Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) didn't really like the FCC's idea that it label all analog TV sets with a warning label -- something I posted on a month ago. In fact, the retailer is now challenging the FCC's authority to require retailers to slap those "Warning: Analog TV" stickers on those retail shelf boxes.
The FCC seems to believe it will be Y2K all over again when the analog television frequencies are vacated next February for all those who receive TV signals via antenna. Standard issue for the federal government, I suppose. Best Buy not only doesn't want to have even more labels and customer communication littering up its stores, but it argues that the fines levied by the FCC for the non-use of these stickers are invalid as well.
Best Buy was fined $280,000 and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was fined $992,000 for failing to include these analog TV stickers on the appropriate products. Wal-Mart had not decided what its plans were yet, but my guess if that it will unite with Best Buy to present a huge challenge to the FCC's authority. Best Buy's biggest argument was that retailers are not commission licensees by the FCC --- so how can the FCC impose fines? There are quite a few more arguments being made by Best Buy that should hold up in a court of law easily if it gets to that.
One would think that the recent FCC auctions of the about-to-be-abandoned analog TV airwaves would give enough cash back to the FCC's coffers than stupid fines like this. Apparently not.
Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) has gone shopping across the pond, and will be spending about $2.1 billion in cash to purchase 50% of the UK's Carphone Warehouse mobile telephone retailer. Best Buy is signaling to the retailer world that it thinks mobile is the place to be, after it committed to expanding mobile market share here in the U.S. just recently in a large way.
This multi-billion commitment to Carphone Warehouse will allow the European retailer to pay down debt and gets Best Buy a foothold in the European retail business in a pretty large and immediate way. Along with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), U.S. retailers are seeking out ways to expand their footprints globally. Carphone Warehouse isn't just a small step in that direction, as it's one of Europe's largest mobile phone retailers.
Best Buy's revenues continue to soar on an annual basis, and this partnership should add to that amount significantly. While U.S. competitor Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) has had nothing but troubles recently and is just hanging out in la-la land while delivering substandard results every quarter, Best Buy is going for the jugular -- still growing sales and taking market share in the U.S. and now in Europe. Can it be stopped? For now, there's no equal -- so, no.
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U.S. stock futures were higher early Thursday morning as investors digested Toyota's earnings and awaited sales reports from several large retailers.
This is after on Wednesday, U.S. stocks dropped as oil futures surged past $123 a barrel and financials showed more weakness. The Dow industrials fell 206 points, or 1.59%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 44 points, or 1.80%, and the S&P 500 dropped 25 points, or 1.81%.
But today stocks looked set to recover from the previous session large pull back. While Toyota's results show the automaker also struggling in the U.S. market, a stronger dollar may have helped boost sentiment. Investors also expect April retail sales to be strong rising about 1.5% to 2% due to an extra selling day and warmer weather at the beginning of the month.
Not much economic data is due today, only weekly initial jobless claims and March wholesale inventories.
Also on the docket today is a vote the housing aid bill, the Democrats' plan to help strapped homeowners refinance into government-backed mortgages. Already blamed by many for not doing enough to address the crisis, President Bush will likely veto the measures.
Consumer electronics retailers Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) are now stocking only Blu-ray disc players in the wake of the fall of competitive format HD DVD. So far, Blu-ray disc players still are not that competitively priced compared to standard DVD players, which the industry may have a problem with if consumers continue to decide that standard DVD is "good enough" to use with that new flat-screen TV.
But at least the software catalog within the Blu-ray camp is getting some support. In addition to recent sales that placed some hit movies in the same price category as standard DVD players, the two retailers are not forgetting the huge camp of Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 owners, all of whom have a full Blu-ray disc player built into their gaming machines. This Blu-ray "owner's club" of sorts is a captive market at this time, and the two largest consumer electronics retailers are taking advantage of it. For example, a "buy 2, get 1 free" special is in effect this week at Circuit City stores, while Best Buy is offering a free $10 gift card with the purchase of two Blu-ray titles.
Not that both retailers have a lot of work to do -- they are both promoting Blu-ray just fine -- but hardware prices and eventually movie title prices will need to reach critical mass from the manufacturers and disc distributors before consumers go nuts on the format like they did with DVD a decade or so ago. It's nice to have a single, next-generation optical disc format to make the choice for the consumer dead simple. But, those consumers want the lower price also -- and Blu-Ray still isn't there yet. With gas hovering at record levels, would you buy one right now?
Best Buy Co., Inc.'s (NYSE: BBY) Geek Squad technical support services have been very successful for the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. in recent years. It's a profit-making machine that's put the emphasis on service margins over ever-shrinking product margins. Anything and everything PC-related that you need done -- personal or business -- the Geek Squad can be there.
