Battle between two major players of US Airline Industry

This article presents a battle between two of the most popular US Airlines which are Delta Airlines and United Continental Holdings. There are so many companies slugging it out for your attention. We analyze the fights and let you decide on the winner. Delta Airlines (DAL) founded at 30^th May 1924 whereas its commercial operations commenced in June 17, 1929. On the other hand United Continental Holding (UAL) founded in 6^th April 1926 whereas its commercial operation commenced at March 28, 1931. The CEO of” DAL” is Richard Anderson whereas the behind UAL is Jeff Smisek. The market share by revenue of” DAL” stayed 16.3% in 2012 which is highest among all US carriers whereas for UAL it stood at 15.6% which is dip from 16% in 2012.

DAL scored 71 which are highest among all the US carriers, on the other hand the satisfaction index for UAL is lower than the best score of 69. DAL won Airline of the year which is published in Air Transport World Magazine’s 2014. As far as UAL is concerned it ranked as “Best Airline for North American Travel” by readers of Business Traveler Magazine.

On April 2008 Delta Airline merged with Northwest Airline whereas United Continental Holdings merged with Continental Airlines in May 2010. DAL destinations are in 56 countries whereas UAL destinations are in 62 countries. Delta skyMiles is one of a kind of a program in the US airlines industry which has no mileage expiration so users can redeem them whenever they want to. On the other hand UAL MileagePlus ranked the “Best Frequent-Flier Program” by readers of The Global Traveller for 10 consecutive years.

The Headquarter of Delta Airline is based in Atlanta, Georgia, US whereas UAL Headquarter is in Chicago, Illinois. The major Airport Hub for Delta Airline is Hartsfield-jackson Atlanta International Airport, Georgia. It is considered the world largest airline hub with nearly 1,000 Delta flights a day. For UAL George Bush International Airport, Houston, Texas is its major Airport Hub. The Fleet size of delta is around 722 Mainline Aircraft whereas it is 695 mainline Aircraft for UAL. Hence these two Airlines carries a major stake in US Airline Industry.

What makes ConocoPhillips distinct From the Rivals?

ConocoPhillips Co. is a multinational energy corporation whose headquarter is located in Houston, Texas in the United States. It is traded as COP in NYSE and was founded in August 30, 2002. The company products include oil, natural gas, petroleum, lubricants and petrochemicals.  It is the largest independent E &P Company in the Globe. It was created through the merger of Conoco Inc. and the Phillips petroleum co, and it was the fifth largest integrated oil company.

ConocoPhillips separate itself from most of the other major oil companies in the way that in 2013 the ConocoPhillips share price has started to decline. Whereas the other oil and gas exploration companies such as Exxon Mobil or chevron seems to have less impact on its share price during the last three month. ConocoPhillips due to its financial as well as operational result deserves to have more credit.

ConocoPhillips provided better outcomes as compare to Royal Dutch Shell as in the last month the adjusted Earnings per share reported is of $1.40 compared to the past quarter Earnings per share of $1.47. This slight 2% YOY decline is due to the weaker liquid prices.

From 2012 to2013 the net growth in production of ConocoPhillips remains at 30 MBOED where Canadian and the US liquids provide the largest share of growth. The driver of the Growth of ConocoPhillips is its high margin liquid products that will serve over the few years will bring more investment into play. In October 2013 the share price of ConocoPhillips (COP) has lost 12%. This price weakness has open the buying opportunity for the stock as valuation has come down but the fundamentals of the company and the positive catalyst are still remain intact.

COP now trades at 10.8x 2015 forward price-earnings multiple which are at 31% discount. Hence this current valuation should present a buy signals to the investors. Also the company, long term growth potential of 7.4% is not significantly differ from the estimates of S&P 500 companies. The stock offer a dividend yield of 4.2% which exceeds S&P 500 companies average of 1.9%.

Summary:

This article suggests that how ConocoPhillips differ itself form the other major competitors like Chevron and Exxon Mobil. In 2013 the share price of ConocoPhillips started to be in the decreasing side as compare to its competitors who have the less impact on their share prices during past three month but due to its financial and operational results ConocoPhillips deserves to have more credits as there performance are better as far as there results in these operations are concerned. The ConocoPhillips adjusted Earnings per share reported $1.40 compared to the past quarter Earnings per share of $1.47. This decline is due to the weaker liquid prices. In 2013 the net growth in production of ConocoPhillips remains at 30 MBOED where Canadian and the US liquids provide the largest share of growth. The growth drivers of ConocoPhillips are its high margin liquid products that will serve over the few years and will bring more investment into play. ConocoPhillips is trading at 31% discount; hence the current valuation gives the bullish trend which is attractive for the investors.

