Posts related to ‘Telecom’

The Palm Margin Squeeze (PALM, S, AMZN, WMT)

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has sort of already fallen from grace despite all the hype behind the Palm Pre.  Throw in that Pixi too.  Discounting is trumping what may be weaker sales.  It turns out that Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is offering the Palm Pre for Sprint for a mere $79.99.  Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) has it offered direct at $149.99 price after discounts and rebates at its site.  Sprint Nextel is also selling the Palm Pixi for $99.99, but the Palm Pixi is now for sale for $24.99 at Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT).  We confirmed all these prices on the websites, and this is going to confirm tough times for Palm and its finances.
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Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 9:24 am in Consumer Electronics, Retail, Technology Companies, Telecom, Wireless, , , ,

Tech Giants Now Hold ~$265 Billion Cash To Spend (HPQ, COMS, INTC, AMD, MSFT, CSCO, AAPL, GOOG, ORCL, JAVA, QCOM, EMC, YHOO, DELL, AMZN, EBAY, ONT, BRCD, JDSU, STAR, VMW)

You have already seen the Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) buyout of 3Com Corporation (NASDAQ: COMS).  But this week before that deal was announced we covered how mergers in the technology sector have been very slow to develop over the scale in which we and others think is possible for the sector.  After the Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) settlement with Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), the tally of cash that is now estimated would be an implied $265 billion that is available for the tech giants in our 24/7 Wall St. Real-Time 500 to make acquisitions.

The giant cash balances are held by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), assuming nothing happens with Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA).  But players like QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM), EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), and eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) are either all sitting with large amounts of cash or will be very soon.

We have broken out these technology, IT, software, and Internet companies by the cash amount they hold or what they have in a soon-to-be cash balance.  Of course only a fraction of this cash will be used for mergers.  But there is also a ton of room here for dividends and of course the share buybacks.

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Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 11:31 am in Consumer Electronics, Cramer, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, PC Companies, Private Equity, Rumors, Semiconductor, Software, Stock Buybacks, Technology Companies, Telecom, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

52-Week High Club (PCLN, TWTC, FOSL)

Priceline.com Inc (NASDAQ: PCLN) surged over 20% to a yearly high of $209.19.  The global online travel agency rose after the company forcast that 4Q earnings would be at least $1.52 a share, with current analyst estimates resting around $1.49.  

tw telecom inc. (NASDAQ: TWTC) rose as high as 10% today as it reached a yearly high of $15.24.   The internet and telephone service provider was upgrade by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to “overweight” from “neutral”. 

Fossil Inc (NASDAQ: FOSL) rose as high as 11.5% to a high of $32.07 toda as the fashion accessory designer and distributor raised their earnings estimates.  

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 4:29 pm in Earnings, Retail, Telecom, , , ,

Is JDSU Up For Grabs? (JDSU)

JDSU LogoJDS Uniphase Corp. (NASDAQ: JDSU) is seeing a run in the stock and in the options trading today.  The company announced this morning that had “licensed patent rights for fundamental picosecond laser technology to Hamamatsu Corporation for the development of microelectronic products.” Yet there may be more to the story here as some consider it one possible takeout or merger target in the land of technology.  This notion of an acquisition may seem impossible if you have known the company since it was a $100 and far higher stock back in the tech bubble days.

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Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 2:53 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Rumors, Technology Companies, Telecom,

Wednesday Hangs on Key Tech/Media Earnings (CSCO, CMCSA, QCOM, TWX, VG)

Bull and Bear ImageWe have four key earnings for technology and media investors and traders due on Wednesday, and one key cult stock.  The two biggest for tech which can impact all components of their related sub-sectors are Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) and QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM).  Then in media and communications will be Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).  Lastly, there is one of Wall Street biggest cult stocks with Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG) on deck.  We have provided Thomson Reuters consensus estimates, and, where applicable, key performance measures and added color on each.
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Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 2:23 pm in Calendar, Cult Stock, Earnings, Media, Technology Companies, Telecom, , , , ,

Handset Growth Expected To Surge With Apple (AAPL) Is The Lead

appleThe global handset business has faltered due to the recession. Research firm Strategic Analytics says that worldwide handset sales fell to 291 million units in Q3 down from 304 million in the same period a year ago. But, the firm expects Q4 to be a period of improving sales compared to last year, and part of that improvement is likely to be driven by strong sales of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone. Read More »

Posted on: October 31, 2009 – 8:09 am in Telecom, Wireless, , ,

TeleNav Files For IPO, Maybe Too Late (TNAV, GOOG, GRMN, S, T)

Burning Money PicIf you watched any news this week about Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) launching a free personal navigation service on its Android phones, then you know it was a bad week for Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN).  This wasn’t even really unknown news, although the timing caught many by surprise.   And now most IPOs coming to market are getting sold and not bought.  So if I were to tell you that a company called TeleNav, Inc. whose first line of their own description said “We are a leading provider of location-based services, or LBS, including voice guided navigation, on mobile phones” filed to come public via an Initial Public Offering the question is: what would you think?

