March 1, 2010

I AM SO SORRY

First it was Tiger Woods, "I am so sorry" as he looked into the camera, apologizing for previous transgressions to a hand-picked crowd of friends. It seems to me that Tiger needs to deal with his demons privately and the circus that was his public appearance was obviously aimed at soothing temperamental sponsors who are itching to pull the plug on Tiger Inc. In fact, I believe Gatorade dumped Tiger within days of his made-for-TV guilt session. Then came Akio Toyoda, the heir and leader of the famed Toyota brand, who declared that "he was so sorry" for the tarnished image and fortunes of the car company that bears his family name (sort of) Toyota (TM). Toyoda said that a key reason for the quality issues at Toyota was the focus on profits at the company. A focus on profits at a car company? That is definitely not a US car company. I believe that Toyota the stock (TM) is beginning to look interesting. The headline news couldn't be worse. The stock is trading for about ½ of what it was three years ago. The stock is also trading at about its book value. They have gotten their "I am so sorry" presentation done in front of Congress and the American media and they may be able to get back to business. And business means being the largest car manufacturer in the world. GM is talking about doing a new IPO of shares, but sage investors may take a look at TM instead.