Stupidity is contagious. It gets us all from time to time. Even respectable companies can catch it. Let's take a look at five dumb financial events this week that may make your head spin.
1. From hanging chads to dangling Yangs
Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO ) tried its best to bury the Microhoo demons during last week's annual shareholder meeting. Investors were willing to buy in as well, especially after it was revealed that embattled CEO Jerry Yang received 85.4% of the votes to retain his seat on the company's board.
Oh, what a difference a week makes. A dissident shareholder questioned the tally's validity and the recount showed that Yang received just 66.3% of the vote. The recount also finds board chairman Roy Bostock commanding just 60.4% of the shareholder support. Yes, we're still talking about a majority in both cases, but it certainly forces Yahoo! to act sooner rather than later to quell the disenchantment.
2. Maybe the third time's the charm
Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI ) shares opened nicely higher on Tuesday, after a filing revealed that CEO Mel Karmazin bought 2 million shares at an average price of $1.3732 the day before.
Insider buying is typically a sign of internal confidence, but there's a problem with Karmazin putting his money where his mouth is. See, he's been wrong before. He picked up 1.5 million shares of Sirius -- at $5.36 apiece -- when he joined the company four years ago. He was back two years later, buying another million shares when the stock was at $6.20. Sooner or later, he's going to be right, but investors should know that he's no Warren Buffett in calling attractive entry points.
3. No tea for two, but how about a cool drink for two dollars?
Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX ) joined the promotional discounting bandwagon, offering morning coffee sippers a chance to come back later for a marked down grande iced drink. A customer simply needs to show up after 2 p.m. with a dated receipt from earlier in the day, and the cool beverage will be just $2. The offer is good through the next four weeks.
This move comes in various shades of dumbness.
- It devalues the grande iced drinks.
- Consumers may tire of making repeat visits.
- The chances of higher-margin add-on purchases in the afternoon are slim, since no one is going to order a warm latte to go with the iced coffee.
- Patrons who feel they won't be back in the afternoon may feel that they are subsidizing the double-dippers, and stay away the first time on principle.
- It trains customers to expect deals, leaving the premium coffee brewer to go back to markdowns in a new way next month.
Starbucks fans will no doubt see it differently, but that's the problem with viewing life through mocha-tinted glasses. The only real $2 bargain in premium coffee would be shares of troubled rival Caribou Coffee (Nasdaq: CBOU ) .
4. Like a Whole in the head
Sorry, Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI ) , but we're miles away from where "rahodeb" can hear you. The organic grocer isn't a fan of preservatives in its grub, and is much less a fan of preserving its payouts. Whole Foods is killing its quarterly dividend, as it scales back spending in a dicey operating environment.
The surprise here is that sales trends -- overall and even at the store level -- are still positive. Whole Foods is still profitable, even as analysts scale back their expectations. Why would it kill its dividend, scaring away yield-chasing value investors after its lackluster financial performance has shooed away growth investors?
5. More apps than an Applebee's menu
Is AT&T (NYSE: T ) holding back the iPhone? Fellow Fool Tim Beyers seems to think so, after a potentially blockbuster application has been pulled not once -- but twice -- from Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL ) store. NetShare is a program that iPhone users can pay to download, allowing them to turn their unlimited data plan with AT&T into Web access through their computers.
Even if it's a drag on AT&T's network or gets in the way of stand-alone wireless broadband plans, AT&T would be nuts to get in the way (if it is, in fact, the reason the app has been pulled). It's the killer app that would make the iPhone even more desirable, and AT&T still has stateside exclusivity.
How does that old AT&T jingle go again? Reach out, reach out and crush someone?
Let's beat the dumb drum:
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