“Sometimes it's so difficult to tell what industry is "giving it up," what businesses are plummeting, and what executives may have been too weak to see things coming. In a video I did with the always excellent Debra Borchardt today, we were kicking around the preannouncement of Xerox (XRX) and the negative earnings surprise for Sony Ericsson and how much of the shortfalls were industry-related vs. execution. These are always subjective judgment, like a P/E is subjective, but to me Xerox is company-specific, a hobbled balance sheet and an executive team that has repeatedly failed to produce. Sure, the economy is a big factor, but a bigger factor is the endless miscues from the company itself. Sony-Ericsson also has struggled against some pretty voracious competitors, but here is one where I am more sanguine about the industry and would like to think that it is share-taking that's causing the problems, perhaps from a reinvigorated Nokia (NOK) and some other players making strides, perhaps LG and Apple's (AAPL) iPhone. I reached this conclusion because both Texas Instruments (TXN) and Qualcomm (QCOM) have been saying the right things about how inventories are depleted and orders are now more robust than they thought they would be. Often at this point in the cycle we are grading management's execution and wondering not only did they see it coming -- meaning they strengthened the balance sheet or laid off people ahead of time or cut inventories dramatically -- but have the toughness and the skill sets to manage during the worst downturn most people have ever seen in their lives. My take: Sony-Ericsson and Xerox don't have what it takes. Read nothing into them except that they simply can't shoot straight, and nothing more.”

From a recent Mad Money show:"I'm not going to go against Apple. There are a thousand Steve Jobs over at Apple and they're delivering product after product."

From a recent Mad Money show:"Why isn't this stock doing better? I'm not going to recommend it. I'm no technician but it doesn't have what it should have and should be doing better."

From a recent Mad Money show:"This is a tough one. I'm going to take a pass. It's got a weird mix of businesses."

From a recent Mad Money show:"I'm not going against hospitality. I think it's going higher."

From a recent Mad Money show:"This company is too good to bet against here, especially with everyone putting on the rose colored glasses."

From a recent Mad Money show:"Infrastructure is making its way back. I've always thought their business was strong. I'm pulling the trigger."

From a recent Mad Money show:"They've done so much wrong; I'm not going to get behind them. The balance sheet is horrible. What were they thinking over there?"