• A large run of holiday sales offerings crashed the Ebay (NASDAQ:EBAY) website, causing a major weekend web outage

• Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) reported better-than-expected earnings of 28 cents a share, beating Zacks estimates by 2 cents, on revenues of $7.2 billion, which exceeded Zacks estimates of $6.85 billion

• India’s Reliance Industries bid $12 billion in cash for Lyondell Bassell when it exits bankruptcy

• Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is reportedly in discussions with News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA) to "de-index" the firm's news websites from Google (NASDAQ:GOOG)

• Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) announced plans to more than double the number of its bottling plants in China over the next ten years as part of its goal to triple sales to the country

• Hershey (NYSE:HSY) trust encouraged the firm to counter Kraft's (NYSE:KFT) hostile, $16.2 billion bid with its own, $17 billion offer

• According to S&P most US banks are failing to meet adequacy standards comfortably enough to avoid ratings downgrades. Both HSBC (NYSE:HBC) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) showed stronger-than-average balance sheets, with UBS (NYSE:UBS) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) well below average

Zacks Investment Research

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) recently posted October net sales of $5.68 billion, a 7% increase over last year's $5.30 billion. Comparable sales spiked 5% year-over-year.

Company Description

Costco Wholesale Corporation operates an international chain of membership warehouses, mainly under the "Costco Wholesale" name. The company currently operates 562 warehouses, including 409 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 77 in Canada, 21 in the United Kingdom, 7 in Korea, 6 in Taiwan, 9 in Japan, 32 in Mexico and 1 in Australia. Costco also operates Costco Online at www.costco.com and at www.costco.ca in Canada. The company plans to open an additional five new warehouses (including the relocation of one warehouse to a larger and better-located facility), prior to the end of calendar 2009.

Recent Events

In recent news, it was reported that Costco will stop carrying Coke products due to a dispute over prices as the retail giant is trying to win over customers with low prices, while Coca-Cola Co. (KO) is working hard to maintain profits amid a recessionary environment.

Solid Sales

Costco recently posted October net sales of $5.68 billion, a 7% increase over last year's $5.30 billion. Comparable sales spiked 5% year-over-year.

Competitive Income

In early October, the company declared a quarterly dividend of 18 cents per share, which was paid out on November 6. The dividend translates into an industry-leading yield of 1.2%.

Bullish Forecasts

Analysts polled by Zacks are upbeat on earnings. For the fiscal year ending August 2010, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.87 per share was increased from $2.71 over the past 60 days. For the following year, Zacks analysts are calling for $3.22 per share, up from the 2 months-ago level of $3.00.

Zacks Investment Research

BloggingStocks: If you are hitting Costco Wholesale (COST) for your Monday Night Football party or Thanksgiving celebration, you won't be able to get those cases of Diet Coke. The warehouse-style retailer, which operates more than 550 locations, is no longer ... Read more

Warren Buffett is a real investment guru who earned his enormous assets by investing in capital markets and with strict adherence to certain rules which every investor knows but few respects. In fact Warren Buffett investing strategy may have for ordinary investors more negatives than positives and ultimately may lead to the desired profit.[More...]

Warrenn Buffett is a real investment guru who earned his enormous assets by investing in capital markets and with strict adherence to certain rules which every investor knows but few respects. In fact Warren Buffett investing strategy may have for ordinary investors more negatives than positives and ultimately may lead to the desired profit.

One of the reasons is the size of transactions and volume of funds which most investors have only dreamed of. Buffett can afford to invest billions of dollars, which his company Berkshire Hathaway has which allows him to buy his interest for shares in companies. At the same time it provides a better bargaining position when entering into the company for an interesting price.

Another related significant difference compared with the ordinary investor is that Buffett often buy shares to own that company (or at least significant part). As an example can be Coca Cola (KO), Wells Fargo (WFC), Procter and Gamble (PG), and last but not least mentioned Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), which make up the majority of its entire portfolio. He often buy preferred stocks selected companies that give quite an interesting advantage over ordinary investors.

It also reflects the basic principles of long-term investment horizon (and its strict compliance), buying stocks of well-established companies whose functioning well understood by the investor at a low price and limited diversification (with Berkshire Hathaway Buffett owns more than 40 titles from various sectors such as consumer goods, finance, energy, industry, health, etc.).

In recent years, the Buffett and his investment company quite significantly deviates from the established rules which brought him his fortune. The first problem is the purchase of shares of companies in terms of fundamental analysis do not meet his criteria of values and eventually some of them had to quickly get rid of. Examples can be expensive buying shares in recent years, like Anheuser Busch (BUD), Wrigley (WWY.BA), Conoco Philips COP) or two Irish banks, which recorded big losses.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment for many investors seeking to invest on the basis Buffett's rules is a relatively large amount of funds that are kept in derivative instruments. Buffett has always been known for his very negative attitude to derivatives. Even though he sold options with a value of 4 billion U.S. dollars. It is also a fairly risky naked put options.