The Brazilian soccer team wasn't alone in suffering a surprising loss this week. Well-armed, highly organized thieves stole $6 million worth of gadgets from a Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) factory near Sao Paolo on Sunday night. But between a chairman with a shady past and recent reports of slumping smartphone sales, Samsung could have a lot more to worry about than this robbery.
On this week's episode of 1-Up on Wall Street, the Fool's weekly show about turning geeky enthusiasm into successful investing, guest host Alison Southwick and analysts Tim Beyers and Nathan Alderman run down the dubious deeds of Samsung's top executive and discuss why the company is struggling to hold on to the powerful sales and profits it once enjoyed. Also on the rundown this week:
- Twitter's (TWTR) apparent game of musical chairs in the executive suite left the market spooked. Should investors freak out about Twitter's leadership changeups, or is there a more important aspect of the company to keep an eye on?
- Please finish whatever mouthful of beverage you may be currently enjoying, unless you want to spit it all over your screen: BlackBerry (BB -1.42%), once considered a goner, is one of 2014's best-performing stocks to date. Do its ventures into new niche markets and its snazzy, all-business Passport smartphone give BlackBerry a real chance to bounce back, or does the once-mighty mobile pioneer still face serious challenges ahead?
- Transformers: Age of Extinction has defied horrendous reviews to rake in giant robot-sized money. The fourth film in the toy-inspired series has already become the top-grossing film ever in China, dethroning Avatar. But despite the ever-rising box-office grosses of director Michael Bay's explosion-fests, Tim and Nathan have discovered that Viacom, which releases the films, and Hasbro (HAS -1.50%), which owns the characters and gets a cut of the movies' revenue, aren't benefiting as much as you might think.
Plus, Nathan loses a bet with Tim over superhero movies, we speculate on the future of Apple's iDevices, and we congratulate host Ellen Bowman for spawning a brand-new bundle of joy. Check out the video below, follow us on Twitter @TMF1Up, and feel free to leave us comments here or on YouTube.