Posts for Ticker ‘ERTS’

Top Day Trader Alerts (ATVI, ERTS, PCLN, JASO, EPR, BKD, JAVA, ORCL, STAN)

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks with more details and analysis via a link to VSInvestor.com for each stock:

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) is up 2% over the new “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II”… Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) is down 3% after being up on sloppy earnings last night.

Priceline.com Incorporated (NASDAQ: PCLN) is hitting multi-year highs after beating its earnings targets and raising guidance.

JA Solar Holdings Co. Ltd. (NASDAQ: JASO) is a winner and up 6% after earnings.

Entertainment Properties Trust (NYSE: EPR) is getting hit on a secondary offering.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. (NYSE: BKD) is getting hit on a larger secondary offering as Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG) is selling all of the shares in the deal.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) and its $9.50 per share buyout by Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) may be further in jeopardy on an EU protest, but it is holding up better than you might think.

Standard Parking Corp. (NASDAQ: STAN) is down over 3% on a 6.59 million share secondary offering of common stock.

You can join our open email distribution list to get updates on top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, secondary offerings, Warren Buffett and other guru activity, M&A and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 9:17 am in Pre-Market Activity, Trading Alert, , , , , , , , ,

Electronic Arts (ERTS): M&A And Layoffs Meet At A Crossroad

wiiElectronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) did something today that is almost never seen in the corporate world. It made a big acquisition and fired 1,500 of its workers, 17% of the total staff, on the same day. Read More »

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 5:02 am in Mergers and Buy Outs, , , , ,

Top 10 Earnings on Deck This Week (ERTS, ENER, PCLN, SQNM, TYC, AMAT, M, JWN, WMT, DIS)

bull-and-bear-image2Earnings season has wound down now with over 85% of the S&P 500 Index having reported.  Still, there are some key companies posting their quarterly results and some companies were screened out of this list which are still actively traded or widely held stocks.  Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENER), Priceline.com Inc. (NASDAQ: PCLN) and Sequenom Inc. (NASDAQ: SQNM) are on deck Monday. Also this week are earnings from Tyco International Ltd. (NYSE: TYC), Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), Macy’s, Inc. (NYSE: M), are Nordstrom Inc. (NYSE: JWN). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) are our two DJIA components reporting this week.

We have included Thomson Reuters consensus estimates and included performance and other important color where applicable.  We have shown the share performance since the March 9 close that traders mark as the official end date of the bloody bear market.  One issue to consider is that we used the performance since June 30 to keep consistency for our prior previews even though some of the quarter-ends this coming week are technically August 31.
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Posted on: November 8, 2009 – 10:26 am in Alternative Energy, Calendar, Cult Stock, Earnings, Green Biz, Retail, Semiconductor, Short Interest, , , , , , , , , ,

Top 10 Grossing Apple (AAPL) Apps

Apple recently started publishing a list of the top grossing applications in its App Store. Since its inception the App Store has posted over 2 billion downloads. The App Store effectively operates like a consignment shop. Apple keeps a third of the price of any application sold in the App Store, while the developer gets the rest. Apple does not disclose how much revenue it derives from App Store sales, but we can bet that the lion’s share of revenue comes from the top 100 grossing applications. Below is a description of the top ten grossing applications sold in the App Store, along with a description of their developer.

Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 4:30 pm in Software, Uncategorized, ,

Apple (AAPL) Becomes Too Excellent: 100,000 Apps

appleIt will be a shame when the day comes that Apple can’t put out good news every day. The market has become used to it. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) now has the 9th highest market cap of all companies traded on a US exchange at $173 billion, about the same at Procter & Gamble (NYSE:PG) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM).

Apple today announced that its app store, certainly the most successful software service of its kind, has reached 100,000 applications available for iPhone and iPod users. Describing the triumph Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing said“The iPhone SDK created the first great platform for mobile applications and our customers are loving all the amazing apps our developers are creating.” Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 10:50 am in Software, ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (10/15/2009) (ERTS)(CLWR)(MSFT)(ARUN)(GS)(LAZ)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 2.15 PM:   Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) may buy social game business Playfish for $250 million. (Business Insider)

Updated 1:40 PM EST: CKX Inc. (NASDAQ: CKXE) refuting reports that it is selling stock (VSInvestor.com)

Updated  11.50 AM EST: Shares in J. Sainsbury, the UK supermarket chain, ran up on rumors that the Qatari sovereign wealth fund is interested in increasing its 26% stake in the firm.  (MarketWatch)

Updated 11.10 AM EST:  Clearwire (NASDAQ:CLWR) may get a large investment from partner Sprint (NYSE:S) (Barron”s)

eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) division Skype may buy Gizmo5 for $50 million (TechCrunch)

The family of deceased Larard (NYSE:LAZ) CEO Wasserstein may sell New York Magazine. (NYPost)

Shares of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) are down because earnings missed Wall St. “whisper” numbers  (ClusterStock)

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) may build an FM tuner into iPods and iPhones so that users can buy music they listen to on the radio through iTunes.  (9 to 5 Mac)

Aruba Networks (NASDAQ:ARUN) may be for sale. Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE:ALU), Siemens (NYSE:SI), Juniper (NASDAQ:JNPR), and IBM (NYSE:IBM) are considered possible buyers. (Barron’s)

Acer may overtake Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) as the No. 2 PC maker in the world. (Digital Daily)

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) may launch an online bookstore which could provide competition to Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle. (Reuters)

Apple is planning to planning to take advantage of the launch of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows 7 to sell Macs (BusinessWeek).

