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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications (DISCA)
What if you could touch 1.5 billion people in over 200 countries with your content?? Discovery Communications is the world?s number one non-fiction media company that does just that!? Did I mention it?s growing at a breakneck pace? ?Since you probably watch their productions, you might want to watch the stock.
They are the original "reality" TV network.?
Company
Description & Developments
Not only does Discovery Communications own traditional
media brands like the Oprah Winfrey Network, TLC, Discovery Channel and
Animal
Planet, they also own the website howstuffworks.com and many more valuable, popular brands.
If you?ve had enough of the Jersey Shore and Real Housewives programs like most of us, the Discovery brands offer cool, unique and informative programming in a world that otherwise lacks interesting, non-fictional TV. Discovery?s programs are eye opening, funny and relatable on many levels according to their reviews (and mine).? Its content spans cultures and creeds around the world.
Discovery also does a great job on web integration and content for other forms of media so they can keep up with an evolving space.
Aside from the solid financial growth which we will touch on shortly, I just love their programming!? Anecdotally, I hear so much positive chatter about their content coming from men and women in a wide age and social range that it?s hard to argue their reach.
If consumers are indeed getting healthier, they will be more likely to buy cable and satellite. ?Of course advertisers will be paying more, which is why expectations are for about 20% earnings growth over the next year.
Financial
Profile
Discovery Communications is a larger mid-cap company (11.8
billion) that is trading at about 18 times trailing earnings
(P/E).? Looking forward, Zacks Consensus Estimates
sees Discovery Communication?s P/E
dropping to 15.62, with no change in price from these levels.
??That puts it into a slightly elevated category,
but certainly not overvalued in my opinion.
Discovery Communications jumped to a Zacks Rank 1 Strong Buy just yesterday.
One analyst revised their FY2012 earnings estimate up within the past month, which was most likely the push that got DISCA its current rating. ??
Last quarter DISCA reported sales growth of 18.25% year over year and 3% over the previous quarter with total sales of 3.8 billion in FY2010.? Discovery is expected to earn $2.39 in FY2011 according to the Zacks Consensus Estimate.?
Earnings
Estimates
Expectations
are for Discovery to make 69 cents
this quarter when they report on February 10th.? Of the 16
analysts who cover the media company, the consensus is for the
company to grow earnings by 34% in FY2011 and 18% in FY2012.
In terms of the magnitude of analyst estimate trends, we have seen most of the consensus estimates higher than they were 90 days ago.? This is not extremely bullish, but certainly positive.?
Discovery surprised analysts to the upside by 7.27% last quarter, with the average earnings surprise being a positive 4.20%. ??Positive surprises have been the norm over the past year.?
Market
Performance & Technicals
Discovery?s stock has really picked up steam over
the past month, rising almost 13.5%.?
This extreme movement may be detraction to analysts upping their
targets and estimates.
Momentum for Discovery has really been building since August, but it?s been a rocky road.? Given the past behavior of DISCA, it might be best to wait for the pullback before buying, as the stock has been up for nearly 10 days straight. Like many of the stocks I have targeted in our momentum picks, DISCA is knocking on the door of its 52 week high of $45.81.?
Even with the elevated volatility, it remains in a bullish channel (since August) and firmly above its 50 and 200 day moving averages of $41.49 and $41.01 respectively.
As I stated earlier, Discovery is a bit volatile, but yet its beta only reads .73.? ?That could also mean that Discovery just has a low correlation to its index, because there is no doubt this stock moves.?
Discovery has outpaced the S&P 500 by 9% over the past year and almost 4% over the past month.? Given the recent volume decline as DISCA has been rallying, I would be looking for a pullback before entering, perhaps to the $42.00 level.? ??
Jared A Levy is the Momentum Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. He is also the Editor in charge of the market-beating Zacks Whisper Trader Service.
?
