Thursday, August 26, 2010

Following the market, Fall 2010

1. Choose a media company.
  • The company should be listed in one of the major U.S. stock exchanges (e.g., NYSE, Nasdaq).
  • You should look at the parent company level (Viacom, not MTV; Belo, not WFAA-TV).
  • If you need ideas.... Media Owners and Columbia Journalism Review has a "Who Owns What" feature that details many media companies' holdings. Caveat: not all of these companies are publicly traded. Another approach is to go to the websites of the stock exchanges (NYSE and Nasdaq) and search their listings by sector. The Technology and Telecommunications industries have some options, and look for lots of media options under industry Consumer Services, supersector Media.
  • Another caveat: make sure the company does and owns what you assume it does. For instance, selecting Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings (CCO) means you are following the company that sells billboard space, not the owner of radio stations across the country. Clear Channel radio stations are a privately held company, not eligible for this project. 
2. Select your company and name your choice in a comment to this post by Sept. 3.
  • Name the company and its ticker symbol -- e.g., Amazon (AMZN).
  • Only one person in the class may hold any given company, and it's first-come, first-served. Check the blog to make sure no one else has your first choice. If there's duplication, the first person who commented on this post to claim the company will get it. 
  • Along with the name of the company, include a brief (few sentences) rationale for your selection. For example, perhaps you're a fan of one or more of the company's holdings, you think the company will grow in the next few months, or you would like to work for the company some day.

40 comments:

  1. Apple (AAPL)

    I am very interested in apple. I am interested to see how they run things and how things are going since the Iphone craziness.

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  2. I'm interested in following Viacom, Inc. because they are a major media corporation and I am a fan of the companies they are parent to. The ticker symbol for Viacom, Inc. is VIA.

    -Melissa Vargas

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  3. I'm interested in doing Capcom. I have done many projects for this company in other classes such as PR Graphics and I hope to work for them some day. CCOEF

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  4. CBS Corporation (CBS)

    I'm interested in following CBS mainly because I would like to intern for them someday; but I would also like to see how competition with News Corp. and Disney affects them financially.

    -Jonathan Hamby

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  6. I want to follow Time Warner Inc. (TWX) because it's one of the largest media companies and I'm interested in it's film and TV based subsidiaries: Warner Bros, HBO and TBS.

    ~Nichelle Cunningham

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  7. I'm choosing Lion's Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF).

    I'm very interested in film, so I am intrigued by the fact they support independent film. I'm also interested in seeing what other types of media they operate in.

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  8. I'm going to follow Sony.

    With 3D TVs being pushed hard on the market as well as the new product coming out of the PlayStation department (PS Move), it should be interesting to watch the price of their stock.

    Collin Mathews

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  9. I would like to follow Dolby Laboratories Inc.

    DLB

    I remember them as a boy on our minivan tape player - and they are still around, now marketing the 3D experience. Most of their revenue comes from licensing the technology. I have always thought surround sound and HD video interesting and hopefully it will be from a different perspective!

    Madison Leaverton

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  10. I will be following the Walt Disney Company DIS

    Walt Disney owns ABC and ESPN and I am interested in following their stock and see if any changes arise during and following the college football season
    Spencer Rogers

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  11. General Electric Company (GE)

    General Electric owns NBC, Universal, and Telemundo. I'm excited to watch how trends with Telemundo particularly. With an increasing spanish-speaking population in the US, I feel like this has to make a big impact on the success of GE in the long run. I would also love to work with either NBC or Telemundo.

    Heather Harrison

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  13. I am interested in following Dreamworks Animation SKG, inc. (DWA). I love most of their films and am very much interested in working in the movie industry some day so I thought they would be great to follow and learn about.

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  14. Belo Corp. (BLC)

    Belo Corp. carries multiple cable channels I watch. Some of which are from my home town (WFAA). I am excited to follow Belo to see how my imaginary one thousand dollars progresses!

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  15. Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG)

    I am interested in following WMG because of the changing music culture. From vinyls to digital downloads, WMG has a foot in every aspect of selling, marketing and licensing of recorded music, so I am curious to see how WMG plans to keep their head in the game while illegal downloading is on the rise.

