Hong Kong-listed Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. reported net profit rose 35% in 2009 to $173 million on sales of about $2.07 billion. The largest privately-owned Chinese car maker sold 325,413 cars in 2009, 59% above its 250,000-unit target. The elephant in the room, of course, is competition from foreign automakers like General Motors, Ford Motor (F), Toyota Motors (TM), Honda Motors (HMC), and Audi/Volkswagen.

About three weeks ago, an analyst at Canaccord Adams set a price target of $0/share for Palm Inc. (PALM). The company had just announced that it projected revenue for its fourth fiscal quarater ending in May would be half previous estimates. Canaccord Adams said at the time that there was no value in the company's common shares.

Two troubled electricity generating companies have announced a merger that will create a new company, called GenOn, with a market cap of $3.1 billion and 24,700 megawatts of generation. The merger, between Mirant Corp. (MIR) and RRI Energy Inc. (RRI), has been approved by the boards of directors of both comapneis and will now go to a shareholder vote. The deal creates the largest independent power producer in the U.S.

Though it's a bit later than fast-food rivals McDonald's (MCD) and Burger King (BKC), Arby's is at last rolling out a value menu of its own. The restaurant is adding more lower-priced items to its menu including a small roast beef sandwich, curly fries and a "jamocha" shake -- and operator Wendy's/Arby's Group (WEN) is backing them with an expensive new advertising campaign.

One of my favorite stocks for this year is one of the largest private landowners in the United States. Operating as a real estate investment trust, the company is Rayonier (RYN), and it specializes in growing and managing timber across its 2.6 million acres in the United States and New Zealand.

The tech blog rumor mill is running at full speed today about a partnership between online retail powerhouse Amazon.com (AMZN) and brick-and-mortar discounter Target (TGT). Supposedly, the hit Kindle e-reader will be on sale in Target stores later this month.

Poor Toyota (TM). When word of the Toyota recall first broke in February, nobody ever expected things to get this crazy. We saw a record $16.4 million fine last week, followed by rumors of cut to the Toyota dividend. But all that hullabaloo managed to obscure the fact that TM wasn't the only company having trouble with its brakes. In March, Honda (HMC) enacted a big recall of its own.

The recent report by a bankruptcy examiner reviewing the implosion of Lehman Brothers spent more than 300 pages detailing a practice known within the investment bank as "Repo 105", a practice the company used to minimize its reported debt. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that 18 other banks, including Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), and Citigroup (C) have been fudging the books with this maneuver.

The price of aluminum continues to rise, as it has through all of 2009. A year ago the price stood at about $0.62/lb., compared with $1.06 currently. Alcoa, Inc. (AA) shares have followed along, trading in a range of $8.10-$17.60 and closing yesterday at $14.87.

The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT), will cut prices on as many as 10,000 food and general merchandise items in an effort to reverse is slowing U.S. sales growth. The new pricing has already begun in the company's 3,700 US stores.

When video game stock Activision Blizzard (ATVI) released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007, the video game hit all the right notes, winning over gamers and industry critics alike -- resulting in huge profits for Activision. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare led video game sales worldwide in 2007, moving 7 million copies that year despite a summer release, and ATVI has sold an additional 7 million copies in the years since.

According to SEC filings, 74-year-old Carl Icahn is toying with video games -- specifically shares of Take Two Interactive (TTWO), the stock most closely associated with the ultra violent Grand Theft Auto video game series. As of April 1, Icahn now owns nearly 12 million shares though his investment funds and partnerships. That puts him about neck-and-neck with Oppenheimer funds for the primary shareholder in TTWO.

There was a time when video game stock Electronic Arts (ERTS) was racking up the profits as easily as Pac-Man chomping those little yellow dots. ERTS made former football great John Madden into "that video game guy." It helped wannabe musicians fake it like rock start with Rock Band. Electronic Arts made video games cool to investors. Now, with video game sales slumping, Electronic Arts needs Tiger Woods more than ever.

Merger talks in the ailing airline industry are nothing new, but what is new is today's news of renewed merger talks between United Airlines parent company, UAL Corporation (UAUA), and US Airways Group (LCC). These renewed talks mark the third time in the past 10 years that the two airlines have contemplated a union, so it remains to be seen whether the third time will be a charm.

Chinese jewelry company Fuqi International (FUQI) has been on a turbulent rollercoaster ride over the past three weeks. The stock plummeted nearly 30% on March 17, after the company reported that accounting errors "exaggerated" earnings in the first nine months of last year. The company also warned that fourth-quarter earnings would only be about half of what it had previously projected.

Beginning in January 2011, Oprah will host a new TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network OWN, which she owns in a 50-50 joint venture with Discovery Communications, Inc. (DISCA). The program will be called 'Oprah's Next Chapter' and will be a regular one-hour series in prime time. OWN reaches approximately 80 million US homes. The actual time slot was not announced.

Following on the Tiger Woods-scale media frenzy surrounding the launch of the Apple (APPL) iPad, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has provided some details about its tablet device, which is to be called Slate. The venerable Silicon Valley company has said that Slate "delivers a holistic mobile experience", whatever that is.