Continue reading Closing Bell: Stock Market Snow Day! (ADBE, BIDU, HMC, S, MU, DF)

Closing Bell: Stock Market Snow Day! (ADBE, BIDU, HMC, S, MU, DF) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This key component of the personal computer became a commodity after the dot-com boom, and its seemingly unlimited supply and availability resulted in falling prices.

There has been no hedge fund craziness with this commodity to drive up prices. Nope, this poor little semiconductor chip could not attract any sort of interest on the buy side. As a result, companies that make the DRAM chip have been struggling to survive.

Continue reading Is Micron worth the risk?

Is Micron worth the risk? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Associated Press reports that 99 year old billionaire J. R. Simplot died of natural causes after a life shunning cigarettes and alcohol. Although much of his $3.2 billion estimated net worth came from a deal he struck with McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) to supply potatoes for its french fries, he also made some money in semiconductors -- providing $1 million in capital for a 40% stake in Micron Technologies (NYSE: MU).

That Micron stake connects me -- however distantly -- to Simplot. That's because on June 22, 2006, Micron acquired Lexar Media, a maker of flash memory chips, for $850 million. I was an advisory board member of Lexar and received cash for my stake. Micron, which generates most of its revenues from Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) chips, thought that Lexar's flash memory would help boost its margins by expanding Micron's then-developing memory card business. Unfortunately, Micron's stock has lost 22% of its value since the deal.

But Micron was not the biggest part of Simplot's fortune. He left home in 1923 with $20 worth of gold coins from his mother and traded up. His businesses, still family owned, manufacture agriculture, horticulture and turf fertilizers; animal feed and seeds; food products such as fruits, potatoes and other vegetables; and industrial chemicals and irrigation products. He all but invented the first commercially viable frozen french fries in the world.

Continue reading 99 year old spud-and-chip king passes

99 year old spud-and-chip king passes originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 May 2008 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Shares in chip-maker Micron Technology, Inc. (NYSE: MU) are trading higher on rumors that Samsung Electronics may buy part of their business. The South Korean Electronics giant is denying the report. Micron Technology of the U.S. is the world's leading producer of CMOS image-sensing chips. Micron three years ago invested heavily in image-sensor chips as a hedge against fluctuations in demand and prices of memory chips. Business has been very week as prices for these chips have plummeted. That being said, chip-makers have started cutting production to create better pricing.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) analyst Atif Malik said he understood why investors are getting excited about a potential price rebound for Micron shares as chip makers are starting to cut production in some less-profitable types of chips.

While Samsung denies the rumors, I wouldn't be surprised if a deal gets done. Why? Because in October Samsung bought Israeli non-memory chip developer TransChip Inc. to help strengthen its research and development capability in the CMOS chip business.

With Micron shares down more than 35% from their 52 week high, Samsung would be able to establish a real foothold in this business for cheap.

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 position in any stock mentioned as of 12/6/07.

Will Samsung save Micron? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Impact of Microsoft's Vista is about to be seen originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Netflix Inc (NASDAQ: NFLX)

This week's rumor round-up: Will Amazon overpay for Netflix? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

• Bear Stearns upgraded shares of Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ:RIMM) to Outperform from Peer Perform, telling clients it sees further upside from new handset launches and continued expansion.
• First Albany upgraded shares of Micron Technology Inc. (NYSE:MU) to Buy from Neutral following the company's first-quarter report; the firm told clients that a weak first-half of 2007 has already priced into the shares but a strong second-half of 2007 has not.

• RBC Capital upgraded shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE:CMG) to Outperform from Underperform, citing continued strong fundamentals and expectations that the company can meet or slightly beat first-quarter comp-store sales estimates.
• Red Hat Inc. (NYSE:RHT) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at First Albany; the firm told clients that the company's Q3 report validates its thesis that the impact from Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) will be minimal, continued growth in RHEL deployments is likely, and pricing power is sustainable. Red hat was also upgraded by Citigroup to Hold from Sell and raised the target to $21 from $13.50.

Analyst upgrades 12-22-06: RIM, RedHat upgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.