Nike VS Adidas-The Better Fit:

Nike, Inc. (NKE) was founded as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight in January 1964; it was then officially renamed as Nike in 1971. Nike is a leader in the global athletic footwear and as per the 2013 data from Brand Directory, it is considered as the 60^th most popular brand in the world compared to Adidas at 187. The two major segments of Nike are Nike Brand and Other Businesses but over 90% of the company total revenue is generated from Nike Brand segment. The other Businesses segment includes Nike Golf, Converse and Hurley International.

In its fiscal second quarter Nike posted better revenues and earnings than expected because of its retail channels strength and  shift of the consumer toward high-end products and this could increase the Nike stock price . Nike expects that the world’s middle class population will increase to 1 billion consumers over the next decade and Nike is availing that opportunity as it concentrated its marketing effort in India and china particularly. Nike could also avail a benefit from five year deal of $1.1 billion with National Football League by supplying them gear.

Nike is also capitalizing yoga apparel market for women which is growing at a rapid pace, and by the end of 2019 global market share of Nike in all athletic apparel will grow to 6.5%. Additionally Nike running shoes called Flyknit also gain the popular among the consumers. . Western Europe is the region where Nike has a highest percentage future orders which increased to 26% whereas future orders in central and Eastern Europe increased to 13%. In North America and china orders raise to 11% and 4% respectively. China sales are weakened in the past but the recent improvement shows healthy sign for the Nike to achieve high future growth.

Adidas was registered in 1949 and was founded by Adolf Dassler in 1948 in Germany. Its Revenue Growth rate is 9.4%. In 2012 its Net Sales figure is around $14.88 billion. Adidas famous brand include Adidas Originals or the Heritage Line, Adidas Performance and Adidas Y-3. Some of the most famous brand ambassadors includes soccer star Lionel Messi, tennis player Novak Djokovic and basketball star Derrick Rose. Adidas produces the kits of many football teams around the world, and also produces the ball used in the UEFA champion League matches and Fifa World cup tournament since 1970. Adidas produces more than 245 million pairs of shoes in 2011. Adidas holds the uniform rights to the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Soccer.

Impressive Fourth quarter Results of American Express:

American Express stock name is listed with the ticker name of AXP is the largest credit card issuing company in the world by the purchase volume. The company is capable of processing the thousands of millions of financial transactions on daily basis and is considered as the premium network for the high spending card members. This credit card issuing company is also helping the small business owners to succeed through the delivery of the purchasing power as well as the flexibility and financial stability. The customers are also provided commercial payment tools and means and they are also offered the expertise so that it is helpful for them to control themselves their spending and hence saving billions of dollars.

American Express fourth quarter results reported for fiscal 2013 shows highly impressive performance. The net income rise 100% to $ 1.3 billion. Card member spending rises 8% during the holiday which is the strong holiday expenditure among its members thanks to its impressive quarterly results.

 American Express brings 1.5 times as much net income despite of the low profit margin ratio of 15.4% versus master cards 38.2% which is mainly because high end customers are cater by the Amex and it has higher annual card fees. The popularity of American Express card is also because American Express cards fraud rates are very low and enjoy the good credit quality. Its rival companies operate an open loop network whereas the American Express network of closed loop will facilitates it to run a single fraud screen effectively.

According to the management of American Express, the billing earnings has leveraged  economic growth of US as the previous trends shows that the main source of revenue is customer billings which is increased by 4.5 times  comparing with the economic growth of the country. This reveals that when the economies grow by 1% then the revenue of the company from billing will grow by 4.5% which will reflect in the stock price. The expected growth rate of the economy of US in 2014 will be 3% and the American Express estimates that it’s billing to climb 13.5% in 2014. The stronger billing measures taken to control spending will increases credit card company profits in 2014. The bottom line grows by 11% from last year in fiscal 2014.

The American Express stock price suggests that it is fast growing and stable company as more and more people are switching to the AXP services for its numerous tools to satisfy the customer needs. For example, the company offers the information management and marketing tools for helping the entrepreneurs and merchants to build the business. This company is also regarded as the most reputed credit card issuing company that has never lost the customer loyalty and satisfaction with its services. The innovative ideas that keep emerging in terms of the services of the company also highlight the fact that the American Express stock price is stable and are profitable for all of those investors who want to buy the shares of the AXP either in bulk or at smaller quantity.

