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Stock Ticker: AAPLOn tonight’s MAD MONEY segment on CNBC, Cramer went over a stock where it was hit because of competition. He said Microsoft (MSFT) just took aim at Apple (AAPL) with Zune’s launch against iPod.Cramer said “the Microsoft launch is officially being pronounced a dud!”…… That is not “dude”. He thinks AAPl is a fantastic must own stock and the Zune he even noted as the “Edsel,” an old Ford failed car launch that was a dud. He thinks the Zune colors stink and the Zune music store is also a dud. He also said that the fact that it is made by Microsoft, and kids and many others hate them.He said the Zune is not Vista compatible. It is a rejiggered Toshiba and if they want to take on AAPL they should do a better design. Zune’s rankings are also lower than expected. At Amazon.com this was only #12 yesterday on electronics and #7 today. If it was great on launch it would be #1.Cramer said that AAPl has been impervious to this launch. HE said they still have a tiny market share, but they have 50% of market share with upper-end college students. He thinks their retail initiative is great and they are even testing Mac sales at Best Buy.After Cramer said this AAPL traded up after-hours an additional 0.8% to $84.75, although it closed down 1.1% at $84.05 today. Cramer said he thinks AAPL is a $100.00 stock “By the end of the year.”Jon C. OggNovember 15, 2006

Retailer Zumiez announced earnings that looked good on paper. Revenue for the period ending October 28 rose 43% to $82 million. Same store sales were up over 10%, but that slowed a bit from over 13% for the first nine months.Net income for the three month period was $6.8 million. That was up from $5.3 million in the same quarter a year ago. Not much movement there.Guidance was lackluster. “The company stated that it is maintaining guidance for fiscal 2006 to $0.66 to $0.67 in diluted earnings per share.” Not much of an endorsement for Q4 action.The stock was beaten to within an inch of its life on the news. It fell 13% almost immediately and was down to $27.30. The company’s 52-week high/low is $38.85/$18.06.There should be a lot of unhappy shareholders come the morning.Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

From 13D TrackerIn an amended 13D filing on Williams Scotsman International, Inc (NASDAQ: WLSC), Value Act Capital disclosed a 4.9% stake (2.1 million shares) in the company. This is down from the 2.52 million share stake the firm disclosed in an August 13D filing.http://www.13dtracker.blogspot.com/

