Filed under: Business, World wide web, Utilities

meOwns is a site designed to grant you to showcase the stuff you own. You can list items that you actually own, or items that you would like to own on the site and add photos to those lists so people can see what you’re talking about. The lists you create on meOwns can then be put into a widget that you can embed on your website or MySpace profile, or you can add a Facebook widget to display your items for your Facebook friends.

According to the site, the idea is is to bring people together through “the one thing that connects us all - the yearn to own!” While we’re not so sure any normal person anyone would want to upload all the stuff they own to the site, the site could have some use in getting rid of the stuff you already own and don’t want anymore. The widget could be an easy way to showcase your old movies, CDs, computer monitors, clothing, etc. for your friends, and mention things that they might own you’d be interested in taking off their hands in exchange.

One large downside is that right now the site requires you to upload pics from your computer for each item you add. It would be nice to see them add automatic photos for things like DVDs and CDs that are going to always look the same so you don’t have to upload a new picture for each individual item which gets annoying pretty quickly particularly if you have that crazy “yearn to own” they were talking about.

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Filed under: Deals, Good news, Options, Technical Analysis

OptionsXpress (NASDAQ: OXPS) shares are trading higher this day after the company announced it will acquire Open E Cry LLC for $18 million in cash and stock. Open E Cry is a high-volume futures broker. If you think that the stock won’t fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on OXPS.

After hitting a one-year high of $34.95 in December, the stock hit a one-year low of $18.55 in March. OXPS opened this morning at $22.57. So far this day the stock has hit a low of $22.52 and a high of $23.46. As of 12:15, OXPS is trading at $23.19, up $0.62 (2.7%). The chart for OXPS looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a bullish 4 Stars (out of 5) Purchase rating.

For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would think about an August bull-put credit spread below the $20 range. A bull-put credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of put options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we’ll make a 9.9% return in just two months as long as OXPS is above $20 at August expiration. OXPS would have to fall by more than 14% before we would begin to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

OXPS hasn’t been below $20 for more than a few days in the past year and has shown support around $60 recently. This trade could be risky if the company’s earnings (due out in mid-July) disappoint, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the support the stock might find just below $20, where it bottomed out twice this spring.

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 may include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in OXPS.

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Filed under: Deals, Products and services, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), Anheuser-Busch Cos (BUD)

This Bud might not be for Anheuser-Busch Cos. (NYSE: BUD) for much longer.

InBev, the Belgian mega brewer, has told the King of Beers that it won’t wait forever for it to make up its mind about whether to accept its unsolicited $46.3 billion offer. In the third and probably not the last letter to Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV, InBev CEO Carlos Brito points out that his company’s offer, which represents an 18% premium on its all-time high in 2002, is a generous one.

“The market reaction to our proposal has been extremely positive,” Brito writes. “We believe this confirms our view that our proposal is the best way to achieve this transformational combination for all constituents.”

InBev has already lined up financing for its $65 per share offer and has even paid about $50 million in commitment fees to its bankers. Budweiser’s long-time headquarters in St. Louis will be maintained as will its senior management team. It does not get any superior than this for a company about to be acquired.

The Busch family, though, reportedly is divided about the InBev offer. Andrew Busch, an uncle of the CEO, has urged the company to remain independent, while Adolfus Busch, another uncle, has urged Anheuser-Busch to take the offer. The company continues to study the proposal, which the Busch family lacks enough stock to block on its own.

There’s no doubt that CEO August Busch, who has recently unloaded shares, is also seeking the advice of another “uncle,” Warren Buffett. His Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) has been one of Anheuser-Busch’s biggest shareholders for years.

Like beer drinkers, stock holders would rather to see things bubbly rather than flat. If the company does not take InBev’s offer, Anheuser-Busch’s stockholders will be emptier than a keg after a college fraternity party.

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Filed under: Deals, Rumors, Management, Circuit City Stores (CC)

Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) is sitting on the brink of a buyout. The question is who, and how much. The deal with Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) is still very possible, but investor Mark Wattles of Wattles Capital Management has said to anticipate a deal within four weeks regardless. With Circuit City shares almost the bottom — closing yesterday at $4.35 — some entity needs to swoop in and just offer cash for the company. As in, now.

It’s a foregone conclusion that Circuit City can’t compete with other national consumer electronics retailers. The access to its prime real estate locations would be a main reason for the chain to be bought up at such a fire sale price. Wattles said Blockbuster and two unnamed private equity firms are most likely the three finalists ready to step up and buy Circuit City.

