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Consumer Reports Crowns New Airline Highest in Customer Satisfaction

Tim Parker — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:19:23 +0000

First, Consumer Reports gives Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) its highest ranking ever and now it is placing a new name at the top of its best airlines list. Is Consumer Reports getting soft in its older age? Here’s what it said:

“If you’re tired of airline flights that leave you too frazzled to enjoy your trip, we have a new recommendation for you. Virgin America, a newcomer to our ratings, got a clear thumbs-up from readers in our latest survey, with some of the highest scores we’ve seen in years.”

That’s pretty big praise that Sir Richard Branson, founder and chairman of Virgin Group, will surely use in a fresh round of marketing.

The Consumer Reports survey compiled responses from more than 16,000 readers that critiqued 31,732 flights. The praise for Virgin America included high marks for the leather seat cushions in coach class. One reader said, “The leather seat cushions are so nice in coach, there’s ...

MillerCoors CEO Tom Long On The Evolving Beer Industry

Jason Cunningham — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:17:55 +0000

Tom Long, Chief Executive Officer of MillerCoors, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box to talk about the longtime summer tradition of drinking beer. The conversation ranged from the happenings of MillerCoors to legislation around the taxation of the industry.

"Summertime is beer time, and every single week of the summer is as big as Super Bowl week for beer, so we're focused," said Long.

He said that there's an enormous amount of innovation in the beer business, saying that customers, especially the younger demographic*, are drinking a little bit of everything.

"Craft brewers are doing great [but] premium lights are flat, and the economy part of the business is down a ...

Unilever's Kees Kruythoff Talks Magnum Prospects In The Ice Cream World

Jason Cunningham — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:15:41 +0000

Kees Kruythoff, President of Unilever's (NYSE: UN) North American division, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box to talk ice cream. Of the company's over 400 brands, ice cream is one of its biggest businesses. Unilever holds various forms of the sweet frozen treat including the popular and fast growing, Magnum brand--the number one ice cream in the world.

"The market leader in the world in ice cream came to the biggest ice cream market in the world two years ago, and so Magnum is now here in the U.S.," Kruythoff said in regards to the ...

Google and Facebook Going to War Over Mapping App

Jim Probasco — Fri, 24 May 2013 12:43:18 +0000

A bidding war between Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) may be about to erupt, according to Bloomberg. The object of the conflict is Waze, a smartphone-mapping app with unique social features.

Waze provides driving directions with a twist. Users submit information about traffic tie-ups, speed traps, and road closings. Waze alerts and even reroutes users around problem areas.

Waze is a free service and generates revenue via location-based advertising. That capability, plus more than 40 million users (and growing) makes the product attractive. Whether Waze is as attractive as it thinks it is remains to be seen.

One Bloomberg source said Waze is open to acquisition discussions, if the price is right. The price? $1 billion or more. The company is also reportedly considering remaining independent and raising venture capital if a suitable deal can’t be reached.

Mapping capability on smartphones and other devices is increasingly important. Mapping with cool features is a ...

Ford and Fellow U.S. Automakers Winning Market Share Battle

Jim Probasco — Thu, 23 May 2013 16:28:26 +0000

Demand for cars and trucks is up. U.S. automakers have noticed and are responding. Bloomberg noted Wednesday that number two U.S. automaker, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), will add the capacity to build 200,000 more vehicles a year in North America. All this based on increased demand for Ford’s F-Series pickups and Fusion sedans.

In addition, most Ford North American assembly plants will be idle for one week this summer instead of two. That, alone, will increase production by about 40,000 cars and trucks.

Ford Motor Co.'s F-Series pickups are no stranger to strong sales, having led sales of U.S. full-size trucks the past 36 years. F-Series trucks, in fact, have been the country’s best-selling vehicle of any type for more than 30 years according to Bloomberg.

On the sedan front, Ford’s Fusion is seen as the company’s best chance to overtake Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM)’s reign in that segment. The Ford Taurus was the last U.S. model to best the Japanese automaker ...

Rep. Eric Cantor Wants Answers From The IRS

Jason Cunningham — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:14:38 +0000

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is seeking answers for the abuse of power in the Internal Revenue Service targeting scandal, which has brought on multiple congressional investigations and hearings. On Wednesday, Lois Lerner, the IRS official who was first to admit to the targeted scrutiny, pleaded the fifth in front of a congressional committee.