After being pounded in the market when its Linux solution was left out of Microsoft’s alliance with alternative Linux shop Novell, Red Hat has finally gotten a break. Nokia has chosen Red Hat’s Linux software system for it network server platforms.While Red Hat has more market share in the Linus OS business than Novell, the deal, with its huge marketing support, boosted a flagging Novell.Red Hat’s stock has fallen from $32 in May to its current price of under $17. But, the stock may have run too far, too fast before that. It stood at under $11 in May 2005, so it had tripled in a year.Wall St. should not forget that Red Hat is nicely profitable, and growing. In the last reported quarter ending August 31, the company did just shy of $100 million, and had an operating profit of over $9 million. Revenue had gone up each of the three immediate quarters.Novell’s deal with Microsoft may put it too close to the huge software company that many enterprise customers do not trust. Microsoft has made “land grabs” in the past, and companies like Nokia may elect to use Red Hat over the rival “Novell brought to you by Microsoft” Linux solution.For Red Hat, not all the news is bad.Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Stock Ticker: RMBSWe have a dual situation in Rambus (RMBS) today. The company is presenting at the UBS Global Communications and Technology Conference at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time this morning and it has Federal Trade Commission oral hearings today at 2:00 PM EST.This UBS Global Communications and Technology Conference event will be available through a webcast and can be accessed at Rambus’ Investor Relations web site at http://investor.rambus.com/.In another event, the Federal Trade Commission is meeting to consider oral arguments in the Rambus case. This meeting is set to adjourn to a closed session after the open session. The time is for 2;15 PM EST today and will be held at the FTC building at 600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. The matters to be considered are two-fold in that oen is public and one is private. Portion Open to the Public: (1) Oral Argument in Rambus Incorporated, Docket 9302. Portion Closed to the Public: (2) Executive Session to follow Oral Argument in Rambus Incorporated, Docket 9302.Please keep in mind that these hearings and public sections can change without notice, so there is always a shot that nothing will be mentioned at all on newswires today.SYNOPSISWhile certain court cases have gone in Rambus’ favor, the FTC is the body that has ruled against Rambus over it having created a monopoly by deceiving a standards-setting committee years ago. If the FTC stays on the anti-Rambus stance, then it could potentially create an environment that Rambus may have to pay back some of the back-royalties it collected and it could thwart many such royalty payments in the future.Any adverse stance if you take it three steps further could be deemed by the street as a threat to the Rambus business model. Since Rambus does NOT manufacture chips and sell them on their own and since they are 100% reliant on negotiated royalties for use of their chip design, this is essentially just a royalty company that collects fees for using their designs. It would also give any defendant or plaintiff on the other side of Rambus a real leg to stand in future court cases.While we have laid out the potential worst case scenario, it should be taken not as a prediction. In reality these cases tend to create a cap or a more stable royalty payment scenario rather than an outright elimination. With certain agreements in place it is now cheaper for certain patent and design licensees to just pay than it is to go in and risk punitive damages by refusing to abide by agreements and going to court to overturn an already-signed contract.Since traders tend to shoot first and ask question later, if the bother, you could see some sudden moves in either direction today and not know why the stock moved. That is just another day in the market. As a reminder, RMBS stock options expire Friday (11/17/06) with the rest of the stock option expirations in US-traded public stocks. The company also already noted on Monday that it does not expect to file its quarterly results on time as it investigates stock options granting.Jon C. OggNovember 15, 2006

Stock Ticker: EFUTThe explosion in trading volume in Chinese micro-cap stock E-Future Information Technology (EFUT) has been mind-boggling. This was one of the stealth IPO’s of only 1.1335 million shares that priced at $6.00. Here are the most recent closing prices with trading volume:14-Nov-06 $43.60 14,254,60013-Nov-06 $29.49 3,182,80010-Nov-06 $19.89 1,755,7009-Nov-06 $14.28 634,700 (opened at $11.00)e-Future is the first Chinese software company listed in NASDAQ CAPITAL MARKET, and also the first software company in the front supply chain market. The underwriter was also an unknown firm called Anderson & Strudwick, Inc.The company just made a press release yesterday before the open that they knew of no reason for the exponential performance. It said it has actually issued 2.6+ million ordinary shares to date.Since October 30, 2006, the share price and trading volume of e-Future’s ordinary shares has increased dramatically. On several trading days, e-Future’s trading volume has been a multiple of its total outstanding ordinary shares. Yesterday’s summary: e-Future is unaware of any business information underlying the increase in e-Future’s per share price and trading volume.Being a logistical supply chain software company in China obviously has its perks, but these strange performing IPO’s can be a bit scary after many companies start showing their results. We aren’t saying this is a sham, but these situations more often than not end up correcting themselves in time. This seems to be a classic thin volume explosion that turns into a mega-volume trading stock that is touted by many chat rooms and the day traders play the volume on the momentum alone.EFUT shares are trading down 8% at $40.00 pre-market, but that is after closing up over $14.00 higher than the $29.49 close on Monday.Jon C. OggNovember 15, 2006