Summary:

The Article highlights the impressive performance of AXP in the fourth quarter results reported for fiscal 2013. The net income rise 100% to $ 1.3 billion. Card member spending rises 8% during the holiday which is the strong holiday expenditure among its members thanks to its impressive quarterly results. American Express brings 1.5 times as much net income despite of the low profit margin ratio of 15.4% versus master cards 38.2% which is mainly because high end customers are cater by the Amex and it has higher annual card fees. The popularity of American Express card is also because American Express cards fraud rates are very low and enjoy the good credit quality. When the US economy grows by 1% then the revenue of the company from billing will grow by 4.5% which will reflect in the stock price. Hence The American Express stock price suggests that it is fast growing and stable company as more and more people are switching to the AXP services for its numerous tools to satisfy the customer needs.

McDonald’s workers Files Law Suit over Minimum wage issue at three states of US:

McDonald’s Corp belongs to the sector of Consumer Discretionary listed with the ticker of “MCD” whereas its financial year ends at December 31^st. The company started off as a barbecue restaurant in 1940 by the McDonald brother but it was soon followed by opening the first McDonald franchise. McDonald has a network of 34,900 in 119 countries. The company ranks at number 111 in the fortune 500.  From Europe the company accounts for 39% of total revenue followed by US with 32%. McDonald’s primarily Utilizes a franchised-based business model with 81% of its outlets run as franchises as of September 30, 2013. McDonald operates 19% of its restaurants directly. Company-operated restaurants constitute 67% of total revenues generated by the company. McDonald’s also sells its company owned restaurants to franchiser. Franchised outlets contribute 33% of McDonald’s total revenues. The company is best known for its franchise model.

There is a growing protest movement going around related to the largest giant of fast food, McDonald who has not increased the hourly wages of the employees across the board. Its 2013 stock filing reveals that the campaigns related to the increased pay is one of the major risk factor that the company is facing and that will have the impact in the near future as well. This could pose a threat to the fast food global brand. 

In the mature market, hike in wages was the alarming situation for the company as according to the McDonald management “it would not be feasible to offset the higher labor cost with the price increase in products” These costs might intensify the issue related to the income inequality. 

Fast food workers advocate argue that the minimum wage should be $15 per hour. Most of the employees have the opinion that they have to bank on public assistance in order to meet their wants and needs as their current minimum wage is about $7.25 an hour.    

It was second year in a row that McDonald’s experienced the countrywide strikes from the fast food workers that are demanding $15 as a minimum wage. There is a growing movement in the social media campaigns as well. 

Will this hike in the minimum wage would have any impact on the company image or McDonald stock price still have to be figure out. According to the industry analyst there is a negligible impact on that industry that hire huge amount of minimum wage employees. Moreover the negative impact on the stock price is also minimal as stock prices are factored already in the prospective increase in wages.  In order to alert the investors related to the pending increase in wages McDonald take the help by using Security Exchange Commission filing.  

McDonald’s workers who have filed the suit claiming that they were not repaid or compensated for the cost that they incurred for cleaning their uniforms because the restaurant low pay driving the workers to clean their uniform on their own.

Looking at the earning highlights, McDonald beats the analyst expectations for EPS but slightly short of the consensus estimates for the revenues. Estimated EPS is about $1.509 but the actual happens to be $1.520. Similarly the estimated Revenue is about $7.33 billion but the actual one is $7.32 billion whose percentage change is -0.14%. The company-operated store revenues were about $4.92 billion in financial year 2013 whereas the franchise revenue in the same year is about $2.40 billion. The company also raised its quarterly dividend per share by 5% to $0.81.

Apple Posts Record Revenues for 1QFY14, but AAPL stock Price Tanks on Weak Guidance:

Apple Inc. registered with the ticker name AAPL design, develops and sells consumer electronics, computer software and personal computers. This American multinational corporation headquartered is located in Cupertino. Apple was founded by the Steve jobs. Their best line product includes Mac computers, i. Pod players, smartphones and tablets. As far as revenue is concerned it is the second largest I.T Company.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2014, AAPL reported record revenues and the sole reason for AAPL earnings is that it sold more ipads and iPhones. On revenue of $57.6 billion the reported EPS is of $14.5 whereas the estimation of EPS is of $ 14.09.

The company has a record ipad sale of 26 million units beating all kinds of AAPL estimates by one million, Sales increases at a rate of 14% YOY. In the same way the sales of iPhones also increases while analyst were expecting the sales of 54 to 55 million units during the quarter while the actual was 51 million units. Hence the number fell short of what expected. The sales of Mac computers also rise as compare to previous years. The company expects its margin to be around 37% and 38% for the current quarter but following the AAPL stock news, the AAPL stock price shed 8.1% after hours.

