A Fool Looks Back

Rick Aristotle Munarriz, The Motley Fool
Updated

Why does everybody have such an itchy trigger finger these days?

  • Baidu (NAS: BIDU) killed its microblogging Baidu Shuoba site this week, just a year after it launched the initially successful clone of SINA Weibo.

  • Hewlett-Packard (NYS: HPQ) rolls out the first tablet built on its proprietary webOS platform, and this week it slashes its price by as much as 20%.

  • At least Wal-Mart (NYS: WMT) waited eight years before realizing that it wanted to stop selling MP3s, but even that decision seems rushed. Legal music downloads are more popular than ever, and the last thing Wal-Mart needs is for digitally savvy customers to be flocking to rival websites.

We live in hasty times, but can't we sometimes wait a little longer before making a vital decision?

The market obviously disagrees with me. The Dow lost, gained, lost, and gained at least 400 points in each of the first four trading days this week.

Patience, Corporate America. Patience, fellow investors.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

  • All of the major U.S. banks closed below book value on Wednesday. Is this a screaming value, or are gun-shy investors no longer trusting book value as a metric with the banking giants?

  • Youku.com (NAS: YOKU) posted better-than-expected results, but China's leading video-streaming website is still losing money.

  • Shares of SodaStream (NAS: SODA) were crushed like an aluminum can after the water carbonator posted strong second-quarter financials but failed to raise its guidance. Investors get nervous about near-term performance when a beat isn't accompanies by a rosier forecast.

  • Activision Blizzard (NAS: ATVI) is teaming up with GameStop (NYS: GME) for a creative promotion. Gamers who pre-order Activision's upcoming Prototype 2 this month will be able to enter a contest where the winner will be turned into a character in the game. Tron incarnate?

Until next week, I remain,

Rick Munarriz

At the time thisarticle was published The Motley Fool owns shares of Activision Blizzard, GameStop, and Wal-Mart and has written calls on Activision Blizzard. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Wal-Mart, Activision Blizzard, SodaStream, SINA, and Baidu; writing covered calls on GameStop; creating a diagonal call position on Wal-Mart; and creating a synthetic long position in Activision Blizzard. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors.Longtime Fool contributorRick Munarrizrecommends windshield wiper fluid when trying to look back. He owns no shares in any of the stocks in this story and is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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