The Market Mix Tape

In case you missed any of these catchy tunes last week, it's not too late to boogie down. Since the market finished yet another week in the black, unless you're covered in hair and have big, sharp claws, you might as well be dancing.

"Make It Rain" by Fat Joe and Lil' Wayne, featuring Citigroup
It looks as though the private equity party may continue in force in 2007, and banking giant Citigroup (NYSE:C) is making a bid to be one of the rainmakers. Last Monday, Citigroup's alternative investments unit announced the closing of Citigroup Capital Partners II after raising $3.3 billion. The fund's focus will be working with other private equity funds to make equity investments with an emphasis on leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and recapitalizations.

In 2006, private equity helped push the S&P up in the latter half of the year to finish up 12% after losing ground in the first six months. Massive deals like the $33 billion buyout of hospital holding company HCA by a club, including Bain Capital and KKR and the pending $36 billion bid for Equity Office Properties (NYSE:EOP) by Blackstone, broke past the 1988 RJR Nabisco deal as the largest ever. The size of the deals that private equity buyers have been going after, as well as the frequency of deals being announced, has encouraged investors by suggesting that some of the brightest finance minds out there seem to consider equities to be undervalued. Whether this is the case remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure -- raising huge funds and doing a lot of deals means handsome management fees going into the pockets of the private equity investors.

"Bitter Sweet Symphony" by the Verve and Gap Shareholders
Last Monday's 7% jump in Gap's (NYSE:GPS) stock price could end up being bittersweet. Or it could be exactly what investors have been waiting for. Either way, what's clear is that Gap is not the retail powerhouse that it once was. In the past few years, all of Gap's existing brands -- Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic -- have become ghosts of their former stylish selves.

Though Banana Republic's comp-store sales increased 2% in December, the woes at the rest of Gap continued. Gap's other brands saw further declining comp sales, including a double-digit decline at Old Navy North America. The company also cut 2006 year-end earnings estimates. Of course, none of this shocked shareholders; it seems they've gotten pretty used to disappointing results.

Over the past few years, shareholders have been weathering an extended gale at Gap and have been rewarded with a 7% loss in share price since the beginning of 2004. The waiting game has not offered much hope as far as a turnaround for Gap's fortunes goes, and as management shakeups continue, any silver lining could still be a ways off from showing itself. The second half of 2006, though, did bring the hope of a private equity buyout of the ailing brand. As private equity firms made big waves by taking down a number of massive public companies, the rumor mill started to churn out the name Gap as a potential private equity target.

Even after announcing that heavyweight Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) would be helping it explore "strategic alternatives," the question remains whether there is something left at Gap that a potential dancing partner would still find groovy. At just less than 20 times trailing-12-month EPS, the company isn't exactly cheap, and it's not likely that a potential buyer would be offering too sweet of a premium. On the positive side, the company does offer a buyer a moderate amount of free cash flow and a fairly clean balance sheet. Plus, the opportunity to get out of the hot seat of the public markets and have the chance to rebuild the business without the specter of quarterly earnings could be just what the doctor ordered.

"You Win Again" by the Bee Gees and Me
That's right, that's me conceding to Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) -- again. For the past few years, smart money has been on Apple taking a nice big run during its annual Macworld conference. Being the often-grumpy value-curmudgeon that I am, I have shielded my eyes to the phenomenon, yet Steve and crew managed to do it once again.

This year, in his keynote speech at Macworld, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, a touch-screen phone that will do what all those other MP3 phones wish they could -- play music like an iPod. The phone will also surf the Web and snap pictures, but, more importantly, the device oozes sex appeal, just like most everything to come out of Steve's Cupertino stronghold in the past few years. Sure, Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) tried to take some of the wind out of Apple's sails by suing over the use of the name "iPhone," but do we really think a matter like that will slow the Apple roll? That would be plain small-f foolish. AT&T's (NYSE:T) Cingular unit may also see a boost from the announcement, as the wireless carrier has wrangled a multiyear deal to be the carrier of choice for the iPhone.

In conjunction with the iPhone announcement, Jobs also pushed Apple TV, a device that syncs up a digital TV with a computer to allow the streaming of multimedia content. He then revealed that the Apple would be dropping the word "Computer" from its official title. This name change is meant to be a sign of the new, refocused Apple, which is quickly moving to take over all of our living rooms with its white, sleek, and stylish media devices. I can't help seeing a trailing P/E multiple of 42 as somewhat rich, especially for a $83 billion company, but it's hard to argue with a company that has made white the new gold.

More Foolish fun:

• Apple's iPhone: Sweet Returns for Investors?

Gap is an Inside Value and Stock Advisor recommendation.

Though Fool contributor Matt Koppenheffer has not perfected investing the way Warren Buffett has, he bets he could outdance Warren at this point. He owns shares of Goldman Sachs but does not own shares of any of the other companies mentioned. The Fool's disclosure policy is always in tune.