E.W. Scripps Company (SSP) operates two businesses: newspaper publishing and broadcast television. The company is suffering from a secular decline, exacerbated by a cyclical slowdown. Ad revenue in the newspaper segment is rapidly decelerating, hurt by the slowing job and real estate markets, and a battered US auto industry. There is no visibility to an upturn. The TV segment is benefiting from accelerating political ad revenue due to recently held November elections. However, the respite was temporary, and in 2009 we anticipate TV ad revenue to decline at a mid-teens rate.In the meantime, the company is paring its cost structure in line with its reduced revenue stream and shedding under-performing operations, while its very low level of leverage (0.6x debt/2009E EBITDA) is enabling it to return capital to shareholders though buybacks. At just 4.2x 2009E EBITDA, the stock is trading at trough valuations and ...

The market is following the pattern I expected, and I think this will continue. We're going to see a lot of trade-able rallies, and many of these will be related to the economic stimulus package. The "experts" are coming out in full force saying "the bottom is in" "time to buy stocks" etc. I think the general public will be pretty hesitant to listen to them this time. Read more about this in my a href="http://briskycapital.blogspot.com/2008/12/2008-recaplook-ahead.html"2008 RECAP/2009 OUTLOOK/a.br /br /Like I said, the best buys are short-term trades, because there are too many uncertainties. Earnings is one of the big ones. We're going to get a little clearer picture in the next couple of weeks. We know the results will be mostly weak, but the outlooks are much more important than the numbers right now. We're obviously going to get a lot ...

Despite forecasts for milder growth and its own real estate woes, analyst expects emerging powerhouse to outperform most other economies.

 

Mark Adams is director of research at AlphaShares in Walnut Creek, Calif. The money management firm specializes in developing investment strategies centering on Chinese markets for U.S.-based investors. Besides creating its own indexes, the firm also serves as advisor of two China-focused exchange-traded funds sponsored by Claymore Securities.

 

IndexUniverse: What's in store for China in the new year?

Mark Adams (Adams): China is in the best position of just about any country around the globe to come out of this global recession. At the end of November, its stock market was down more than 50%. It has rebounded a bit since then. But GDP growth in China will probably be the highest in the world among the major economies in 2009.

There are a lot of estimates floating around, but

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Even if the U.S. and other developed markets skid in a new year, analyst expects the emerging economic heavyweight to outperform.

 

Mark Adams is director of research at AlphaShares in Walnut Creek, Calif. The money management firm specializes in developing investment strategies centering on Chinese markets for U.S.-based investors. Besides creating its own indexes, the firm also serves as subadvisor for two China-focused exchange-traded funds sponsored by Claymore Securities.

 

IndexUniverse: What's in store for China in the new year?

Mark Adams (Adams): China is in the best position of just about any country around the globe to come out of this global recession. At the end of November, its stock market was down more than 50%. It has rebounded a bit since then. But GDP growth in China will probably be the highest in the world among the major economies in 2009.

There are a lot of estimates floating around,

...

Standard Poor's Rating Services revised its outlook of the Middle East's largest development company from stable to negative. The good news is that it reaffirmed the 'A-' long-term corporate credit ratings!br /br /The revision is natural in the current environment and obviously reflects a rapid weakening of the real estate markets in Dubai. A prolonged downturn could hurt Emaar's development model. Right now, the company has a healthy financial position.br /br /Emaar Properties made headlines around the world for building the world's tallest tower in Dubai.

Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle, Incorporated (JLL) is a leading full-service real estate firm that provides corporate, financial, and investment management services. The company caters to corporations and other real estate owners, users, and investors worldwide. Jones Lang LaSalle has approximately 180 offices worldwide in about 750 cities and 60 countries.Global commercial real estate markets are rapidly deteriorating. Transaction volumes are declining due to a lack of available financing. As such, we expect revenue to continue trending down well into 2009. The company reported a large decline in capital markets income in the 3rd quarter. In addition, operating and integration expenses are increasing due to acquisition activity in 2007 and 2008. We have slashed our 2009 EPS estimates by 30% in response.Despite softening fundamentals, we still rate JLL a Hold, based primarily on valuation. The company is the best-positioned global real estate services ...

Nexia Holdings, Inc. announced they will be featured in upcoming Daily Newsletters, Daily Blogs, Message Boards, and the Small Cap Daily Internet broadcasts put out by QualityStocks. QualityStocks has over 750,000 subscribers to The Daily Stock Newsletter, which is a free service that collects data from hundreds of Small-Cap and Micro-Cap online Investment Newsletters and puts it all into one Free Daily Newsletter Report.

Richard Surber, CEO of Nexia Holdings, has the company focused on the health and beauty, fashion retail, and real estate markets. Currently, the company owns two salons, one retail store, one online retail store and two commercial properties.

The retail store, operated by subsidiary Black Chandelier, sets itself apart from clothing giants such as The Gap, Hot Topic, and Target by offering eco-friendly fabrics, in-house sewers and silk screeners, and fanatical models such as Lisa D’Amato. The store was designed to be a tourist

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The ETF's quantitative-based selection process and its resulting portfolios are expected to be updated on a monthly basis.

 

Already the first to market with actively managed stock exchange-traded funds, Invesco PowerShares Capital Management has filed to launch a similar portfolio focused on real estate markets.

In an exemptive relief filing dated Oct. 31, PowerShares is asking for the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve its plan to offer the Active U.S. Real Estate Fund. The new ETF's proposed ticker symbol would be PSR and trade on the NYSE Arca exchange. (See request here.)

The institutional money management arm of parent Invesco would subadvise the new fund, using quantitative models to select stocks. Its aim would be to outperform the FTSE NAREIT Equity REITs Index.

According to the filing, the fund's portfolio will be disclosed on a daily basis.

The ETF's annual expense ratio is expected to be around 0.80%.

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Hong Kong is considered one of the most mature, if also volatile, real estate markets in the world.

 

Making bets on the performance of the real estate investment trust market in Hong Kong may soon become easier.

The Hang Seng Indexes Company has launched a REIT index covering real estate investment trusts listed in Hong Kong. The Hang Seng REIT Index will serve as the basis for index products, including funds and derivatives, says the index provider, as well as a benchmark for investors in the REIT asset class.

Hang Seng Indexes continues to move into more investment niches popular with ETF investors.

Earlier this year, it launched leveraged and short indexes on the Hang Seng Index and Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (see story here.)

While international real estate ETFs have become more prevalent, the focus has been on European real estate to a large extent. Ten of

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If you had all the money in the world, where would you invest it?

For sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), the answer is commercial real estate. These mega funds are homing in on the sector right now, according to emerging markets expert Irwin Greenstein.

We keep hearing about the real-estate meltdown. But as of the end of September, REITs have been up about 2% for the year -- a far cry from the wreckage of other markets.