If you can believe it, that is just what happened late Friday afternoon.  No terms were issued, but TeleNav did say that it plans to sell up to $75 million for filing purposes.   No exchange was listed and the company plans to trade under the stock ticker “TNAV” after the IPO.
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Posted on: October 30, 2009 – 5:01 pm in Consumer Electronics, Telecom, Wireless

Credit & Equity Analyst Ratings Duel at Palm (PALM)

Palm LogoPalm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has lost that massive stock surge that we saw for what felt like way too long throughout 2009.  There are two key analyst calls that now may act as an analyst duel.  One is yesterday’s BMO Capital Markets and the other is non other Standard & Poor’s.  Throw in a high, but declining, short interest and the race is back on in Palm as to whether its future is made of shinola or made of something else in the notorious analogy.

Palm was weak yesterday and fell $0.90 to downgraded yesterday to $13.38 after BMO Capital Markets downgraded the stock to an “Underperform” rating from an already neutral “Market Perform” rating.  BMO already took its sub-market target down to $10.00 from $11.00.  BMO was concerned over Apple’s iPhone and R-I-M’s Blackberry competition, as well as what is coming down the pipe from Google’s Android phones.  Yet this morning we have an upgrade on the corporate credit side of Palm from Standard & Poor’s.
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Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 11:36 am in Analyst Calls, Consumer Electronics, Technology Companies, Telecom, Wireless, , , ,

Level 3 Earnings To Outline Direction (LVLT)

LVLT LogoLevel 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) is set to release its third quarter 2009 earnings results on Wednesday morning before the open and plans to hold a conference call at 10:30 AM EST.  Thomson Reuters has consensus estimates at -$0.10 EPS and $926.25 million in revenues.  If Level 3 gives guidance, the estimates for Q4 are -$0.10 EPS and $922.88 million in revenues.  Because this is such a cult stock, the actual metrics behind the scenes are likely to dominate over just the corporate earnings reports.
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Posted on: October 27, 2009 – 2:34 pm in Earnings, Internet, Telecom,

Subscriber Growth For Major Chinese Mobile Companies (CHL, CHU, CHA)

Today China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) posted big numbers in its subscriber growth, claiming 500 million mobile users.  By this metric, China Mobile can claim the title of the worlds biggest mobile company.  However, looking at subscribers in terms of percentage growth over the past year tells a different story.  The first chart below compares China Mobile, China Unicom (NYSE: CHU), and China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) on the basis of  monthly subscriber growth off the September 2008 base.  The second shows the monthly change in each stock price off their respective September 2008 price. (It should it be noted that there is a delay in the release of the monthly subscriber number for each company.)

Chart 1: Monthly Subscriber Growth, September 08-September 09

iChat Image(658297160)

Chart 2: Monthly change in stock price, September 08-September 09

iChat Image(2586538672)

While some may appreciate steady companies, its hard not to like the exponential growth in China Telecom’s mobile subscriber base.

Garrett W. McIntyre


Posted on: October 20, 2009 – 1:30 pm in Charts, China, Telecom, , ,

52-Week High Club

CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE: CF) rallied over 4% to a yearly high of $95.06 after Agrium Inc. announced that it had extened its offer to acquire CF Industries holding for $40 in cash and a share of Agrium per share of CF Industries Holdings.

Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI) hit a yearly high of $14.02 after the company’s earnings beat analyst estimates.

iPCS Inc. (NASDAQ: IPCS) rallied over 30% to a yearly high of $23.95 after Sprint Nextel announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire the company for roughly $831 million, with the shares valued at $24.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: October 19, 2009 – 4:17 pm in Agriculture, Media, Old Media, Telecom, , , , ,

Level 3 Filing Pressure Shares, Maybe Unjustly (LVLT)

Money Stack ImageLevel 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) has just disclosed in an SEC filing the “Creation of a Direct Financial Obligation or an Obligation under an Off-Balance Sheet Arrangement of a Registrant.”  The company noted that it consummated the transactions contemplated by a Securities Purchase Agreement that it executed with certain investors on October 1, 2009 in connection with the offering and sale of $275,000,000 aggregate principal amount of its 7% Convertible Senior Notes due 2015, Series B.  A copy of the Purchase Agreement was previously filed as Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Current Report on Form 8-K, filed on October 2, 2009, and is incorporated herein by reference.  It appears that the title of the filing has made more of an impact than the actual terms.
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Posted on: October 15, 2009 – 4:49 pm in Bonds, Internet, Secondary Offering, Telecom,

52-Week High Club

Conseco Inc (NYSE: CNO) rallied 30% to a yearly high of $6.50 on news that Paulson & Co. had taken a large stake in the company as well as on news that the company had entered into an agreement to sell roughly $293 million in convertible notes.  

J P Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) rose to a yearly high of $47.47 reporting strong earnings results.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA (NYSE: BUD) rose over 4% to a yearly high of $49.91 on news that the company had successfully sold $5.5 billion in debt.

