From Barron's 6-11-07: "Limited Brands has lately become even more limited -- but in a good way. The narrowing of its focus to two major retail brands should pay off for investors, even if the immediate outlook for sales growth is choppy amid signs of consumers' spending fatigue and a short-term bulge in inventories. The two chains that now drive the company -- Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works -- dominate their categories, enjoy impressive profit margins and are in niches with attractive long-term prospects. Shares of Limited Brands (LTD) also offer a play on a possible investor-friendly financial restructuring, an intriguing retail-services business and an implied call option on a handful of new store concepts."

From Barron's 6-11-07: "Time-share operators used to have a terrible reputation, with developers pushing shoddy resorts and high-pressure salesmen flogging properties as they plied potential buyers with margaritas. Then the regulators moved in, giving buyers the right to cancel purchases when the margaritas wore off. Today the business is booming and boasts double-digit annual growth for most of the past two decades. The biggest hospitality companies, from Marriott International (MAR) to Walt Disney (DIS), now sell time shares, but the largest player in the industry, and arguably the most obscure, is Parsippany, N.J.-based Wyndham Worldwide (WYN). Time shares account for 41% of Wyndham's cash flow, while a "vacation exchange," which gives 3.4 million "members" access to 60,000 properties in a hundred countries, contributes another 33%. Wyndham also franchises nearly 6,500 economy and mid-priced hotels, including Super 8, Days Inn, Travelodge and Howard Johnson. Those brands were part of scandal-bowed Cendant, which a year and a half ago bought the tonier Wyndham brand. Wyndham was spun out by Cendant last August, coming public at about 32 a share. It now trades for 35 and change and has a market value of $6.5 billion, though some fans are betting it's worth closer to 60 a share. "It's new, underappreciated and underfollowed," says Walter Scully, an analyst at Putnam Investments, which loaded up on Wyndham shares late last year."

From Barron's 6-11-07: "Shareholder activism is usually welcome, but not when the activists haven't done their homework. And in their present form, the suggestions made by a diverse group of Vodafone Group investors simply don't cut the mustard. Efficient Capital Structures, formed especially to push for a restructuring of Vodafone, is suggesting the U.K. mobile operator issue a tracking stock that would reflect the value of its 45% investment in Verizon Wireless. It also wants Vodafone, whose American depositary receipts trade on the Big Board under the ticker symbol VOD, to leverage its balance sheet via a bond issue and to seek shareholders' permission before making any large acquisitions. Spinning off the Verizon Wireless stake and issuing a tracking stock for it sounds good on paper. But it wouldn't be easy, simply because Vodafone doesn't control Verizon Wireless; Verizon Communications (ticker: VZ) owns the other 55% of the U.S. wireless outfit. A tracking stock normally is issued only when a parent company is in full control of a division. It's usually done with fast-growth divisions, allowing parent-company investors to assess their market value. AT&T issued one some years ago to track its wireless business. Genzyme did the same with its Celera Genomics unit."

From Barron's 6-11-07: "Pier 1 Imports' shares have declined for several years as customers snubbed its wicker chairs and scented candles, but one investment firm just spent about $8.2 million upping its stake of the home-furnishings retailer. In a June 7 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Elliot Associates disclosed that it and related funds Elliot International and Elliot International Capital Advisors collectively own a total of 5.9 million Pier 1 shares, or a 6.7% stake. The firm's latest purchases were made between April 12 and June 6 at about $7.48 per share. The company's stock has been hit as discount retailers like Target and Wal-Mart Stores began peddling similar wares. Pier 1 has taken several measures to reverse its losses, including an inventory makeover and the sale of its credit-card business to JP Morgan Chase for $155 million in 2006."