Commtouch (NASDAQ: CTCH), a leading provider of email defense systems, announced today that Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) has entered into a licensing agreement with the email firm. Commtouch's defense works on a three-pronged approach. Reputation service for blocking unwanted mail traffic at the perimeter, significantly reducing the necessary IT resources for handling email; Zero-Hour(TM) Virus Outbreak Protection to complement traditional anti-virus solutions; and Anti-spam, which works against all formats and languages including Asian languages, image spam and attachment spam.

Speaking to the importance of this deal, CEO Gideon Mantel said, "Check Point's choice of Commtouch as the best solution for its customers after a period of rigorous testing further validates our technology and is an important milestone for Commtouch. Commtouch is the only technology provider of three layers of email defense that, together, ensure continued effectiveness in the face of constantly changing threats. We believe this important and strategic agreement will positively impact our business."

Commtouch's business has been growing rapidly. The company had set a goal for 30 new deals for all of 2007, and it had almost achieved that goal by the end of October. Clearly there is a need for email spam protection; for investors looking at a small company making headway in this field, the stock may be a very attractive long-term play.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer owns stock and is long both CTCH and CHKP , as of 12/10/07.

Email defense firm Commtouch wins deal with Check Point originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The news that Baidu.com (NASDAQ: BIDU) was being included in the NASADQ 100 index is not just a big deal for the high flying Chinese stock, but rather continued validation for investors who look abroad to make big gains. The fact that another foreign company has been added to the prestigious index, shows that more and more large companies are headquartered outside the US, and that the real strong economic growth is continually coming from emerging markets. Investors tend to think of Latin America and China/South East Asia as the traditional emerging markets, but there is another market, that has also performed exceptionally well over the last five years, and in times of global market turmoil, has been a refuge for emerging market investors

That market is Israel. With more stocks trading on the NASDAQ than any other country in the world, Israel has learned that economic success depends on exporting ingenuity. With a very small domestic market, even though GDP growth is continuing in the 5.5-6% range, what intrigues foreign investors is the innovative technology that comes out of Israel. If you look around at the products you use on a daily basis, you will find embedded in them key Israeli intellectual property. Companies from Checkpoint Software (NASDAQ: CHKP), which makes the firewall that sits on your computer, to Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA), the world's largest generic drug maker, are just a small sample of this.

Today's news isn't just great for Baidu, it's more validation for emerging economies as a whole.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer is long BIDU,CHKP and TEVA as of 12/04/07.

Baidu.com: NASDAQ 100 inclusion big for China and other emerging markets originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With recent weakness in its stock Checkpoint Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), the leader in internet security, has become a very attractive play in the security space. A space incidentally, that IBM has indicated it plans on making an acquisition. After about a year of slow growth the company has managed to integrate past acquisitions and is starting to fire on all cylinders. It saw revenue soar 29% to $184 million in Q3. Earnings jumped 21% to 41 cents a share. Analysts were looking for 38 cents.

With operating margins of 52.3% in Q3, Check Point has better margins than many of its competitors, like Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC). By conducting its R&D in Israel it limits its costs as Israeli engineers, while world class in skill, don't get paid like they are world class.

With the recent market sell-off, the stock is now trading under $22 a share which gives it a PE of under 18. This makes for a very intriguing play for the coming year. Checkpoint continues to launch new products designed to ensure organizations receive the highest levels of integrated application security without impeding network traffic and degrading an end user's internet experience. The traction these new products get will ultimately determine if Checkpoint will continue its revival.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer holds stock in CHKP. He holds no position in any other stock mentioned as of 11/15/07.

Checkpoint Software set to soar originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Today's headlines that IBM (NYSE: IBM) is looking at beefing up its security offerings raises the question if management would acquire Israel-based Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP). Val Rahmani, IBM's general manager of infrastructure management for global technology services, sees security as a key to growth. Val said, "We're looking at a lot of different companies right now, as we always do in a number of different spaces within security."

