You win some you lose some. This story is about one of my less successful investments, which I acquired and sold many years ago. Over the past four years, I have written many times about Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), by far my best stock investment, up 4,500%, give or take, over a ten-year period. I bought in at the bottom and held on for the ride, until last year when the market tanked and took Intuitive Surgical with it.

The other company was Superconductor Technologies (SCON), the makers of high-temperature devices that improve communications transmission quality.

Continue reading Chasing Value™: Tale of Two Tech Stocks (ISRG and SCON)

Chasing Value™: Tale of Two Tech Stocks (ISRG and SCON) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analyst upgrades

• Deutsche Bank upgraded Sonoco Products (SON) to buy from hold after the company reported Q1 results and raised guidance. The firm upped its target for shares to $38 from $32.
• Baird upgraded Western Digital (WDC) to outperform from neutral following the solid Q3 report and guidance. The firm raised its target to $50 from $48.
• Goldman upgraded Qwest (Q) to neutral from sell. Qwest is being acquired by CenturyLink (CTL).
• Hershey (HSY) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan.
• Principal Financial (PFG) was upgraded to neutral from sell at UBS.
• Monster Worldwide (MWW) was upgraded to market perform from underperform at Wells Fargo.

Continue reading Analyst Calls: WDC, Q, HSY, BWLD, NOK, COP, KFT, VZ ...

Analyst Calls: WDC, Q, HSY, BWLD, NOK, COP, KFT, VZ ... originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

"We are at the early stages of witnessing a transformation of wireless activities away from voice and towards data for both personal and business customers," says says Ian Wyatt.

In his The Recovery Portfolio, he explains, "This portends great things Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), which has the best wireless network in the U.S. (For more on Verizon, see my recent post, The Safest Dividend in the Dow.)

"Verizon provides wireline service to 35 million access lines and 87 million wireless customers. It recently picked up 13 million of these wireless subscribers upon completion of its $28 billion purchase of privately held Alltel in January.

"My investment thesis for Verizon is all about growth in its wireless operating segment. Smartphone penetration, which is more profitable for Verizon, is still small and growing very rapidly.

Continue reading Call on Verizon (VZ) for smartphone growth

Call on Verizon (VZ) for smartphone growth originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Alltel throws a stick at the competition, switches to one-year contracts

Alltel throws a stick at the competition, switches to one-year contracts originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Sprint Nextel finally in the midst of a turnaround? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Verizon's Seidenberg: Someday, Steve Jobs will get old originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The LiveTV unit of JetBlue Airways Corporation (NASDAQ: JBLU) is buying Verizon Communications Inc's (NYSE: VZ) Airfone network, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• As Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH) is about to report a second quarter loss of about $2B, the firm is closing in on raising over $5B in new capital, the Wall Street Journal reported. Once source of Lehman's new funding is reportedly the New Jersey Division of Investment.
• The Financial Times reported that General Electric Company's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal and British private equity firm GMT Communications Partners are expected to soon acquire Bigpoint, a German-based computer games website.

• According to the Independent, the credit crunch has cost the jobs of about 100 bankers at Barclays Plc (NYSE: BCS). The bank cut about 20 individuals on the leveraged finance team and will reportedly cut 80 more in investment banking and IT support.

Newspaper wrap-up: NBC, British private equity firm expected to buy German games site originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 09 Jun 2008 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Vodafone Group Plc (NYSE: VOD) and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ), is in talks to acquire Alltel Corp. in a deal valued at about $27B, the Wall Street Journal reported. If successful, the combined companies would create the largest cellphone company, and would be better positioned to compete against AT&T Inc (NYSE: T).
• Gregory B. Penner, the son-in-law of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE: WMT) chairman S. Robson Walton, is expected to join the company's board of directors, a move seen as the beginning of a leadership change at the company, according to the Wall Street Journal.
• The Financial Times reported that Singaporean sovereign wealth fund Temasek refused to provide funds to Bear Stearns shortly before Bear's sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM). Temasek reportedly refused the request for practical and political reasons.
• Russia's Interior Ministry questioned the head of BP Plc's (NYSE: BP) Russian oil venture as part of a criminal investigation into possible large-scale tax evasion, the Financial Times reported.

Newspaper wrap-up: Verizon Wireless may acquire Alltel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When a stock is tanking, the shorts are usually all over it. Shares of Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) are down nearly 15% this year. At $24, they trade near their 52-week low. But, short interest in Comcast dropped 16.1 million shares in September, to 97.2 million.

The primary reason that the country's largest cable company is down appears to be the concern that the new fiber-to-the-home initiatives from AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) will take broadband and TV customers from cable. But so far the evidence is that fiber customers come from the analog base of cable subscribers, which is small, or are upgrades for existing DSL subscribers. If so, cable companies do not have to worry too much.