Despite of the good AAPL earnings still there is a concern related to the company growing prospects. The consumers has become a price conscious. Most of the smart phone makers are competing on a price which ultimately gives consumer a benefit in the shape of reduced prices. But as far as Apple is concerned yet it has not decided to introduce low-end phones in the market.

When it comes to the new product launches, the company has also far behind in addition to growing price competition. Samsung and many other has launches its new product whereas no new Apple products have entered the market since the introduction of ipad in 2010. Also Apple IOS face a competition from Google Android operating system.

To counter the severe competition from other companies, Apple is maximizing its effort to gain its market share in emerging market. The company has also made a deal China Mobile (CHL) which is the world biggest carrier could also bolster sales. Also in late 2013 Japanese telecom and DoCoMo started offering iPhone. Apple has relaxed its policies and offered favorable terms on selling its devices through retail outlets that enables Russia’s second largest mobile operator, OAO MegaFon (MFON) an opportunity to sell its iPhones again in 2010.

In order to cash in the preference for bigger displays Apple is expecting to launch devices with large screen size. The company has also started a project of mobile payment system. In the iTunes store more that 400 million users use credit cards. AAPL estimates that this project will bring stronger results in the future.

Reasons for the rise in stock price of General Electric:

General Electric Co. (GE)  is considered to be one of the largest industrial conglomerates in the world that Cover many areas including household appliances, business and consumer financing, industrial products such as jet engines, power generation, water processing, as well as products for medical imaging. The segment of Aviation is one of the fastest growing segments whose five year revenue compound annual growth rate is of 3%. General Electric capital is involved in the businesses like Energy financial services, General Electric Capital Aviation Services, GECC Eliminations & Corporate Items and Consumer Lending & Leasing and consumer real Estate. Incorporated in New York, the conglomerate is headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA. As of 2013 the total numbers of employees in General Electric are 305,000 employees. GE was 26^th largest Fortune 500 firm in the U.S. in 2011, and the 14^th in terms of profitability.

In this article we discussed the reason for the pick up shares of GE stock which is because of General Electric continued incursion in to the energy market of all varieties. It shift the focus away from unpredictability that associated with General electric capitals recent form, and the main driver for the General electric big profits are its spending on energy and its concentration towards this segment, and the fact is that GE focus is not in just producing more energy but producing the energy in a cost effective and more efficient manner is the win-win situation for GE stock and its shareholder. GE’s stock prices have received glowing future projections in terms of market performance from experts across board in recent times. According to the Financial Times, as of February 8, this year, the conventional agreement and projections among 19 interviewed investment analysts following GE stocks recommend that the company is in a strong position to outperform the market. Operating earnings for General Electric which suggest the earnings from its core activities rise around 20% on year to year bases during fourth quarter and the key driver for the boost in profit was the sales from General Electric energy business. GE has continuously strengthened the dividend payout ratio. General Electric current stock yield is 3.5% which is very attractive for the investors but still it will further increases as the energy business continues to add more to the bottom line that is the Net income.

The stocks of Ford Motors are attractive for the Dividend Investors.

The investors who are looking for consistent dividends are looking for the exposure in the auto industry and for that they have traditionally two options, one is of Ford Motors Company and the other is General Motors. These two auto manufacturer are regarded as stable dividend paying stock. The 2008 financial crises are very challenging for the auto industry as the sales of car across the globe decreases sharply during the days of crises. Auto manufacturer like Chrysler and GM approach the government for the bailout and files bankruptcy in 2009. During this downturn, the companies are burning with free cash flows and therefore all the three car makers had reduce their dividend payments to the shareholder.

Coming back to 2014 where the key players in the local auto industry have reverted back to their profitability position. Automakers are no longer under the ownership of government and are now returning dividends to their shareholder freely. In 2012 Ford motors had revised its dividend payout policy that has eventually increase ford motor company stock price, and in the same way GM reinstate its quarterly dividend payments to 30 Cents/ share.

In December 2013 we indicate some reasons to be bullish on Ford because of the company fundamentals and initiatives in Growth in the emerging markets. Also positive fundamentals suggest better F earnings.   

Ford stock analysis reveals that Ford has ceased to pay dividend payments just before the financial crises but it has restored the payouts in 2012 first quarter. After that the company has double its interim dividend payments. In 2013 fourth quarter, Ford motors have again increased its dividend payment to 12.5 cents/share.

