aapl

Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS) announced Tuesday that it had adopted a so-called shareholder rights plan to ward off "efforts to obtain control of the Company that are inconsistent with the best interests of the Company and its stockholders."

The company didn't go into specifics, but it is likely a response to billionaire Ronald Burkle's recent disclosure that he had boosted his stake in the company to 17.8%. In a press release, Barnes & Noble disclosed how the rights work:

How do you know the green finance sector has arrived? Well, it got its first Ponzi scheme! Allegedly.

The SEC filed charges against four people and two companies in a Denver federal court on Monday. Mantria Corp. and its principals, Troy Wragg and Amanada Knorr, stand accused of running raising $122 million from more than 300 investors in what could be a dozen fraudulent offers of securities. Mantria engaged Speed of Wealth LLC, run by Wayde and Donna McKelvy, to dump the cash out of their retirement plans and tap their home equity to "invest" in Mantria, which they said was offering returns ranging from 17% to "hundreds of percent" every year.

A report in Thursday's The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] reveals that American International Group (NYSE: AIG) is actually reaping the benefits of its risky bets in the credit-default swap market.

AIG was forced to shell out billions to Wall Street banks amid last year's credit crisis, as the assets backed by the credit-default swaps plummeted in value. However, the market's reversal of fortune means that banking heavyweights, such as Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS), are now returning collateral to the infamous insurance giant.

Late Tuesday, Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) announced plans to offer up to $100 million in common stock. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the upscale retailer said it will use proceeds from the offering to pay down its debt, and for general corporate purposes. Saks has approximately 138.3 million shares of common stock outstanding as of Sept. 28, and its long-term debt and lease obligations amounted to $662.9 million as of Aug. 1.

Saks has endured a rough year, thanks to a dramatic slowdown in consumer spending amid the recession. The high-end chain has swallowed quarterly losses in each of the previous four reporting periods, and analysts are expecting a loss of 14 cents per share for the current quarter.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) reported this morning that one of its subsidiaries has filed an application to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The move was widely expected, as LVS CEO Sheldon Adelson said in July that the casino firm was considering an initial public offering (IPO) or sale of its Macau assets.

"No decisions have been made regarding the timing or terms of any such offering or whether the subsidiary will ultimately proceed with such a transaction," reported LVS in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As if there weren't sufficient causes already to refer to CIT Group (NYSE: CIT) as "beleaguered," the list just got longer. This morning, the financial services firm delayed filing its second-quarter report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), citing the ongoing restructuring of its debt as a mitigating factor.

Specifically, CIT told the regulatory agency that it could not meet Monday's 10-Q deadline "without unreasonable effort and expense," since executives have been spending most of their time lately attending to restructuring needs. The company is expecting a second-quarter loss in excess of $1.5 billion, thanks in large part to a loss totaling $2.1 billion from its discontinued home-lending operations.

State Street Corp. (NYSE: STT) said today that its State Street Bank & Trust Co. unit received a Wells Notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The notice, which indicates that civil charges may be brought against the company, relates to disclosures and management of certain fixed-income strategies during 2007 and previous periods.

Some investors have accused State Street of misleading them about the risks involved in mortgage-related investments. A legal reserve fund worth $625 million was established in 2007 to cover investor claims, and $418 million has already been paid out. The firm says it is currently cooperating with the SEC, as well as state and other regulators.

Pequot Capital Management is coming to an end, closing the book on two decades of hedge fund history. Arthur Samberg, at one point the biggest hedge fund manager in the world, is closing the company as a result of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) insider trading investigation.

At its peak in 2001, Pequot had $15 million in assets under management. By November 2008, it was only $4.3 billion ... and $3.47 billion as of May 15, 2009, according to a regulatory filing.

The shares of Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF) surged this afternoon after the regional bank said it expects to report a first-quarter profit. In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Chairman and CEO Dowd Ritter attributed the unexpectedly profitable quarter to recent strength in new account openings and customer deposit growth.

If Wall Street seems shocked by the news, it's because analysts were predicting Regions to swallow a quarterly loss of about $290 million, or 42 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters. Plus, with nearly 5% of the equity's float sold short, it seems that many investors were also betting on the bank to report gloomy earnings.

According to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, last year was horrible for IPOs. The number of deals plunged 80.7%, with the overall amount raised down 54.9%. In all, there were 57 IPOs and total proceeds came to $29.4 billion. Interesting enough, the Visa (NYSE: V) IPO accounted for $17.9 billion (it was the largest IPO in U.S. history).

Basically, the deal activity has been the slowest since the 1970s. In fact, there was only one public offering in Q1 of this year.

Unfortunately, the malaise could continue. After all, there are only a handful of filings in registration. Plus, it can easily take half a year to get an IPO through the SEC process.

The shares of Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) are taking a beating today, down nearly 3% at last check. Traders are reacting to news that Trian Fund Management L.P., under the helm of billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, reduced its stake in TIF from 8.5% to 6.9%.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Trian sold 2.25 million shares on Wednesday and Thursday at prices ranging from $22.58 to $22.61 per share. Now, the fund beneficially owns 8.49 million shares of TIF.

Another day, another item about excessive compensation. While American International Group (NYSE: AIG) pays out a ton of money to its own employees, the Hershey (NYSE: HSY) board has seen fit to bestow a rich compensation package to CEO David J. West.

Oh well, what can you do, I suppose. I always hate reading these reports. They always get under my skin. If you're a shareholder of Hershey, you're not doing that great right now. The stock will probably do well over the long term, but in the meantime, your shares are down over the last several years.

This post was written by Minyanville contributor Minyan Peter.

This morning UBS (NYSE: UBS) reported that it was amending its 2008 financial statements to increase the prior period loss by another Sf 1.1 billion.

I would remind readers that Citigroup (NYSE: C) did the same thing at the end February when it "booked" an incremental $9.6 billion charge for goodwill impairment in its 2008 results. And there have been several other situations where, with hindsight, financial institutions have adjusted their 2008 results lower (versus their initial earnings releases) prior to filing their 10-K's with the SEC.

While rival automaker General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM) was monopolizing headlines this morning with its quarterly earnings report, Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) quietly slashed its forecast for 2009 auto sales. However, unlike GM, Ford says it has "no substantial doubt" about its ability to continue as a going concern.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ford predicted that total U.S. car and truck sales could tumble to 10.5 million in 2009. The new figure represents a drop of 1 million vehicles from Ford's previous estimate. On the plus side, the automaker thinks sales could arrive as high as 12.5 million vehicles if demand begins to recover in the second half of the year.

This article was written by Minyanville contributor Vitaliy Katsenelson.

I read a very interesting cover story article in BusinessWeek about Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM). I am usually skeptical of cover story articles, but they are onto something with this story (ok, that is maybe because I agree with them).

As I've said in the past, Exxon is a classic religion stock, meaning investors own it because it has done so well in the past and because it is the best-managed oil company. Exxon is not analyzed; it is just owned -- bought or inherited and never sold. Well, neither reason is enough to just blindly own a stock which is what happens when one becomes a religion stock.