Posts related to ‘Hardware’

Hewlett-Packard Proves Bull Case For Tech

By some measures, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) is the largest technology company in the world, with annual sales well over $100 billion. The breadth of its business, which include software, PCs, printers, servers and consulting, make it a nearly perfect measure for the state of the industry.

HP net incomes rose 20% for its fiscal first quarter to $3 billion. EPS was $0.96, up from $0.75 in the prior-year period. Revenue rose 8% to $31.2 billion. The company reported double-digit growth in its server, printer, and PC units. Read More »

Posted on: February 17, 2010 – 4:18 pm in Earnings, Hardware, Software, Technology Companies,

The Ten Brands That Will Disappear In 2010

24/7 Wall St. has prepared its list of the ten brands that will disappear in 2010. This list is based on a review of each firm’s financial situation and other operating data, the current and ongoing value of its brand, and whether the company that controls that brand can sell its assets.

This year a number of famous brands have closed or their parents have announced that they will be shut down shortly. This includes decades-old magazines like Gourmet and famous car brands like Pontiac. The recession took whatever economic value these brands had left and destroyed it.

The brands on the 24/7 list for 2010 include companies that have been in trouble for years. Some have been in slow decline and others were irreparably damaged by the credit crisis. Most of these companies will be bought and the rest will simply be closed.

Read More »

Posted on: December 2, 2009 – 12:00 pm in Accounting, Banking, Bankruptcy, Consumer Electronics, Hardware, Mergers and Buy Outs, Old Media, Technology, Telecom, Turnarounds, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Intel’s (INTC) Worst Day: Why Didn’t IBM Rat On Mr. Chips?

nokThere may have been a time when Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) wanted to be the next Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), at least in terms of earnings, market cap, and share of market. It has, in essence, followed in Redmond’s footsteps, at least with antitrust authorities.

Intel is becoming more embroiled by the month in charges that it used threats and kickbacks to keep PC and servers companies from doing business with its smaller competitor AMD (NYSE:AMD). AMD is close to ruin, though it is a matter of opinion whether its current state was caused by former CEO Hector Ruiz or Intel’s clandestine actions.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed antitrust charges against Intel Corp., alleging the company threatened computer makers and paid huge kickbacks to stop them from using competitors’ chips, according to The Wall Street Journal. Among the companies that Intel may have threatened are IBM (NYSE:IBM), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ). Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 12:33 pm in Hardware, Law, PC Companies, , , , ,

52-Week High Club

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp (NYSE: BNI) surged close to 30% to a yearly high of $97.59 following news that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) will be buying the freight rail operator for $100 per share, which places the value of the company at $44 billion.

The Black & Decker Corporation (NYSE: BDK) rallied close to 30% to a yearly high of $61.79  following news that the tool makers has agreed to be purchased by Stanley Works (NYSE: SWK) in an all stock deal valued at $4.5 billion.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp (NASDAQ: CTSH) rose over 8% to a yearly high of $42.40.  The computer services and technology consulting company announced that its 3Q 09 profit rose roughly 21%, beating analyst estimates.  The company also raised its 2009 profit estimate to $1.88 per share from $1.78 per share.

Landry’s Restaurants (NYSE: LNY) rose over 25% to a yearly high of $13.99.  The restaurant, hospitality and entertainment company following rose on news that the company’s chief executive, Timothy J. Fertitta has agreed to purchase the company for $14.75 per share, or $1.2 billion.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 4:03 pm in Buffett, Consumer Goods, Earnings, Food, Hardware, Mergers and Buy Outs, Technology Companies, , , , , , ,

Apple’s Tablet Computer: The DVD Killer

appleThe music industry never saw the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPod coming. The iPod was an expensive toy when it was introduced in 2001. There was no reason to think it would do well. Digital multimedia players were not part of mainstream consumer electronics. Read More »

Posted on: October 27, 2009 – 5:13 am in Hardware, Media, Old Media, PC Companies, , , , ,

Google’s (GOOG) Android Could Squeeze Out Apple (AAPL)

appleNokia’s (NYSE:NOK) Symbian mobile operating system has dominated the handset software business for years. Microsoft’s mobile Windows has made some progress in picking up market share during the last decade, but its success has been very modest.

The operating systems which are part of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone and RIM (NYSE:RIMM) Blackberry were almost instant successes because of the popularity of their handsets.