Technical support is the best way to describe much of what Best Buy's Geek Squad does -- so would you believe the retailer wants to get involved with technical support in a social networking sense? FixYa.com, a website that allows customers to help each other with technical issues and owner's manuals from almost any piece of technology, is generated by users -- not retailers. However, as many of us have seen, user-generated destinations can be some of the most successful. Why pay to support your customers when they can support themselves in a sense?
I don't believe this is any kind of cost-saving move by Best Buy -- the retailer simply wants to provide its customers with an additional way to receive support as fast and efficient as possible before handling in-depth issues directly to a Geek Squad representative. Best Buy's co-branded version of the site located here will allow customers an easy entry path into support and troubleshooting. Again, it looks like Best Buy is outpacing competitors in terms of getting help to its customers as fast as it can, and in this case, at no charge.
So Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) is about to have one heck of a week. Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm willing to bet everyone reading this knows that today is launch day for Grand Theft Auto IV on the Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360 consoles. And I'm sure there were many hardcore fans at Best Buy (NASDAQ: BBY) and GameStop (NYSE: GME) today, ready with cold-hard-cash in their hands to snag the software; in fact, this article talks about how some stores were open at midnight to satisfy the pent-up demand (remember, this title was delayed). And Douglas McIntyre discussed the game earlier today as being a potential barometer in terms of consumer confidence.
With all this incredible buzz, with the projection that GTA IV might move close to 10 million discs this year, should you be interested in taking on some Take-Two stock for your investment portfolio? The answer for me is no, Take-Two is not a buy here. Remember that we still have the whole arbitrage game going on with it since Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) wants to buy the publisher; also recall that Take-Two is gunning for a higher offer and purposely delayed further negotiations until after the release of GTA IV. I sold my position when the whole buyout offer was made a while ago, and I'm still glad that I did -- for me, the trade was over at that point, and I was happy to simply own my Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) shares.
UBS initiated Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) and Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC) with Buy ratings and an $11 target and $62 target, respectively. The firm views valuation as attractive.
When D&M Holdings recently put 49% of the company up for sale, consumer audio brands like Denon, Marantz, Snell, McIntosh, Boston Acoustics and Escient seemed primed for the picking. These are top-tier audio brands sold in some of the most prestigious consumer electronics retailers in the nation. The price for that slice? $700 million. The possible suitors? Consumer electronics brands Kenwood, Harman International and ... Best Buy Stores, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S.
Philips Electronics, who holds 12% of D&M Holdings' shares, indicated that it would also put its shares up for sale, as well, to the same bidder group, giving one company access to 61% of D&M Holdings' shares. Kenwood is owned by Bain Capital, and may be looking to re-enter the home audio field. Harman, which owns the Harman Kardon, Infinity and JBL brands, may be looking to expand. But Best Buy buying a top-tier audio manufacturer? Isn't it a retailer, not a brand owner that could compete with the brands it already carries?
Best Buy is already D&M Holdings's largest customer, but there is a fine line between a Best Buy-owned brand (which is seen as entry-level and with inferior quality) and a top-of-the-shelf brand such as Denon and others. I would posit that Denon and Snell customers are audiophile-type customers who would scoff at the idea of having a Best Buy brand in that audio equipment rack, even if nothing but the ownership of the brand changes. Harman dropped out of the bidding already, so it could come down to Bain Capital and Best Buy soon. Should a mass-market electronics retailer really get into high-end consumer audio? That's a gamble, although the price wouldn't be exorbitant (just over $1 billion if you do the math).
Some mergers make less sense than others. The Blockbuster (NYSE:BBI) effort to buy Circuit City (NYSE:CC) makes no sense at all. It is based on the hope that putting together two zombies will create one live person.
According toReuters "Blockbuster Inc. said on Monday that it has offered to buy electronics retailer Circuit City Stores." The price for the offer was in a range of $6 to $8 pending due diligence.
Why putting a consumer electronics business together with a movie rental company makes sense is anyone's guess. Each company is having remarkable trouble staying in business.
Blockbuster's current share price is just above $3, down from a 52-week high of $6.67. The company is being ruined by competition from online DVD sales and VOD products delivered over the internet or by cable companies. In its last fiscal year, Blockbuster made only $39 million on revenue of over $5.5 billion.
Circuit City is even worse off. It made a tiny profit in its most recently reported quarter, but has been losing customers to larger operators like Best Buy (NYSE:BBI) and Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT). Circuit City shares are down from a 52-week high of $19.12 to $3.44
It is hard to see how a merger would allow for either cost cuts or revenue enhancements.
1+1=0
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Many of us have heard about the end of analog television. Come February 19 2009, analog television signals will be shut off and it will be the Y2K mess all over again. Well, not exactly -- but that's what the FCC will have you believe. If you don't hear many (many) times in the next 10 months that analog television signals are going away in 2009, then you're probably living under a rock.
But consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) probably wishes the FCC would go crawl under a rock. The largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. was fined $280,000 along with other national electronics retailers as the FCC recently doled out more than $9 million in fines for not clearly indicating to consumers that analog televisions will need a special converter box come next February. Best Buy, which has removed analog televisions from its stores, was a tad befuddled by the fine since it does not even sell analog television sets.
Nevertheless, the FCC says that many retailers "willfully and repeatedly" violated the rule governing the specific labeling of analog television sets. Just in case that hermit living on a mountaintop is confused about analog television signals going away, that label on the side of a TV box will save the day. Not. It's not the small amount of the fine that an issue here -- it's how incredibly short-sighted and goofy a federal agency can be about something so minor.
Although I'll get arguments that analog TV being shut off isn't a minor issue, it is. Best buy indicated this to the FCC: "Best Buy has been a leader in helping educate consumers about the analog to digital transition," the company said. "We were among the first retailers to put signage and brochures in our stores, including Spanish language versions of this material. We have had extensive DTV information available on BestBuy.com as well as our Spanish language website."
But whoa -- watch out: those TV box labels might save the day in 10 months for someone. Sheesh.
Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), always the one to capitalize on unique marketing opportunities at every chance it gets, sees another one coming down the road very soon. The upcoming Nintendo Wii gaming title Wii Fit, which is to be released on May 17, should be one of Nintendo's hottest gaming titles of this year.
The Wii has made its mark using interactive and physical gameplay, requiring the physical involvement of the players instead of the couch potato thumb involvement of regular competitive game consoles. For that reason alone, the Wii has become immensely popular, outselling both the Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) Playstation 3 and the Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360.
Best Buy's marketing angle with the Wii Fit release happening in over a month includes some teaser ads near fitness DVDs that use Nintendo's catchy Wii slogan: "how will it move you?" The new Wii Fit game, which will include a "balance board" to help those playing the game to interact as much as possible physically, needs to have a "best outlet" for sales here in the U.S. due to its existing mass population appeal, and if Best Buy can ramp up anticipation correctly, it may become the outlet to buy the Wii Fit game title come the third week of May. That is, unless competitor Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) becomes aggressive on its Wii Fit marketing -- and I don't see that happening.
I read an interesting article on tax rebates and vacation spending. A lot of theories are floating around concerning the exact stimulative effect President Bush's $168 billion program will have on the ailing economy. If the article I read is correct, then the vacation industry may be a big beneficiary.
An expert on the tourism sector, economist Steve Morse of the University of Tennessee, suggests that timing is the key here. Since the rebate monies will be flowing at the same time as Americans start to plan and go on their vacations, Morse believes that economic activities related to enjoying time off will see a tangible boost. In fact, he further states that vacations are something that people might not necessarily deny themselves, even in times of recession. He points out that people might tend to take on a bit of debt to fund vacations since they see it as a "right of life," as he puts it.
I see the logic, especially the "right of life" issue. Not only are vacations important to everyone, but they are sort of comparable to toys at Christmas -- know how they say that people won't stop giving toys to their children even during hard times? Well, vacations are like toys for adults (and if the adults have children, as many do, then vacations are like toys for adults and children). And adults will not cease gifting themselves during the summertime.
Best Buy Inc. (NASDAQ: BBY) has managed to prosper as a big box electronics retailer while many of its competitors -- Circuit City Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: CC) and CompUSA, among many others -- have descended into oblivion. It is universally acknowledged that Best Buy's force of knowledgeable and well-trained employees have been key to that success.
In a recent segment on MSNBC, Ron Mott looked at the company's commitment to diversity and a better understanding of the history of race relations. The company is paying for more than 800 managers to visit the National Civil Rights Museum located at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
Interestingly, the company says that programs like this add to its bottom-line by instilling greater pride and awareness in it workforce.
Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) didn't really like the FCC's idea that it label all analog TV sets with a warning label -- something I posted on a month ago. In fact, the retailer is now challenging the FCC's authority to require retailers to slap those "Warning: Analog TV" stickers on those retail shelf boxes. 
U.S. stock futures were higher early Thursday morning as investors digested Toyota's earnings and awaited sales reports from several large retailers.
Consumer electronics retailers 
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When D&M Holdings recently put 49% of the company up for sale, consumer audio brands like Denon, Marantz, Snell, McIntosh, Boston Acoustics and Escient seemed primed for the picking. These are top-tier audio brands sold in some of the most prestigious consumer electronics retailers in the nation. The price for that slice? $700 million. The possible suitors? Consumer electronics brands Kenwood, Harman International and ... 
Some mergers make less sense than others. The 
Many of us have heard about the end of analog television. Come February 19 2009, analog television signals will be shut off and it will be the Y2K mess all over again. Well, not exactly -- but that's what the FCC will have you believe. If you don't hear many (many) times in the next 10 months that analog television signals 
I read an 
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