It's not often that a caller gets to interview a radio host while calling into the Howard Stern Show . . . but that caller, that caller was like Piers Morgan!
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Almost all cars and light trucks are now manufactured with receivers for satellite radio
Holy $hit lady . . . I'm almost tempted to not even correct this one cuz it sounds so pleasing to the ear but unless 65% has suddenly become almost 100%, you might just want to pick up a transcript of the last conference call.
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By owning Sirius XM, you don’t have to care which car company is outselling the other at any given month.
OMG, please, lady . . . close-out your position in siri immediately; this is not the right stock for you. Spencer, I know I've been a little rough on you but could ya help a brother in need? Tell her, please . . . . you've already got the boiler-plate written; just slap-up a new article with a few revisions. I think my friggin head is gonna explode if I try and explain it to her.
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Keep your eye on David Frear’s stock transactions and S4 filings. He seems to know exactly when the shares are about to peak out and sell a bunch as he did recently when he sold 375,000 shares at $1.78 on 2/18/11 for a total value of $667,538.
Joan? Be honest now, are we up-to-date on our continuing-ed cycle? (now I'm starting to feel sorry for this lady)
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According to myriad press releases through the years from both Howard Stern and his boss at Sirius, Mel Karmazin, the survival and success of Sirius was the direct result of bringing in the well known self-styled radio talk show host to boost its brand awareness. There is no question that the idea worked in spades. After a year of Howard, the number of subscribers ballooned to 3,316,560 by the end of 2005.
You know something Joan? It is rather remarkable! I mean, after a year of Howard at Infinity during 2005, before he ever even went on the air at Sirius in January 2006, he brought in over 3 million subscribers; what the hell . . . lets hit the punch bowl and pay him for 2005 as well!
http://blogs.forbes.com/joanlappin/2...rtner=yahootix
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Seeking investment help with your portfolio. Contact us. Don’t let a beginner practice on your retirement funds. Turn Gramercy Capital’s decades of experience to your advantage. We’ve been ranked #1 in the Nelson’s Directory of Registered Investment Advisors. Contact us at info@gramercycapital.com.
Keep Joan's decades of experience I'd rather have the beginner! Ooh-Fah, what a disaster http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/s...aughing013.gif
btw, note to Gramercy Capital Mgt. Corp and Joan E. Lappin, CFA . . . . I have copied and pasted the article as written at the time of this post into a Word document; if this article is later edited without notation, I will post the entire unedited article to highlight the factual errors that have been corrected as well as any libelous claims that may have been retracted.