Among these four powerful mobile OS players there seemed to be no room for a fifth, and certainly not a fifth that could take any significant market share. Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) is in the process of proving that conventional wisdom wrong. Read More »

Posted on: October 26, 2009 – 6:04 am in Consumer Electronics, Hardware, Software, Wireless, , , , ,

IBM (IBM) Earnings OK, But Hardware Sales Hurt

IBM (NYSE:IBM) slightly beat Wall St. estimates with EPS of $2.40, an 18% improvement over the same period a year ago.  The consensus estimate for the  quarter was $2.38 . The huge computer and IT firm said its expected full-year EPS to be $9.85 against analysts’ estimates of $9.78.

Revenue was also slightly ahead of consensus figures at $23.6 billion against expectations of $23.4 billion. That was down 6% from the third quarter last year. Net income of $3.2 billion was a 14% improvement over the third quarter of 2008. Read More »

Posted on: October 15, 2009 – 4:20 pm in Earnings, Hardware, Software,

52-Week High Club (SAN, CEL, TWLL)

Banco Santander Chile (NYSE: SAN) hit a yearly high of $56.51, continuing to rally

following the release of positive research on Latin American banks from Barclays.  The company has also benefited from positive reception to the announcement its fellow subsidiary, Banco Santander Brasil, would be selling its stakes in credit card rating company Visanet and the Serasa credit information bureau to Santusa Holdings S.L.  

 

Cellcom Israel Ltd (NYSE: CEL) hit a yearly high of $31.14 following an announcement that it would be exploring collaboration and merger opportunities.

 

Techwell Inc (NASDAQ: TWLL) hit a yearly high of $10.70 after the company raised its 3Q revenue projection.

 

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: September 25, 2009 – 4:38 pm in Banking, Financial Stocks, Hardware, Semiconductors, Telecom, , ,

The EU Meddling In US Tech Industry Grows

TVThe EU regulators who combat monopolistic practices have never been kind to Microsoft (MSFT). They have hounded the world’s largest software company for years, accusing it of bundling its browser into its operating system and other actions that make it hard for the company’s competitors to get fair access to the market. Everything the regulators say may be true.

More recently, EU officials accused Intel (INTC) of treating its smaller competitor AMD (AMD) badly by cutting special deals with PC companies to keep its dominance in the chip market. Regulators in Europe have gone so far as to release e-mails that they used to determine that Intel had violated anticompetitive regulations. Read More »

Posted on: September 22, 2009 – 5:17 am in Hardware, Regulation, Software, Technology Companies, , , , ,

Motorola (MOT): Right Phone, Wrong Network

nokMotorola (MOT), one the world’s No.2 handset company and now nearly out of business, introduced its new flagship product called Cliq. The phone runs the new Google (GOOG) Android mobile operating system. It will launch on the T-Mobile network in the last quarter of the year. Read More »

Posted on: September 10, 2009 – 4:19 pm in Consumer Electronics, Editor's Picks, Hardware, Software, Telecom, Wireless, , , , , , , , ,

European Commision May Kill Sun (JAVA) Deal With Oracle (ORCL)

magazinOracle (ORCL) probably thought its deal to buy Sun Microsystems (JAVA) was a sure thing once US regulators had approved the deal.

Now, the transaction is in real trouble and some experts believe it may never be closed at all. The European Commission may take several months to review it. A final decision will be about the breath of the investigation, but the EC says it is concerned about the dominance the combined operation could have in the open source server software business. Read More »

Posted on: September 3, 2009 – 6:13 am in Hardware, Mergers and Buy Outs, Regulation, Software, , , , ,

Apple (AAPL) Finally Gets Its China Deal

appleApple (AAPL) finally has its deal to distribute the iPhone in China after months of rumors and speculation.

China Unicom (CHU), the second largest wireless carrier on the mainland, says it has reached  a three-year deal with Apple and will launch the iPhone toward the end of the year. Read More »

Posted on: August 28, 2009 – 5:43 am in China, Hardware, Telecom, Wireless, , ,

Apple (AAPL): Processor Power May Be Key To Tablet Sales

appleNokia (NOK) is launching its netbook, a 10″ screen model which weighs 2.75 pounds and runs Windows. It comes into a remarkably crowded market. But, launching a product for the segment is nearly irresistible. NPD says global netbook sales will double this year to 32.7 million.

