By
Rick Aristotle Munarriz
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October 24, 2009
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You know the economy has begun to turn the corner when even dot-com laggards are beating analyst expectations.
Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO ) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY ) aren't as popular as they were during their heydays in the 1990s. They're probably the last kids picked in your fantasy dot-com pool. However, eBay did manage to narrowly surpass Wall Street targets, just after Yahoo! beat the Street as well.
The one thing that should be clear, especially to those betting against the market these days, is that all of the cost cuts that companies have promised over the past year are materializing and bearing fruit.
This wasn't lip service. Yahoo!'s operating costs have shrunk by 18% over the past year.
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL ) is another laggard, but it appears to be serious in its goal to trim $4 billion of annual operating fat over the next two years.
The market rally isn't going to last forever. It never does. However, most companies have made genuine moves to make the most of what they're getting. It's an encouraging sight, especially for those long the market.
Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
- Worldwide comps grew at McDonald's (NYSE: MCD ) , even though the world's largest restaurant chain posted a dip in quarterly revenue. How can this be? Is the company shuttering some of its golden arches? Hardly. Revenue would have inched higher, if not for currency translations.
- Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT ) released Windows 7 on Thursday. Hasta la vista, Vista!
- Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX ) is back! The copper and gold miner posted healthy quarterly numbers and even reinstated its annual dividend. Things are fine in the mine, apparently.
Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz
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