In a span of two years, the dividend payments increase with 150%. Ford is returning an increasing value to the shareholder which is in favor of the company provided that the prospect of the global industry improves. Ford motors good dividend per share has translate into a dividend yield of 3.25%. General motors Dividend yield is also close to 3.3%.

As there is an improvement towards the cash flow position so there is an expectation that the company will increase dividend per share which will ultimately improve the F stock dividend yield provided other things remains the same.

Ford’s cash flows from operations (CFOs) have shown steady improvement since 2009. 2012 was the only year in which they declined, when the company faced increased expenses following restructuring activities.Since 2009 the company has showed a steady improvement in its cash flow from the operations. In 2012 when the company is under restructuring activities which resulted declined in the CFOs. Fords Free cash flow from the firm also improved over the years after it falls in 2013 and then again pick up thereafter.

Due to the challenges faced by the automaker in the emerging markets in the year 2014 and increased expenditure due to the launch of new vehicles, the automaker faced decreased FCFs, but the analyst expects that the Ford FCFS will return back to the 2013 level and then will improve further in the upcoming years and will impact on the f stock price as well.

During the era of financial crises, ford debt position was so severe that it was on the edge of government-led bankruptcy. Ford motors did not file the bankruptcy as GM and Chrysler did but it goes through an extensive restructuring in order to adopt the slimmer cost structures that enables the company to absorb its losses during the period where the sales of the car are on the lower side, just because of that the company Debt to Equity ratio improved a lot and in 2013 the company was able to reduce this ratio to 286% which in 2012 was 406%.

   

What distinguish Wal-Mart from its Rivals:

Wal-Mart (WMT) is a largest retail store that is part of the S&P 500and Dow Jones 30 indices. It is registered as WMT in the Stock Exchange of New York. The founder of the company was Sam Walton who’s headquartered is in Bentonville, Arkansas. Wal-Mart has 11,137 locations around the world. The products of Wal-Mart include Apparel/footwear specialty, cash and carry/warehouse club, discount store, hypermarket/supercenter/superstore, and supermarket.  It is currently owned by Walton family having total number of employees of 2.2 million. Wal-Mart is considered as part of the Top 50 list of World’s Most Valuable Companies.

Wal-Mart may have the low prices and the biggest retailer in the world, but it is not a cool place to shop. Despite of being uncool, Wal-Mart has managed to maintain its position in the world as online retailing. According to the Wal-Mart stores CEO “the sales of Global E Commerce has surpassed the $10 billion mark, an increase by 30% over last year. “ Our local global business is focusing more on customers and serving them according to their wants and needs. Wal-Mart sold exactly as much as online Apple but they did in a very cutting-edge style.

The online sales of Wal-Mart is equal to the Apple’s App store which includes the retail sales through Apple.com and iTunes sales but the App store has an impressive footprint as it includes iPods, ipads and iPhones.

Wal-Mart and Apple are competitors but the fact is that Apple is a leading seller of the digital music in its iTunes store whereas Wal-Mart focuses on the audiences that prefer physical CDs and DVDs.

Amazon increasingly grows its sales from outside its comfort zone of books; however the main competitive advantage of Amazon is its price whereas Wal-Mart certainly has the buying power to compete and possesses other advantages too.

Wal-Mart has the advantage of the physical location that can be used to develop its digital brand. In order to do that, the plan of the company is to use technology that can improve the in-store shopping experience. The company is using both platforms that support each other as around 140 million people visit Wal-Mart store each week.

It is reported that greater than 50% of the customers of Wal-Mart owns the smartphones and also the number of customers has tripled over the last year that go to Walmart.com through their mobile devices, such huge customer base would help the Wal-Mart to catch up with Amazon online. 

Huge Retail audience of Wal-Mart were likely not internet easy adopters as people in worldwide who have an access to an internet and the numbers who are comfortable with online purchasing has increases that ultimately benefitted Wal-Mart.   

Wal-Mart can compete with Amazon on price as it would be able to get support from its physical location to register the customers for the websites. Wal-Mart universal presence and its total volume of stores joined with its low price often gain its customers who prefer to buy things from elsewhere.

Amazon may be the big online boy, but Wal-Mart has the ability to draw the lines between in-store and online shopping that will advantage the company to gain continuously on Amazon.

