Archive for December 10th, 2007
Filed under: Newspapers, Magazines, Apple Inc (AAPL), Walt Disney (DIS), iPhone, Rio Tinto plc ADS (RTP), Blackstone Group L.P (BX)
.gif) MAJOR PAPERS:
- In what may be a sign of interest from large media companies looking to delve into the “content delivery space,” the Wall Street Journal reported that EdgeCast Networks is set to announce it has raised up to $6M from Steamboat Ventures, The Walt Disney Company’s (NYSE: DIS) venture-capital arm.
- Barron’s “The Trader” section says they’d stay away from Federal National Mortgage Association (NYSE: FNM), even though the Bush administration’s subprime-mortgage freeze program caused the stock to rebound some. Barron’s speculates that Fannie should take an earnings hit in the range of $6.4B to $14B.
OTHER PAPERS:
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Filed under: Chicago Merc Exch Hld’A’ (CME), MasterCard Inc’A’ (MA), Stocks to Buy, Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG), Cramer on BloggingStocks
 TheStreet.com’s Jim Cramer says these loved and hated stocks aren’t likely to fall until January.
First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) (Cramer’s Take), CME (NYSE: CME) (Cramer’s Take), Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) (Cramer’s Take) and MasterCard (NYSE: MA) (Cramer’s Take) are amazing stocks.
They are loved and hated. MasterCard is constantly being sold because it is supposed to be a consumer-spending play. It is not a consumer-spending play; it is a play on the increasing use of plastic over cash worldwide and on the possibility of a fee increase next year, even as the company has been so conservative as to let you think fees are going down. The fact that it isn’t down despite Capital One (NYSE: COF) (Cramer’s Take) and American Express (NYSE: AXP) (Cramer’s Take) shows me maybe some people are getting this distinction.
Continue reading Cramer on BloggingStocks: Four $200-plus stocks with no quit
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Filed under: Technology, Israel
Commtouch (NASDAQ: CTCH), a leading provider of email defense systems, announced today that Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) has entered into a licensing agreement with the email firm. Commtouch’s defense works on a three-pronged approach. Reputation service for blocking unwanted mail traffic at the perimeter, significantly reducing the necessary IT resources for handling email; Zero-Hour(TM) Virus Outbreak Protection to complement traditional anti-virus solutions; and Anti-spam, which works against all formats and languages including Asian languages, image spam and attachment spam.
Speaking to the importance of this deal, CEO Gideon Mantel said, “Check Point’s choice of Commtouch as the best solution for its customers after a period of rigorous testing further validates our technology and is an important milestone for Commtouch. Commtouch is the only technology provider of three layers of email defense that, together, ensure continued effectiveness in the face of constantly changing threats. We believe this important and strategic agreement will positively impact our business.”
Commtouch’s business has been growing rapidly. The company had set a goal for 30 new deals for all of 2007, and it had almost achieved that goal by the end of October. Clearly there is a need for email spam protection; for investors looking at a small company making headway in this field, the stock may be a very attractive long-term play.
Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer owns stock and is long both CTCH and CHKP , as of 12/10/07.
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Filed under: Competitive strategy, Film, Housing
 With the housing market in turmoil and numerous attorney generals taking a hard look at the sales tactics and unethical conduct of numerous mortgage salesman, it’s probably a good time to look at one of the greatest real estate movies of all time: Glengarry GlenRoss.
With a cast including Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, and a script by renowned playwright David Mamet, it’s hard to go wrong. Glengarry GlenRoss focuses on the lives of four down-on-their-luck real estate salesmen whose lives are transformed when a slick motivator from downtown proposes a sales contest: The one with the most sales at the end of the week will receive a brand new Cadillac. The number two man will receive a set of knives, and the rest will be fired immediately.
What ensues is, of course, chaos: The fierce competition and desperation lead to moral compromise. I can’t help but wonder how different the atmosphere at Glengarry was from those of the subprime mortgage shops that hired poorly trained salesman to sell toxic mortgages on commission. We are currently living through the consequences of the rampant greed — and frequently, fraud — that ensued.
Continue reading A movie for the subprime crisis: Glengarry GlenRoss
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Filed under: Technology, Israel
A story about GPS that ran yesterday got me angry. “Navigation gadgets are now so widely available no one needs to worry about getting lost anymore — except when they’re trying to choose the right device.” There is no doubt as to the great technology that is GPS and even that for the military it has important applications, but for the vast majority of users, it’s just another way that as a society we are getting lazier and dumber. I understand if you are in a foreign country like Israel or Italy and you need to rent a car but you have no idea where you are and can’t even read the street signs. For this, I am all for GPS. But when a friend of mine needs it to navigate through a city that he has lived in for 12 years, I begin to wonder. If we as a society can’t figure out how to get from point A to point B, what does that say about us? What ever happened to using a good ole map?
