stlplaceLast Updated on January 26, 2007 by stlplace
Zhao Huan Yan, a Chinese blogger, has an excellent blog about the developments of hotels and motels in China. He put together lots of statistics (numbers) there. The Alexa ranking of hotels is interesting. Again don’t take this too seriously.
Unfortunately (or fortunately for me), it’s all in Chinese.
Last Updated on January 27, 2007 by stlplace
It’s about $44 now. Today IBD published an article about Home Inns. The author’s view is a little too optimistic: as I understand serious domestic competitor includes motel168, besides the Jinjiang Inn. I noticed Jinjiang Inn also offers free broad band Internet now, as this was a key differentiator for Home Inn/Ru Jia in the past. Super 8, the US motel Chain, is also expanding very aggressively in China.
Last Updated on January 25, 2007 by stlplace
Did a little adjustment on my portifolio today. Sold 30 shares of Heelys (HLYS) and bought 22 shares of Crocs (CROX). I saw the new product release from Crocs today.
“…the Off Road and All Terrain models in the spring and fall of 2007. The Off Road (MSRP: $39.99) is a rugged outdoor shoe with additional traction and is currently available in women’s sizes (6-12) and men’s sizes (4-13). The model is available in seven color combinations, including chocolate/chocolate and sienna/khaki, new to the shoe’s 2007 color palette. The All Terrain (MSRP: $59.99) is a weatherproof shoe for all-condition performance and stability. The shoe is available in women’s sizes (6-12) and men’s sizes (4-13) in five colors, including the new 2007 color combination of black/black…”
Last Updated on January 24, 2007 by stlplace
It seems not very intuitive that Focus Media (FMCN), a LCD media advertising company, has done better than Baidu (BIDU), the No. 1 search engine in China. After all , putting up the LCD screen, soliciting the advertising customers, and creating those short films are not high tech as “search engine”, which involves creating a large number of clustered computer, and complicated search algorithm. But this is the reality, Focus Media (FMCN), closed above $80 today amid the new offering of $500 m, the PE (ttm) is about 76, market capital 4.4 B. Since its debut in July 2005 (at 20s), it’s up about 300%.
How about Baidu (BIDU), it debuted on August 2005 at about $120, and it closed at $124.50 today. Here is the chart. The PE is about 165 and market capital 4.2 B.
Last Updated on January 24, 2007 by stlplace
I published an article about Home Inns HMIN on Seekingalpha (Yahoo Finance) today. This was loosely based on my previous post in this blog on Jan 3.
Seekingalpha is a financial (stocks in particular) blog platform, and it’s a Yahoo Finance partner.
Last Updated on January 23, 2007 by stlplace
There are lots of talk about the Starbucks store in Forbidden City in Beijing these days. It started in Chinese demestic media, and now it speads all over the world (tonight I saw it on BBC). I happened to take a picture of that Starbucks store during my 2005 visit to Beijing. Personally I also felt it’s in appropriate to have a Starbucks inside the forbidden city. I think they can move the store outside.
Last Updated on January 24, 2007 by stlplace
Yes. It’s up and running now. Here is the link. I don’t know exactly how new IPOs got the message board started. It usually takse many requests, and lots of patience.
Oh, don’t take the discussions (especially the price target) too seriously. Because if you believe it and trade accordingly, you may regret later. That being said, I did see some intelligent analyses on the message boards from time to time. But a lot more emotional rants too. You are warned.
No message board for New Oriental (EDU) yet. The funny thing is that Mindray (MR) board was inherited from Morgan Food (used to have ticker symbol MR), and the board works 50% of the time. No wonder Yahoo stock did not do well lately 🙂
Last Updated on January 27, 2007 by stlplace
Wang Jianshuo, the famous (yet low profile) blogger in Shanghai, wrote an excellent series about living cost in Shanghai.
Last Updated on January 23, 2007 by stlplace
SNDA (Shanda): Feb 12
BIDU (Baidu): Feb 14
NCTY(the9): Feb 14
Note Feb 18 is the Chinese New Year.
Last Updated on January 23, 2007 by stlplace
Fruit of the Loom, a whole owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway (Buffett’s company), bought the intimate apparel business from VF corp. Here is the deal.
