The California Association of Realtors expects to make sharp downward revisions in its recent monthly reports of soaring home sales in the San Diego area, Robert Kleinhenz, deputy chief economist of the trade group, said in an interview….

The California Realtors have reported that San Diego sales in April were up about 63% from a year earlier. Mr. Kleinhenz said that is expected to be revised downward to a gain of about 20%. For May, the group reported an 89% increase in sales in San Diego; that will be slashed to about 6.5%, the economist said.

As a result, he said, the state-wide sales gain for May — reported last week as 35% — also will be revised down, though it probably will remain above 30%, Mr. Kleinhenz said.

WSJ via Zero Hedge: 

Ken Silverstein poses an interesting question on his blog at Harper’s: Who’s Buying Guns? He notes that stock of Smith & Wesson is way up and so are gun sales, spurred, annecdotally, by fears over the Obama administration.

Silverstein also suggests that the NRA has stoked these fears with an advertising campaign that notes Obama has indicated support for a 500 percent tax on guns. In 1999, when he was in the Illinois state senate, Obama did show support for such a tax but he hasn’t said much about it lately, according to factcheck.org.

Gun maker Remington notes in its 10-K (via) report that fear is good for business:

Management believes that despite the challenges in the banking industry, the resulting stock market drop, unstable fuel prices and the ensuing government bailout, we have experienced no significant adverse impact in our overall sales. We believe the overall market for our products picked up subsequent to the U.S. Presidential election and we believe this is attributable to consumer concerns that the new administration could ban and regulate certain guns and ammunition in a more restrictive manner.

The key word here is “certain” guns.  Remington isn’t publicly traded so it doesn’t break out details on its sales but Smith & Wesson is traded publicly and it reported this in its 10Q report of Oct. 31, 2008:

Sales of our M&P 15 rifles were $8,654,385 for the three months ended October 31, 2008, a $6,534,882, or 308.3%, increase over the three months ended October 31, 2007. M&P 15 sales were helped by a consumer promotion as well as what appears to have been speculation on the outcome of the presidential election. On the law enforcement side, 204 police and security agencies to date have either selected the M&P 15 or approved the M&P 15 for on-duty use. The backlog for tactical rifles was $5,988,418 at October 31, 2008. (emphasis added)

No other category of Smith & Wesson firearms was up as much as the tactical rifle category. Notably, sales of hunting rifles and shotguns fell. If hunters feared losing their guns under the Obama administration they would have bought more hunting rifles and shotguns from S&W, not less.

The ones who were doing the buying here were the hardcore gun lovers, who were worried that they wouldn’t be able to buy a military-style rifle like the M&P 15 once the Obama administration got in.

For the three months ending January 31, 2009, which covers gun sales after Obama was elected, Smith & Wesson reported that total firearms sales were up 11 percent to 219 million.

Once again, tactical rifles again led the way with a 108 percent increase in sales.  Hunting firearms, however were down again nearly 36 percent.

Gun sales are up, but it seems like hunters — the core of the NRA’s membership — are just fine with Obama. Those who fear our new president are the black helicopter types, the kind of folks who shelled out $22 million to buy an update on the old military-tested AR-15.

Chicago Sun-Times files Chapter 11:

The company has one significant creditor — the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has said Sun-Times Media Group owes up to $608 million in back taxes and penalties from past business practices by its former controlling owner, Conrad Black, now imprisoned for theft from corporate coffers.

Unlike other newspaper owners that have filed for bankruptcy amid steep dropoffs in advertising, including Chicago-based Tribune Co., Sun-Times Media Group has no bank debt. But its IRS debt thwarted efforts to raise new capital.

And USA Today’s free newspaper giveaway strategy isn’t working out so well these days.

USA Today President and Publisher Craig Moon retired abruptly yesterday and said the nation’s biggest newspaper lost 100,000 subscribers from the slowdown in travel. A decline in hotel occupancy means fewer people are there to collect free newspapers.

USA Today gives away 1.3 million daily copies in hotels, which accounts for more than half the newspaper’s 2.3 million total circulation. These giveaway copies are booked as paid circulation. This is obviously a sham but it’s technically considered circulation under newspaper circulation rules.

Here’s the rule from the Audit Bureau of Circulations governing newspaper bulk circulation:

All copies purchased by hotels, restaurants, airlines and rental car agencies for free distribution to their guests and by sponsors for free distribution to hospital patients and nursing home residents, regardless of the number of copies, will be reported as Third-Party Sales when at least 25 percent of the basic price is paid, either in cash or by applicable barter.