Siemans AG (NYSE: SI) rose over 5% to a yearly high of $103.08 after the company announced outsourcing contracts with University of Pennsylvania Health System, Ernst Klett AG, and Ziggo in the Netherlands.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: October 14, 2009 – 4:23 pm in Banking, Earnings, Financial Stocks, Food, Telecom, , , ,

52-Week High Club

Pier 1 Imports Inc. (NYSE: PIR) rallied over 11% to a yearly high of $5.01 after Dow Jones reported that the company had entered into an agreement to sell its St. Charles Ill. distribution center $11 million.

ResMed Inc. (NYSE: RMD) hit a yearly high of $47.90 after analysts at Credit Suisse upgraded the stock.

Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) hit a yearly high of $6.05 after the company announced that K-Touch Mobile Indonesia, a mobile phone maker, had licensed Bitstream’s mobile we brower for distribution.

Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. (NASDAQ: PSUN) rallied over 6% to a yearly high of %6.62 after FBR Capital upgraded the apparel stores industry. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group (NASDAQ: SBGI) rallied over 12% to a yearly high of $4.22 after the company’s subsidiary, Sinclair Television Group, intends to offer roughl $430.00 million in debt which will be used to pas for its cash tenders for its 3% senior covertible notes due in 2027 and 4.875% senior convertable notes due in 2018.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: October 13, 2009 – 4:33 pm in Healthcare, Old Media, Retail, Technology Companies, Telecom, , , , ,

T-Mobile And Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Offer $100 Gift Card For Lost Data

nokMicrosoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and T-Mobile (NYSE:DT), who have managed to lose the personal data of thousands and thousands of customers who have the carrier’s SideKick product because of failures of Microsoft server software, are offering the people who lost their information a $100 gift card. That seems to be little better than adding insult to injury. Read More »

Posted on: October 13, 2009 – 5:25 am in Software, Telecom, Wireless, , , , , ,

Too Many Smartphones

nokDell (NASDAQ:DELL) announced that it will launch a smartphone with AT&T (NYSE:T) next year. The handset will be powered by the Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android operating system. 

The news about Google’s role has to annoy Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which has a mobile package of its own, and Symbian, which has about 50% of the smart phone operating system market. Read More »

Posted on: October 8, 2009 – 5:11 am in Telecom, , , , , , , , ,

Citi Pumps Vonage (VG)

Vonage LogoVonage Holdings Corporation (NYSE: VG) was a recent huge winner on news that it was going to enter the apps market and would be available on iPhones and more.  The shares have risen this week, but it seems muted to what we saw in August and September.  This morning we have seen that Citigroup raised its price target to $1.50 from $0.50 despite maintaining a HOLD rating.  The interest here is not that the stock is trading above that price already, but that it is the first real analyst call from a bulge bracket firm in ages.
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Posted on: October 7, 2009 – 9:29 am in Analyst Calls, Cult Stock, Internet, Telecom,

What Does Allowing VoIP Cost AT&T (NYSE:T)

appleThere was a reason AT&T (NYSE:T) wanted to keep VoIP applications off of its 3G network, and that reason was almost certainly that the applications will cost the company money.

The big phone firm said Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be be allowed to  enable VoIP applications on the iPhone to run on AT&T’s wireless network. Previously, VoIP applications on iPhone were enabled for Wi-Fi connectivity.

The decision probably means that Vonage (NYSE:VG) and the Skype division of eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) will also attempt to get approval for their VoIP applications. Read More »

Posted on: October 6, 2009 – 6:24 pm in Internet, Telecom, Wireless, , , ,

52-Week High Club

Banco Bradesco Sa (NYSE: BBD) hit a early high of $20.79 today, carried by the hype surrounding South American banks over the past few weeks.  The company is also undoubtably benefiting from the “Olympics effect”.

Jefferies Group (NYSE: JEF) hit a yearly high of $28.03 following news that the company had launched its first ETF.

Och-Ziff Capital Management (NYSE: OZH) hit a yearly high of $12.74 following Friday’s announcement that the company’s flagship fund was up for the ninth month in a row.  

Venoco, Inc. (NYSE: VQ) hit a yearly high of $12.12, surging over 13% after the company announced that it had successfully sold $150 in senior notes in order to repay debt.

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: October 5, 2009 – 4:04 pm in Banking, Emerging Markets, Financial Stocks, Oil & Gas, Telecom, , , ,

Should Ciena Be Pursuing Nortel Assets? (CIEN, NRTLQ)

We have been looking into the report from Ciena Corporation (NASDAQ: CIEN) late this morning that the company is in advanced discussions to acquire substantially all of the optical networking and carrier Ethernet assets of Nortel’s Metro Ethernet Networks business.  And early this afternoon came a press release from Nortel Networks Corporation (OTCBB: NRTLQ) that it is in advanced discussions regarding the planned sale of “substantially all assets within its Optical Networking and Carrier Ethernet businesses globally.”  This is certainly not a done deal, but we want to see if this operation is worth acquiring.  The answer of course is, “It depends upon the price.”  And the good news is that Ciena is not trying to takeover all of Nortel.
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Posted on: October 5, 2009 – 2:05 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Telecom, ,