Times Takes 'Home-Equity' Loan

The New York Times Taps Real Estate Holding for Liquidity

New York Times(NYT Quote) just announced it plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building to ease a potential cash flow squeeze.

The company has retained real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield to help the effort to secure financing. The company currently owns 58% of the 52-story building, which was completed last year and is now its new headquarters.

The Bottom Line

We had removed shares of NYT from our "Recommended" list on July 9, when shares traded at $14.01. We had previously included the shares on our list when we started coverage in early June, when the stock was at $16.82. This move to secure liquidity is very aggressive, and really puts the company under further debt pressure. We would still avoid the shares here, and it appears the only catalyst to save this stock could be if Rupert Murdoch were interested in locking up another traditional media play.

New York Times is not recommended at this time, holding a Dividend.com Rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars.

McDonald's November Sales Prove Resilient

McDonald's(MCD Quote) just reported global same-store sales rose 7.7% in November, while U.S. sales rose 4.5%.

The company credited solid sales of breakfast items, chicken sandwiches and the chain's value menu options. The same-store sales number did come in below the October results, which were up 8.2%. Management said the company has recently added Southern-style chicken sandwiches, breakfast biscuits as well as espresso-based lattes and other drinks in an effort to gain more customers.