AOL trading once again after 10 years, what a joke....

Discussion in 'Stocks' started by S2007S, Dec 10, 2009.

  1. S2007S

    S2007S

    This is just too funny, the company and stock are a joke.

    This company was done with the day they merged with time warner, not only that but who uses AOL anymore, they will NEVER have the same brand as they did when they were on top of their game in the late 90's. They have lost over 80% of their users in the last decade. This company will probably not exist in the next 5 years. Stay far away from this stock.


    Ahead of the Bell: Analysts pan AOL stock

    (AP) – 1 hour ago

    NEW YORK — AOL Inc. will start trading as an independent public company Thursday after nearly a decade with Time Warner Inc. — and some analysts are already panning the stock.

    The spinoff is likely to help boost Time Warner Inc., eliminating "a continual source of investor frustration" for the New York media conglomerate, BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey Logsdon said in a client note.

    AOL, meanwhile, has an uphill climb.

    "All of the company's segments are in decline," Merriman Curhan Ford's Richard Fetyko told investors in a note, initiating coverage with a "Sell" rating.

    He pointed out that AOL's long-declining dial-up subscriber base is likely to drag down visits to the company's Web sites. And that means fewer ad dollars — the revenue stream AOL is counting on for its second act.

    AOL has about 5.4 million Internet subscribers, down from a peak of 26.7 million in 2002.

    As that base continues to erode, it is looking to improve its Web sites and wring more advertising money from them.

    Benjamin Schachter, of Broadpoint AmTech, has doubts about the strategy. In a note Tuesday, he pointed to traffic declines over the past nine months at AOL's Internet properties.

    "If the new management team cannot fix user engagement," he said, "most of the other initiatives will not mean much." Schachter rates AOL "Neutral."

    AOL shares slipped 52 cents, or 2 percent, to $23.15 in premarket trading, while Time Warner edged up 16 cents to $29.38.
     
  2. S2007S

    S2007S

    Did anyone buy the IPO HAHAHAHAHA

    Anyone who thought AOL was going to become number one again was a complete idiot!



    AOL shares plunge to record low


    By Julianne Pepitone @CNNMoneyTech August 9, 2011: 5:08 PM ET
    AOL stock

    Click the chart for more on AOL stock.

    NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The past few days have been a sob story for stocks, and AOL needs even more tissues than most.

    Early Tuesday, AOL (AOL) reported a surprise loss of 11 cents a share for the second quarter. Revenue fell compared to last year and came in below Wall Street estimates.

    AOL shares plunged almost 26% Tuesday, ending at a fresh record low of $11.19 a share, even as the broader market rallied from Monday's steep sell-off. The stock fell as low as $10.31 earlier in the session.

    CEO Tim Armstrong tried to put a good spin on things, focusing on the company's global ad revenue growth. Global ad sales rose 5% in the quarter that ended June 30 -- the first overall gain in that area since 2008

    But that growth wasn't enough to offset AOL's declining revenue from its fading subscription business, which sells dial-up Internet access and other online services. AOL's total revenue came in at $542 million, down 8% from the same quarter last year.

    Investors and analysts focused on the display ad sector, which grew 14% compared to last year -- less than expected. International display revenue fell 10%, and search ad revenue also disappointed.

    Sluggishness in display ads has hit AOL's rivals, including Yahoo, but the lackluster AOL figures underscore the obstacles slowing down Armstrong's turnaround plan.

    AOL has been busy buying up companies and trying to shed its reputation as an outdated Internet portal. The splashiest purchase came earlier this year, when AOL unloaded 40% of its cash to buy The Huffington Post.

    Despite the reinvention efforts, investors continue to punish the stock. Shares are down almost 47% year-to-date, and last week they closed at what was then an all-time low.

    It's all a far cry from 2001, when then-powerhouse AOL took over Time Warner in 2001 for $111 billion. By late 2009 -- when Time Warner (TWX, Fortune 500) (the parent company of CNNMoney) spun off AOL and unwound what's now considered one of the worst mergers in history -- AOL was worth only $3 billion.

    By 2009, AOL's dial-up Internet subscriber base had dwindled, and it was merely an also-ran in Internet traffic and advertising -- behind competitors Google (GOOG, Fortune 500), Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) and Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500).

    Armstrong, a former Googler, took the AOL helm in March 2009. As he buys up smaller companies, he's also deciding what content still fits into his vision for the new AOL. The company has been investing in sites like Patch, AOL's hyperlocal blog network, while unloading services including instant messenger ICQ.

    Much of the company's success will hinge on the HuffPo buy, though Armstrong has insisted that the move was "not a Hail Mary" -- that the company has a focused, cemented plan.

    But judging by the stock performance, investors remain skeptical. To top of page
    First Published: August 9, 2011: 12:40 PM ET
     
  3. Why post this now? MANY stocks have hit their all-time lows lately given the current market volatility and huge record breaking swings. It's hardly a fair comparison to post something like this two years after the original discussion.