Posts related to ‘Product Review’

SIRIUS Financial Take: Howard Stern/Pandora Risks (SIRI, AAPL)

SIRIUS XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) has been a key trading focus of late, mostly with positive metrics.  The company has now posted positive cash flow for the entire year of 2009 and it showed stronger subscriber growth in over a year.  There are a couple of risks not just tied to the economy, although any company selling paid-subscriber media today would tell you that the biggest risk to their business model is if the economy tumbles anywhere close to where we were in early 2009.  The specific risks to consider for SIRIUS XM are Howard Stern first as a risk for 2011 and beyond, and new competition from Pandora starting this year.
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Posted on: January 22, 2010 – 12:39 pm in Analyst Calls, Cult Stock, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Internet, Labor & Unions, Media, Product Review, Satellite, ,

Tech Issues Ahead of CES 2010 (MMM, UPG, PLXT, INTU, NETL, GRMN, GOOG, S, TXCC, INTC, AMD, AAPL)

It is the first week of January, which means one thing for lovers of consumer electronics: CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, takes place in Las Vegas.  The event kicks off on January 7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  We have gone through the press releases issued under the CES exhibitor news to look for which companies are making announcements.  Our scope is limited to the public companies and we screened out many “noise versus news” announcements.  Some of the featured companies are 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), Universal Power Group, Inc. (NYSE Amex: UPG), PLX Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLXT), Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU), NetLogic Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:NETL), Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), TranSwitch Corporation (NASDAQ: TXCC), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD).  As far as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), we already know that a new tablet device is on the way and it operates outside of CES.
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Posted on: January 5, 2010 – 12:05 pm in Consumer Electronics, Economy, Entertainment, Internet, Luxury, PC Companies, Product Review, Semiconductor, Software, Technology Companies, Telecom, Wireless, , , , , , , , , , , ,

From Scandal to Finance: Tiger Woods Top Financial Pieces

Tiger Wood said he would take an “indefinite” leave from golf, putting his endorsements, the income of the PGA Tour, and PGA charities all at risk.

As we expected, the Tiger Woods scandal has moved above and beyond just a scandal.  This has become one of the key business stories with ramifications for many companies, many stocks, and may become a case study for businesses involved in scandals.  How many billionaire athletes get into this much soup and blow their reputation out of the water like this?  Right, it has never happened.  But Tiger Woods is (or was) a business franchise beyond the person that is no different from sports greats Bobby Jones, Cy Young, Vince Lombardi, Michael Jordan, and on and on.

We have compiled a list of the top 10 business stories on this scandal from this week, and this is likely to continue into 2010.  Much relies on brand analysis, but there are some key strategic and outlook bits included.  Some businesses are actually winning from the scandal.
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Posted on: December 11, 2009 – 4:48 pm in Apparel, Autos, Buffett, Compensation, Consumer Goods, Corporate Governance, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Food, Internet, Law, Luxury, Media, Product Review

Wii Losing Its Cool & Partners’ Money (NTDOY, MSFT, SNE, GME)

Nintendo (NTDOY) had a major winner on its hands with the Wii gaming system.  Yet no fad lasts forever.  It has been known for some time that the Wii gaming system was falling victim to the same trends of slowing video game console sales hurting the Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360 and Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3.  But now things are really slowing down here for the console maker, even to the point that it seems that Nintendo’s parts suppliers are feeling the crunch.  This spells more caution for the sector.
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Posted on: December 1, 2009 – 6:04 pm in Entertainment, Product Review, Retail, Video Games, , , ,

Retail Gimmicks More Fine-Tuned for Black Friday (AAPL, AMZN, WMT, BBY, COST, TGT, KSS, M, JWN)

Black Friday is under 48 hours away.  We have seen much data and much analysis out there on the topic, but there are two fairly easy conclusions here…. well, make it three.  First is that consumers are going to get deals galore.  The add-in third notion, or the second, is that inventories at stores will be very low and many items may have to be bought online (with free or low-priced shipping to boot).  But the big conclusion here is that it seems a foregone conclusion that the great deals and (quasi-) price matching and free shipping offered by retailers are still likely to create margin pressure for the retailers even if they have strong sales.

