7 companies on the ropes in 2012

[KansDem]

1. Research In Motion
2. Barnes & Noble
3. Rite Aid
4. Eastman Kodak
5. Netflix
6. Sears
7. Zagg

http://money.msn.com/investment-advice/7-companies-on-the-ropes-in-2012

B&N just took over my Borders Bucks and I was thinking about opening an account with Netflix

[MisterP]

1. BN isn't run by boobs like Borders was

[girl gone mad]

4. No.

It's run by an entirely different group of boobs.

[MisterP]

10. bada-bump

what I really meant was that Borders was sunk by a perpetual cycle of extremely poor decisions, both at the store and the corporate-finance level. BN seems to know more of what goes into a business, even with the

perhaps I should've called Borders execs "methheads." I was a peón there myself: my reward for membership salesmanship was a yellow piece of paper with a hand-drawn "you're a rock star!" on it that they obviously drew on the freeway en route...

[Quantess]

2. Netflix is in trouble?

I thoought they had booming business.

[cyglet]

3. Not since their brilliant decisions

to hike up prices and try to discontinue DVD mailings. I think everyone went to Redbox.

[KansDem]

5. From Money MSN

Netflix

We all loved Netflix (NFLX) when it freed us from the tyranny of Blockbuster's late fees with a simple DVD-by-mail service. But the love affair is fading. As viewers turn to online streaming video, the red envelopes and DVDs seem quaint -- or worse.... More

Netflix, of course, offers a quality online video service. But the paradigm shift to streaming video is going to be rough on this company in 2012, for two reasons.

First, the change exposes Netflix to a lot more competitors -- from Amazon.com (AMZN), Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG), to sites like Hulu and Vudu, says James Angel, a professor of finance at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business. Amazon Prime, for example, offers streaming video (not to mention quicker shipping on retail items) for just $79 a year, which is less than Netflix. Netflix customers, still miffed by a surprise price hike made and then rescinded during 2011, are all too happy to convert. Cable companies, meanwhile, are beefing up their video-on-demand offerings.

The other big challenge for 2012 is that the shift to streaming video will make content a lot more expensive for Netflix. With DVDs, Netfix had a great deal. It had to pay only for the discs, then rent them as often as possible without paying any extra revenue to movie studios and TV networks. Now it's payback time. Streaming means content providers can negotiate higher prices by playing competitors against each other, says Michael Corty of Morningstar. "We see a greater portion of the economic profits shifting to the content owners," he says.

Netflix says it will see plenty of growth from international expansion. But it will come at a huge cost in infrastructure, and analysts aren't convinced it will pay off. Ominously, Netflix recently ambushed investors by announcing an expected loss for all of 2012, instead of just the first half. That could foretell even worse news for Netflix in the coming year.



Maybe if I open an account, it'll save them!

[dawg]

23. I don't think Netflix is in trouble.

They have the biggest customer base and largest library of any streaming service. Why would a larger corporation try to compete with that when it would probably be cheaper to just buy them out?

[RZM]

6. I'd be surprised if Netflix went under

I'll bet they keep going for some time.

[bigwillq]

8. I like Netflix

but would rather go to a video store. Too bad there are not many left.

[RZM]

12. I like Netflix too

We used to have the Blockbuster DVD service, but it was way inferior to Netflix. Much slower, more wait times, and more annoying rules. We got rid of it.

[one_voice]

24. I love Netflix...

my brother used the online Blockbuster he didn't like it...he does like Netflix.

I noticed that they are putting more new releases on their instant streaming.

[Codeine]

14. Video stores have a few thousand dvds.

Netflix has hundreds and hundreds of thousands. My local stores didn't carry a comprehensive range of documentaries and foreign films. I couldn't use them to stream a Korean crime drama on a sudden whim.

But they always had 80 copies of the latest Big Idiot Explosion Film by Michael Bay. . .

[bigwillq]

15. Video stores work for what I need them for.

I still enjoy going to them.

[cosmic _mind]

17. "Big Idiot Explosion Film"

Will someone please make a film with this title? I want to see it immediately!
Actually, "A Korean Crime Drama on a Sudden Whim" sounds good too. Hmm...

[SharonAnn]

25. I'd rather use Netflix. They have what I want. Most video stores have only the latest shoot-em-up

[Lydia Leftcoast]

29. Redbox has nothing but recent American films, most of which I chose not to see

Most of my rentals are either foreign or older TV shows

[elleng]

7. You can open an account with them; just don't buy their shares!!!

[Lisa D]

9. Oh, no! I love Netflix instant streaming.

Hope they can overcome their business blunder.

[FarPoint]

13. I don't believe Rite Aid is hurting.

Maybe I'll do some research tonight. I'm shocked.

[IcyPeas]

21. I wondered about Rite Aid too

are mail order pharmacies taking over I wonder?

[Angleae]

26. The ones around here are.

The few times I do go in, the store is completely void of customers.

[FarPoint]

27. Rite Aid owns Caremark

Thats the home care division of medical and pharmaceutical aspects which is huge nationwide ....I thought they were second to Walgreens who is first on the market. They provide home care infusion of high dollar drugs like Gammaguard IVIG, Remivade, Tysarbi, and all the IV antibiotics and chemotherapy .....

[Renew Deal]

16. I'm not convinced that RIM is going anywhere.

Don't know about the rest.

[Codeine]

18. Their more recent phone models have been uniformly horrible.

I went from being a total Blackberry partisan to buying an iPhone after handling their current models. Just awful.

[mwooldri]

19. Hardware and software that isn't keeping up with ios or android...

... plus bungles with services breaking down.

RIM is a prime takeover target. If Microsoft has the cash and the want to buy RIM, I bet they could mount a successful takeover bid.

[Odin2005]

20. B&N??? NOOOOOO!!! Please god no!!!

[cbdo2007]

22. Not a chance that Netflix is "on the ropes".

Sure they made a really big, bad decision with splitting the company and all that hulabaloo...but they're still doing just fine. The stock was way, way, way overpriced all year so it wasn't a surpise at all for it to come crashing down.

[Stinky The Clown]

28. Apple is a player in quite a few of these markets

Blackberry vs iOs - odds to Apple
Actual books/Nook vs iBooks - odds to Apple, selling books on iTunes
RiteAid vs ???? - odds to RiteAid
Eastman Kodak vs any digital camera - odds to any digital camera
Netflix vs Apple TV - odds to Apple
Sears vs ???? - odds to ????
Zagg vs Apple/Samsung/HTC/etc. - odds to every manufacturer who can kill Zagg by making the stuff themselves

[Sugarcoated]

30. If B&N goes under

I'd like to know what's going to happen with my Nook ereader?