While all this “due diligence” is going on for buying a retailer at such a low price, shareholders are getting antsy with good reason. It’s hard to imagine any shareholder making out on Circuit City stock — including Wattles who stands to lose a good chunk of change unless the shares rebound. Circuit City’s largest investor, HBK Investments (a 9% stake), probably needs to have a deal done as soon as possible with a sweet premium to the current share price. Who could blame them?

Regardless of who purchases Circuit City, this is a company that needs to return shareholder equity back to its shareholders and just fold up and go away. It’s not going to get any better.

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Filed under: Before the bell, Earnings reports, Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Deals, Apple Inc (AAPL), Ford Motor (F), Boeing Co (BA), Darden Restaurants (DRI), Research in Motion (RIMM), NIKE, Inc’B’ (NKE), Oracle Corp (ORCL)

Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of data, Fed

Reporting this day are the agrichemicals firm Monsanto (NYSE: MON) — AP Preview, and after the close, software giant Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Nike (NYSE: NKE).

Reported Tuesday:

• Jabil Circuit (NYSE: JBL) shares are up nearly 11% in premarket trading after the company reported its profit soared as revenue grew and costs declined, topping third-quarter earnings estimates. Merrill Lynch upgraded Jabil from Neutral to Purchase.
• Red Lobster operator Darden Restaurants (NYSE: DRI) shares are up 1.9% in premarket trading after it also topped quarterly earnings estimates, postinga higher quarterly profit, boosted by the Olive Garden chain, and lower costs that helped raise operating profit at its Red Lobster chain.
• 3COM (NASDAQ: COMS) shares also rose over 6% in after-hours trading after it posted higher than expected revenue.

Meanwhile Pier 1 Imports (NYSE: PIR) shares were also nearly 5% higher in after-hours trading Tuesday after the retailer stated it abandoned plans to take over rival home furnishings retailer Cost Plus (NASDAQ: CPWM) for $88 million.

It’s no wonder that after Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)’s iPhone success in the consumer market and its own attempt to enter the business segment of customers, that Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) would do the reverse and try to enter the consumer segment. But WSJ’s Heard on the Street writer thinks there are lots of issues to be worried about, not in the least is competition from the iPhone.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) was downgraded by Goldman Sachs from Neutral to Sell and the price target cut from $88 to $60. The analyst said the weak economy and spiking fuel costs will affect Boeing and added it to the Conviction Sell list. Boeing shares are down over 3% in premarket trading.

It has been a few days since we’ve heard of more layoffs at automakers, hasn’t it? Well, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F)’s Volvo stated Wednesday it had given layoff notices to 1,200 workers in Sweden following a $151 million first-quarter loss on declining U.S. sales.

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Filed under: Deals, Economic data, Barclays plc ADS (BCS)

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) become the most recent bank to raise billions of dollars, bring in $8.8 billion from investors including the sovereign funds in Qatar and Singapore.

“Through our capital raising … we strengthen our capital base and give ourselves additional resources to pursue our strategy of growth through earnings diversification,” Barclays Chief Executive John Varley stated, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That is a nice way to state the bank was running out of money.

The news says more about the future than it does the past. A bank as massive as Barclays would not raise such a big sum if it believed the credit crisis was largely over. The firm clearly expects more fall-out from mortgage-related paper and LBO loans. Why else dilute the shareholders?

At least the fact that huge funds were still put money into banks is good news.

If the tea leaves from the bank’s actions are correct, the thought among many Wall St. analysts that the financial crisis will extend into next year is right.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

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Filed under: Deals, Amazon.com (AMZN)

Speak to anyone about what little technology company has a chance at being the Next Huge Thing in social media, and chances are you’ll hear the name “Twitter.” Everyone’s twittering about Twitter, even my mom knows all about it. News of the platform’s $15 million funding round has been making the rumor rounds for over a month,

This day the rumors were confirmed with news of the funding on the Twitter blog, and a new nugget: Jeffrey Bezos of Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is one of the funders, through his personal investment company, Bezos Expeditions. The company didn’t confirm the size of the round (or so much of a whisper of the company’s valuation), but said they would spend the money on the always-aching infrastructure and reliability.

As my favorite media analysis guy Marshall Kirkpatrick says, “As founders are concerned, Bezos could be called Mr. Scalability - making this an awesome partnership to tackle Twitter’s biggest obstacle.” It might not prove great things for Twitter’s one-day IPO; Bezos certainly hasn’t proven to be a brilliant generator of shareholder value — but for this day, it’s proof that the great idea has a lot of legs.

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