Posts for Ticker ‘ORCL’

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/20/2009) (GS)(JAVA)

Updated throughout the day.

GE (NYSE:GE) and Vivendi are at odds over the NBCU valuation  (FT)

IBM (NYSE:IBM) is taking advantage of the delay in the Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) deal to be bought by Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL)  (TheStreet)

The joint venture between Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) and BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) may lead to a merger. (various)

Ferrero may want to buy Cadbury’s gum and candy division.  (NYTimes)

Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) investors want the firm to cut down the size of bonuses to be paid at the end of the year (various)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 9:01 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Microsoft (MSFT) Claims Windows 7 Is Major Success

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer told attendees at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that Windows 7 sales were astonishingly high. According to a Wall Street Journal account of the gathering, “Microsoft Corp. has sold twice as many copies of Windows 7 in its first few weeks than any previous version of the operating system,” Ballmer said.

The news means that one of Microsoft’s five major operating units may do well and next year. That leaves four to go. Read More »

Posted on: November 20, 2009 – 5:40 am in Software, , , , , , ,

Top 10 Analyst Upgrades, Downgrades, Initiations (ADBE, FDX, JNPR, LVS, MSFT, ORCL, QCOM, CRM, NCTY, WYNN)

These are this Friday’s top early analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations from Wall Street research calls which may be moving shares of the underlying stocks:

Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) Started as Buy at UBS.
FedEx (NYSE: FDX) Started as Overweight at Piper Jaffray.
Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) Raised to Outperform at Oppenheimer.
Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) Started as Buy at UBS.
Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) Started as Buy at UBS.
QUALCOMM Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) Raised to Outperform at Wells Fargo.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Started as Neutral at UBS.
The9 Ltd (NASDAQ: NCTY) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) Started as Buy at Deutsche Bank.

You can join our open email distribution list which goes out several times per week to be notified of key merger news, key analyst calls, top early morning day trader alerts, along with news of IPO’s, key offerings, guru investor data on Buffett and others, mergers, and more.

JON C. OGG

Posted on: November 13, 2009 – 7:59 am in Analyst Calls, Technology Companies, , , , , , , , , ,

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.

Read More »

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, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Short Sellers Abandon Financials (WFC)(CIT)(BAC)(JPM)

bearShort sellers have bought into the notion that the financial industry is in full recovery.

Shares sold short in Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) fell 8% to 78.8 million shares. Shares short in CIT (NYSE:CIT) were off 4% to 78.1 million. The short interest in Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) dropped 12% to 67 million. The short interest in JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) dropped 4% to 37.7 million. Read More »

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 4:24 am in Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/11/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NY Times, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Two Bear Stearns hedge fund managers were acquited.

Reuters:   Zucker, NBCU’s current CEO, will head the company when Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) buys a majority of the company from GE (NYSE:GE).

Reuters:  Dodd’s super-bank regulator fights a uphil battle in Congress.

Reuters:   Fed officials see an uneven recovery. Read More »

Posted on: November 11, 2009 – 4:09 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tech Titans Still Have $269 Billion Cash For Deals (MSFT, CSCO, AAPL, GOOG, INTC, HPQ, QCOM, EMC, VMW, YHOO, DELL, ORCL, JAVA, AMZN, EBAY)

The recovery is on and mergers are happening, yet the technology sector has been slow to make deals.  Despite some deals already having taken place from the technology giants and that $260 billion cash balance which was there in the middle of last quarter is even larger now.  The tally for cash by our count is now right around $269 billion.  We looked through the top market caps of technology companies in our 24/7 Wall St. Real-Time 500 and this list is expanded now that some issues have been resolved in all the companies.  The stocks in this group are Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL), Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA), Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), 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).

These few tech companies with the $269 billion cash that could be deployed for mergers, acquisitions, or the good old dividends are also listed before tallying up credit lines, factoring, debt sales, and other creative financing methods.  We have listed the suppositions and counting methods for each one to illustrate how much is available at each company.
Read More »

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 1:07 pm in Consumer Electronics, Dividend, Editor's Picks, Internet, Large Cap Stocks, Mergers and Buy Outs, PC Companies, Private Equity, Rumors, Semiconductor, Technology Companies, Value Investing, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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, , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/10/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Markets hit their 2009 highs.

Reuters:   Dodd is set to unveil his financial reform bill which calls for merging many bank regulators.

Reuters:   Kraft’s (NYSE:KFT) bid for Cadbury turned hostile.

Reuters:   A survey of economists predicted strong GDP growth in 2010. Read More »

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 3:57 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The EU Blocks Oracle (ORCL) Deal For Sun (JAVA)

uncle samLarry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) is going to have to make some more threats if he wants the EU to approve his company’s deal to buy Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) for $9.50 a share. The Europeans have voiced some concerns that the combined company will have too much market share in the MySQL server software industry.

The EU’s concerns became more concrete today. Read More »

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 6:40 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, Regulation, Software, ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/9/2009) (RAI)(WFC)(NWS)(JAVA)(GE)(S)(CLWR)

magazinUpdated throughout the day.