Stocks that are bound to grow:

This article will cover those stocks listed in Dow jones that will bound to grow because of their future investment and current financial performance:

The first stock that is bound to grow is Cisco System Inc. (CSCO) which belongs to Information Technology Sector having the ticker of “CSCO”. The company designs, manufactures and sells networking and communication products that transport data, voice and video. Cisco has a strong financial position in the market having a net cash of $30 billion and Price to Earnings ratio of about 11X, the dividend yield that the company offer is about 3.2% with an attractive payout of about 33%.   EPS of the company grown up by 12% in the past ten years whereas the free cash flow yield is about 10% which is intimating investors to buy the stocks of Cisco. During the last 30 years of its operations, the Cisco Systems have managed to build a strong reputation in the information technology world. The current stock volume of the company is 69, 960,098. We see that the company has been paying a consistently higher price per share to the shareholders over the course of time. Cisco beats the analyst consensus revenue estimates but there is a drop of 11% in the product revenue as compared to the last years. Dividend on the other hand increased by $0.02 per share and as of now cisco is paying $0.19 per share with the dividend yield of 3%

The other stock that is bound to grow is McDonald’s (MCD), In the year 1965 company offered its first public stock offering at $22.50 per share which reached a McDonalds stock price high of $30 at the end of the first day. Only two years after that McDonald opened its first international restaurant in Canada and Puerto Rico. The company saw tremendous growth in the 1960s and 1970s as it began franchising.  Since the first public offering McDonald Stock Price has risen by around 430% and stands at $95.46 per share on February 13, 2014. McDonald expanded its business in early years aggressively by launching new services like the drive-through and innovative ad-campaigns. The company reached the landmark of $1 billion in annual sales in the year 1972 which exceeded $3 billion by the year 1976. Its huge success laid in the fact that the company provided exceptional service and fulfilled customer’s needs. McDonald Stock price had reached a whopping $59.25 per share as on January 2, 1976, an increase of almost 270% in just 10 years of its first public offering.

 Verizon is also one of the stocks that have a bullish trend. As an investor, people are thinking whether Verizon stock price can be a great place to start buying stocks. As VZ in the New York Stock Exchange, it has a very impressive run in the last few years of its business. Just early in September 2013, Verizon announced to acquire the Vodafone’s stake at a price of $130 billion, which will take effect at the end of the first quarter of this year. This is great news for investors because the new development will give Verizon Wireless more freedom to expand on its Verizon stock price, sales, and market.

Jeff Bezos- A man behind the growth of E-Commerce:

In this article we will look at the achievements of Jeff Bezos, who was the responsible for one of the biggest revolutions in book publishing. Jeff Bezos born in 1964 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he was an inquisitive child. He turned his parent’s garage into a laboratory and was always rigging electrical machines around the house. As a toddler he dismantled his own crib with a screwdriver. In 1982 he was valedictorian of his class in high school, where he also began his first business, the Dream institute, an educational summer camp for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. In 1986 he graduated from Princeton University, majoring in electrical engineering and computer science. In 1986 Jeff started working on Wall Street in the computer science field. He became the youngest ever senior VP of D.E.shaw&co in 1992.

In 1993 he married Mackenzie Tuttle who he met on Wall Street. She was also from Princeton. In 1994 he gave in to his original love, quitting his job on Wall Street to found Amazon.com. Bezos wrote the company’s business plan in the car, as he and his family made their move from New York to Seattle.  

In 1995 Amazon.com which is an online book store was launched on July 16, and without any press promotion made sales in 45 countries within 30 days of the launch. By introducing CDs, clothes, toys and electronics Amazon enters into a diversified business. In 1999 he was named “Person of the Year” by the Time Magazine. In 2003 he got survived from a helicopter crash. He founded Blue origin, an aerospace company specializing in spaceflight. In 2011 Amazon announced its first ever profit in the fourth quarter.

Bezos launched Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch and Kindle Touch 3G, and introduced Amazon silk, a web browser developed for Kindle Fire. This same year the company market cap topped $100 billion. In 2013 he purchased The Washington Post for $250 million. According to Bloomberg his net worth is $36 billion.

Mow we will discuss some interesting facts related to Jeff Bezos. Jeff initially wanted to be an archeologist. He graduated from Princeton with a 4.3 GPA out of 4. Initially he kept a bell with him that would ring each time an order was placed. It eventually started ringing so much, that he had to toss it out. Approximately 73 orders are placed per second during Christmas season at Amazon. He is deeply found of brainstorming and white boards. He believes that despite reading a memo written by someone else, brainstorming generates powerful ideas. He deals with stress by laughing it off.

The current profile of the company suggests sales of around $ 61 billion with market value of around $182 billion. In Amazon there are 109,800 employees as of September 2013.In the last we can conclude that under the guidance of the great entrepreneur name Jeff Bezos Amazon.com became the World’s biggest online retailer. He is completely changing the way the world buys and the success of Jeff Bezos will last forever.