So the shorts may be moving out of Comcast because it is beginning to dawn on the market that getting "triple play" consumers, who already use cable for voice/broadband/TV, will be very difficult for the telephone companies. A switch means an entirely new installation, new billing, and an unfamiliar system.

Continue reading Comcast (CMCSA) falls but shorts move out of stock

Comcast (CMCSA) falls but shorts move out of stock originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Comcast (CMCSA) looking pretty cheap originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Sep 2007 12:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Perhaps 2007 is the year of shareholder activism, but if the resolutions passed by stockholders are not binding, why bother? And, that being said, it certainly is not much of a revolution.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was the latest company to report that its shareholders had passed a proposal to give them a say in executive compensation. It took two weeks to count all of the votes and the proposal made it by with a thin 50.18% margin. It could have been 99.9%. The resolution is not binding on the board or management in any way.

Verizon was good enough to say that it will review the resolution and "consider what actions to take." Which means that the company will do exactly nothing.

The proposal had some energetic supporters, including both of the large proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis, & Co. A number of Verizon's large institutional shareholders also voted "yes" for the measure. All of that means that some real time and effort went into a vote that is essentially meaningless.

They might as well take the money spent on getting the resolution approved and bet it at the blackjack tables in Vegas.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Verizon: More nonbinding shareholder votes originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 20 May 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Internet telephone provider Vonage Holdings Inc. (NYSE: VG) released quarterly results on Thursday that were better than what most analysts had expected. The company, though, still faces a tough legal fight with Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) that threatens the viability of the Internet phone provider.

It would help if the company had ever made money, but it hasn't. This sounds like the satellite television and radio companies in their infancies as well. Vonage, though, may be able to get there faster. That is, if Verizon doesn't run it into the ground.

Vonage's first quarter loss was $72.3 million ($0.47 per share). Although this is less than the year-ago quarterly loss of $85.2 million, the improvement has been overshadowed by legal messes with incumbent and overpowering telecom giant Verizon.

To a point, Verizon (and all other established telecoms) are frightened by the emergence of new technology which could take customers away from them. When an Internet connection can be used for television broadcasts, radio, telephone and web usage, telecom companies who can't cash in on that start sweating. In other words, it's no surprise Verizon is going for the jugular here.

Customers clearly want Vonage's services, as the company's revenue increased 64% to $195.9 million in the first quarter, up from $119.7 million a year ago. Shares went up by about 11% as investors were pleased with such large revenue and customer gains.

Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron stated that technical workarounds are almost in place to allow Vonage to not "infringe" on two (of the three) Verizon patents that have it in legal trouble. If Vonage can bypass the alleged legal issues it has with Verizon soon and can continue signing up customers, the company may yet make a profit and survive.

Vonage loss narrows as revenue rises 64% originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 May 2007 09:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Finally, finally I don't have to repeat myself. Yesterday stocks broke their 6-day losing streak, the longest since 2005. This morning, the day of the U.S. midterm elections, futures are mixed, pointing to a higher start for the S&P 500 and a lower start for the Nasdaq.

Yesterday could have been interpreted as a reaction to today's election results, although the many deals certainly gave the market a boost. Despite polls suggesting Democrats could take control of he Congress, it is still a close race. As for the Senate, it is too close to call. Right now, consensus seems to support a short-term gain for stocks if Republicans remain in control of both houses, while stocks could get a long-term lift if the Democrats win control in one house, thus splitting the control of the houses.

There is one economic data to be released today at 3:00 p.m. - consumer credit.

In what could probably be sign of the times, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox posted a first official communication to a blog. His message? Cox is looking into letting companies use blogs to disseminate important corporate information.

Home builder Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL) reported a 10% decline in fourth-quarter home building revenue, saying the housing market is still weak. The company also cut 2007 outlook due to slower market conditions and said that while it doesn't see signs the market is improving yet, it could start picking up once the current inventory is absorbed.

In corporate news:

According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) said it is in advanced talks with Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube Inc. Verizon wants to to bring YouTube content to cellphones and television sets. This could give Verizon a marketing edge.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced that Xbox Live users could soon start downloading TV shows and rent movies. Microsoft has teamed up with several Hollywood studios. The shows could be downloaded through Xbox Live online video-game service and beamed straight onto television sets.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE:TM) posted a better-than-expected 44% rise in quarterly operating profit and lifted its full-year forecasts. Toyota cited robust sales, cost cuts and a soft yen offseting higher raw materials prices as reasons for the sharp gain. Toyota's fuel-efficient and hybrid cars gained ground in both the U.S. and Europe.

Shares of RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNWK) gained more than 5% in after-hour trading as last night it reported a third-quarter profit that nearly quadrupled. Revenue rose 14%. The company earned $42.2 million, or 24 cents per share. Analysts expected 22 cents per share.

Before the bell 11-7-06: Stocks are split ahead of the election originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 07 Nov 2006 07:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.