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This Week's 5 Dumbest Stock Moves

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Stupidity is contagious. It gets us all from time to time. Even respectable companies can catch it. As I do every week, let's look at five dumb financial events this week that may make your head spin.

1. Wii will wait
Sometimes it's not what you do but rather what you don't do that earns you a nod in this weekly overview of corporate gaffes. Nintendo (OTC BB: NTDOY.PK) makes the cut this week by letting its competitors make their cuts first.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT  ) slashed the price of its Xbox 360 Elite by $100 yesterday, a week after the high-end Sony PS3 console received a similar haircut.

Nintendo has been able to sit on a $250 price for its Wii since the revolutionary console hit the market. But Nintendo's stubbornness is one of the reasons why the gaming industry is in a funk. Video-game hardware and software sales have fallen in each of the past five quarters.

A price cut is inevitable for the Wii. It can't let its two console rivals eat up all of the holiday sales.

2. Let's call it the SkyCrock     
One of the biggest mistakes out of the Sirius XM Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI  ) camp was to release its iPhone-streaming program two months ago, without securing the Web rights for its biggest celebrity in Howard Stern.

This week's SkyDock announcement should have corrected the contractual oversight. The car dock is an actual receiver, using Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) iPhone or iPod touch as a controller. In other words, it doesn't have to worry about paying Stern extra for online streaming through a smartphone.

The problem? This is the XM SkyDock, not the Sirius SkyDock. Stern is on Sirius, so a basic $12.95 monthly subscription isn't enough. SkyDock users will have to pay $16.99 a month for an XM subscription that includes the most popular Sirius content -- including Stern.

Why didn't this come out as the Sirius SkyDock -- or at least come in both flavors?

3. Would you like some white lies with that?
Three months ago, Burger King (NYSE: BKC  ) was bragging about its impressive streak of 21 consecutive quarters of positive global comps. What does it do when it finally proves mortal?

We found out this week, when the country's second-largest burger chain posted negative comps for the first time in more than five years. Yet instead of acknowledging that the streak is toast, it simply rewrote its bragging rights. Since the streak ended during the company's fiscal fourth quarter, Burger King simply decided to thump its chest over a six-year streak of positive global comps. That's no lie, but I'd have preferred a more forthright approach.

4. Google wants to show you the money
Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG  ) road map is collateral damage in a lawsuit between loan aggregator LendingTree and financial-software specialist Mortech.

LendingTree claims that Mortech is helping Google compete for prospective mortgage leads, by assisting the search giant in building a system similar to its own site that displays various sponsored lenders. Mortech helps power LendingTree's site.

Poor Google. It rarely tries to telegraph its future moves, and now it seems as if it's having its diary pages read before a courtroom.

5. It's going to be a bumpy flight  
Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL  ) became the latest airline to bump up baggage fees. The carrier will begin charging certain economy-class trans-Atlantic passengers $50 if they check a second bag.

Making money consistently has always been a challenge for the legacy carriers, but nickel-and-diming passengers isn't the solution.

Travelers are getting smarter about shopping around. Frequent-flyer programs are carrying less weight these days, as redemption terms get stingier and loyalty is tested with every new fee introduction.

It won't be long before passengers have had enough. Let's hope we never get to the point where customers are being charged $10 for a bag of cocktail peanuts.

Let's beat the Dumb Drum:

The Steve Jobs Betrayal
You may already know that in the final year of his life, Jobs revealed a stunning betrayal — and told his biographer, "I will spend my last dying breath... and every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank to right this wrong." What was it that made Jobs so irate — and why could it make a few in-the-know investors some major profits over the coming months and years?

Enter your email address below to find out what made Jobs so enraged!

Google is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers selection. Apple and Nintendo are Motley Fool Stock Advisor picks. Microsoft is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation. Nintendo is a Motley Fool Global Gains pick. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. That certainly wouldn't be a dumb move.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz is a fan of dumb and smart business moves. Investors can learn plenty from both. He owns no shares in any of the stocks in this story and is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy.


Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

  • Report this Comment On August 28, 2009, at 12:11 PM, RAF22 wrote:

    Sirius XM is doing all the correct things, in terms of innovation and marketing, and SIRI is now trading from dominant technical strength in response to this turnaround. The writers at TMF have been consistently negative and fighting the share price improvements from the mid .30's to current levels near .70. How can you justify misleading your audience without letup over the last few months, causing them to miss a major turnaround situation and substantial upside price performance? Take a look back at all your postings over the last three months and objectively criique their accuracy. It's close to an erroneous track record of 100%. Please keep a close eye on Sirius XM's actual performance in coming months and try to get in synch with these positive fundamentals going forward.

  • Report this Comment On August 28, 2009, at 12:23 PM, JWILLI44 wrote:

    I have to disagree with the Nintendo and SIRIUS being follish moves. First, Nintendo doesnt need to cut it's prices. Microsoft and Sony are cutting there price to make it competitive with the Wii. Even with the cust, Nintendo Wii is still about $50.00 cheaper!!The Wii started out being an affordable system that was priced affordably. Do you really think they could cut it $100.00 and sell the system for $150.00? That is just dumb...You can't be serious if you think they should sell the system that cheap. Xbox and playstation started off so overpriced they had to keep cutting costs..