Performance of P&G and Unilever- the Key Players in FMCG Industry:

Proctor & Gamble founded in 1837 whereas Unilever formed in 1930 as a result of a merger between Lever Brothers of the UK and Naamlooze Vennootschap Margarine Unie of the Netherlands. P&G market share by revenue is 19% and their products are sold over 180 countries; its 5-year revenue CAGR is 0.6%. Its famous brands include Always, Ariel, Bounty, Pampers, etc. It began as a small family-operated soap and candle company. On the other hand Market share by revenue of Unilever is about 15% and its products are sold in over 190 countries. Its 5- year revenue CAGR is 5%.  Unilever famous brands include Dove, Rexona, Lux, Knorr, etc. It began When William Hesketh Lever write down his ideas for sunlight soap.

P&G portfolio contains 25 billion dollar brands. It has been paying out dividends for 122 consecutive years since its incorporation in 1890 on the other hand Unilever portfolio contains 14 billion dollar brands and it has been increasing dividends almost every year since 1979. Unilever was named the sector leader by the CDP’S Forests program to combat climate change in 2013.

P&G received US secretary of state’s Award for corporate Excellence in 2012 for contributions to improving the lives of consumers in Nigeria and Pakistan whereas Unilever was the winner of the 2013 catalyst Award which honors exceptional business initiatives for women in the workplace.

P&G has been on Fortune’s World’s Most Admired companies list for two years in a row, on the other hand Unilever was awarded the Gold Medal for international corporate Achievement in sustainable Development by the world Environment center in 2013. Over half of its 252 manufacturing sites across the world no longer send non-hazardous waste to landfill.

P&G uses 100% renewable or recycled materials for all of its products and packaging. The powers all of its production plants with 100% renewable energy. The greenhouse gas footprint of the use of the Unilever products has fallen by around 6% since 2010.

The Rivalry between AT&T and Verizon in US telecom Industry:

AT&T Inc is a holding company that was incorporated on 5^th October 1983. The company has, since then, been providing the telecommunications services to customers in United States as well as many other countries. These services primarily include the local exchange services, wireless communications, long-distance services, video services, data/broadband and Internet services, and the telecommunications equipment. The three segments in which the company is currently operating in are wire line, wireless, and other. The widespread business of the company has also let the officials of the company enjoy larger amounts of profits. The wireless segment of the company is the subsidiary that is names as AT&T Mobility LLC, and this company is operating as the primary wireless service provider for both the business as well as consumer customers. There have been more than 107 million subscribers for the wireless services. When it comes to the wire-line services, the company is providing the wholesale as well as retail communication services to both domestic as well as international clients. The wire line services of the company are actually divided into three categories based on the different products, i.e. voice, data, and other.

In order to enhance the local Networks over the three year period AT&T invested around $850 million in the wired and wireless networks  that will drive a wide range of upgrades that will enhance the speed, coverage, reliability and the performance of business and residents customers. The usage of mobile devices which includes tablets, smartphones and several interconnected devices are increasing with the passage of time that lead to a growth in the data consumption. Around 61% of US postpaid subscribers are the owners of smartphones and it is expected by the device makers that this number will continue to rise with the passage of time.

Verizon Wireless is the most popular mobile network provider in the United States. As a matter of fact, it is also the largest company of its kind with a massive Verizon stock price. As of now, the company serves 119.4 million people. Actually, Verizon Wireless is not a stand-alone company, but Cellco Partnership subsidizes it. Founded in April 4, 2000, Verizon Wireless quickly captured the heart of the masses and steady climb to the top of the market. It is headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey and has 2,330 locations across the country. Verizon FIOS provides TV services and broadband internet to the end users. Despite of the decrease in voice revenue for the company, these services recorded growth in subscriptions. Through the five year period that is ending on 2012 the user base of FiOS has increased at a CAGR of 19.8%.

The partnership of Verizon with the major companies like Comcast Corporation is one of the main reasons of Verizon outperforming its closest competitors AT&T. Both companies benefited with the merger as there is an increased customer base. In 2012 Verizon offer its services in more than 400 markets related to 4G LTE services whereas AT&T offering services in less than 40 markets in the same year that is 2012.

WHERE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COKE AND PEPSI LIES:

Coke and Pepsi both are the close competitors in the industry. Coca-Cola Company is traded in the New York stock exchange as “KO”. Coke is the manufacturer, retailer and marketer of a nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrup whose headquarter is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Pepsi Company is also the manufacturer, marketer and distributor of the concentrate syrup whose headquarter is based in purchase, New York. Coke and Pepsi both take a concentrated formula from their franchiser, and then the job of the franchisee is to dilute the concentrate and refill the bottles and then distribute to the suppliers and consumers.