Until now, the thought on the Street was that Check Point was going to continue as a stand-alone company, but with IBM on the prowl, it may be too much for CEO Gil Schwed to resist. Check Point currently trades at a market cap of $5.53 billion, and an acquisition would certainly come with a much higher price tag. Based on valuation, it would take between $7-8 billion to buy the company. For deep-pocketed IBM, that's not too high a price. For Schwed, a takeover at that price would be tough to reject, and it would break all records for M&A of an Israeli company.

Based on IBM's track record, I would doubt that it is going to try to grow its own security business organically; rather, it will most probably purchase a serious player. Stay tuned to see if that player will be Check Point.

Disclosure: Writer holds a position in CHKP. He has no other position in any stock mentioned as of 11/2/07.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com.

Will IBM check out Check Point? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TEVA Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ: TEVA), the world's biggest generic drugmaker, reported that third-quarter net income fell to $525 million, or 64 cents a share, from $606 million, or 74 cents, in the year-earlier period. Sales reached $2.37 billion from $2.29 billion. Consensus estimates of 63 cents of profit on sales of $2.41 billion was expected. While TEVA was a bit light on the revenue line, it beat by a penny on EPS, in large part due to stronger than expected margins.

With a very strong pipeline, and expanding margins, TEVA continues to be the leading large pharma play out there. The stock is trading down today for two reasons. Up more than 50% year to date, the stock was priced for a blowout earnings report, which we didn't get. More importantly, CFO Dan Suesskind announced his retirement. In the company for over 30 years, he is the face of the company to investors, and his departure leaves many nervous. Hi replacement, current Checkpoint (NASDAQ: CHKP) CFO, Eyal Desheh, is no slouch. He knows TEVA well, having worked there for six years and as CFO of a NASDAQ 100 high-tech company, he is well-known on the Street.

For those looking for a long-term pharma play, consider buying TEVA on any weakness.

Disclosure: Author holds both TEVA and CHKP as of 10/30/07.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com.

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TEVA CFO's departure overshadows strong margins originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Jefferies downgraded shares of Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) to Hold from Buy, as they believe the company's fundamentals are weakening given the worse than anticipated share losses in the wireless segment. Shares were also lowered to Neutral from Overweight at JP Morgan, to Equal Weight from Overweight at Lehman, to Neutral from Outperform at Credit Suisse, and to Neutral from Buy at UBS to reflect the slowdown in the company's wireless growth.
  
• Check Point Software (NASDAQ: CHKP) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies on valuation and highlights the difficult spending environment in 1H08 as well as the company's tough comps.
  
• Deutsche Bank downgraded shares of Mobile Mini (NASDAQ: MINI) to Hold from Buy following the company's negative preannouncement.
  
• Oppenheimer lowered Vineyard National Bancorp (NASDAQ: VNBC) to Neutral from Buy to reflect slower pace of balance sheet growth and lower gain-on-sale income estimates.
  
• JMP Securities downgraded TorreyPines (NASDAQ: TPTX) to Market Outperform from Strong Buy and said Tezampanel's lack of dose response and statistically significant pain free response will keep the stock in the "show me" category.

• JP Morgan downgraded ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) to Underweight from Neutral and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) to Neutral from Overweight.
  
• UBS downgraded Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ: ZION) to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Citigroup downgraded Kellogg Company (NYSE: K) to Hold from Buy.
  
• ThinkEquity downgraded ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) to Source of Funds from Buy.

Analyst downgrade: TXN, CHKP, MINI, VNBC and TPTX originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Bernstein upgraded Talisman Energy Inc (NYSE: TLM) to Outperform from Market Perform on valuation and potential exploration success in Vietnam and raised Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: APC), Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN) and EOG Resources Inc (NYSE: EOG) to Market Perform from Underperform on improving gas fundamentals.
• Bernstein also upgraded shares of BP PLC (NYSE: BP) and BG Group (NYSE: BRG) to Outperform from Market Perform.
• Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ: CHKP) was upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings, citing checks that indicate a strong product cycle for the company's beefed up VPN/firewall product portfolio.
• ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) was upgraded at Citigroup to Buy from Hold on valuation, as they believe the recent correction provides a compelling entry point.