Cantor appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box on Thursday morning to voice his opinions on the scandal, the process of uncovering the truth, and the Obama administration.

He said that Lerner pleading the fifth reflected the frustration that's growing through this process.

Cantor said, "Ms. Lerner ...

Sen. Ron Johnson Would Abolish The Tax Code

Jason Cunningham — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:46:25 +0000

Sen. Ron Johnson, (R-WI), appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box on Thursday morning to discuss his outlook on the hearing and the current tax code. Johnson is one of members of the congressional subcommittee that heard testimonry from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Tim Cook as he called for reform of U.S. corporate tax code.

"Apple is basically responsible for about 600,000 jobs, and that was a point that was pretty well made. When you can combine not only the tax they paid within America, but also their suppliers, and their supplier's employees, it probably totals $12 or $13 billion, while they created those 600,000 jobs," said Johnson.

"You know, the Department of Energy, as an example, just quietly released a report showing its green energy loan program: $26 billion worth of guaranteed loans, 2,300 jobs at a cost of, ...

Saks and Neiman Marcus Merger at the Rumor Stage

Jim Probasco — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:50:50 +0000

According to The Wall Street Journal, high-end department store, Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) to look into a possible sale. Neiman Marcus Group Inc., owned by Private-equity firms TPG and Warburg Pincus LLC, is also exploring its options. With two upscale retailers on the prowl, merger rumors are never far behind.

At this stage, a merger between the two titans of luxury merchandising is only speculation. There has been no formal announcement of an “engagement,” much less a “marriage.” However, according to someone familiar with the matter who spoke with The Wall Street Journal, private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (NYSE: KKR) is considering investing in Saks, possibly with an aim toward acting as matchmaker to merge the rival companies.

In the eyes of Neiman Marcus, Saks has always been a lesser competitor. Saks has sales on a much more frequent basis than Neiman, a sure sign of lower status, according to Neiman Marcus. Neiman, of course, has that Christmas catalog with $1 million ...

Worldwide LED Tube Light Shipments to Reach 220 Million in 2013

Jim Probasco — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:16:09 +0000

DigiTimes Research said Wednesday that LED tube lighting shipments in 2013 would account for 5.5 percent of the entire lighting market globally.

With efficiency reaching 110lm/W, comparable to that of fluorescent bulbs – and with prices coming down – these ultra high efficiency replacements for fluorescent bulbs are becoming more popular.

The biggest drawback has been the difference in price between LED bulbs and CFLs or incandescent lighting. With increased efficiency and production, however, prices are coming down. DigiTimes said retail prices for 4-foot T8 LED tubes would drop by 25.7 percent in 2013 to an average selling price of $48.30.

The DigiTimes forecast was bolstered by PR Newswire, Wednesday, quoting a GiiResearch.com ElectroniCast report that said global consumption of LED linear tube lamps rose to $194 million in 2012.

Last week ElectroniCast forecast that consumption would grow at an average annual rate of 23 percent between 2012 and ...

Focus on Underperfomance With Trian Fund Management's Peter 'The Constructivist' May

Jason Cunningham — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:25:17 +0000

Peter May, Trian Fund Management President and founding partner, calls himself a constructivist. He appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box on Wednesday to discuss a variety of things, including what being a constructivist means to him.

He said that constructionists focus on the operating side of the business. May said that they look into investing in companies that are underperforming, helping them to build value by improving on the income statement. He said that investors known primarily as activists are mostly focused on the balance sheet while putting pressure on management.

"We have a saying in our organization: You find a dollar on the balance sheet, it's great. We don't walk away from that. You find a dollar on the income statement, it's a reoccurring amount, you don't pay for it, and it keeps on coming back," said May.

"So it builds value over the long-term, where as a balance sheet transaction is a one shot thing, creates value, sometimes it can weaken a company. Where as if ...

BuzzFeed Business Breaks In With New Editorial Staff

Jason Cunningham — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:07:55 +0000

Peter Lauria, BuzzFeed Business Editor, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box Wednesday to talk about his new position there and the site's expanding coverage focus.

BuzzFeed creates content around current events for the purpose of being shared via social media, with the goal of driving the news cycle and getting people to engage with one another over content, Lauria said.

"Rather than responding to what other people are commenting about, we want them to be commenting about our piece," said Lauria.

Lauria said that they want that same force behind their business section, noting that journalism is a scoop-based business.

"We want scoops that are going to move news. ...