The market share of Coca-Cola vary as per country but its estimated global market share is around 56%, but in India coke holds a market share of around 69% in 2011. Coke is the global market leader in the Beverages industry followed by Pepsi.Coca-Cola and Pepsi both are considered to be the highest dividend stocks in the beverages industry. If we look at the cola’s wars then Coca-Cola was far ahead and has already won that competition. In US, diet coke was considered to be the second most sold soda brand whereas Pepsi is at in the third position.

In the salty snacks division Pepsi Company has a leadership position controlling 40% of the world’s market which give PepsiCo an opportunity for the growth. The emphasis of Coca-Cola is on the cultural leadership and it is one of the key to drive there marketing plans for the future. Coke has strong international presence whereas Pepsi has an advantage in the healthier products which is gaining popularity with the passage of time.

Pepsi and coke both have a brand power and they both differentiate their product from their smaller competitors. Coke’s product portfolio has 16 billion dollars brands. These brands includes Fanta, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet coke, minute maid and others, whereas Pepsi owns 22 brands from where they has the sales of around more than $1 billion.The challenges that coke and Pepsi both are facing is that they have the stable volume growth in the developed countries and the reason behind that is saturation of the market as the industry trend analysis is moving toward the healthier nutritional habits. Also in the last week of Feb 2014 the coca- cola company Spanish subsidiary had shut down one of its plant that is located in the Austria region. Around 2500 workers have been affected by this decision. The workers that are being laid off are shouting saying that the people residing there should not consume the beverage. This could affect the Investment options of the Coca-Cola Company as it is the 2^nd largest plant in Europe. This could also impact the stock market predictions as well.

Coke and Pepsi are considered to be the best dividend paying stocks in the beverage industry The Pepsi dividend payout ratio is 50% which meant that it retains half of their income and rest were paid to the shareholder. So for the shareholder it is an attractive investment option and it would impact the stock market prices whereas Pepsi payout ratio is 34%. The dividend yield of coke is 2.7% whereas that of Pepsi is around 3.1%.

The news came from the south Asia region that India which is currently Pepsi Co largest market globally announced its plan that the company investing $5.5 billion in India by 2020 therefore India is considered to be good investment options by Pepsi Co.

Larry page- A Genius behind Google.

While at Michigan University, Larry made an inkjet printer using LEGO Bricks. He had born in Michigan. Both parents were computer experts and it was only natural that Larry developed his interest in the field from an early age. Larry page attended the University of Michigan to study computer engineering and graduated with honors. Sergey Brin and Larry page met at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California, when they were pursuing their PhD’s. In 1996 Sergey Brin and Larry page began a research project that aimed to develop enabling technologies for a single, integrated and university digital library. They wrote a paper “Anatomy of a Large-scale Hyper sexual web search Engine” which set the foundation for Google

Brin and page have great differences of opinion which they admire as they believe that it has contributed to their success. The name for their engine was derived from a mathematical term “Googol”, which is a number that is equal to 1 followed by 100 Zeros and expressed as 10100. The considered it to reflect their mission of organizing the large amount of information available on the internet. In August 1996, the first version of Google: Google.Stanford.edu was launched. The Google domain name was registered in 1997. In 1998 Raised $1 million from family, friends and other investors to launch Google with Sergey Brin.  After raising $1 million in capital, page and Brin went to Burger King to celebrate their success.  18 million people used Google to search the internet in one day.

Larry page, along with Sergey Brin, gives the utmost importance to the SAT scores of their employees during the recruitment process. In 2002 Larry page was named as world Economic Forum Global Leader for Tomorrow.  In 2004 Sergey Brin and Larry page were honored with Marconi prize. In 2004 Google formed the not-for-profit philanthropic entity Google.org Addressing Michigan university in a commencement address, page talked about how he got the idea for Google in the middle of the night:” “when I suddenly woke up, I was thinking: what if we could download the whole web and just keep the links and I grabbed a pen and started writing!”

Google raised $4.2 billion through its second stock offering. Google acquired most popular video streaming websites, You Tube, for $1.65 billion in stock. Google was nominated the world most attractive employer for graduating students. It is the world’s largest search engine with almost over 200 million queries received each day. At one time, he dated Marissa Mayer, who is now CEO of Yahoo.

Google headquarter has a strong air filter system installed because of the co-founders’ strong sense of smell. Page is suffering from a mysterious illness that caused him to skip shareholder meetings because he lost his voice.