1. Break-up
2. Zander departure
3. Actual troughing in the business.

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Cramer on BloggingStocks: MOT, ERIC should marry originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 08:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR) option volatility Elevated at 43 into 9/6 investor meeting. JNPR, a provider of internet infrastructure solutions to internet service providers and other telecommunication services providers, is recently down .04 to $32.74. JNPR will host an investor gathering in Sunnyvale, CA. on 9/6. Bank of America-BAMO says, "We don't expect any update to JNPR's financial guidance, we do expect a positive tone highlighting new growth opportunities resulting from new products and carrier NGN builds." JNPR over all option implied volatility of 43 is above its 26-week average of 36, according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

Motorola (NYSE: MOT) implied volatility Flat into 9/7 investor meeting. MOT is hosting an analyst day in New York on 9/7. BAMO says, "we expect management to discuss its business strategy and market trends, and to highlight a number of new handsets." MOT over all option implied volatility of 30 is near its 26-week average, according to Track Data, suggesting non-directional risk.

Daily options update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Option update: JNPR & MOT's options suggest no surprises at investor meetings originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It looks like Samsung has passed Motorola (NYSE: MOT) as the world's No.2 handset company, or is about to depending on whether the IDC or Gartner research numbers are right.

According to Gartner, Motorola lost 7% of the global market between Q2 of 2006 and the same quarter this year. Its RAZR handset went from the hot product to an also-ran. The US company's market share now stands at 14.6%. Meanwhile, Samsung now has a 13.4% share. IDC figures show that Samsung passed Motorola in the last quarter.

The debate is about like the one of how many angels can stand on the head of a pin. Motorola's troubles are getting worse and not better. It does not appear to have a line of handsets that will allow it to regain what was once almost 22% of the market. Earnings should continue to fall, and so should the company's share price.

After trading at $26 last November, Motorola shares now trade near their 52-week low, changing hands at $16.50. The company's enterprise telecom equipment and set-top box businesses have not made up for the sharp drop in handset revenue.

Investors are still calling for CEO Ed Zander's head. But, to a large extent it does not matter. Any turnaround at the company could take several years.

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

More bad news for Motorola (MOT) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 23 Aug 2007 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Short interest in Motorola (NYSE: MOT) fell 11 million shares in July to 128 million. It was a very risky call.

But, it turned out to be a good one. Some on Wall St. must have been willing to invest based on the fact that Motorola had pre-announced bad results and that things would not get much worse. When the handset company's results were slightly better than anticipated, the stock moved from a low of $17.80 on July 13 to an intraday high of $18.33 yesterday.

Shorts are also probably betting that there is some chance that CEO Ed Zander will be shown the door which would cause the stock to spike up. The management and board are only a couple of weeks from seeing July handset sales.

Those betting against the stock got a gift yesterday. Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless decided to license Broadcom's (NASDAQ: BRCM) intellectual property for handsets directly to get around an import ban on Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) powered phones set by the International Trade Commission. Qualcomm was found to be infringing on certain Broadcom patents. The move would have kept a number of next-generation multi-media phones out of the US.

Now the Verizon Wireless has set up a way to break the embargo on new handsets, Motorola picks up a benefit. Many of its newest handsets would have faced delays getting into the US due to the Qualcomm problem. Verizon Wireless has gone a long way to solving that.

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

Shorts get good deal in Motorola originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Jul 2007 07:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When a management team gets called "terrible" among other things by one of the world's most respected investors, you have to wonder about his job security. But even after another poor quarter from Motorola (NYSE: MOT), the company's board of directors says it's not looking for a new CEO to replace Ed "I hate my customers" Zander.

"The board is of the opinion that we have the right strategy and the right leadership," Thomas Meredith, director and acting chief financial officer said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune.

What bothered me about Zander was his lack of interest in Carl Icahn's input. Whatever Icahn doesn't know about mobile phone technology, he makes up for with his long track record of improving governance at the companies he targets. Motorola could use someone like Icahn on its board of directors. They already have plenty of technology expertise.

Zander has demonstrated arrogance in the face of dismal results and because of that, Motorola's board has to be at least looking at the possibility of pursuing other options in the executive office.

Motorola says Zander's job is not in danger originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If Carl Icahn wins a seat on Motorola Inc.'s (NYSE: MOT) board of directors, Chief Executive Ed Zander will be looking for another job. That might happen if Icahn looses too.

The billionaire activist investor today stepped up his campaign against Zander ahead of the company's annual meeting on Monday with full-page advertisements blasting the embattled CEO, according to the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). He criticized comments Zander reportedly made about "hating" his customers as being "straight out of Alice in Wonderland."

How Zander and Icahn will be able to work together if the one-time corporate raider prevails is beyond me. I also wonder how effective Zander can be following Ichan's brutal proxy fight.

In an effort at damage control, Motorola said Zander was "joking" about "hating" Motorola's customers, the Journal said. Shareholders, though, seriously have found little to like about Motorola who stock has plunged more than 18% this year. The company's recent first quarter earnings were lousy and the second quarter isn't looking that great either.

Though proxy battles aren't easy to win, Icahn stands a good chance of prevailing with Motorola. Icahn probably wouldn't stay on the board for long anyway if he won. He doesn't seem to operating companies as much as shaking them up.

Can Motorola's CEO work with Icahn? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 01 May 2007 08:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.