(AA) ALCOA names new CFO effective Jan. 1, 2007.(ABG) Ashbury Auto filed to sell 3+ million shares for holders.(ADI) Analog Devices $0.39 EPS vs $0.40e.(ALXN) Alexion filed to sell 2.5 million shares of common stock.(ANF) Abercrombe & Fitch $1.11 EPS vs $1.11e.(ARM) Arvin Motor $0.40 EPS vs $0.40e.(BORL) Borland Software -$0.16 EPS and R$82.4M vs -$0.08/$77M(e).(CDCY) Compudyne $0.09 EPS vs $0.02e; unsure if comparable(CEP) Constellation Energy IPO priced 4.5M shares at $21.00, top of the $19 to $21 range.(CHINA) CDC $0.09 EPS vs $0.06e.(CMVT) Comverse found revenue recognition errors.(COBT) Cobalt settled with GlaxoSmithkline.(COCO) Corinthian Colleges $0.02 EPs vs $0.03e.(CRFT) Craftmade announced it will have charges as Lowe’s discontinues orders.(CUZ) Cousins Properties announced a special $3.40 dividend.(DELL) Dell is acquiring private ACS in UK for consulting business for undisclosed terms, although it said it would be immaterial to financial results.(DIGE) Digene said its CEO is retiring.(DISK) Image Entertainment -$0.14 EPS vs -$0.07e; filed to sell shares.(EBS) Emergent Biosolutions IPO priced 5M shares at $12.50, under the $14 to $16 range.(GOOG) Google may be losing the president of its China operations according to Pacific Epoch reports.(HAL) Halliburton noted positively as the way to play the KBR IPO according to Cramer, but UK authorities are demanding a withdrawal of the unit IPO.(HH) Hooper Homes -$0.06 EPS vs $0.02e.(HTZ) Hertz’s upcoming IPO was panned by Cramer on MAD MONEY.(LCC) US Airways is in proposed merger with Delta and will offer $8 Billion for stock and debt.(LZB) La-Z-Boy $0.06 EPS vs $0.02e.(MED) Medifast $0.11 EPS vs $0.09e.(NMX) NYMEX upcoming IPo was noted very favorably by Cramer on MAD MONEY.(NWS) News Corp is close to buying backing Liberty’s 19% stake.(PBY) Pep Boys -$0.14 EPS vs -$0.05e.(PRU) Prudential approved $3 Billion for share buybacks.(SGR) Shaw Group COO resigned to take other position elsewhere.(SIFY) Sify CFO is leaving to take advantage of other opportunities.(SIL) Apex Silver Mines files to sell $200M in mixed securities.(SINT) SI Int’l filed to sell $150 million in mixed securities.(SPWR) SunPower is acquiring private PowerLight.(STEM) Stem Cells trading up 8% after performing first human neural stem cell transplant.(STI) SunTrust president/COO will replace current CEO effective January 1, 2007.(SVM) ServiceMaster may attract private equity buyers according to WSJ.(TAYD) Taylor Devices gapping up 14% pre-market on tsunami warning in Northern Japan.(TLB) Talbots $0.15 EPS vs $0.15e.(TRMS) Trimeris shares rose more than 15% after switching to FUZEON focus in Roche pact.(TWB) Tween Brands $0.58 EPS vs $0.57e.(TWX) Time Warner’s Parsons said he is keeping AOL according to Bloomberg interview.(TYC) Tyco $0.51 EPS vs $0.49e, but that is backing out $0.12 gain; TYC will take $600 million in charges for restructuring to save $50M in 2007 and $200M in 2008.(VAS) Viasys gets FDA marketing approval for Sonara.(VLCF) Knightsbridge tankers $0.85 EPS vs $0.82e.(VNDA) Vanda Pharmaceuticals releases positive insomnia drug results and was interviewed on CNBC.(VRGY) Verigy $0.56 EPS vs $0.48e.(WNS) WNS $0.15 EPS vs $0.14e.

