Paul Ausick

Recent Articles

Debit-card Fee Limits Included in Financial Reform Bill (V, MA, BAC, JPM)

By Paul Ausick

Every time a consumer uses a debit card, bank that issued the card get paid a fee of around 1% to 2%. Last year card issuers and financial stocks posted about $50 billion in revenues from these fees. Visa, Inc. (NYSE: V) and Mastercard Inc. (NYSE: MA) dominate the issuer side of the debit card business and the 10 largest US banks like Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) and J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) take home about 80% of the $50 billion in revenues.

Intel to Settle Antitrust Lawsuit (INTC, AMD, HPQ, DELL, IBM)

By Paul Ausick

If you're a top blue chip tech stock like Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), lawsuits both from competitors and regulators are common. In the past several months, the chip-making behemoth has settled two suits, one a private antitrust suit from competitor Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) for $1.25 billion and a second from the European Union for $1.45 billion.

Airlines Bump More as Traffic Soars (DAL, AMR, CAL, LUV, JBLU)

By Paul Ausick

Airplanes are filling up again and airline stocks are doing pretty well. For the first quarter of 2010, the US Department of Transportation reports that 135 million passengers filled airline seats, compared with about 127 million in the same period a year ago. However, the airlines also bumped about 220,000 ticketed passengers, an even sharper rise compared with about 175,000 in the same period a year ago.

Best Buy Among Retailers Catering More to Women (BBY, TGT, WMT, RSH, AMZN)

By Paul Ausick

The formerly male-centric Best Buy Co. (BBY) is poised to show off its softer side in a new push for female customers, as America's largest electronics retailer increasingly sees competition nipping at its heels. Readily admitting that it's not too good with the ladies -- only 16%of its sales are to women and just 31% of its employees are women -- the superstore is shifting its message of 50-inch flat-screen fever and techno-gadgets galore to a more gender-neutral customer outreach.

BP Says Partner Stocks Share Liability in Gulf (BP, APC, RIG)

By Paul Ausick

It had to happen eventually. BP plc (NYSE: BP) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (NYSE: APC) are now battling over the extent, if any, of the non-operating partner's share of the damages resulting from the oil well that is now leaking at least 40,000 barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. Anadarko owns a 25% non-operating share in the well, and Japan's Mitsui and Co. Ltd. owns a 10% non-operating share. Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) owned the semi-submersible rig that exploded and ultimately sank, but it had no stake in the well's production.

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