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Motley Fool's 5 stocks under $10 to consider for your portfolio

Some investors shy away from low priced stocks., but Rick Aristotle Munarriz thinks some stocks under $10 have nice growth potential. Here's his list of five such stocks to consider.

  • Alvarion Ltd. (NASDAQ: ALVR) is currently at $8.98; its development trajectory looks impressive if we take into account the fact that it has gained 53% over the past two months. In addition, its quarterly earnings results and its cash-rich balance sheet point to further growth.
  • Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI), currently at $2.72, is showing a lot of potential as its subscriber base continues to increase, while reducing its quarterly losses. Munarriz also cites the company's advantages tied to its pending merger with competitor XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR).
  • Builders FirstSource Inc. (NASDAQ: BLDR) is currently at $7.48, down from $23 two years ago. Despite the fact that the company's quarterly earnings numbers weren't so good, BLRD was able to gain market share and is nicely positioned for a recovery in the next couple of years.
  • Internet Brands Inc. (NASDAQ: INET), currently at $6.48, is seen as a good investment in the current dot-com world. Last week's $1.8 billion decision by CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) to acquire CNET Networks (NASDAQ: CNET) could be a sign that we should consider Internet Brands and its high traffic volume. Internet Brands has several pages that have high advertising potential, and should see this pay off in the future, or lead to a possible buyout by one of the major players.
  • Natuzzi (NYSE: NTZ) is currently trading at $3.77. The company is facing some trouble related to its declining revenue and profit, but it is has the advantage of a lot of cash on its balance sheet.

Continue reading Motley Fool's 5 stocks under $10 to consider for your portfolio

CBS to buy CNet: Who's next?

The Associated Press reports that CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) is buying CNet Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: CNET) for $1.75 billion. This $11.50 a share deal is a 45% premium over Wednesday's closing price

CNet's Web sites include News.com, TV.com, Mp3.com, MySimon and GameSpot. And CBS expects to use CNet to tap into the Internet advertising market. This deal raises the question of whether any CBS competitors will decide to get into the game of buying Internet content companies.

Here are three possible targets:

  • TheStreet.com (NASDAQ: TSCM) - This provider of business, investment and ratings content has $65 million in sales and a market cap of $236 million.
  • TechTarget (NASDAQ: TTGT) - This provider of online content for buyers and sellers of corporate information technology (IT) products has $95 million in sales and a $531 million market cap.
  • WebMD Health Corp (NASDAQ: WBMD) - This provider health information services to consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, employers and health plans has $332 million in sales and it's market capitalization is $1.7 billion

I think traditional media companies buying Internet ones could become a trend. It would only take two more such deals to make it one.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Option update: 2-8-08; CNet Networks call volume, volatility & share price Up

CNet Networks(NASDAQ:CNET) is recently up 54c to $8.22. Thomas Weisel Partners has a 12-month price target of $10 on CNET. JANA Partners LLC announced on January 7, 2008 that it will nominate seven people for election to CNET's Board of Directors at the next annual shareholder meeting. CNET call option volume of 19,148 contracts compares to put volume of 514 contracts. CNET March option implied volatility of 95 is above its 26-week average of 48 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Yahoo! is gone -- is CNET next?

With the proposed Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) merger grabbing headlines, for investors looking at the next internet company that may be put in play, have a look at CNET Networks (NASDAQ: CNET). CNET shares a lot of similarities with Yahoo!, the most glaring being the continued underperformance of both the stock price and the company in general.

About two weeks ago, federal antitrust regulators cleared hedge fund Jana Partners LLC's increased stake in online media company. Jana Partners leads an investment group that said last week it now owns 10.6% of CNET's voting stock, up from 8.1%. Antitrust law requires companies and other investors to seek antitrust approval when they cross certain ownership thresholds.

The timing is interesting. If you are trying to profit from M&A in the internet space, take a look at CNET. It may be the next company to be acquired.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer has no positions in any stock mentioned as of 2/3/08.

CNet is target of activist investor group

Like just about everyone else, before I buy any kind of tech device, I always do some research online. One of the best sites for reviews is CNet, which goes to great lengths to analyze and compare everything from digital cameras and MP3 players to laptops and audio speakers. Despite the great service, though, the company has had a lot of trouble staying in the black.

Today, DealBook is reporting that Jana Partners is leading a consortium which has taken major stake in CNet Networks (NASDAQ: CNET). The consortium is trying to replace CNet's directors and take control of the company's board. Jana Partners is a $5 billion hedge fund founded by Wharton grad Barry Rosenstein in 2001. The consortium focused on CNet includes Sandell Asset Management and Spark Capital, a venture capital firm.