This is a sampling review of some of the promotions from major retailers.  No particular order has been given.  Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) are worth noting, but the major retailers featured are Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M), and Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN).
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Posted on: November 25, 2009 – 11:51 am in Consumer Electronics, Consumer Goods, Internet, Luxury, Product Review, Retail, , , , , , , , ,

Garmin Navigation May Triumph Over Google at Christmas (GRMN, GOOG)

Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN) took it on the chin in recent weeks after Google Inc.  (NASDAQ: GOOG) launched its personal navigation system as an app on its new smartphones for free.  Despite the company’s guidance and earnings, this stock slid and slid from $38.00 to under $28.00 before its recent stabilization around $31.00.  It turns out that the threat may still be a long-term one, but it does not appear to be one today if online shopping data is worth anything.
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Posted on: November 25, 2009 – 9:05 am in Consumer Electronics, Product Review, Technology Companies, Wireless, ,

eBay Crashes on Saturday (EBAY)

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is having an issue which may have just cost sellers millions and millions of dollars in untold profits today.  After doing random searches today on Christmas present purchases and with eBay being one of the online destinations, it was suddenly clear that something was wrong on eBay.  The system was not working if you did not already have your item numbers known.  Search functions yielded nothing and stores were out.  If this were to happen after midnight on a Tuesday, it might not matter.  But this outage is on a weekend day when so many buyers and sellers aren’t at work and are able to spend the effort to go eBaying.

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Posted on: November 21, 2009 – 6:51 pm in Consumer Electronics, Consumer Goods, Internet, Luxury, Product Review, Retail,

Black Friday Gimmicks & Desperation, A Win For Consumers (WMT, BBY, COST, TGT, KSS, GPS, M, JWN, MA, AMZN)

We are right at a week away from the highly awaited Black Friday for 2009’s holiday and Christmas season.  As you likely know, this is THE day that retailers look forward to all year and critically depend upon as an anchor to how each retailer’s full year earnings results turn out.  You may already be tired of Christmas ads and the holidays haven’t even arrived yet.  With over 10% unemployment, a recession-end that doesn’t feel like a recession-end, a very tight discretionary spending budget, and a general lack of consumer confidence, it is no surprise at all that the focus for the Holiday Season in 2009 is one of deals and thrift.

These are not in any particular order, but the promotions have been reviewed at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), Best Buy Co. (NYSE: BBY), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST), Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), Kohl’s Corp. (NYSE: KSS), Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS), Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M), and Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN).  There is also already promotion between MasterCard Incorporated (NYSE: MA) and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).  Admittedly, this is just a sampling of major outlets.

What is amazing is just how much of the deal-making is already out before the holiday season starts as retailers key off of each other.  It is almost impossible to avoid thinking how such a promotional Christmas and Holiday Season in 2009 is going to add pressure to margins at almost all the first-line retailers.
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Posted on: November 19, 2009 – 12:54 pm in Apparel, Calendar, Editor's Picks, Entertainment, Luxury, Product Review, Retail, , , , , , , , , ,

Martha Stewart Lands at Home Depot (MSO, HD, SHLD, M)

Martha Stewart ImageHD LogoMartha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (NYSE: MSO) has a new exclusive product lineup partner. We still want to know where Martha will end up after the K-Mart deal she has with Sears Holdings (NASDAQ: SHLD) expires, although a new partnership unveiled today does not specifically address that question and does not sound  “exclusive” despite the term being used.

The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) announced an agreement today with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to develop an exclusive Martha Stewart Living brand of home improvement products.  It was not noted that this will have any impact on the K-Mart agreement and it still notes that Macy’s Inc. (NYSE: M) is one of the many retailers where Martha Stewart products will be available.
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Posted on: September 14, 2009 – 4:40 pm in Consumer Goods, Entertainment, Housing, Luxury, Product Review, Retail, , , ,

Budweiser Returns For US Investors (BUD, TAP, SAM, HOOK)

Bud Image Budweiser is back for US investors.  It has been some time that US investors have been able to invest in an large beer company since  Anheuser-Busch was acquired by InBev.  But it is coming back to a US-stock-listing. Anheuser-Busch InBev has announced that starting Wednesday, September 16, its ADR will list on the NYSE under the old “BUD” ticker.  The NYSE listing upgrades the company´s existing Level I ADR program, which was launched on July 1, 2009.

It has been hard for US investors to invest in the beer market.  Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP) was the largest, and despite its Denver HQ many are under the impression that they are investing in the Canadian Molson beer company since Coors and Molson merged.  Besides that for US-beer plays, investors have only had Boston Beer Co. Inc. (NYSE: SAM) with a small $550 million market cap and the micro-cap stock Craft Brewers Alliance Inc.   (NASDAQ: HOOK) to invest in with its $57 million market cap.

Following the Peter Lynch mantra, investors can once again invest in the company of a brand they regularly use.

JON C. OGG
September 11, 2009

Posted on: September 11, 2009 – 12:42 pm in ADR, Buffett, Calendar, Consumer Goods, Editor's Picks, Exchange News, Food, Mergers and Buy Outs, Product Review, Retail, , , ,

Giving Away Vegas To Get Traffic in Vegas (WYNN, LVS, MGM)

money-stack-imageIf you have ever stayed at the Wynn resort or the even newer Encore in Las Vegas, you will know that calling either a high-end resort and casino destination may represent an understatement of the year.  Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) has not been immune to the woes of Las Vegas despite the stock more than doubling from recent lows.  Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) is also in this boat along with every other casino operator.  But if you are one of the 90.8% of the employed and are one of the privileged consumers who has escaped the recession without much damage, the summer deals in Vegas are almost too good to be true. There are similar deals being offered by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) and by MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM).  If you are unencumbered by the economy, Vegas is almost free right now.
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Posted on: June 18, 2009 – 10:40 am in Casinos, Entertainment, Luxury, Product Review, , ,

Microsoft (MSFT) May Offer Huge Price Cut For Windows 7 Pressuring Margins

balllmerMicrosoft (MSFT) may price Windows 7 as low as $100 to offset the effects of the recession on PC operating system sales and the public’s rejection of Vista, the current version of Windows.

The price cut would be unprecedented. It could drive up sales of Microsoft’s software and PCs in general. It could also put intense pressure on Redmond’s margins and sales. Read More »

Posted on: June 8, 2009 – 5:04 am in PC Companies, Product Review, Software, , , , , ,

Palm Pre, Short Supply, Sell-Outs Not All Instant (PALM, S, AAPL, RIMM, BBY)

Palm Pre ImageSaturday morning marked the awaited launch of the Pre smartphone from Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) under an exclusivity carrier pact with Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S).  We think this will offer some competition to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) for the iPhone and some for Research in Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry (NASDAQ: RIMM), but how much real competition is another matter.  We started the calls to prominent stores located in prime areas of cities late morning Saturday to give them time to check-out the first buying customers.  We had to use Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) in the store call-ins, but some Sprint stores in hot locations still had phones.  This was far from a nationwide survey on Saturday morning, but here are the notes from our calls:

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Posted on: June 6, 2009 – 12:40 pm in Consumer Electronics, Product Review, Short Interest, Telecom, Trading Alert, Wireless, , , , ,

Palomar’s Chance To Take Away from BOTOX (PMTI, JNJ, AGN)

Money Stack ImagePalomar Medical Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: PMTI) is seeing shares surge to new heights not seen in 18-months.  The company is the first to receive FDA approval for over-the-counter clearance for a new, patented home use laser device that for the treatment of periorbital wrinkles (for eyes, like crows feet). The beauty of this, no pun intended, is that it is part of a Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) partnership and that may lead to much greater use.  This one will not exactly kill the entire Botox market for Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN), but even for one such possible replacement the idea of a home-use laser has to be a bit more enticing than getting stuck with a needle full of Botulinum toxins.
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Posted on: June 5, 2009 – 11:49 am in Entertainment, FDA, Healthcare, Luxury, Medical, Product Review, , ,

