Clock Ticks at Time Warner

Disappointment remains Wall Street's watchword on Time Warner (TWX Quote).

The media behemoth overcame a challenge by restive shareholders earlier this year and is preparing to roll out a new plan for its torpid AOL unit. But as Time Warner prepares to post second-quarter earnings Wednesday morning, its stagnant share price continues to flummox investors.

The New York media company, which owns cable systems, TV networks and movie studios, along with publishing and online properties, has seen its shares fall 7% in 2006. That lags behind the big-cap S&P 500, which is up 2%, and trails hard-charging peers Disney (DIS Quote) and News Corp.(NWS Quote), each up more than 20%.

What is so frustrating to supporters of management led by CEO Dick Parsons is that except for AOL, all the company's other units routinely perform well. This quarter, analysts are betting that once again most divisions, with the possible exception of AOL, will pull their weight. ...