This Week's Momentum Zacks Rank Buy Stocks:
Brightpoint,
Inc. (CELL)
The
future of global communicaton and culture is without cords and
boundaries.? Wireless technologies are changing the way we
live, work and play.? Companies like
Apple, Motorola, Samsung, Sandisk, Lenovo, Plantronics and many more
are
creating products that influence everything we do as a society.
?Brightpoint is
a necessary catalyst for their continued success and in turn reaps
serious
rewards from growth in the entire space. ?READ FULL ARTICLE
Dollar
Thrifty Automotive Group, Inc. (DTG)?
This
car company showed strong Q3 results and beat estimates across the
board.? Now with a new CEO, great rates and increasing
demand, they may be poised for another strong year after rising 53%
over the
past twelve months. ? READ FULL ARTICLE
American
Water Works Co., Inc (AWK)
Contrary
to what you might believe, the most important commodity is not crude
oil,
natural gas, silver or even gold - humans can survive without any or all of them.? The one essential commodity that
humans cannot live without is potable water.
What is
most interesting is that there currently is no way to ?trade it? or to
take advantage
of this integral part of our lives or its scarcity. American Water
Works is one
of the ways you can invest in water, without having to build a tower in
your
neighborhood to store it.? READ FULL ARTICLE
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
IBM, other tech results point to robust IT demand (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? A strong outlook from IBM and decent results from Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp suggest that corporate decision makers are shaking off nervousness about economic growth and boosting spending on technology.
IBM, the world's largest technology services company, easily beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter profit expectations and promised earnings growth of 10 percent this year.
Intel, the leading microchip maker, announced ambitious spending plans after reporting quarterly results that topped scaled-back analyst forecasts.
Microsoft's results were largely in line with expectations, with growth in its servers and tools business offsetting weakness in Windows sales to PCs.
"Those results look largely favorable," said JMP Securities analyst Alex Gauna. "So far what we have seen in technology, looks like we are turning the corner and things are getting better. Turning the corner in terms of cleaning the excess inventory in the channel and seeing a better demand outlook."
Microsoft, IBM and Intel have a combined market capitalization of about $580 billion, representing 15 percent of the Dow Jones industrial index. Shares of IBM shares rose 3 percent in extended trading after its results, while Microsoft shares rose 2 percent and Intel shares rose 1 percent.
The only downer in the tech world on Thursday was Google Inc, whose quarterly results fell far short of high expectations set by strong online shopping during the holiday season, sending its shares down 9 percent.
"Expectations had got ahead of themselves for Google, largely because investors don't have a good feel for what happens outside the U.S.," said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan. "North America has remained strong, but there are parts of the world where there's a lot of economic pressure," he said, pointing to austerity measures in Europe.
IT SPENDING HOLDING UP
Prior to Thursday's results, other technology giants had sent mixed messages about global IT spending.
Software maker Oracle Corp, for example, missed expectations last month and outsourcing company Accenture Plc spooked investors with its cautious quarterly outlook.
But Oracle rival SAP AG pleased the market last week with sales and profits that beat estimates, signaling global companies were confident enough to spend more on technology.
IBM, a tech bellwether because of its global reach and scale, said strong signings of services contracts and its services backlog put the company in a solid position as it starts the year.
"When you look at the overall pipeline going into 1Q for software and services ... I think they look pretty good," IBM Chief Financial Officer Mark Loughridge said on a call with analysts on Thursday.
Asked if, like Oracle, IBM was seeing longer approval times for tech spending by companies, Loughridge said: "As far as lengthening of the sales cycles, more approvals, I do think people and CFOs are cautious about their business and they want to make sure they have the right processes engaged and we did see that."
CONSUMER VS CORPORATE
Sales at Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, were strong even though its profit slipped as slower personal computer sales to consumers hurt its Windows software business.
But even as consumers fled to cheaper tablet computers from rivals, Microsoft boasted strength from business customers and in emerging markets where computer demand was healthy.
"We all expected the PC market to be weak and the Windows business was down because of that. But the server and tools business is growing well," said Sunit Gogia, an equity analyst at Morningstar.