Nokia has had a habit of being late recently, particularly in the smartphone business. It has cost the company sales and its shareholders a great deal of money. The firm may have trouble competing against Acer, Asus, Samsung, and HP (HPQ) which have had products in the netbook  market for months. Read More »

Posted on: August 25, 2009 – 1:30 pm in Hardware, , ,

The E-Book Goes To China

chinaSony (SNE) and Amazon (AMZN) could have a new and large market for their e-book readers. The head of China Mobile (CHL), the largest cellular company in the world, sees part of his firm’s future growth in the e-reader market. E-readers can be set up so that they use the 3G wireless internet to download books.

Read More »

Posted on: August 25, 2009 – 5:03 am in China, Hardware, Wireless, ,

The Cell Carriers’ Worst Nightmare: FCC Investigation Of Handset Deals

appleThe partnerships between handset companies and cellular carriers in the US are too good to be true. The FCC has discovered that and the wireless industry may never be the same again.

AT&T (T) has derived tremendous benefits from its exclusive sales arrangement with Apple (AAPL) to sell the iPhone in the US. The telephone company regularly talks about how well the deal works in helping it get new customers and subscribers who used to do business with AT&T Wireless competitors. Read More »

Posted on: August 20, 2009 – 7:09 pm in Consumer Electronics, Hardware, Software, Wireless, , , , ,

AT&T (T) And Sprint (S) Key To iPhone And Palm Customer Satisfaction

appleWall St. analysts and the media have spent the weeks after the release of the Palm (PALM) Pre on the Sprint (S) network wondering how the handset is actually selling and whether it is getting customers that might have bought Apple (AAPL) iPhones of RIM (RIMM) Blackberry smart phones. No one has come up with an adequate answer and Palm will not release numbers.

One piece of research that works against the chances of the Pre being successful is a new ChangeWave survey of 198 Apple iPhone 3GS owners and 38 Palm Pre owners – comparing and contrasting their initial reactions to these new smart phone models. One of the few advantages Palm has appears to be the Sprint network. Read More »

Posted on: August 18, 2009 – 5:21 pm in Hardware, Telecom, Wireless, , , , ,

Tracking The Value Of The World’s Major Brands

apple
Several companies run annual brand valuations. It is a good business for advertising and marketing firms to be viewed as experts on brands. Brand values are based on the cash flow they create, and there are a number of ways to measure that. The mathematical parts of the formulas are relatively easy. The part that is hard, because it requires skilled forecasting, is what the reputation and value of a brand is likely to be three or four years from the date the values are set. It would have been hard half a decade ago to predict that AIG (AIG), the brand of the world’s largest insurance company, would be virtually worthless today, or that Facebook would be an extremely valuable brand. There is both art and science to determining the future of brands. Read More »

Posted on: August 12, 2009 – 3:21 pm in Accounting, Banking, China, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Goods, Editor's Picks, Financial Stocks, Hardware, PC Companies, Research, Software, Telecom, Tobacco, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Microsoft (MSFT) Readies “Office” Launch With Nokia (NOK)

nokMicrosoft (MSFT) believes, almost certainly, that the future of its operating software and search business is as much if not more on wireless portable devices as it is on the PC where the market share wars are mature.

Microsoft could not find any better partner than Nokia (NOK) for advancing its efforts to expand into the handset market. The cell phone firm has a 39% share of  the global wireless device business nearly twice that of its nearest competitor. Read More »

Posted on: August 11, 2009 – 8:40 pm in Hardware, Software, Wireless, ,

The Successful Models For Selling Apps At The Apple (AAPL) App Store

appleThe Apple (AAPL) App Store, with over 1.5 billion application downloads, has become a tremendous market where software developers can sell their products.  Individuals or corporations must register with Apple and pay a small fee to become official developers in order to be able to sell applications at the Apple App Store.   Apple has to approve each application prior to release.   More than 10,000 developers have registered with the Apple App Store and have produced over 65,000 applications. Read More »

Posted on: August 10, 2009 – 3:54 pm in Hardware, Software,

Sony (SNE), Always Late And Always A Loser, Gets Into E-Reader Market

TVSony (SNE) has had one hit product in the thirty years since it launched the Walkman. That product was the PlayStation 2. Microsoft (MSFT) and Nintendo bull-dozed Sony out of its position as the leader in game consoles and the PS3 has never come close to matching the success of its predecessor.

Sony today announced that it would enter the e-reader business, a part of the consumer electronics industry that is dominated by the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle which was originally released in early November of last year. Sony has given itself the chance to be tardy to a market dominated by the largest online retail outlet in the world, a website that was founded as a place to sell books online. Read More »

Posted on: August 4, 2009 – 6:13 pm in Hardware, , ,