Stocks: (NYX)(NDAQ)(TWX)(YHOO)The large internet sites that deliver financial news object to the fees that Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange plan to charge for stock quotes. It would appear, at first glance, that the fight is purely economic. The internet sites don’t want to pay much for quotes because it adds to the content cost structure and makes it more expensive to offer services to draw visitors. The exchanges have a more acute problem. Data fees make up so much income for them that a lost of the fees might wipe out much of their operating profits. A look at the 10-Q for the NYSE Group shows revenue of $603 million for the September quarter. Data fees were over $57 million of that. The company’s operating profit was almost $68 million. Those data fees are important.The finanacial internet sites have some many visitors that it could cost them millions of dollars to offer real-time quotes to their users, and now the exchanges want to up the cost of that data.But, the fights goes beyond revenue and profit.The banks that pay huge transaction fees to the exchanges and the companies that also shell out huge sums for their listings may not be entirely happy with a system that makes quotes more expensive and, perhaps, less available to investors due to cost. Do Apple and GM really want the barrier to getting quotes on their stocks raised? Or, would they rather have as many investors as possible with access to the data? Not a difficult question to answer.One can see listed companies putting pressure on exchanges to distribute live quotes for a little as possible, if not for free.Another difficult matter is the question of monopoly. When the exchanges were non-profits is was more palatable for them to charge for quotes that were not available elsewhere. But, they are not “for profit” institutions and they have bought up all of the electronic trading platforms that could offer quotes outside the exchange system. There is now, in essence, only one game in town. In general, the government has not supported “for profit” monopolies, at least not for any extended period of time.There is another important set of players in this game: the investment banks who pay transaction fees to the exchanges. In Europe, seven investment banks including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and UBS, have said they are considering setting up their own trading platform to take volume away from the London Stock Exchange. Why? The banks believe that the fees that they pay to the exhange are too high. It may be more efficient to simply set up a competing system.The internet war with the stock exchanges is likely to become much more complex. If listed companies and investment banks begin to assert their own interests, the exchanges could have more problems than those created by petitions from Yahoo! and AOL.Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Microsoft wants its customers and investors to know that the company is no longer a three-legged beast. It has added a fourth appendage, internet delivered software. Perhaps the only people on Wall St. who did not know this were those who have been away for a year.The Microsoft push is clearly a reaction to Google’s long-lived program to deliver services like spreadsheets, word processing and calendars over the internet with the software stored on servers and not the user’s PC. Microsoft’s new business will operate side-by-side with its desktop, server software and entertainment units.The Microsoft program has one significant difference with Google’s plans. Microsoft internet based software, dubbed Microsoft Live by the company, will work with software already installed on PCs.Microsoft was somewhat circumspect about why it was taking the dual internet-delivered/desktop installed approach. Given Google’s plan to have its products be “internet only” the hybrid approach of the world’s largest software maker might be out of step.The answer lies with the fact that Microsoft may think the Google strategy is the right one, the one that will eventually win, but MSFT cannot destroy it core business of Windows-on-the-PC overnight. With more than half of the company’s revenue from that source, financial suicide is not an option.Because Microsft is tethered so strongly to the past, and most move into internet based software services in a measured way, it may lose a great deal to company’s like Google which have no legacy to protect.That’s bad news for Microsoft.Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.

Stocks: (CAJ)FUJ)(HIT)HMC)(NIPNY)(NTT)(SNE)(TM)(CHL)(CHU)(PCW)(HBC)Markets in Asia were mixed with the Nikkei off and the Hang Seng up sharply.The Nikkei fell .3% to 16,243. Bridgestone was down 1.2% to 2500. Canon was up .5% to 6240. Daiwa Securities was up 1.5% to 1296. Fuji Film was up 2.7% to 4550. Hitachi was up .3% to 708. Honda was up .2% to 4250. Isuzu was up 3.2% to 512. NEC was up 1% to 500. NTT was down 1.2% to 563000. Sharp was up .5% to 2070. Softbank was down 1.1% to 2330. Sony was down .4% to 4710. Toshiba was up .4% to 738. Toyota was up 1.3% to 3010. Yahoo Japan was down 1.7% to 42350.The Hang Seng rose 1.1% to 19,093 to a record close. Cathay Pacific rose 3.9% to 18.24. China Mobile rose 2.6% to 68.35. China Unicom rose 1% to 8.34. HSBC fell .3% to 147.7. PCCW fell .2% to 5.06.The KOSPI rose .4% to 1,413.The Straits Times rose .6% to 2,778.The Shanghai Composite rose 1.8% to 1,923.Data from Reuters.Douglas A. McIntyre