Some Company News - Part 1

Things to ponder while waiting for first quarter earnings.....

ADP has completed the spin off of its brokerage services business. The new company, Broadridge, will trade under the symbol BR.

BEAS still hasn't issued financial statements for the quarters ending last July and October, never mind the fiscal year that ended this January. We naively believed that these reports would be filed in February, but June is the latest prediction. Perhaps we should add a new gauge for management (in)credibility.

BUD remains a part of Morningstar's Ultimate Stock-Pickers Portfolio. They evidently see something we don't.

COP's international holdings are becoming a concern, given the nationalistic (a nicer word than expropriation?) trends involving energy assets in places like Russia, where it owns a chunk of Lukoil, and Venezuela.

CSCO, a serial acquirer, recently entered into a deal to purchase WebEx for $3.2 billion in cash. This appears to be another step in their climb up the networking value chain for business customers. It echoes their earlier purchases of LinkSys and Scientific Atlanta to get a sturdier foothold in home networking.

EIX has recently been upgraded and downgraded.

HD is getting plaudits for putting the Nardelli debacle behind it. We're more concerned about whether the company can compensate for the cutback in new store openings by increasing the profitability of its current outlets.

INTC's new product line based on 45 nanometer technology is being viewed favorably relative to offerings from AMD.

KG's shares briefly set a new 52-week high of $19.86, which is still way below the historic high price. Recent upgrades have helped.

MSFT shares have retraced some the gains that anticipated Vista's launch. An order to pay $1.5 billion to Alcatel-Lucent for infringing on digital music technology probably didn't help.

NOK is battling with Qualcomm over patents. After losing market share to Motorola, new NOK products have been well received.