Sheetz puts the gas in gastronomy

On Route 322 in Ephrata, Pa., a new Sheetz location tempts drivers with popcorn chicken and fried pickles, 24 hours a day.

(Fortune)

And yet change is afoot. To find it, the best place to go is Altoona, Pa., the home of Sheetz, one of the largest and fastest-growing convenience-store operators in the country, with 440 outlets and annual revenues of $7 billion. The brash and sprawling Sheetz clan is at the leading edge of an effort to remake convenience stores into something tastier and more wholesome, built around prepared food rather than chips, gas, and cigarettes. One indication of the upgrade: Sheetz, the home of the shmuffin and the shmiscuit and the shmagel, was among five winners of the 2012 Golden Chain Award from Nation's Restaurant News, the first time a convenience store made the cut.

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Apple: What it's like to drown in cash

(Fortune)

Yet in the real world of early 2013, Apple looks both battered and confused. It is starring, so to speak, in two Wall Street movies that feature Bond-like suspense, with no certainty of happy endings. One movie turns on the convulsions in Apple's stock: the zoom in 2012 to $700 per share; the plunge within months to a range around $450; a wild dip in mid-April to -- wow! -- $385. Good theater, for sure (unless you happen to be a shareholder who bought a high-priced ticket to the show).

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Citigroup's new CEO is a banker. Imagine that.

Corbat, photographed in his office, is an incrementalist. "I'm not someone who throws myself out in front of things," he says.

(Fortune)

"I remember hearing kind of a gasp," says one of the attendees, Hans Morris, a former CFO of Citi's institutional and capital markets businesses. "He just won over the room."

Slowly and quietly, Michael Corbat is beginning to win over more than a room of alumni. Seven months into his tenure, Corbat, 53, is emerging as a fitting leader for a company trying to restore its tarnished reputation. He isn't flashy or nakedly ambitious. He's thoughtful rather than spontaneous. And he's an incrementalist, not a revolutionary, as we'll see from his strategy for Citi. "I'm not somebody who throws myself out in front of things," he says with a wry smile in a rare interview.

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Can UnitedHealth really fix the system?

Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2013 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones Indexes^SM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones Indexes^SM © 2013 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lockheed's secret weapon

Marillyn Hewson became Lockheed's CEO this year, just as her biggest client, the U.S. Department of Defense, became subject to forced budget cuts.

(Fortune)

Hewson's good nature belies a toughness developed during the course of a 30-year career at Lockheed Martin (No. 59 on the Fortune 500). "Don't ever underestimate or think that she doesn't have a backbone or position because she does," says Bruce Tanner, chief financial officer of Lockheed. The daughter of a longtime civilian employee of the Army, she worked in four of the company's five business units. Hewson, ranked No. 19 on Fortune's 2012 Most Powerful Women list, was tapped to become chief operating officer of the company, a gig she expected to be her last at Lockheed. Then the company's CEO-in-waiting, Christopher Kubasik, was forced to resign amid revelations that he'd had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. The company immediately elevated Hewson to the COO job, and less than 60 days later she became CEO, her 20th job at Lockheed. "Nineteen was a quick turn," she jokes.

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

The next oil boom

A Kurdish government soldier patrols near an oil refinery outside the city of Kirkuk, which is in a heavily disputed area.

(Fortune)

So it goes in Kurdistan: In one of the world's hottest oil booms, even the territory in which the exploration blocks sit, such as this Exxon Mobil site, is a matter of intense dispute. (And gasoline lines are possible on top of oilfields.) Ten years have passed since President George W. Bush's "shock and awe" bombs pummeled Baghdad and toppled Saddam Hussein. The long Iraq War is finally over, and the last American soldiers are gone. But a new battle is unfolding on the ground: the struggle for control over oil resources. American power this time is not military but corporate, with Fortune 500 companies like Exxon (No. 2) and Chevron (No. 3) acting as boots on the ground. Yet like the war, the contest could drastically reshape Iraq, and potentially blow it apart, by disturbing a precarious equilibrium that has lasted for more than 80 years and perhaps sparking a civil war.

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Inside the boardroom: The party is over!

Boards used to seek bigtime CEOs such as Jack Welch. Now? Asian American women with tech skills such as Clara Shih (right).

(Fortune)

Welcome to the world of a Fortune 500 director. It ain't what it used to be. The company described is real but doesn't want its board's routine disclosed for security reasons, which only begins to tell you how the director's world has changed. No one used to care when or where the board met -- or if it met at all. "Meetings, historically, long ago, were dog-and-pony shows," says Charles Elson, a director of HealthSouth, a former director of Sunbeam, AutoZone, and other companies, and chief of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Twenty years ago board service was the cushiest gig in corporate America. A morning of presentations by management followed by a long, liquid lunch, perhaps some cigars, and there you were. "It was a place for glory, for people who were already recognized," says a longtime board consultant.

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

BMC Software sold for $6.9 billion

BMC Software has had a bumpy year as an activist shareholder has tried to take the company private.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The struggling IT services and cloud computing company is being acquired by a consortium of private equity groups, including Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital, for $46.25 per share.

