As many of you know, today is the sixth anniversary of the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.  On Oct. 25, 2003, a team of spetsnaz armed to the teeth raided an airplane on a snowy Novosibirsk runway, behaving as though they were taking down the world's most dangerous terrorist, instead of a mild-mannered business executive on his way to a speech at a University.  It was Act 1 of a long-running theatrical drama, screen written with the goal of creating a distraction from the openly political persecution of man who frightened an authoritarian state.  That ruthless script continues playing out today in a stuffy Moscow courtroom, awaiting its draconian conclusion.What can you do?  If you are on Twitter, you can follow a stream of updates both on the case and all news of related human rights and rule of law issues ...

An interesting opinion piece today by Vladimir Ryzhkov in the Moscow Times sees one of the last bastions of media freedom - Ren TV - looking like it may have to fight for its independence.  The increasingly popular station, the only one in Russia to offer a critical interpretation of the Sayano-Shushenskaya dam disaster and cover the Dissenter's Marches in Moscow and St Petersburg, may be fettered by management 'restructuring'.Controlled by National Media Group, owned by Putin ally Yury Kovalchukm, Ren will have a new Director General and will find new lodgings alonside state-controlled RIA-Novosti and the tow-the-line RT.  Ryzhkov recollects Gazprom's Media's overhaul of NTV which followed similar lines: could this be another nail in ...

Memorial, fresh on the heels of an insulting lawsuit from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadryrov, holds a rally to commemorate slain journalist Anna Politkovskaya today:Hundreds of people are rallying in Moscow on the third anniversary of the killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya.They are calling for authorities to find and punish the killers of journalists and human rights activists in Russia.Politkovskaya was a harsh critic of the Kremlin and exposed widespread human-rights abuses and corruption in Chechnya. The person who ordered her contract-style killing has not been found.Her editor Dmitry Muratov told the crowd that "there is a political will in not solving the murders" of Politkovskaya and others.UPDATE:  If you Twitter, you may want to consider putting ...

When wide scale protests over wage arrears broke out in the town of Pikalyovo, near St. Petersburg, this past June, Vladimir Putin leaped into action to put out the fire.  He toured the factories, met with protest leaders, called the Kremlin-loyal business magnate Oleg Deripaska a "greedy cockroach," and then offered to solve all the problems directly with funds out of the state budget.  Someone even made a spoof song about Putin's macho image and the rescuing of Pikalyovo ("Putin, Putin goes to Pikalyovo. Putin, Putin will make it cool for us," the Russian lyrics say as a bearded man in a suit gyrates. "Putin, Putin is quick to do justice. Putin, Putin is our Prime Minister.")It ...

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 3, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the latest Industry Outlook. Today’s outlook from Zacks Equity Research analyst Ann Northrop discusses the Restaurants sector. Highlighted stocks include: Darden Restaurants (DRI), Brinker International (EAT), Ruby Tuesday (RT) and California Pizza Kitchen (CPKI).

Here is the latest on the Restaurants sector:

Driving the restaurant stock rally, was a slew of better-than-expected earnings reports – and upward earnings estimate revisions -- including those by Darden Restaurants (DRI), Brinker International (EAT), Ruby Tuesday (RT) and California Pizza Kitchen (CPKI). With the exception of Darden, however, the out-performance was driven by strong cost controls, decelerating commodity prices and conservative assumptions.

Darden was the only operator that saw customer traffic improve and had limited same-store sales declines to the low single-digits (down 3.2% in

...

Bites of Opportunity Remain in Overcooked Sector

OVERVIEW

Restaurant stocks have room on the downside

Restaurant stock prices have doubled since their November lows, retested in March. The Zacks Restaurant Index has surged 211% from its 52-week lows, far outpacing both the Russell 2000 (up 63%) and the S&P 500 index (up 48%). The major indexes remain roughly 25% off their 52-week highs.

Valuation multiples have expanded from trough levels and the group now trades at roughly 15 times 2010 earnings. While there are pockets of opportunity in the sector, we think the recovery will be slower than anticipated by the market, weighed down by a consumer sobered by shriveling home values and retirement portfolios and record levels of debt.

Casual dining cooks up positive earnings surprises, but offers no sustenance

Driving the restaurant stock rally, was a slew of better-than-expected earnings reports Ð and upward earnings estimate revisions -- including those by Darden Restaurants (

...

Bites of Opportunity Remain in Overcooked Sector

OVERVIEW

Restaurant stocks have room on the downside

Restaurant stock prices have doubled since their November lows, retested in March. The Zacks Restaurant Index has surged 211% from its 52-week lows, far outpacing both the Russell 2000 (up 63%) and the S&P 500 index (up 48%). The major indexes remain roughly 25% off their 52-week highs.

Valuation multiples have expanded from trough levels and the group now trades at roughly 15 times 2010 earnings. While there are pockets of opportunity in the sector, we think the recovery will be slower than anticipated by the market, weighed down by a consumer sobered by shriveling home values and retirement portfolios and record levels of debt.

Casual dining cooks up positive earnings surprises, but offers no sustenance

Driving the restaurant stock rally, was a slew of better-than-expected earnings reports Ð and upward earnings estimate revisions -- including those by Darden Restaurants (

...

PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

PennyOmega.com Hot Stock News & Alerts!

 

Thursday July 30, 2009

PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

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Today Obagi Medical Products, Inc. (Nasdaq:OMPI), the leader in topical aesthetic and therapeutic skin health systems, announced the results of a meta-analysis of 23 randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs) that compared the company’s patented solubilized 5 percent BPO (sBPO) against existing 5 percent BPO, 1-1.2 percent clindamycin (CL) and combination BPO/CL products in reducing acne lesions. The announcement was made at the American Academy of Dermatology’s (AAD) Summer Academy Meeting in Boston, Mass. The data from the meta-analysis, using data adjusted for each study’s size, shows that this new 5 percent sBPO has an equal to superior lesion reduction profile when

...

On Wednesday, July 8, California Pizza Kitchen (CPKI) raised its second-quarter earnings guidance, helped by cost-control initiatives that offset declining revenue. Shares of the company climbed 4.49% and closed at $13.73 after the announcement.

California Pizza Kitchen now expects second-quarter earnings in the range of $0.24 to $0.25 per share, up from its previous forecast of $0.18 to $0.20 per share. The company’s strong average weekly sales across newly opened restaurants prompted management to boost its earnings forecast. The company’s Thank You Card Program was also successful in driving sales.

Separately, California Pizza Kitchen reported preliminary results for the second quarter of 2009. Revenue for the quarter fell 3.2% to $170.9 million from $176.6 million in the prior-year quarter. Comparable-restaurant sales at its full-service restaurants open at least 18 months fell 6.5% for the second quarter, compared with an increase of 1.5% reported in the year-ago period. The

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RT Shares Surge on Better-than-Expected Results On July 7, 2009, Ruby Tuesday’s (RT) shares surged 12.46% and closed at $7.40, in the light of better than expected fourth quarter results, helped by cost cutting initiatives. Earnings per share for the reported quarter increased 3.7% year over year to $0.28 from $0.27 reported in the prior year quarter, beating Street expectation by $0.08. The comparable store sales at company-owned restaurants dipped but at a slower rate, falling 3.2% in the reported quarter, as it improved over the 6.8% decline in the third quarter of 2009, and a 10.8% decline in both the first and the second quarters. Comparable store sales at domestic franchise restaurants fell 6.9%. Guest count was positive in the reported quarter. Management expects comparable sales to fall in the range of 2.5%-3.5% for the fiscal year 2010, an improvement over the 7.9% decline ...