Ethanol Industry May Benefit as Farmers Make Up Lost Ground in Corn Fields

Jim Probasco — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:41:13 +0000

Until last week, only 15 percent of the corn crop in Iowa (the leading corn growing state in the nation) had been planted.

Then came a week of good weather. Iowa farmers responded by launching an invasion of farm machinery into their fertile fields. As of Sunday, 71 percent of the corn crop had been planted according to The Associated Press.

The same scene played out in all of the key grain states to the extent that the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop progress update that 71 percent of the corn crop had been sown in those states as well. This figure isn’t far off from the 79 percent average farmers planted by this time over the past five years.

State by state, the numbers are impressive. In addition to the 71 percent of corn planted in Iowa, 75 percent of this year’s seed has been sown in Illinois, along with 70 percent of the crop in Missouri, Kansas, ...

Zettaset: Making A Mark With Security Solutions For Hadoop

Jason Cunningham — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:25:22 +0000

So far, Zettaset is a relatively small startup with roughly 40 employees.

The Mountain View, California based company focuses on secure big data management through its Orchestrator™ v5, which makes a security “wrapper” around Hadoop distribution, operating as an "independent management layer" that's on top of the open source code.

"We essentially enable people with software that addresses management, security and performance, in terms of having the software around the open source to make it enterprise hardened and ready for adoption," said Jim Vogt, Zettaset's chief executive officer.

One of the things Hadoop does very well as an open source code is the MapReduce function, which allows you to take semistructured and unstructured sources of data and structure them in a way that can be aligned with analytics. This broadens the range of data sources for those who want to run analytics on large scales, making it easier to guide business decisions at faster rates.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to install, although it has become easier to deploy within a production environment within the last year. It also lacks certain enterprise features that only Zettaset offers. Typically, using Hadoop to broaden data sources takes Hadoop vendors to deploy in a production environment.

"Although the work within the community, the Apache community, the open source community, is moving along, it moves at a pretty slow pace, right? So for some of the security features that we're shipping today, those won't be commercially available in an open source version probably for another 18 to 24 months," said Vogt.

According to Vogt, by the time that comes out, Zettaset is moving on to the next set of features. Finding the next advancements through software allows them to get to major solutions first. Many vendors just manage Hadoop for companies, offering professional services, but not manageable software.

"You can't just go retrofit ...

Growth, Growth, And More Growth: Yahoo's Mayer And Tumblr's Karp Talk Deal

Jason Cunningham — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:59:32 +0000

Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer and Tumblr CEO David Karp sat down on CNBC's Squawk on the Street to discuss Yahoo's acquisition of the popular blogging service.

Mayer started out by saying that she wants Yahoo to move fast as a company in terms of shipping products and making decisions, noting that since the acquisition there's been a 20 percent upside to organic traffic. She said that the acquisition is part of enhancing their growth story, and that she feels confident about the evaluation.

Mayer trusts her instincts, and said that it's clear that Tumblr has a great thing going. She commented on her statement to the press in which she said Yahoo "won't mess is up," saying that they'll be allowing Tumblr to function as they are, as to not interfere with their current and future success.

Karp said that he hasn't thought about what to do with his portion of the $1.1 billion Tumblr scored during the purchase, but that maybe he'll learn a thing or two about philanthropy when he does decide to spend it.

Karp also said that Tumblr was his baby, and that it's where ...

Ryanair's Success In Keeping It Simple

Jason Cunningham — Tue, 21 May 2013 12:58:26 +0000

Michael O'Leary, Ryanair (NASDAQ: RYAAY) Chief Executive Officer, appeared on CNBC's Squawk Box to chat about the airline's record profits and continuing growth.

In regards to Ryanair competing with other European airlines, O'Leary was confident.

"It's not hard to, you know, outrun that lot," O'Leary said.

He went on to say that he couldn't compete with an American airline like Southwest, calling them a behemoth in the states. It's simply a market he wouldn't consider getting into. According to O'Leary, there's no need to even try, since there's so much potential for growth in Europe.

Ryanair is expanding from 80 million to 100 million passengers a year over the next five years through the purchase of new planes. While they expand, O'Leary said that many other European airlines are loosing money at heroic scales.

O'Leary said that Ryanair got their strategy one that Southwest originally came up with: Keep it simple, keep it all the same.

"It's all Toyota Corollas," O'Leary joked.

He said that the issues with European airlines mirrors ...