    As far as Sirius XM sky dock, They made it available on the XM side because that is the best option for choices of programming. With XM you get baseball, Oprah, etc...you can then add best of Sirius and get what you call " the most popular content" They run specials where you could get that for $2.00 a month. Howard Stern fans wont mind $2-$4.00 a month...Howard TV is $12.95!!! To call it a sky crock because it is on XM which has just as many subs as SIRIUS is also dumb..If it was made on Sirius side, then it would be impossible to get baseball games even with best of XM. This is the best way. To call it a crock because you assume all will want Stern and football is foolish...If you are even half way correct as far a the demand for Stern, then the cost of best of siruius is not a problem. Stop thinking all people buy satelite just for Howard Stern, that is false. He is a bonus, not the only reason! There are way more people that hate Howard than like him..

  • Report this Comment On August 28, 2009, at 12:27 PM, imanerd2 wrote:

    I'm a bit surprised Google is on both the Smartest, and Dumbest stock moves this week... interesting.

  • Report this Comment On September 01, 2009, at 1:22 PM, BullishBroker74 wrote:

    Brandon Matthews

    On any given day, there are dozens of professional stock “bashers” trolling the stock message boards and posting erroneous information on Sirius XM Radio (SIRI). Perhaps that is where Jim Cramer, CNBC and the multitude of biased financial media get their information, so with that in mind I set out to dispel some of the myths surrounding the company, by explaining the reality of things like revenue, debt and EBITDA growth.

    Our first myth involves Sirius XM debt and the battle cry of the ignorant that it is somehow excessive. As the chart I’ve embed below indicates, Sirius XM debt stands at $3.89 billion. Compare that figure to Viacom (VIA.B) at $7.37 billon, Comcast (CMCSA) at $33.04 billion, Dish Network (DISH) at $5.13 billion, Time Warner Cable (TWC) at $22.93 billion, British Sky Broadcasting (BSY) at $4.46 billion or even Direct TV (DTV) at $5.79 billion and clearly Sirius XM Radio debt is anything but excessive. [click to enlarge]

    How many times have we heard the argument that Sirius XM Radio has too many shares outstanding? First of all, there is no such thing. A company’s value is not measured in outstanding shares but rather its market cap. Once a company achieves positive free cash flow and sufficient earnings, shares can be repurchased, and Sirius XM Radio has many years ahead of it in which to implement such a plan. There are some who question the potential market cap of Sirius XM Radio. The problem is that Sirius XM Radio suffers from an identity crisis. One analyst may value the company based on media stocks, while another labels the equity consumer discretionary, while still others like myself look at the company as a subscription service like cable operators.

    Sirius XM Radio has a current market cap of $2.69 billion dollars, and commanded a combined market cap of as much as 6 billion dollars just one year ago. Compare that figure to Viacom with a $15.27 billion market cap, Comcast with $45.08 billion and Direct TV with $24.37 billion, and clearly there remains plenty of upside potential to SIRI shares.

    Based on current valuations, Sirius XM is being lumped with companies such as Clear Channel (CCO) which commands a market cap of $2.5 billion as it faces the potential of bankruptcy in the not too distant future, and which derives almost all of its revenue from advertising. It is for this reason that Sirius XM Radio shares remain undervalued and explains why some retain their negative outlook on the stock. Sirius XM Radio would be fairly valued today at $1.30 – $1.50 per share based on its debt management and increased year end EBITDA projections.

    What about Sirius XM’s future potential? Of all the stocks mentioned above, I would like to direct your attention to revenue growth. Sirius XM’s revenue growth stands at 108%, dwarfing all of the competition, and analysts expect revenue to continue to grow over 60% in 2010. As my friend “Muscle13″ points out, it’s all about EBITDA growth. It is also the one metric that critics can point to in justification of their negative bias. Even with increased EBITDA guidance, Sirius XM still falls short of having earned a higher market cap than the 6 billion it should currently be valued at. As the chart shows, the market cap values of the other company’s mentioned far surpass that of Sirius XM based on EBITDA. That is changing to the positive however, as Standard & Poors research points out in their research report:

    (Sirius XM) Management recently issued post-merger financial targets for the next five years, with 2009 subscriber growth of 20.6 million reaching 28.4 million by 2013, revenue of $2.7 billion to $4.1 billion, adjusted EBITDA of over $300 million to $1.5 billion, and free cash flow of breakeven to $1.4 billion.

    Sirius XM management had provided 5 year guidance which offers the potential of Sirius XM shares rising to as much as $7.50 in the next 5 years, as long as management can deliver. Those projections put EBITDA at 5 times its current level. Simple math tells us that $1.50 x 5 = $7.50. That’s not a bad 5 year potential return on a .65 – .70 investment and certainly a justifiable long term price target that leaves out any outrageous multiples that a sector monopoly might warrant in the future.

    There is one more myth that is beginning to make its way around the web. That is a claim that Sirius XM will soon receive a delisting notice. That is false. They will soon receive a letter of non-compliance and have at least a full year to regain compliance.

    Position: Long SIRI

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