New York Times asking for help & you gotta love this country!
My lovely and talented bride keeps a close eye on the stock market and I get a daily report of how the NYT stock is tanking. It's down about 50-percent since 2002. We bought into it for many years through the employee stock purchase plan. I should have dumped it when I left but foolishly figured it couldn't go much lower. I was wrong. Now I read where the NYTimes, facing what is called "shareholder dissent and getting flak for bloated executive pay deals" is searching for a "crisis public relations experts." Apparently the folks at NYT have contacted Knight-Ridder for suggestions on what to do. You may remember Knight-Ridder was recently sold. I guess having leadership able to offer solid direction isn't an option, so Art and company will attempt to PR their way out of this mess. I hope it works. I'm ready to get out and push it to get it back up the hill so I don't get left holding the bag if this trend continues.
Meanwhile, with the immigation issue at the forefront these days, I heard something that made me proud to be an American. I was walking the pups and rounded the block in Midtown Memphis where somebody was testing a new house alarm system that was being installed. (The alarm company vans were out front.) Instead of the "whoop-whoop" produced by the sirens, this one spoke amidst the wailing. It warned something like, "intruder alert, intruder alert, intruder please leave immediately". That was followed a few seconds later by what I believed was the same wording in Spanish. The cycle continued until I was out of earshot. It almost brought a tear to my eye knowing that when it comes to someone breaking into your abode, they will get fair warning and that they can't say they didn't understand or forgot that it was illegal to break into someone's home. You really gotta love this country.
Meanwhile, with the immigation issue at the forefront these days, I heard something that made me proud to be an American. I was walking the pups and rounded the block in Midtown Memphis where somebody was testing a new house alarm system that was being installed. (The alarm company vans were out front.) Instead of the "whoop-whoop" produced by the sirens, this one spoke amidst the wailing. It warned something like, "intruder alert, intruder alert, intruder please leave immediately". That was followed a few seconds later by what I believed was the same wording in Spanish. The cycle continued until I was out of earshot. It almost brought a tear to my eye knowing that when it comes to someone breaking into your abode, they will get fair warning and that they can't say they didn't understand or forgot that it was illegal to break into someone's home. You really gotta love this country.
posted by Joe Larkins at 5:18 PM
4 Comments:
Oh my Gosh, Joe! I'm so perfect for the NY Times Company's "crisis" public relations specialist! Thanks for the tip!
It’s hard to tell what's going on with the place up there on the Ocean. The best way to chart a stock is to pick a month and chart 10 years
05/96 32.18, 05/97 45.62, 05/98 72.88, 05/99 35.41, 05/00 45.50, 05/01 44.20,
05/02 51.05, 05/03 47.96, 05/04 47.00, 05/05 33.93, 04/06 26.40
In the 10 years I tracked 30 dividends paid on stock. In 1998, there was a 2 for one split on stick. The stock has made in addition a total of held its present value in dividends in the last 10 years. If you plowed those dividends back in to the stock that increased your shares.
I admit the last 4 year plunge is alarming, but the stock has increased dividend every year in the last 10 years, except for the "unpopular" restated "Enron quarter", and nearly every company had to adjust its smoke and mirrors that quarter. Many people are saying the Knight Ridder soap opera on earnings has affected all print media. I tend to agree. The longer we mobve from the K-R melt-down, it is likly print stock will go up. Plus, there is a Detroit paper up for sale that would fit nicely in the NYT porfolio.
I think the stock is undervalued by about 10.00. Most experts are on the fence on whether to buy or sell. SO roll those dice. SO if you have a lot of stock, you've got a decision. The New York Portfolio of assets is stable. The cities with NYT owned papers are solid reading areas. Their radio/TV holdings are stable. They made a strong income jump this year on the sale of the Headquarters Building, so there will be a continued strong dividend.
I guess you could hold out for a 10.00 increase to the actual value of the stock before selling. I anticipate a stock buy back will be initiated to raise the stock value short-term. SO if you hold until the late fall, it won't hurt you.
I cant see the stock dropping much more, because then it would get into aquisition territory (buy and liquidate for profit).
Thanks anon. I've got about 13 years worth too and wish I had dumped all of it after the split. I got rid of some just before their announcement.
Feel free to offer your advice on the following stocks:
WalMart, Mattel, Lowes, Young Broadcasting
Anon reply, Are you investing or getting stock from business you are asking about? Are you using it as retirement planning or savings? Can you afford to lose, if you do lose? Stock is not for the faint of heart.
From 20 years ago, Mattel is actually up about 60%, but it is also about where it was 5 years ago. There was a time for a few months ago when it was flirting at $21.00... Their biggest sales are during Summer and Fall, so waiting til the Xmas Rush season to decide what to do might be a good idea. A friend who was a heavy investor in Mattel once told me Toys are strong in tough economies. His logic was people buy toys for kids when they won't buy anything else. We are approaching a tough benchmark in the economy....
It (Mattel) has a 3% dividend yield and NYT has a 2.5% yield, so you will make some solid dividends on the stock.
What makes me Like Lowes and Walmart is that you can purchase their stock direct without a broker (No brokerage fee). Purchasing both is like putting money in a savings account to make interest (in the case of Stock, dividends). Lowes is up since 2002 (@30) to 2006 near 70, so over the magic short-term 3 years it doubled. Not a bad investment. It is outpeforming its compeatitors.
Wal-Mart tends to perform well in tough economic times. The times of high gas prices show Wal-mart performs better than all other retailing. The direct buy option and the drop of the stock makes it a good long-term buy. Only weakness many experts chart labor problems (Unionization) and govermental demands on requiring health coverage (or pay the states) as possible expenses down the road. An option, if you struggle with their (Wal-Mart's) treatment of their workers is worker friendly Costco and Starbucks. Both Costco and Starbucks spend a lot on employee needs and are worker friendly.
Young broadcasting, and I am not familiar with them (other than they have some strong media in strong markets), but looking at their stock...it looks very alarming. In 5 years it has gone from near 50.00 to near 3.00. Theyare reportedly taking loans out, so their debt will increase.
If I worked for Young, I would keep a token of stock (for work consideration) and sell it as they gave it to me in salary.
I guess I would be filing capital losses for stock over 3 years old and older on my taxes.
They are supposed to be going for a $50 million incremental term loan (Reported on April 26-27th). My question to them, if I was a stockholder, is what happened to the 650 million from the sale of KCAL that requires a 50 mil loan???? My guess on the problem here is too much stock is controlled by one person (or family). The additional debt will actually keep aquisitions (hostile or friendly) from happening, unless the largest shareholder is willing to use sale money to pay the debt.
At this stage before you do anything, listen to the conference call on earnings on May 4th.
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