Don’t misunderstand. I am a big fan of technology because it frees us up to be more productive and to do other things. It’s just that when we completely shut off our minds, even for the most basic of tasks, that can’t be healthy for society as a whole. If we can’t figure out how to get from the bank to the post office, how will we be able to figure out more complex problems?
Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. He has no position in any other stock mentioned as of 12/8/07.
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Filed under: Earnings reports, Good news, Competitive strategy, Bargain stocks
Cost Plus Inc. (NASDAQ: CPWM), better known as Cost Plus World Market, recently reported a 3Q net loss of $13.9 million, which was not as big as initially forecast. That’s pretty much it for the good news. CEO Barry Feld argues that the turnaround strategy is beginning to gain momentum. While it is true that net sales were up 2.5% in 3Q, it is equally true that same-store sales and gross profits declined. YTD same-store sales are flat, same-store sales are down 6.7%, and net loss totals $43 million or $1.95 per diluted share.
Feld is predicting (hoping for) a rather impressive 4Q, with total revenue of $377-$389 million, $160+ million more than 3Q revenue. This target will be hard to hit given that this year the company is not offering its heavily discounted coupon sales that drew customers into stores last year. Even if the company does post excellent 4Q results, FY 2007 revenue will top out at just over $1 billion, leading to a net loss in the $1.45-$1.58 per diluted share range.
Investors seem quite happy with the company’s 3Q results. They bid the stock up more than 15% on the news, to close Friday at $4.06.
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Filed under: Competitive strategy, NIKE, Inc’B’ (NKE), Stocks to Buy
It’s been a tough year to be a shareholder of Foot Locker (NYSE: FL). Shoe stores everywhere have been struggling of late and, with casual shoes rapidly growing in sales at the expense of basketball footwear, Foot Locker, with its clerks in referee uniforms, has had trouble growing sales.
Continue reading Is it time to step into Foot Locker?
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Filed under: India, China, Sun Microsystems (JAVA), Israel
Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVAD) who provide network computing infrastructure solutions that include computer systems, software, storage, and services, announced that they have added Israel as the fifth country to join their Sun Startup Essentials program. The program helps eligible start-up companies by allowing them to purchase a range of discounted Sun products and services, including the award-winning Sun Fire x64 servers and Sun Fire servers with CoolThreads technology. Program members can also work with Sun worldwide hosting partners Layered Technologies and Navisite, plus regional hosting partner NTT Europe Online, to rent discounted Web-hosting infrastructure based on Sun technologies.
Sun is doing this to plant a seed for the future. As they work with start-ups, the more successful these companies get, the more they will end up using Sun’s suite of products. It seems to me that this is a brilliant program. To date, outside the United States, they run the country in China, India, U.K., and now Israel. Speaking about the reasons for starting the program in Israel, Juan Carlos Soto, vice president of Market Development at Sun, said “We hope to sign up 500 companies to the program. This country is an obvious place for Sun to expand the program into because of its strong technology sector and the fact that behind the U.S., it is the largest venture capital market in the world. Plus it has more scientists and start-ups per capita than any other country.”
Looks like Sun’s move is their seal of approval as to the state of Israeli ingenuity. It seems like it is alive and well.
Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer has no position in any stock mentioned as of 12/8/07.
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Filed under: Bad news, Competitive strategy, General Motors (GM), India, China, Russia, Toyota Motor Corp. (TM)
By most accounts Russia will be the largest car market in Europe sometime within the next five years. General Motors (NYSE: GM) sells about 250,000 vehicles in the market, but is anxious to get a stronger foothold. Things have not worked out.
Several companies have been competing to get a piece of Russian car maker Avtovaz. Yesterday, Renault announced that it would pick up a 25% interest in the company. According to MarketWatch, the European car company will pay $1.25 billion for its stake.
The announcement is a blow to GM, which has to increase its sales overseas. The U.S. car market is slowing and is expected to drop as much as 7% next year. The No.1 U.S. car company also faces increasing domestic competition from Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Honda (NYSE: HMC), so it faces smaller share in a shrinking market.
GM has had real success in China where its is the leader in car sales along with VW. But, local car manufacturers want a larger slice of sales there. GM’s vehicle business in Europe is mature. That leaves South America, India, and Russia as the largest potential markets.
In October, GM’s share price was up 40% for the year. Due to a fear of falling North American sales, it is now down about 8%. It needed the Russia deal.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
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