CNet has performed poorly over the last several years, and is currently in the red. Despite the impressive growth of online advertising, especially at tech-related sites, CNet has experienced falling revenues. One problem may be that it is simply too big. The 15-year old company has over 2,500 employees, and finds itself competing with similar sites that have only a few dozen people behind the scenes. No doubt that will be something the activists focus on as they seek control of the company.

Option update 10-15-07: CNET volatility elevated into earnings report

CNet Networks (NASDAQ: CNET), a leading independent source of product information with detailed content on technology products, is expected to report EPS on 10/23. Over the last five years, CNET has been frequently mentioned as a buyout target of multimedia conglomerates. STFL says, "Moving to hold; still takeover upside; stand alone valuation less attractive." CNET November option implied volatility of 54 is above its 26-week average of 38 according to Track Data, suggesting increasing price risks.

America Movil (NYSE: AMX), provides wireless telecommunications service in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia & Ecuador, announced on 10/10 its intention to pay a special dividend of US$1.85 ADR, shareholders will be called on or before 10/31 to approve the dividend. AMX is expected to announce EPS on 10/18. AMX has a market cap of $117 million. AMX overall option implied volatility of 34 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional price fluctuations.

Daily options update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

CNET: The play is on the short side

CNET Networks (NASDAQ: CNET) is an online media company with a wide variety of offerings. The company's primary websites include CNET.com, Download.com, Webshots, TV.com, and GameSpot.com. Basically, CNET makes money from advertising, content licensing, paid subscriptions, etc. It reported a quarter last week that managed to disappoint Wall Street for several reasons, including missing consensus for most figures and cutting estimates.

While I certainly can understand the bullish arguments behind the stock, mostly the fact the company stands to benefit from a secular growth trend in online advertising in coming quarters, I think the stock is dead money. I believe many of CNET's offerings are very at-risk due to the growing saturation of blogs and larger competitors in the news-breaking and technology review businesses, Webshots has a dim future, and capex increases are a very possible reality in coming quarters in order to scale the business.

The growth in blogs over the last several years has certainly hurt CNET's reviewing and news-breaking segments, primarily CNET.com. For example, TechCrunch.com has become extremely popular for breaking exclusive technology news, a space once completely dominated by CNET. While the company is certainly trying to break into the blog space, I agree with Doug McIntyre's take about a month ago -- its doing too little, too late.

Continue reading CNET: The play is on the short side

NBCU, News Corp. choose CNET.com as video partner

According to wire reports, NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) and News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) ended the suspense today by announcing that they have chosen CNET Networks (NASDAQ: CNET) to distribute their content on the internet. NBCU will provide content from its stable of networks as well as its vault. Media Corp. will offer entertainment from its Fox Network and 20th Century Fox brands.

The combined offerings lineup could be something like this:

NBC Universal
  • CNET.com
  • NBC Entertainment
  • Telemundo
  • NBCU Sports & Olympics
  • Bravo
  • Chiller
  • SciFi
  • CNBC
  • CNBC World
  • MSNBC
  • Shop NBC
  • Mun2
  • Sleuth
  • USA
  • History Channel
  • History Channel Int'l
  • Biography Channel
  • Sundance Channel
  • Telemundo Puerto Rico
  • Universal HD
  • NBCU Global
  • CNBC Europe
  • CNBC Asia
  • Universal Studios
News Corp.
  • Fox Television
  • Fox Movie Channel
  • Fox Sports Channel
  • Speed
  • Fuel
  • Fox College Sports
  • Fox Soccer Channel
  • Fox Sports net
  • Fox en Español
  • FX
  • National Geographic
  • Blue Sky Studios
  • Star
This deal will create the largest single block of video entertainment content on the net to date. The game has been ratcheted up another notch.

Google's ad expertise could help CNET networks

In this Motley Fool article, the point is made that 10 percent of the interactive revenue at CNET networks -- the geeky news source for all-things-tech, came from Google. But, it could have been much higher if targeted placement of Google's advertising was more of a focus. CNET, listen up and take note.

This seems to be a forgone conclusion, as non-targeted advertising can be like throwing your money down the river. In the first days of television, this is how it was. In 2006, the tools exist -- online better than any medium -- to target and customize your advertising to make it as close to 100 percent relevant to your audience as possible. Google has figured this out for the large part on its network, which explains its billions in revenue each quarter and a share price that's sitting comfortably in the stratosphere.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-17.2410,433.71
NASDAQ-6.832,169.18
S&P 500-0.591,105.65

Last updated: November 25, 2009: 06:23 AM

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