Filed under: Business, Fun, World wide web, Web services

BooRah searches the internet for mentions of restaurants in blogs and websites and analyzes the languages in the post to determine whether the reviewer was giving the restaurant a thumbs down (boo) or a thumbs up (Rah). The amount of Boo’s and Rah’s a restaurant gets are tallied up on the site and then the restaurant is given an overall score. BooRah users can add their own tags to a particular restaurants page, and can weigh in by giving a particular place a Boo or Rah directly on the site.

Currently the service is limited to just 20 huge metro areas, with more expected to be rolled out later on. If you’re fortunate enough to live in one of those areas you can search for restaurants by your particular neighborhood, and sign up for an RSS feed for your area so you always know about the latest place in town.

[via EmilyChang]

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Filed under: Deals, Bad news, Industry, Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Verizon Communications (VZ), Options, Technical Analysis

Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) shares are falling after competitor Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) announced it will collaborate with Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) to form a $14.55 billion communications company. The new company will be named Clearwire, and will establish a mobile network based on the emerging WiMAX standard, which VZ has declined to adopt. If you think this stock won’t be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on VZ.

After hitting a one-year high of $46.24 in October, the stock hit a one-year low of $33.00 in March. This morning, VZ opened at $38.47. So far this day the stock has hit a low of $38.09 and a high of $38.72. As of 12:10, VZ is trading at $38.67, down $0.22 (-0.6%). The chart for VZlooks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) purchase rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would think about a July bear-call credit spread above the $42.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the buy and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 8.7% return in ten weeks as long as VZ is below $42.50 at July expiration. Verizon would have to rise by more than 9% before we would begin to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

VZ hasn’t been above $42.50 since January and has shown resistance around $40 recently. This trade could be risky if the US economy stages a recovery in the next few months, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance VZ might find at its 200 day moving average, which is currently around $41 and falling.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.

DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that might include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in VZ, S, or CLWR.

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Filed under: Deals

The strange saga of the Trans World Entertainment (NASDAQ: TWMC) takeover battle that wasn’t is getting even stranger.

In a press release issued last night, the company announced that
“Robert J. Higgins
, its CEO and largest shareholder, has withdrawn his preliminary proposal to acquire the Company, which proposal was first announced in November 2007.”

But wait: shortly after Higgins’ $5 per share “preliminary offer,” Sherwood Investments put out a press release announcing it would be willing to pay $7 per share but that “this offer may be increased as a result of the information obtained from the due diligence process.” In an earlier post, I questioned the legitimacy of the offer, and we never really heard much more about it.

In the press release issued last night, Trans World added “that there are no other pending proposals by management and/or any third parties to acquire the Company at this time.”

So whatever happened to the Sherwood offer?

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Filed under: Deals, Good news, Industry, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Electronic Arts (ERTS)

Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) announced that its ultra-violent game Grand Theft Auto IV took in $500 million in sales in its first week. According to The New York Times “The report exceeded the sales expectations of analysts.” It would mean that the company pushed out six million copies.” As it turned out, estimates were right on the ball.

The market will say that the numbers will make it harder for larger video-game publisher Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) to take over Take-Two. The offer sits at $25.74. The stock trades about $1 less than that.

The problem with Wall Street’s view of the offer from EA is that it is not unlike Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)’s bid for Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). The board at the portal might have viewed it as undervalued, but there are no other buyers. The bid went away and Yahoo!’s shares fell. If EA walks, TTWO shares drop.

Take-Two will tell the world that the Grand Theft Auto IV numbers warrant a higher offer from EA. If the more massive company has any sense, it will walk away. That would move TTWO shares back to $17 where they traded before the offer. Management at the smaller company will look like a fool.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com and author of the Ten Stocks Under $10 letter.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Deals, Google (GOOG), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Intel (INTC), Market matters, Walt Disney (DIS), Sprint Nextel Corp (S), Comcast Cl’A’ (CMCSA), Economic data, Time Warner Cable (TWC), Oil, Housing

U.S. stock futures were lower early Wednesday as investors, worried about inflation, await data on pending home sales and labor costs. Earnings news in focus this morning comes from tech bellwether Cisco Systems, which gave a cautious outlook, and from Walt Disney, which reported good results.

After that, weekly crude inventories are scheduled to be reported. Crude futures have held up near $122 a barrel despite the dollar advancing against the yen and the euro.

There are many companies in focus this morning too. Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) reported sales and earnings that exceeded analysts’ expectations after the close Monday, but gave a sales guidance that was somewhat conservative.

Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) also reported quarterly results after the market close Tuesday that also beat expectations. Interestingly, it seems that of all companies, the entertainment giant isn’t getting hit by the economic slowdown as other companies do. Disney shares were up 2.3% in premarket trading.

And in deal news, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) announced Wednesday the formation of a joint venture for the high-speed wireless network WiMax to create a $14.55 billion communications company in which Sprint will hold a 51% stake. The new company, to be named Clearwire, will receive a $3.2 billion investment from Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and Brighthouse Networks. Sprint shares are up over 7.7% in premarket trading, CLWR nearly 14.5%.

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