Clearwire Corp.'s (NASDAQ: CLWR) may be able to relieve some pressure on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (NYSE: S) national wireless network, according to Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. Although Sprint's existing 3G network is touted to be one of the most reliable in the U.S., moving customers to a more efficient and faster 4G network -- like the ones Clearwire continues to launch -- de-stresses Sprint's existing network.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S), the third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. who continues losing customers every single quarter, is at least trying to jump ahead of the competition on high-tech service offerings. The company will be expanding its WiMAX wireless internet offerings to 17 new cities by the end of 2009.

Kirkland, Wash. based Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) closed on a transaction in December which merged the Sprint/Nextel (NYSE: S) wireless Internet business with the WiMax business of CLWR.

In connection with the transaction, CLWR secured $3.2 billion from a group of investors linked to the development of the wireless broadband industry, including Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWX).

Clearwater is offering its broadband service under the label "Clear."

While operating in a competitive environment for WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), CWTR has an advantage over WiFi, which is limited to access in small areas, such as home or coffee shop. WiMax, on the other hand, offers access from a very broad area and while being mobile in a vehicle.

Though not as capitalized as competitors like Verizon (NYSE: VZ) or AT&T (NYSE: T), the company's relationship with its investors should give it access to capital when needed.

On Jan. 9, due to a significant drop in the market value of CLWR stock, Intel announced a writedown of its investment in CLWR of $950 million. Intel is only the first of the investment group to reflect this writedown in their guidance for the quarter.

Driven by accounting rules mandating that investments in stocks that decline significantly in value be written off, the other publicly traded companies with investments in CLWR will be required to follow suit.

In the face of these writedowns, investors have kept the price of CLWR depressed in spite of recent good news from the company. At around $4.60, the stock is trading near its 52-week low of $3.24, and well below its high of $7.20.

The company's balance sheet reflects its growth mode, with a long-term debt-to-equity ratio of 186 and a current ratio of 3.25.

This post is part of a report entitled "Six-pack of technology favorites." You can read about the other top tech stock picks here.

"The semiconductor industry has been under pressure now for sometime, but one of the fastest growing businesses within semiconductors has been in programmable logic devices (PLDs)," notes wireless sector specialist Nikhil Hutheesing.

In The Forbes Wireless Stock Watch, he explains, "One of the top companies in this business is San Jose, California-based Altera (NASDAQ: ALTR). Here's his bullish review.

"These PLDs are chips that allow software developers to use inexpensive software tools to quickly develop, simulate, and test their designs. Then, a design can be quickly programmed into the chip and immediately tested in a live circuit.

"Unlike other chips, PLDs are based on re-writable memory technology. That means that if a designer wants to change the design on the chip, the device can be easily reprogrammed.

"Once the design is final, customers can go into immediate production by simply programming as many PLDs as they need with the final software design file. The result is that a final design can be completed much faster and less expensively than that of a custom, fixed logic device.

"While Altera also manufacturers other kinds of chips, it's the PLD business that could really boost the company's business. Eventually, Altera plans to replace the ASIC business entirely with PLDs.

Shares of battered Israeli WiMax company Ceragon Networks (NASDAQ: CRNT) are surging today on the heels of a strong earnings report. As reported by Briefing.com: "earnings of $0.13 per share, in-line with the First Call consensus of $0.13; revenues rose 48.0% year/year to $55.2 mln vs the $49.5 mln consensus."

Ira Palti, President and CEO of Ceragon, spoke about strong rising global demand for the company's products. Demand was also strong in the Asia-Pacific region. Shares in Ceragon, along with fellow Israeli WiMax company Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR), have been hit very hard during this bear market, on concerns that WiMax is more hype than a business. Today's earnings from Ceragon reinforce the fact that these companies continue to grow very rapidly and continue to sign deals.

Long term technology investors should keep an eye on this space.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has a position in both CRNT and ALVR. He has no positions in any other stock mentioned, as of 7/21/08.

While the stock has taken a beating over the last six months, Israeli WiMAX player Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR) continues to sign deal after deal. On Tuesady, the company announced a deal with AccessKenya Group for, "Alvarion to supply WiMAX equipment for what will be the country's largest WiMAX network. AccessKenya will invest $3.5 million to build the network, which will initially include 35 base stations in Nairobi and the port of Mombasa."

Today the company announced another deal. This one is with Balticum TV. Alvarion is "supplying its BreezeMAX network to Balticum TV for deployment in the three Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Alvarion is very strong in the developing world. It has been growing revenues by over 30% a year, and sports more than 225 WiMAX commercial deployments.

If WiMAX never takes hold in North America, that may present some downward pressure on the stock. On the other hand, it is very strong in the developing world. For long-term investors looking for a beaten up company in the WiMAX space, you may want to spend some time researching Alvarion.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has a position in ALVR and is long the stock. He has no position in any other stock mentioned, as of 5/27/08

As Tom mentioned earlier, Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) is merging its next-generation wireless assets with Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR) to form a new joint partnership that -- finally -- will create a high-speed wireless internet network that covers most of the U.S. Although Sprint's Xohm service has been decried by investors as a "non-core" asset weighing down Sprint's pocketbook, it still has enormous potential in the near future. Sprint's not in terribly good shape -- but it does have vision. Of course, vision and execution are two different things.

So, it is pleasing to think that if the new Sprint-Clearwire venture can build out is national presence successfully and capture customers tired of limited high-speed internet service, the world will be its oyster. Of course, other companies are contributing to the venture as well, including Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Why would Google want to put money into this? Because this could be Google's most important investment ever.

Bypassing the telephone and cable companies that have a stranglehold on most of the high-speed internet business in the U.S. has long been the dream of Google. It doesn't want a middleman in the way of it connecting consumers and businesses with the information they seek. Although Google wasn't successful in the recent FCC radio auctions (maybe by design), finding a way to provide internet service directly to its customer base would give Google on a much more powerful perch than it has even today. Google could even buy the new Clearwire partnership outright once it's established.

I think they're starting to get giddy in the Google board room.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that an alliance of cable, Internet and chip titans will announce plans to invest $3.2B in a company that will deliver Web access for laptops and cellphones using WiMax. The venture, valued at over $12B, includes Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) and Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) and will be backed by Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE: TWC), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG).
• According to people familiar with the matter, Robert Verrone, one of the most zealous commercial real-estate lenders during the industry's boom, will leave Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) within the next week, the Wall Street Journal reported.

WEB SITES:

• Bloomberg reported that the Department of Justice is probing whether UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) helped clients evade American taxes. In an e-mailed statement, the firm said one senior bank employee was "briefly detained" by authorities.
• Bloomberg also reported that Vallejo, California's city council voted to go into bankruptcy. Officials said that after talks with labor unions failed to win salary concessions from police and fire fighters, the city does not have enough money to pay its bills.
• According to a rumor, TechCrunch reported that the Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) board of directors yesterday authorized Yahoo chairman Roy Bostock, rather than CEO Jerry Yang, to call Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer about re-starting negotiations.

I've focused some of my writing and research on these pages on the hype surrounding WiMAX, an emerging telecommunications technology that could make broadband wireless access a reality. Some of the best WiMAX technology in being developed in Israel by firms like Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR) and Ceragon (NASDAQ: CRNT). In spite of on-again, off-again news coming out of big players like Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), my thesis has always been that we can debate all we want as to whether WiMAX will hit in the U.S. The truth is that WiMAX is already happening in the rest of the world.

MarketWatch is out with a story this morning about some of the action happening in the telecommunications space surrounding WiMAX. In Big investments rumored for wireless technology, MarketWatch reporter, Therese Poletti takes the usual tack by pointing out both sides of the argument that WiMAX "is full of potential to drive cheaper, high-speed wireless data, voice and video communications, or a dismal failure, depending on who you talk to."

The same article cites a spokesperson for chip-giant, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), as saying that Intel "remains bullish on WiMAX, saying the technology is definitely 'ready for prime time.'"
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Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) stock is falling on reports that the company is in talks with Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to fund a new wireless Internet program. CMCSA would invest up to $1 billion in the project, a nationwide network using WiMax technology that would be operated by Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and Clearwire Corp. (NASDAQ: CLWR). Judging by this morning's action, investors do not seem very enthusiastic about the plan. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on CMCSA.

After hitting a one-year high of $29.41 in July, the stock hit a one-year low of $16.11 in January. This morning, CMCSA opened at $20.07. So far today the stock has hit a low of $19.30 and a high of $20.14. As of 12:15, CMCSA is trading at $19.59, down 0.95 (-4.6%). The chart for CMCSA looks bullish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell rating.

For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a July bear-call credit spread above the $22.50 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make an 11.1% return in 4 months as long as CMCSA is below $22.50 at July expiration. Comcast would have to rise by more than 15% before we would start to lose money.

Those who think Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is happy being the world's most dominant search engine haven't been reading their tea leaves on the wall (or some mixed metaphor like that).

Google recently exited the FCC's 700 Mhz spectrum auction without winning anything but gaining much. The tech giant persuaded the FCC to open up the wireless networks and won big without having to spend almost $5 billion on licenses. I never thought Google wanted to build out a wireless network, and chooses instead to deliver ads and applications to other operators.

I was interested to read yesterday about Google's further lean on the FCC to open up soon-to-be-unused broadcast spectrum as the U.S. converts to digital TV. Google wants access to these "white spaces" to begin using them to manage a nationwide WiFi network -- free, unlicensed and able to reach much farther than WiFi can today.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S)'s Dan Hesse hasn't been the CEO for very long, but he's wasting no time making a bunch of changes at the beleaguered wireless company. First off, he announced a slew of layoffs and three executive dismissals as a way to cut costs and bring in fresh blood to the company.

One of the last straws Hesse needed to address concerned the company's 2006 commitment to rolling out a nationwide WiMAX next-generation wireless data network in the U.S.

At the time, Sprint was seen as a pioneer in bringing anywhere, anytime high-speed data to most of the U.S. with its $5 billion commitment. As 2007 brought customer defections and hundreds of thousands of customer losses and missed profit targets, those plans were scaled back -- some called for them to be scrapped entirely -- so Sprint could focus on its core business: wireless voice service.

Hesse is apparently not going to let the naysayers get away with having Sprint just toss out its grand WiMAX ambitions, and Sprint may now be in talks with Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) to form a joint venture in a new WiMAX venture that would bring in outside money to help with the rather large capital expenditure that Sprint investors and pundits have been worried about in the wake of losing customers -- big time -- to its competitors. If Sprint can form a joint venture and bring in partners such as Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), then its WiMAX plans may indeed have some life left.

I had no idea when I posted yesterday about two Israeli stocks to buy for a market bounce that one of the stocks I mentioned would spike more than 10%. Amdocs Limited (NYSE: DOX) is the market leader in customer experience systems innovation, enabling world-leading service providers to deliver an integrated, innovative and intentional customer experience at every point of service.

The company has experienced one heck of a 48 hours. On Tuesday there was the news that Sprint/Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is soft-launching a WiMAX network, and picked communications software company Amdocs to build and maintain the Xohm web portal and manage its customer service, billing, and other operations.

Even bigger is the news today that Amdocs signed a deal to provide support services to AT&T (NYSE: T), which one analyst estimated is worth more than $100 million a year. Wedbush Morgan analyst Scott P. Sutherland reiterated a "Strong Buy" rating on Amdocs, and estimated that the deal "is initially worth well over $100 million annually and has the potential to be even more."

With markets continuing their downward spiral, many investors think that it's time to step up and start buying some stocks that have been beaten down. Here are two hot Israeli stocks that have been cool for investors during the recent market sell-off.

Amdocs Limited (NYSE: DOX) is the market leader in customer experience systems innovation, enabling world-leading service providers to deliver an integrated, innovative and intentional customer experience at every point of service. The stock has gotten hit of late, but with a PE of about 18 and a PEG slightly under 1, the stock is looking attractive.

With the news that Sprint/Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S) is soft-launching a WiMax network, and picked communications software company Amdocs to build and maintain the Xohm Web portal and manage its customer service, billing, and other operations. The company is also gearing up to be the big winner in mobile phone billing as well, and that vertical could add significant revenue to the company.

Alon USA Energy, Inc. (NYSE: ALJ) engages in refining and marketing petroleum products primarily in the south central, southwestern, and western regions of the United States. The stock has gotten crushed as crude prices soared, losing more than 50% from its high. The company sports a low PE of just 6.25 and a PEG of 0.8. If crude prices stabilize, Alon will be a big winner.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer's fund has a position and owns stock in both DOX and ALJ and is long them both.He has no positions in any other stock mentioned as of 1/9/08.

Globes is reporting that Israel's Ministry of Communications has approved roll-out of a WiMAX network for Sderot and the Western Negev region.

"The ultimate goal of the project is to enable local citizens to enjoy wireless broadband surfing and to supply internet links to public institutions, among them kindergartens and schools, with state-of-the-art technology," reports Globes.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR), and 012 Smile.Communications (NASDAQ: SMLC) are all involved in the roll-out. Intel, it seems, has donated numerous laptops for the initiative.

This news all follows on the heels of Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S)'s announcement yesterday about its ongoing WiMAX plans.

I've written before about how Alvarion, a small-cap stock winning lots of WiMAX deals, continues to prove that WiMAX is happening internationally, in spite of U.S. delays in rolling out. I also recently interviewed Zach Scheidt, a hedge fund manager, who has been doing the work on 012 Smile.Communications.

WiMAX seems to be happening, providing investors with opportunities to pick their horses.

Zack Miller the managing editor of IsraelNewsletter.com and a former equity analyst for a leading multinational hedge fund. Author's fund owns ALVR as of 1/9/2008.