Discovery Says Amazon Kindle Infringes Its Patent (DISCA, DISCB, DISCK, AMZN)

kindle-imageDiscovery Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) has filed a patent infringement suit against Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)  regarding the Amazon Kindle e-book reader.
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Posted on: March 17, 2009 – 11:40 am in Entertainment, Internet, Law, Product Review, , , ,

Cybex Treadmill Recall, One More Woe (CYBI)

Cybex_treadmillCybex International Inc. (NASDAQ: CYBI) has another issue to worry about besides a stalling economy and weak sales of exercise equipment ahead.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission released today that the company is subject of a product recall for roughly 19,000 treadmills.  The Cybex recall is for treadmill risks due to fall hazards where the machine can unexpectedly speed up without notice due to a malfunction with the lower control board.

The company has received 24 reports of incidents involving thetreadmill unexpectedly increasing speed, including six reports ofconsumers falling. Three of those incidents resulted in minor injuries.  This has also come at a price on its stock, and the company’s shareholders probably don’t want any more financial injury on top of product injury.

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Posted on: October 29, 2008 – 12:04 pm in Product Review, Shareholder Issues,

Take-Two’s GTA4 Retail Checks…. Maybe Take-Two Can Defend Against EA (TTWO, ERTS, GME, BBY)

We at 247WallSt.com have made calls doing our own checks to see just how the new blockbuster mega-hit Grand Theft Auto 4 video game from take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) is selling at some of video game dedicated stores.  Figures that have been thrown around for the first week are $400 million, and if you do a Google search under "GTA4 $400M" you’ll see how many are running this figure.

As Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) tries to defend itself against a takeover (or to get a higher price) from Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), we wanted to see just how well this game could do.  This is being sold through thousands of stores and many of the locations are completely sold out.  Only a few acted like they had an oversupply of games.  Literally many of the larger stores were stocked with games for those who did not pre-order, but those supplies were being eaten through quickly.  This is also before school and work ended for the bulk of the gaming population, so that’s another catch.

We decided to run a store check the opening morning at store locations for GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), and even the new entrant called Play N Trade.  It goes quite simply like this, the larger the store the harder it is to round up someone that can or will give you an answer.  As well as this game is selling, and with a record breaking sales projection because of the dual-console platform launch, it’s hard to imagine that the company is just going to fold up its tent in defending itself.  If Electronic Arts wants the video game maker, they are trying to buy a company that will have a remarkably improved sales position compared to when the bid was first launched.  The opposite side of the argument is that one title might not make a difference in a decade long time frame.

Many did well in the midnight sales, and here are just a handful of the comments that the employees at the stores said from each store listed.  Please note that while these are in quotes, they are in context but this was the general comment of what we were told at each individual store:

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Posted on: April 29, 2008 – 2:26 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Product Review, Video Games, , , ,

Consumer Electronics Show Device Launches (AMD, HIMX, LOGI, MCZ, MSFT, PXLW, RNWK, SNE, YHOO)

The Consumer Electronics Show kicked off last night with a keynote from Bill Gates (supposedly his last) and there are many product announcements being shown from large and small tech companies alike.  Here are some of the key product launch features being shown so far:

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) unveiled its ATI Mobility Radeon 3000 graphics processor for notebooks and its Xilleon panel processor for LCD TV image quality; AMD shares up 1%.

Himax (HIMX) is in a new strategic alliance with 3M (MMM) over ultra-mobile digital projectors; HIMX stock up almost 6%.

Logitech (LOGI) is demo’ing its new sleek line of computer peripherals and entertainment devices.

Mad Catz (MCZ) will have its recently acquired Saitek unit with new Cyborg line including keyboard, mouse, headset, and peripherals.