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  16. I am interested in following Verizon considering their "boom" recently into the communications industry. After buying out Cingular/Alltel, it became one of the biggest wireless service providers, now constantly competing with AT&T.

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  17. Adobe Systems Incorporated (ADBE)

    I am interested in following Adobe because they continue to provide diverse software for creative professionals and consumers. Also, I enjoy using their creative suite products. As Adobe develops new and better software like CS5, hopefully their stocks will increase as well.

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  18. Comcast Corporation (CMCSA)

    They own a wide range of television stations which appeal to younger generations and I am interested in how they perform in the upcoming months.

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  19. Entercom Communications Corporation (ETM)

    I want to follow Entercom because I work in the radio industry and would like to continue. I'm interested in following a major Radio business, and seeing how financial side of the industry.

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  20. Google Inc. (GOOG)

    I chose this company because I use Google and YouTube everyday. They are a forward moving company and even though we disagree on the issue of Net neutrality I feel they are an important company to research and be aware of.

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  21. Netflix Inc. (NFLX)

    Netflix revolutionized how DVD and Blue-Ray rentals are handled. They even caused Blockbuster one of the biggest movie rental businesses in America to readjust in order to stay competitive.

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  22. I will be following Cablevision Systems Corporation (CVC) mostly for their ownership in Rainbow Media who operates AMC, IFC, and the Sundance Channel. I appreciate their support in independent film making.

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  23. New York Times
    I will be following the New York Times throughout the semester. I think this is such a large company I will be excited to see all the changes.

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  24. A&E Television Networks. (A&E)
    I want to be working in Television and I think this would be a great way to get some perspective and possibly an internship

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  25. Discovery Communications Inc. (DCI)
    I am interested in discovery channel, travel channel, and animal planet because I hope to film or work in documentary film. I hope to learn more about Discovery.

    Amanda Aguirre

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  26. Activision Blizzard Inc (ATVI)

    Activision makes many successful video games. I play many of them. I want to discover how the video game industry is orgnanized. They also have some upcoming releases and games in development that would be interesting to learn about.

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  28. Avid Technology, Inc.
    (AVID)

    I mainly want to follow this company because they are they parent company to Digidesign, the company that produces ProTools. Being into music and music production, this company is an interesting one to follow.

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  29. Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc.
    (SNI)
    I think that it would be interesting to follow this company because I'm an avid watcher of DIY. It will be interesting to see how the company does over the next couple of months.

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  30. News Corporation (NWS)

    News Corp has alot: filmed entertainment; television; cable network programming; direct broadcast satellite television; integrated marketing services; newspapers and information services, and book publishing. I also really enjoy Fox Cable Networks (owned by News Corp) as they own FX and Fuel TV.

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  31. I am going to choose Sideways Productions. Sideways is one of the largest productions companies in the wakeboard/wakeskate industry, including in their films all of the biggest names in the sport.

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  32. Reed Elsevier (RUK)

    Owner of Lexis Nexus. I want to see the stock progression of a pure information provider.

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  33. AT&T Inc. (ATT)

    I am interested to see how this popular company does throughout the semester as competition with other companies grows.

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  34. I am going to follow McGraw-Hill Companies because they are a highly-known media owner whose main business involves education.

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  35. I am going to follow Gray Television, Inc. (GTN)

    I am interested in learning more about this company and to see how it progresses throughout the semester.

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  37. I am going to follow Canon, Inc. (CAJ). I want to be a photographer, and since I already invest so much in their equipment, I thought it would be fun to "invest" in their stock as well!

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  38. I'm going to follow Sinclair Broadcasting.

    My mother is a broadcast engineer for Belo and I know a lot about that company and the ABC affiliate, but I do not know really anything about their competitors.

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  39. I will be following Virgin Media, Inc (VMED). Virgin media is primarly a British media service provider with television, mobile,telephone, and broadband internet service to subscribers. As one of the largest media service providers I'm interested to see how this company holds in the market.

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  40. I will be following Emmis Communications because they seem to be a widespread company with businesses in many different areas, they also seem to be well managed.
    -Chris Harris

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