Apple’s Steve Jobs may be more popular than Jesus.  (Fortune)

GM may make a financial rescue of its Korean Daewoo Auto & Technology Center.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: October 15, 2009 – 9:10 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Growing Trend Of Denying Rumors

balllmerMicrosoft (MSFT) felt compelled to deny a rumor that it would buy Electronic Arts (ERTS) after shares in the game company rose over 7% on speculation of a deal.

BusinessWeek had to say that it was not closing after a Twitter message to that effect leaked to the public.

Last week, and again this week, there were persistent rumors that Deutsche Telekom (DT) would buy Sprint (S) and put it together with its US cellular operation T-Mobile. The fact that the two companies run on incompatible networks did not seem to matter.

CBS (CBS) approached members of the press after stories that it might go Chapter 11 appeared based on a study by well-regarded research firm Audit Integrity. Read More »

Posted on: September 24, 2009 – 6:04 am in Media, , , , ,

Top Analyst Upgrades (AET, AMZN, AMX, BJ, CAL, ERTS, FO, FPIC, HUM, MAR, HOT)

These are this Wednesday morning’s top analyst upgrades and positive research calls that we have seen from Wall Street:

Aetna (AET) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Amazon.com (AMZN) Raised to Buy at BofA Merrill Lynch.
America Movil (AMX) Started as Outperform at Wells Fargo.
BJ’s Wholesale (BJ) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
Continental (CAL) Raised to Buy at Argus.
Electronic Arts (ERTS) Raised to Outperform at FBR.
Fortune Brands (FO) Raised to Buy at Goldman Sachs.
FPIC Insurance (FPIC) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Humana (HUM) STarted as Buy at Collins-Stewart.
Marriott Hotels (MAR) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Starwood Hotels (HOT) Started as Buy at Citigroup.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week for top analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader alerts, IPO’s, key secondary offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 16, 2009 – 8:22 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , , ,

Top Analyst Downgrades (AIG, ALL, BBY, CLX, ERTS, ITT, NWS, SII, TYX, VIP)

These are this Friday morning’s top analyst downgrades and cautious research calls from Wall Street:

American International Group (NYSE: AIG) Cut to Underperform at Wells Fargo.
Allstate (NYSE:ALL) Cut to Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Clorox (NYSE: CLX) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) Cut to Neutral at BofA/Merrill Lynch.
ITT Corp. (NYSE: ITT) Cut to Equalweight at Barclays.
News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) Cut to Underperform at Cowen.
Smith International (NYSE:SII) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Tyco (NYSE: TYC) Cut to Equalweight at Barclays.
VimpelCom (NYSE: VIP) Cut To Hold at RBS.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: September 11, 2009 – 8:06 am in Analyst Calls, , , , , , , , , ,

Video Game Sector Preps For Tough Year-End (GME, SNE, MSFT, ERTS, AMZN, NTDOY, TTWO, ATVI)

burning-money-picThe video game sector was supposed to be one of the relative beneficiaries of the recession even if it was not to be entirely immune.  The sector was part of the ‘in-living room entertainment’ trade.  Yet, it isn’t working out that way.  It seems that there has been almost no good news in the sector and the economic recovery is skipping the leaders.  Earnings from GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME) were not helped at all by guidance.  Sony Corporation (NYSE: SNE) has potentially started a war of emasculation among console makers with its recent price cuts.  And game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) gave a poor showing with its most recent results.  Recent NPD data for video game sales showed some of the worst reports imaginable.
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Posted on: August 20, 2009 – 10:52 am in Earnings, Entertainment, Video Games, , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 8/5/2009

newspaperReuters:   GM’s new board endorsed the company’s new plans.

Reuters:   The Senate will probably approve “cash for clunkers” aid.

Reuters:   Sony (SNE) will enter the market with an e-reader to compete with Amazon (AMZN).

Reuters:   Disarray in the Administration is hurting plans for changes in financial regulation. Read More »

Posted on: August 5, 2009 – 4:06 am in Press Digest, , , , , ,

EA Good Enough, on non-GAAP Basis (ERTS)

Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced results for its first quarter of fiscal 2010, and shares are holding their own. Non-GAAP net revenue was $816 million, a gain of 34% from a year ago, and better than Thomson Reuters estimates of $729.5 million. EA’s non-GAAP loss was $6 million or -$0.02  EPS, down from -$0.42 a year ago.  Thomson Reuters estimates were for -$0.13 EPS.
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Posted on: August 4, 2009 – 4:46 pm in Earnings, Video Games,

Too Much Credit For Big Tech Analyst Call (ATVI, AMZN, ERTS, IACI, GOOG, EBAY, NFLX, VCLK, YHOO)

money-stack-imageUBS made some key analyst initiations in the Internet and entertainment sector this morning.  As this is new coverage, they are not upgrades on a technical level.  These “Buy” ratings are also on a day where the market is back at near-term highs and during the week after we have a twelve consecutive day rally in the NASDAQ.  Today’s added strength this is helping is something that just seems too much based upon a new coverage call after the gains we have already seen in these stocks.   Below is a list of some of the stocks started as “Buy” and you will see the price targets as well.

  • Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI)
  • Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) up 2.3% at $86.30; price target was $105.00.
  • Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) up 3.8% at $21.55; price target was $27.00.
  • IAC/Interactive (NASDAQ: IACI) up 3.3% at $18.60; price target was $21.00.
  • Google Inc. (GOOG) up over 3% at $450.20; price target was $525.00.

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Posted on: July 30, 2009 – 11:05 am in Analyst Calls, Internet, Technology Companies, , , , , , , , ,

Madden 2010 Sales To Fuel GameStop (GME)

wii

Over the past week, the 24/7 Wall St./The Channel Checkers poll surveyed Gamestop and EB Games stores across the United States to track sales trends of gaming consoles and video games.  We asked the following questions:

1. What is the best selling video game right now?
2. What is the best selling game platform?
3. What will be the next big game released over the next 3 months? Read More »

Posted on: July 27, 2009 – 3:55 am in Research, Retail, Video Games, , , ,

How Does Take-Two (TTWO) CEO Ben Feder Keep His Job?

wiiShares of Take-Two (TTWO) Interactive fell 14% after hours as the company cuts its forecasts of earnings and sales for its fiscal 2009. The major reason for the change was the delay of the launch of  the BioShock 2 game from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2010.

This is one in a long series of failures by the management of Take-Two which is headed by CEO Ben Feder. The shares are down almost 60% since he joined the company, and has not only turned down a generous buyout offer from Electronic Arts (ERTS), but has also missed forecasts on more than one occasion.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: July 13, 2009 – 7:59 pm in Earnings Warning, Video Games, ,

Yahoo! (YHOO) Holds Huge Edge In Online Gaming: GSN Games, Spil Games, BetaWave

wiiAmericans are turning to cheap alternatives to expensive video games by finding interactive games online. These game are usually much less expensive to play that the ones consumers have to buy for Nintendo Wii, Sony (SNE) PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 consoles. That may be bad news for these video platform businesses, but it is very good for the websites that provide most of the online products. Read More »

Posted on: July 12, 2009 – 5:46 am in Internet, Video Games, , , ,

Media Digest 6/19/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Investors are putting money into emerging markets except Eastern Europe.

Reuters:   Stanford will go to court for a $8 billion fraud allegation.

Reuters:   RIM’s (RIMM) outlook disappointed.

Reuters:   CEOs at bailed out companies used corporate jets for private trips.

Reuters:   Congress may not accept all of Obama’s financial reforms. Read More »

Posted on: June 19, 2009 – 2:59 am in Autos, Banking, China, Compensation, Drug companies, Mergers and Buy Outs, Pharmaceuticals, Press Digest, Private Equity, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Can’t Kill The Sims (ERTS, AAPL)

Sims LogoElectronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) is often known for its overwhelmingly popular Madden and sports game franchises.  Yet the Sims is the series that just keeps on giving.  Because you can play The Sims online and get to essentially create your own microcosm, it has been a success for much longer than many expected.  EA has now had the biggest launch week in the Sims’ history with its latest release.
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Posted on: June 9, 2009 – 3:21 pm in Entertainment, Media, Video Games, ,

Media Digest 5/20/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   The Treasury is keeping banks guessing about when they can repay TARP funds.

Reuters:   Bank of America (BAC) has raised more than $13 billion in share sales.

Reuters:   Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) financial outlook disappointed the market.

Reuters:   Terminated Chrysler dealers will challenge the sale of the company’s assets.

Reuters:   Obama is considering an agency to protect consumer’s financial interests.

Reuters:   Microsoft (MSFT) may unveil a new search engine.

Reuters:   Facebook’s CEO said an IPO is several years away. Read More »

Posted on: May 20, 2009 – 2:56 am in Autos, Banking, Compensation, Consumer Electronics, Corporate Governance, Drug companies, Earnings, Earnings Warning, Entertainment, Financial Stocks, Hardware, Housing, PC Companies, Press Digest, Retail, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 5/6/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaper9According to Reuters, Bank of America (BAC) will have to raise billions of dollars.

Reuters reports that a judge has approved a quick auction of Chrysler assets over the objections of creditors.

Reuters reports that the US will give banks guidelines for conditions for paying back TARP funds.

Reuters reports that more than one in five homes in the US is “underwater.” Read More »

Posted on: May 6, 2009 – 2:55 am in Autos, Banking, Consumer Goods, Entertainment, Hardware, Housing, Media, Oil & Gas, Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , ,