October 13, 2009 EARNINGS WORRY WARTS I just have a spooky feeling but then I always do. Like the “Twilight Zone” episode above when William Shatner sees a frightening image, tries to warn the crew to no avail since only he sees it. Was it an illusion? We seem to never know. And despite this metaphorical image, today Mr. Market seems unconcerned. All bad news is brushed-off or spun positively and every dip bought. Now we focus on earnings and much reduced estimates are, to steal an Eagles line, “programmed to deceive”. That is to say, earnings estimates are low-balled and when beat are spun as “better than expected” despite being lousy. First in focus is INTC and as this is written their announcement came through beating consensus estimates. I’m shocked!!! Anyway, in anticipation of earnings announcements stock market ...

“Is Sarah Palin secretly a beat poet? Do her words make little to no sense because she is so immersed in language and lyrics that she operates on a plane we cannot grasp? We sincerely doubt it, but that was the implication last night as William Shatner appeared on the ‘Tonight Show’ and read Sarah’s resignation speech in his typical Shatner way, with all the lilting and soft drum beats we’ve come to expect. It was quite magical,” reported The Huffington Post.

Source: The Huffington Post and YouTube, July 28, 2009.

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With Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ:PCLN) – the name-your-own-price travel-services player – it’s time to either beam up or buy in.

Priceline – the online airfare and hotel-booking firm known for its kitschy TV ad campaign that stars “Star Trek” star William Shatner as “The Negotiator” – is an interesting possible profit play, thanks to its strong balance sheet and market muscle in the bargain-hunting end of the travel-services sector, the financial weekly Barron’s says.

The stock market has already factored in the challenges facing the travel and retail sectors into Priceline’s stock price, Reuters and Barron’s both reported.

According to Barron’s, as the current financial crisis deepens, consumers are going to devote an increasing amount of time to their personal and household spending budgets – a point that Money Morning has repeatedly made as part of its ongoing “Credit Crisis Safety Plays” series. As

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With Priceline.com Inc. (PCLN) – the name-your-own-price travel-services player – it’s time to either beam up or buy in. Priceline – the online airfare and hotel-booking firm known for its kitschy TV ad campaign that stars “Star Trek” star William Shatner as “The Negotiator” – is an interesting possible profit play, thanks to its strong balance sheet and market muscle in the bargain-hunting end of the travel-services sector, the financial weekly Barron’s says.

The stock market has already factored in the challenges facing the travel and retail sectors into Priceline’s stock price, Reuters and Barron’s both reported.

According to Barron’s, as the current financial crisis deepens, consumers are going to devote an increasing amount of time to their personal and household spending budgets – a point that Money Morning has repeatedly made as part of its ongoing “Credit Crisis Safety Plays” series.

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With several more retailers expected to report quarterly earnings this week, we sat down for a chat with Zacks senior retail industry analyst Rob Plaza, CFA for his outlook on the sector as a whole, and what his top Buy recommendations are.

Wal-Mart had a pretty good Q2. Does this indicate that other retailers should post stronger earnings this week and beyond?

What is good for Wal-Mart (WMT) is not necessarily good for other retailers. Wal-Mart continues to perform well in this environment because of superior inventory management, logistics, and cost controls. This focus on operating costs give the company a huge competitive advantage, and the company passes along those savings to its customers. As a result, consumers shop at Wal-Mart to get more value for their dollar.

That said, Wal-Mart and most retailers should report decent results for the second quarter thanks to the government stimulus checks.

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