Microsoft (MSFT) said at "CES" it had 100 million licenses sold of Windows Vista; 17.7 million Xbox 360’s, 10 million Xbox live users; will have new content downloads with Disney, ABC, and more; showcasing new GPS; MSFT shares up 1%.

Pixelworks (PXLW) launched its Keystone Correction Post-processing IC for digital projectors.

RealNetworks’ (RNWK) is partnering with Philips for its Rhapsody player for in-home audio and GoGear portable devices.

Sony (SNE) is debuting a new digital camcorder with triple recording in a hard drive, memory stick, and disk for ultra-compatibility among digital platforms; shares up 3%.

Yahoo! (YHOO) announced a platform neutral mobile ecosystem for mobile web content at CES with a new redesigned Yahoo! mobile launch page; shares up 0.5%.

Please be advised that there will be hundreds of product launches and partnerships announced out of the Consumer Electronics Show this week.  This is only a small snapshot of new devices we saw from various announcements and press releases.

Jon C. Ogg
January 7, 2008

Posted on: January 7, 2008 – 9:15 am in Product Review, Technology Companies, , , , , , , , ,

Amazon.com’s Kindle Only Available For Scalpers (AMZM, EBAY, SNE)

We were quite interested in Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) upcoming product release for the new e-book reader, the Kindle.  Interestingly enough it almost immediately sold out of its initial supply and gave its first website update with an estimated December 5 ‘availability date’ to buyers.  That was right around Thanksgiving.  But if you look at the site now, forget about this being a Christmas or Hanukkah gift for 2007.  See below:

Availability: Temporarily out of stock. Order now and we’ll deliver when available. We’ll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your credit card will not be charged until we ship the item. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Kindle Availability:  Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Because we ship Kindles on a first-come, first-served basis, please ORDER NOW to reserve your place in line. Your Kindle will not arrive by December 25th. Note that Kindles cannot currently be sold or shipped to customers living outside of the U.S.

But there is at least one place you can buy the Kindle.  eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) has many Kindle units on auction, for quite a premium.  As of now and depending upon the seller’s rating at eBay, the bids are in excess of $600, $700, and even over $800….. not bad for the seller considering that this retails at Amazon.com for $399.00 for those who can be patient for yet a few more weeks.

Walt Mossberg at the WSJ only gave Kindle a so-so review.  You can always buy the ‘lower-features’ eBook reader from Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE/ADR) for $299.95… and you can buy it on Amazon.com.

Jon C. Ogg
December 4, 2007

Posted on: December 4, 2007 – 2:57 pm in Internet, Product Review, , , , ,

Amazon.com’s Kindle e-Book Reader Sold Out: Hype or Mega-Hit? (AMZN)

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is apparently already sold out of its new Kindle electronic book reader.  That is what the launch and intro page for the Kindle notes. What is not clear is if this is part of a publicity stunt or if this is already lining up to be a game changer.  There haven’t been any formal figures as to how many readers have really been sold and there wasn’t coverage on how many were being made for the first launch.

Kindle Availability: "Due to heavy customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out. Because we ship Kindles on a first-come, first-served basis, please ORDER NOW to reserve your place in line. See availability messaging above for estimated in-stock date."  Availability: In stock on December 5, 2007.

Sony has had one of these out for some time, and it has barely registered as a footnote in the grand scheme of things as Sony.  Sony’s Reader Digital Book is less robust than Kindle and has been on the market much longer, and it costs $299.99.  Sony has also had promotion of 100 free e-book offers for e-book reader purchases between August 4, 2007 and January 31, 2008.  Amazon’s Kindle reader is $399.00, but it acts more like a portable written media device as it allows newspapers, blogs, and more to be connected wirelessly through the same high-speed data network (EVDO) as advanced cell phones.

Jon C. Ogg
November 23, 2007

Posted on: November 23, 2007 – 7:06 am in Entertainment, Internet, Product Review, , ,