Most investors do not think of tech companies as being debt-laden. Many became pubic by raising cash in IPOs over the last decade. Any debt they had was paid off with capital raised. The rest stayed on the balance sheet.

A study by Paul Kedrosky written up in Barron's paints a very different picture for some companies. Several large corporations, including Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO), and Wipro (NYSE: WIT), have long-term debt-to-equity ratios of over 2x. For some big tech names, the figure is over 6x.

(Unfortunately, Barron's had to pull its piece because Paul's data appears to have been inaccurate.)

Under normal circumstances, this kind of data would be benign. But with the credit markets in crisis, refinancing debt on terms more favorable than firms have currently may be very difficult. Or, if the bond market gets very right, a company like Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) could get in a real pinch.

There is another side to this. Cash-rich companies like Microsoft (NYSE: MSFT), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), and Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) may be able to shop for bargains. For them to pick up a company and pay its debt down may not be a significant problem.

More tech M&A this year? Almost certainly.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

A tech company debt pinch (revised) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) will begin an online technology TV show early next year.

The New York Times writes, "to be called TechTicker, the Web program will report exclusively on technology stocks, offering daily streaming-video segments and blog posts, as well as some live coverage of breaking news, said Brian Nelson, a spokesman for Yahoo." Hosts will include Henry Blodget of Silicon Alley Insider and blogger Paul Kedrosky.

The idea just may work, and it could offer some competition for the likes of CNBC and Fox Business Network. Internet consumers have become used to watching video online, particularly because of the success of YouTube. And, Yahoo! Finance and the portal's technology news section can certainly promote the new video news service by sending it a great deal of traffic.

The plan may also be a financial success. Video ads placed in online content tend to get much higher CPMs than display ads do. If some of the visitors to Yahoo! are willing to watch business and tech news presented in video instead of print, the online giant may be able to improve its ad yield.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Yahoo! to start online tech TV program originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.