Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY): Investors Should Ignore Working From Home, Commute Controversy

These decisions are largely irrelevant

For the most part, investors in these companies should ignore these stories. Opting for or against working from home, or allowing corporate commutes is largely a nuanced HR decision. It may work in some instances, and not in others. But there are more important matters affecting these companies.

For Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), it’s more of a question of how much its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan are worth. Or which companies Yahoo! intends to acquire, and could the acquisitions help turn around its core business operation?

For Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY), investors seriously need to consider if there’s still room in the market for a brick and mortar electronics retailer. Is the company’s decision to price-match Amazon an effective defense against showrooming? Will the imposition of a Internet sales-tax benefit the company? Will Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) retail stores make Best Buy obsolete?

For J.C. Penney, it’s one of liquidity and sales. With same-store sales having declined so severely, can bringing back discounting encourage old customers to return? Will the Joe Fresh boutiques demonstrate the brilliance of Johnson’s vision? And will the company prevail in its legal dispute with Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE:M) over its Martha Stewart shop?

The media attention does demonstrate one thing

But investors can draw one thing from these stories: not their contents per se, but rather the very fact that they are receiving attention. It isn’t just a coincidence that these stories are being written about these companies.

All three companies are at crucial junctions in their corporate lives. Joly is struggling to keep Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) relevant; Mayer is hoping to reinvigorate Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO); and Johnson is trying to revolutionize an ancient retailer.

Investing in these companies means holding stock of corporations with highly uncertain futures. That type of uncertainty is going to draw enhanced media attention. Much of that attention will be worthless noise, but the quantity of noise serves to highlight the risks investors are taking.

The article Investors Should Ignore Working From Home, Commute Controversy originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Salvatore “Sam” Mattera.

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