That represents just a measly 2% premium over Friday's closing price -- an unusually small markup and a sign of how badly BMC (BMC) has fallen behind larger competitors IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500).

"BMC believes the opportunity to become a private company will provide additional flexibility and position us to invest more strategically to drive powerful innovation and deliver cutting edge customer solutions," BMC CEO Bob Beauchamp said in a statement.

The move follows an effort begun last summer by hedge fund Elliott Management to push the software company into taking action. Elliott Management bought a 9.6% stake in the company and added two directors to the company's board.

The hedge fund applauded the sale, saying the offer price represents "a substantial premium to BMC's unaffected stock price." That price is hard to determine, but the private equity firms' offer is about 11% higher than BMC's share price on Sept. 28, 2012, the day before news reports first circulated that BMC would pursue a sale.

Related: Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway buying Heinz

The deal serves as yet another sign that the private equity industry is returning after a long hiatus that began during the Great Recession. In addition to BMC, other high profile PE deals include moves to take Heinz (HNZ, Fortune 500) and Dell (DELL, Fortune 500) private.

First Published: May 6, 2013: 10:46 AM ET

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Stocks: Will momentum stick?

Click the chart for more stock market data.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Stocks were little changed Monday, amid a lack of any market moving news. The Dow Jones industrial average was flat, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq edged slightly higher.

As trading resumes quietly on Wall Street, here are five things to watch:

Click here for more on stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities

1. New milestones: The S&P 500 crossed 1,600 for the first time last week, propelled higher by a better-than-expected April jobs report. The broad index hit a fresh-all time high above 1,618 Monday.

The Dow hit an all-time high above 15,000 last week, but has yet to close beyond the psychologically important level. With little news to spur investors into action, stocks may not maintain their robust momentum.

"I think investors got a little lift in their step from Friday's jobs report," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist for Janney Montgomery Scott. "[But] this week, we're almost absent anything newsworthy."

Related: Fortune 500's new No. 1: Wal-Mart

2. Apple, Cliffs up on analyst upgrades: Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) were on the rise Monday, making the stock among the biggest gainers in the Nasdaq-100. Apple was in favor after Barclays raised its share price target to $525 from $465. Shares are now up almost 20% from their 18-month low hit last month.

Shares of Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF, Fortune 500) rallied after FBR boosted the stock's rating to outperform.

3. Tyson Foods suffers sales slowdown: Tyson Food (TSN, Fortune 500)missed profit and revenue forecasts, citing a slowdown in chicken and beef sales following last year's historic drought. Shares sank more than 5%.

In other earnings news, private equity firm Apollo Global Management (APO) reported an increase in revenue and net income, sending shares up more than 2%.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) reported first-quarter earnings that blew past expectations. Shares gained ground.

Related: Fear & Greed Index: Extreme greed

4. Yen keeps falling: The yen continued to slide Monday, nearing ¥100 per U.S. dollar. The Japanese currency has dropped nearly 15% this year as the Bank of Japan aims to pull Japan out of the deflationary spiral it's been in for nearly two decades.

Japan's new economic plan, dubbed "Abenomics" after Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe, combines massive fiscal stimulus with aggressive monetary easing.

5. World markets flat in holiday-thinned trading: European markets were barely moving. Asian markets closed higher on the upbeat U.S. employment report. Exchanges in London and Tokyo were closed for holidays.

First Published: May 6, 2013: 10:02 AM ET

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pfizer to start selling Viagra online

Pfizer is now selling Viagra directly to consumers online.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

The company said that online pharmacies have proliferated in recent years to meet consumer demand for all manner of medication, but that most of these sites are not legitimate.

Viagra is Pfizer's most counterfeited product. A 2011 study conducted by the company found that 80% of the top 22 sites that came up most often in search results for the phrase "buy Viagra" were selling counterfeit pills. The counterfeit pills have only a fraction of the active ingredients advertised.

The new site, Viagra.com, will direct consumers to a site run by CVS (CVS, Fortune 500) pharmacy. Customers must have a prescription to order from the site, and insurance coverage can be used to lower the price of the pills.

Pfizer said the cost of Viagra depends on the strength of the drug and the quantity ordered, and will be set by CVS. The wholesale cost for the 100 mg tablets is $22 a pill. The site is offering customers three free pills with their first order, and 30% off their second order.

This is the first time a major drugmaker is moving into online sales rather than simply selling through drug wholesalers and pharmacies. Pfizer said it will consider expanding online sales to other products in the future.

"We're going to learn from this and see where we go from there," said spokeswoman Jennifer Kokell.

Related: Most counterfeited goods

Pfizer reported $2.05 billion in Viagra sales in 2012, according to the company's financial filings. But that represents only 3.5% of the company's total revenue and makes Viagra only it's sixth best selling drug. Its patent protections for use of the drug to treat erectile dysfunction runs through 2020.

Shares of Pfizer (PFE, Fortune 500) were lower in early trading Monday.

First Published: May 6, 2013: 10:24 AM ET

23.10 | 0 komentar | Read More