Kim Forrest, a senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh said that all the tech results showed strong demand for products from which corporations expect a future benefit, such as improving employee productivity.
"It means despite a slowing economy in Europe and other places there's companies still spending on productivity-enhancing technologies," Forrest said. "There has been a lot of M&A in the past years and the companies that made smart investments are seeing them pay out."
(Reporting by Nicola Leske, Noel Randewich, Bill Rigby, Alexei Oreskovic, Poornima Gupta, Jim Finkle, Yinka Adegoke, Sarah McBride and Alistair Barr; Writing by Sinead Carew; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Bernard Orr)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/bs_nm/us_ibm
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26 homes lost in Reno fire and 2,000 evacuated (AP)
RENO, Nev. ? Firefighters worked to hold the line Friday on a fast-moving brush fire that tore through the Reno area, destroyed 26 houses and forced thousands of residents to flee. The forecast of rain and snow would help douse the flames but also increase the chance of flooding on the charred land, authorities said.
The blaze started shortly after noon Thursday and, fueled by wind gusts reaching 82 mph, mushroomed to more than 6 square miles before firefighters stopped its surge toward Reno.
"The fire moved very, very fast," Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said Friday at a briefing. "Firefighters did an enormously good job of holding the number of structures down to 26."
The fire's cause isn't known. It started in a valley along U.S. Highway 395, which remained closed because the heat destroyed some of the guardrails that will need to be replaced, said Chris Perry, director, Department of Public Safety.
At one point, the flames got within 100 yards of Galena High School, where Vice President Joe Biden spoke earlier Thursday. Three nearby schools were closed Friday and about 200 customers were without electricity.
The fire held steady at about 3,900 acres and was 50 percent contained. More than 10,000 people were told to leave their homes during the height of the blaze, and about 2,000 of them remained under evacuation orders.
At least 700 people were expected to fight the blaze Friday, including law enforcement, crews from the National Guard and firefighters from California.
By nightfall Thursday, the fire had burned to Reno's southern outskirts. Flames were visible from the downtown casino district, about 10 miles away.
Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said there was one fatality in the fire area but declined to provide more details, saying an autopsy would be needed to determine the cause of death.
The blaze was "almost a carbon copy" of a huge wild fire on the edge of the Sierra foothills that destroyed 30 homes in southwest Reno in November, the fire chief said. It burned about 3 square miles and also forced the evacuation of 10,000 people.
"It's inconceivable that this community has been struck by tragedy again," said Gov. Brian Sandoval, who declared a state of emergency Thursday afternoon.
The flames, up to 40 feet high, raced through sage brush, grass and pines in an area where small neighborhoods are dispersed among an otherwise rural landscape.
"The area burned is absolutely devastated," Haley said.
About 300 elementary school students were taken to an evacuation center, and deputies went door to door asking people to leave their homes in Pleasant Valley, Old Washoe Valley and Saint James Village, Washoe County sheriff's Deputy Armando Avina said.
Erika Minnberry, 28, said she didn't become concerned at first because smoke from the fire appeared far enough away.
"Probably 30 minutes later, it was up to our house because of the high winds," she said. "I felt pure survival adrenaline. When we drove away, the smoke was so thick, we could barely see ahead of us. Now I feel anxiety. I couldn't find my two cats at the time and I hope they're OK."
With the smell of smoke in the air, Biden was about 25 minutes into his address when aides summoned him off stage. He told the audience he would have to move onto a question-and-answer period before officials "made me get out of here."
As with the November fire, which was sparked by downed power lines, strong winds and dry conditions helped fuel the latest blaze. The Reno area had gone a winter-record 56 days without any precipitation until light snow fell earlier this week.
___
Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, Martin Griffith in Reno and Sandra Chereb in Carson City contributed to this report.
