The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

4. Coke In, Coke Out

It's getting hard to keep track of whether people are coming or going down at Coca-Cola(KO Quote) headquarters in Atlanta.

Earlier this week, proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Service cited conflicts of interest when it suggested that Warren Buffett, the richest man in America and largest shareholder of Coke, should be off the company's board.

For Buffett, Coke offered an unequivocal defense: "We disagree with their analysis," the company said. "Mr. Buffett is a man with an eminent reputation for integrity and his effectiveness as an audit committee member is widely regarded."

But Coke was less resolute on the exit of its general counsel, Deval Patrick. On Sunday, Patrick resigned and was heading for the door. But by Thursday, Coke CEO Douglas Daft had done a 180, asking him to stick around to the end of the year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

No denying it here at the research lab: Coke does have its troubles, including some government investigations into its accounting practices. And now a senior executive appears to be out on Sunday and back on Thursday, raising questions about who's watching the shop.

Memo to Douglas Daft: What's next Doug? "New Diet Coke"?

5. Mike and The Alamo

Remember our ol' embattled pal Michael Eisner? (He's the CEO of the Walt Disney Co. (DIS Quote) He used to be the chairman.)

Mike had a little bit of good news this week that we here at the lab want to be sure to note. (Did we tell you that his shareholder meeting lasted five hours?)

Earlier this week, Disney said that it expects earnings growth of more than 40% from continuing operations in its current fiscal year. Not bad, Mike. But we're a little confused. Disney had previously said that it expects earnings growth of 30% this year. Then, after the company's new "blockbuster" film -- The Alamo -- went bust over the weekend, with analysts warning of a writedown, Disney raised its earnings outlook for the year. Gee, maybe we've all been a little too hard on Mike. If he can turn a box-office flop into higher earnings guidance, sounds to us like the ol' Disney magic is back!