Before the bell 11-24-06: WMT, GM, GOOG, KO, SIRI...

Posted Nov 24th 2006 8:51AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Before the Bell, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Apple Inc (AAPL), Dell (DELL), eBay (EBAY), General Electric (GE), Time Warner (TWX), Wal-Mart (WMT), Coca-Cola (KO), Amazon.com (AMZN), General Motors (GM), XM Satellite Radio (XMSR), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Walt Disney (DIS), Target Corp. (TGT), New York Times'A' (NYT), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Best Buy (BBY), Circuit City Stores (CC), Tribune Co. (TRB), Federated Dept Stores (FD), News Corp'B' (NWS)

Main market news here.

Retailers in focus today will undoubtedly include Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and Federated Department Store (NYSE:FD) as they opened their stores earlier. Some other could include Circuit City Stores (NYSE:CC) and Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT).

Meanwhile, according to The New York Times, Wal-Mart also received the permission of Mexico's finance ministry to open a bank in the country. This could present a large growth market since as many as 80% of Mexicans don't have bank accounts. Units of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Arg ADS (NYSE:BBV), Banco Santander Central Hispano (NYSE:STD), HSBC Holdings ADS (NYSE:HBC) and Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE:C) control more than 70% of Mexico's banking

And as today is Black Friday, many await Cyber Monday, the Monday that has been dubbed so as it is believed to be the equivalent of Black Friday for online retailers such as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY). Well, apparently, this isn't the case and data put the busiest online shopping day roughly two weeks before Christmas with Dec. 5 the busiest last year. Regardless, more and more shoppers choose to avoid the frenzy of malls and stores and shop online from the comfort of their own home.

In the new, but already epic battle between Apple Computer, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) firmly set iPod and the new kid in the block, Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Zune, here is another article that doesn't think Zune stands a chance. Why? Other than the obvious (and lacking) tech related features, the recent deal Microsoft has struck with the music industry will make the player unwanted by most music fans as the deal not only limits downloaded songs to a specific player, transmitted songs from one device to another expire after three plays or days.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE:GM) will no doubt continue to be in focus today as well after declining more than 4.6% on Wednesday due to several reasons, not in the least was Kerkorian sale of 14 million GM shares, reducing his stake in the company. GM shares are down 0.6% at 8:00 a.m. in pre-market.

As opposed to GM, Dell, Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) was a winner on Wednesday closing up more than 9% after reporting preliminary financial results late Tuesday. Dell shares were down 0.2% at 8:12 a.m. in pre-market.

In the movie biz, it seems Hollywood isn't satisfied with its share and is now eying India's prolific film industry, dubbed Bollywood and which was valued at about $1.75 billion in 2006 and is forecast to nearly double to $3.4 billion by 2010. Sony Corp.'s (NYSE:SNE) Sony Pictures last year signed a local co-production deal for a Hindi film, and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) bought UTV Software Ltd.'s children's Hindi-language entertainment channel for $30.5 million in July. Meanwhile in China, the studios run into problems. Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE:TWX) recently pulled out of its cinema joint venture in China and News Corp. (NYSE:NWS) in June said it would sell a majority of its stake in a Chinese broadcaster. Might these two be heading to India?

According to The Wall Street Journal, Jack Welch , former General Electric Co.(NYSE:GE) CEO is leading a group that may make a formal bid for the Boston Globe early next year. The group's first offer didn't agree with Boston Globe's parent New York Times Co. (NYSE:NYT). The decision could also be affected by the current auction of Tribune Co. (NYSE:TRB) outcome.

Without giving an exact date, the judge presiding over Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Belgian newspapers case said she would deliver her verdict after the Christmas break, that is, early next year. The case would settle the dispute on whether Google was wrong to display content from the newspapers' Web sites without paying them or asking their permission

San Miguel Corp., the Philippines' largest food and beverage conglomerate, said it was still negotiating the sale of its soft drinks bottling joint venture with Coca-Cola Co. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer the company has agreed to sell its 65% stake in the venture to Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) for an estimated $700 million.

"Mergers often lead to creating shareholder value," Karmazin, Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) CEO said in an interview. Could the XM Satellite Radio Holdings (NYSE:XMSR) Sirius merger be closer than ever? Here's an interview with Mel Karmazin.