“Congratulations on a fabulous quarter,” Christine Chen of Needham & Co. on Urban Outfitters Q4 2008

“Alright guys, thanks for taking my question and congratulations on getting the term financing on the CDO facility,” Matthew Howlett of Fix-Pitt Kelton on Newcastle Investment Corp. Q4 2008

“Hi, good evening. Congratulations on another great quarter here,” Brendan Strong of Barclays Capital on Genoptix Q4 2008

“Nice quarter guys, kind of back up at high altitude again, Bill,” Jay Meier of Felti & Co. on Entrust Q4 2008

“Yes, congratulation everyone on another fantastic quarter,” Jeffrey Klinefelter of Piper Jaffray on Guess Inc. Q2 2008

“Nice quarter guys, thanks for the color,” John Barnes of BB&T Capital Markets on FedEx Q2 2008

“Nice quarter, guys — really a nice job,” Vincent Colicchio of Noble Financial on Micros Systems Q2 2008

“Congratulations, Norm, a very nice quarter on you and your entire staff,” Frank Magdlen of The Robins Group on AAON Inc, Q2 2008

“Congratulations on a nice quarter, guys, and thanks for taking my questions,” Nat Kellogg, Next Generation Equity Research on Olympic Steel Inc. Q1 2008

“Hey, congrats on an awesome quarter guys,” Brett Levy of Jeffries & Co. on GrafTech International Q1 2008

“Hi guys, nice quarter!” Tim Nelson of Piper Jaffray on Zoll Medical Q4 2007

“Hi, good afternoon. Congratulations on a nice quarter and a nice year,” Quintin Lai of Robert W. Baird on Invitrogen Corp. Q4 2007

“Very nice quarter guys, very nice,” Rodney Ratliff of Stanford Group Co. on Equinix Q2 2007

“Nice quarter guys,” Adam Frisch of UBS on Accenture Q1 2007

“Congratulations on the great results,” Margaret Major of Goldman Sachs on Coach Q1 2007

“Nice quarter guys,” Matt Doland of Becker Capital on Lifecell Q4 2006

“Once again great quarter guys, congratulations,” Anthony Stoss of Craig-Hallum Capital Group on SRS Labs Q3 2006

“Congratulations on the exceptional numbers,” Alexei Yakovitksy of Deutsche Bank on Mobile TeleSystems Q3 2006

“Congratulations for the nice quarter and nice guidance,” Kaushik Roy of Susquehanna International Group on Brocade Q4 2005

“Nice quarter guys,” David Steinberg of Deutsche Banc on Sepcracor Q4 2005

“Well thanks very much and congratulations on a remarkable quarter,” Richard Jaffe of Steifel Nicholas on Coldwater Creek Q4 2005

“Hi thanks, first I would say congratulations to everybody, its (a) really terrific quarter,” John Morris of Harris Nesbitt Gerard on Abercrombie & Fitch Q4 2005.

“Hi guys, great quarter,” Adam Holt of JP Morgan on Citrix Q3 2005

“I’m not sure any one said nice quarter yet, guys but maybe that is becoming a little bit routine to you,” John Roberts of Buckingham Research on Corning Q3 2005

Thanks to Seeking Alpha’s transcript search engine.

A lot’s been said about last week’s buyout of The San Diego Union-Tribune by Platinum Equity, a private equity firm, which disclosed only the barest details about the sale.

The Voice of San Diego got it right in my view. The sale isn’t about newspapers. Rather, it’s about land.

Platinum Equity is not in the newspaper business; it’s in the distressed assets business. From an accounting perspective, land is the only asset that never loses value. The Union-Tribune owns 13 prime acres in Mission Valley that’s sandwiched between the Town & Country Resort and the ritzy Fashion Valley Mall. The company also has half an acre in La Jolla.

If reports that the newspaper company sold for less than $50 million are correct, Platinum Equity is getting the company land at a tremendous discount in a depressed market. All it has to do is hang on for a few years until the market recovers and then it has prime property for an apartment tower, corporate offices, hotel or mall expansion.

What to do with the newspaper then?  Few people paid much attention to the last sentence in the press release announcing the sale:

Platinum Equity was advised by Hughes Hubbard & Reed and Alvarez & Marsal’s Transaction Advisory Group.

Alvarez & Marsal is overseeing the dismantling of Lehman Brothers. The bankrupt Tribune Company also hired Alvarez & Marsal to craft a restructuring plan.

Last year, Fortune magazine described Alvarez & Marsal as a firm that profits from corporate misery:

Alvarez & Marsal do the mopping up when a company has run out of options and can’t meet its loan obligations. With some clients, A&M dispatches teams to work much like consultants - looking over the books and talking ideas - but about a hundred times faster. In thornier cases the firm does the dirty work itself, usually with Tony Alvarez, Bryan Marsal, or another partner stepping in as CRO - chief restructuring officer - and doing triage like ordering layoffs, selling off assets, and making overhead cuts.

It seems then that Platinum Equity is going to make the kind of moves that the Union-Tribune’s family owners never could. Sadly, that is going to mean the end of San Diego’s biggest newspaper.