A humorous look at the companies that caught our eye, for better or worse, this week
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Apple
Inside the tortured mind of an Apple investor:
“Geez, the stock is getting hammered. There’s a report that Apple slashed orders for iPhone screens, so maybe I should sell. But what if the report turns out to be wrong and Apple’s earnings soar next week? Then I’ll be kicking myself. So I should probably buy more. Then again, the results might suck and I’ll lose my shirt. But the stock is soooo cheap right now. I know: I’ll buy some shares in one account, and sell them in another. Yeah, that’s it.”AAPL-Q423.00 -8.77 -2.03%As of Jun 19, 2013 4:00
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Research In Motion
With RIM poised to unveil the first of its long-awaited BlackBerry 10 models later this month, hospital waiting rooms are starting to fill up with technology geeks passing out from all the excitement. Investors are pumped up, too: The shares surged after Jefferies & Co. analyst Peter Misek raised the stock to “buy” from “hold” and hiked his price target to $19.50 from $13, predicting BB10 will give RIM’s earnings a lift and possibly trigger a short squeeze. Deep breath, everyone.
RIM-Tn/a n/a --%As of n/a
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PulteGroup
You may have been led to believe by all the stories on the news about people losing their jobs and living in their cars that the U.S. economy has some sort of “problem” or that growth is still “sluggish.” Not so! Construction of new homes increased 12.1 per cent in December, giving a boost to home builders such as PulteGroup, whose orders and selling prices have jumped for the past two quarters. Okay, so not everyone is feeling the economic love yet, but it’s a start.
PHM-N20.76 -0.73 -3.40%As of Jun 19, 2013 4:05
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K-Swiss
Business quiz! K-Swiss refers to:
a) A type of cheese that pairs well with Special K cereal;
b) A line of pocket knives;
c) A footwear company whose shares have plunged about 90 per cent since 2006.
Answer: c. Investors in the company, whose signature white athletic shoes have fallen out of fashion, got some relief this week when South Korean conglomerate E. Land World agreed to buy K-Swiss for $4.75 a share, or about $170-million. Beats sniffing a smelly sneaker.KSWS-Qn/a n/a --%As of n/a
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Rogers Communications
Not fun: Getting a bill from Rogers after your teenagers have discovered the joys of adult pay-per-view.
Fun: Owning shares of Rogers. The stock is soaring on expectations that the cable and wireless giant is poised for a strong 2013, boosted by higher data consumption, stabilizing voice revenues and the fading impact of smaller competitors. UBS analyst Philip Huang raised his price target to $50 from $45 and predicted a 10-per-cent dividend hike on Feb. 15, giving investors more reasons to smile.RCI.B-T46.25 -0.65 -1.39%As of Jun 19, 2013 4:00
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