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Chinese manufacturer gambles on iPad 2S cases
While we've been referring to Apple's next generation iPad as iPad 3, according to 9to5Mac Chinese accessory maker Chinee has gone and gambled on iPad 2S -- not only the name, but the form factor as well, producing what might just be the first case for the unannounced, unspecified tablet.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/bxS0aD9rmT0/story01.htm
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Samsung says no interest in buying troubled RIM (Reuters)
SEOUL (Reuters) ? Samsung Electronics Co said on Wednesday it was not interested in buying ailing Blackberry maker Research In Motion or licensing its operating system, refuting a tech blog report that RIM was seeking to sell itself to the South Korean technology giant.
Shares of RIM, which has been the subject of continuous takeover speculation with its stock valuation lingering at multi-year lows, jumped more than 10 percent on the report before falling back after Samsung's denial.
Product delays and profit warnings have eroded confidence in Canada-based RIM, once at the cutting edge of smartphone technology for business users, and its management.
"We haven't considered acquiring the firm and are not interested in (buying RIM)," Samsung spokesman James Chung said.
Chung also said Samsung had not been approached by the Canadian firm for a takeover and was not interested in licensing RIM's mobile platform.
The Boy Genius Report website cited an unidentified source as saying that RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie was meeting with companies interested in either licensing its software or buying a part or all or RIM, with Samsung leading the pack.
After Samsung's denial, Nasdaq-listed RIM shares tumbled 5.3 percent to $16.55 in extended trading, after closing up 8 percent at $17.47. The stock rose as much as 11.1 percent.
"There's no merit (in Samsung buying RIM)," said Lee Sun-tae, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities.
"An acquisition would enable Samsung to have its own operating system but the cost is too high. Samsung didn't buy HP's webOS either for the same reason... BlackBerry sales are collapsing and one plus one will not become two."
LICENSING DEAL?
Still, some analysts said there was no doubt that RIM had been talking to Samsung but that it was much more likely they had discussed licensing deals for RIM's upcoming phone software that would in turn lead to a major restructuring, according to Jefferies analyst Peter Misek.
Samsung has traditionally focused on organic growth and has no track record of major deals in recent years. In 2008, it withdrew a $5.9 billion unsolicited bid for flash memory card maker SanDisk due to the U.S. firm's deepening losses and uncertain outlook.
But it has since turned more flexible on mergers and acquisitions as the hardware-focused firm seeks to boost software capabilities to counter Apple and Google, whose Android operating system is the fastest growing mobile platform in the world.
Samsung, which has emerged as the No. 1 smartphone manufacturer on the back of booming demand for its Android-based models, said last week it plans to merge its own "bada" operating system with a platform supported by chipmaker Intel, as it seeks alternatives to Android in its devices.
Android, the world's most popular smartphone operating system, is used by a slew of handset manufacturers, including Motorola Mobility and HTC, as well as Samsung.
Jefferies' Misek said Samsung and HTC might both be interested in paying RIM $10 per device to use its new operating system. That would give them access to the 75 million-plus BlackBerry users and limit their dependence on Android.
He said RIM could announce a deal within three months and the appointment of a new chairperson could speed up the process.
A spokesman for RIM declined to comment on the report.
Balsillie and fellow chief executive Mike Lazaridis also share a role as chairman of the board, but a committee made up of the rest of RIM's board is due to report on possible changes to the unusual structure by the end of January after pressure from investors.
RIM's stock has jumped more than 6 percent four times since December 21, when Reuters reported that Amazon.com and other possible buyers had considered a bid. It is still down almost 75 percent from a year ago.
(Editing by Frank McGurty, David Chance and Jonathan Hopfner)
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
This Early Investor In Skype Regrets Not Investing In Square And ...
On a recent road trip down to the heart of the Sillicon Valley VC scene, Sand Hill Road, I stopped by Howard Hartenbaum's office at August Capital.
I learned that he regrets not putting his money in Square, and found out more about his early investment in Skype. He also explained why he likes his portfolio companies, who are still in stealth mode, to keep their mouths shut.?He thinks too many startups are press hungry, when they should be focused on building a product.
Check out our video here:
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