• Merrill Lynch upgraded shares of Alcoa Inc (NYSE: AA), Alumina Ltd (NYSE: AWC) and Century Aluminum Company (NASDAQ: CENX) to Buy from Neutral and shares of Southern Copper Corporation (NYSE: PCU) to Neutral from Sell.
• JP Morgan upgraded shares of Tempur Pedic International (NYSE: TPX) to Overweight from Neutral.
  
• Infineon Technologies (NYSE: IFX) was upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Analyst upgrades 9-5-07: BP, BRG, CHKP and VCLK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Following FiServ's (NASDAQ: FISV) acquisition of CheckFree, Raymond James cut CKFR shares to Market Perform from Strong Buy and Baird downgraded shares to Neutral from Outperform.

• Talbots (NYSE: TLB) was cut to Sell from Hold at Citigroup based on valuation, continued earnings disappointments, and a lack of earnings visibility.

• Cowen downgraded shares of SPSS Inc (NASDAQ: SPSS) to Underperform from Neutral citing decelerating growth and poor earnings quality.

• Bear Stearns cut Network Appliance (NASDAQ: NTAP) to Underperform from Peer Perform on the negative Q1 pre-announcement. Pacific Crest downgraded shares to Sector Perform from Outperform.

• After Pozen (NASDAQ: POZN) received a second approvable letter for Trexima, shares were downgraded by three firms:
  
• To Neutral from Strong Buy at First Albany
  
• To Hold from Buy at Jefferies and Lazard...

• Oppenheimer downgraded Applebee's (NASDAQ: APPB) to Neutral from Buy.

• Gabelli downgraded Boston Beer (NYSE: SAM) to Hold from Buy.

• Lehman downgraded Luxottica (NYSE: LUX) and Clorox (NYSE: CLX) to Equal Weight from Overweight.

• Thomas Weisel downgraded Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) to Market Weight from Overweight.

Analyst downgrades: APPB, NT, NTAP and SAM originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• JP Morgan downgraded Fortune Brands (NYSE: FO) to Neutral from Overweight on valuation and the weak outlook for home and hardware sales.

• Altria Group (NYSE: MO) was downgraded by Deutsche Bank to Hold from Buy with a $95 target, citing its valuation, ex-Kraft, is more in line with its tobacco peers.

• CheckPoint Software Tech (NASDAQ: CHKP) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform with a $19 target at Freedman Billings, with expectations that 2007 will be a difficult transition year.

• Matrix USA downgraded shares of Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) to Hold from Buy on valuation.

• Goldman Sachs downgraded TRW Automotive Hldg (NYSE: TRW) to Sell from Neutral and was added to the America's Sell List; they believe rising costs, a less favorable product mix and commercial steering business headwinds will weigh on revenue growth and margins in 2007.

Analyst downgrades 1-19-07: Fortune Brands lowered to Neutral originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 19 Jan 2007 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Bank of America upgraded Anheuser-Busch Cos (NYSE: BUD) to Buy from Neutral, with a $55 target; the firm believes there could be modest upside to the Street's 2007 estimates.

• Checkpoint Software Tech (NASDAQ: CHKP) was upgraded by RBC Capital Markets to Outperform from Sector Perform and a $32 target; the firm believes Checkpoint has reached an inflection point and expects year-over-year production license growth.

• Sprint Nextel Corp (NYSE: S) was added to JP Morgan's Focus List with a $25 target; the firm expects Sprint to be a turnaround story in 2007.

• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of AstraZeneca ADS (NYSE: AZN) to Outperform from Peer Perform on valuation.

• BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at FTN Midwest; the firm expects management's restructuring efforts to improve sales and earnings will drive shares.

• Dentsply Int'l (NASDAQ: XRAY) was upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley based on valuation.

Analyst upgrades 1-12-07: Raise your glass to BUD originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Jan 2007 12:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.