Updated at 11.49 AM EST:  Reynolds Americam (NYSE:RAI) may buy Niconovum, a Swedish maker of nicotine gum and mouth sprays (Boomberg)

Updated at 10.12 AM EST: Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) may pay back its TARP funds. (BreakingViews)

Updated at 9.48 AM EST: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NYSE:NWS) may sue the BBC for breach of copyright for “stealing” material from his newspapers. (FT)

It will take a bid of 800 pence to get Cadbury to agree to a Kraft (NYSE:KFT) takeover. The current hostile bid is for 713 pence.  (various)

GE (NYSE:GE) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) have agreed to value NBCU at $30 billion  (WSJ)

The EU may approved Oracle’s (NASDAQ:ORCL) buy-out of Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) if it gives up some of its control of the MySQL database software  (BusinesssWeek)

The rally in GE’s (NYSE:GE) stock may not last very long.  (TheStreet)

China may raise fuel prices this week.  (CNBC)

Delta (NYSE:DAL) and American Air (NYSE:AMR) are increasing their pressure on the Japanese government to forge joint ventures with Japan Airlines.  (The Deal)

New collaborative software tools from Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) will put it into direct competition with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)  (CNET)

Sprint (NYSE:S), Intel (NYSE:INTC), and Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) may put another $1.5 billion into 4G provider Clearwire  (NASDAQ:CLWR)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 9, 2009 – 9:04 am in Rumors, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/5/2009) (JAVA)(ORCL)(BAC)(DELL)

newspaperUpdated throughout the day.

The New York Yankee victory in the World Series could help stock prices  (various)

Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) could drop its deal to buy Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA) in the face of opposition to the deal from the EU. (Forbes)

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) may look outside the banking sector for a new CEO. (The Street.com)

Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) may have taken billions of dollars in marketing payments from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)  (BusinessWeek)

Congress may force ISPs to block fraud sites  (CNET)

Seven more Wall St. brokers will be charged with insider trading today according to FBI and SEC sources  (WNBC)

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.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 5, 2009 – 9:17 am in Rumors, , , , ,

Today’s Best Market Rumors (11/4/2009) (JAVA)(ORCL)(TWX)

icahnUpdated throughout the day.

Updated 10.30 AM EST:  Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) believes that EU authorities may try to block its buy-out of Sun (NASDAQ:JAVA)  (FT)

Updated 10:26 AM EST: Apollo Management is buying debt swap instruments to increase is control of Harrah’s. (NYPost)

The CEOs of Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) met pay czar Feinberg before he announced pay cut plans  (Bloomberg)

Time Warner’s (NYSE:TWX) Time, Inc publishing division will lay off 500 people  (various).

Senator Chris Dodd will propose merging all four bank regulatory agencies (various).

Cisco’s (NASDAQ:CSCO) earnings outlook is likely to be poor  (TheStreet)

Warren Buffett may join Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) in bidding for Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) tax credits.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 9:12 am in Rumors, , , , , , ,

Media Digest 11/4/2009 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Opel must now arrange for GM’s unexpected ownership

Reuters:   The Fed will probably keep its “easy money” program.

Reuters:   Toyota (NYSE:TM) will pull out of Formula 1 racing.

Reuters:   The IEA will cut its long-term oil demand outlook. Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 5:34 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

More E.U. Roadblocks in Sun-Oracle Deal (ORCL, JAVA)

Burning Money PicThere are reports from the Financial Times that were also just noted on CNBC that are almost baffling.  It seems that the European Commission may issue a formal objection to the Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) buyout of Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA).  The reasoning is that Oracle has apparently refused to offer any concessions to European regulators.

While a formal set of objections would not constitute a formal merger blockage, that is the first real step to a formal block.  This is also not set in stone yet and does not mean that either Oracle nor the E.U. will offer concessions.
Read More »

Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 4:44 pm in Law, Mergers and Buy Outs, Regulation, Software, Technology Companies, ,

Microsoft’s (MSFT) Ballmer: IT Spending May Never Come Back

bearIn a statement that must send chills up the spines of other tech CEOs, Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Steve Ballmer said that the vicious recession may have reset IT spending to a level which will never recovery to where it was in the period just before the downturn.

“While we will see growth, we will not see recovery,” Ballmer said. Read More »

Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 7:16 am in Software, , ,

Larry Ellison Doesn’t Play Chicken

houseLarry’s Ellison, the founder and CEO of Oracle (NASDAQ:OFCL) does not make idle threats. He does not have to. In most games against his competition he holds the majority of the cards. He has taken over a number of businesses in his sector of the tech world. Those that resisted were taken over anyway. The management of PeopleSoft learned that lesson the hard way. Read More »

Posted on: October 21, 2009 – 5:05 am in Mergers and Buy Outs, Regulation, , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/21/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   China is having trouble managing supply and demand.

Reuters:   Geithner said the core programs of the TARP are ending.

Reuters:   Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) tripled it profits.

Reuters:   Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) will cut 3,000 jobs due to delays in the Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) buyout of the company. Read More »

Posted on: October 21, 2009 – 4:08 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Media Digest (10/15/2009) Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

newspaperReuters:   Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) is having trouble justifying its huge bonuses.

Reuters:   Bruce Wasserstein, M&A giant and head of Lazard (NYSE:LAZ), died.

Reuters:   Congress will probe compensation at AIG (NYSE:AIG).

Reuters:   US foreclosures fell for a second month but stayed high. Read More »

Posted on: October 15, 2009 – 4:04 am in Press Digest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) Short Interest Steady, Down In Other Techs

bearThe short interest in Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was steady in the period that ended on September 30 at 16 million shares.The bet being made against RIM (NASDAQ:RIMM) rose 13% to 13% to 19.2 million.  The shares short in other major techs stocks dropped.

Shares short in Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCD) dropped 14% to 19.1 million. Shares short in Juniper (NADSAQ:JNPR) dropped 11% to 36.8 million. The short interest in Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC)  dropped 8% to 12.9 million shares. Read More »

Posted on: October 10, 2009 – 2:53 pm in Short Interest, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,