Continue reading Should you be buying Microsoft (MSFT) shares?

Should you be buying Microsoft (MSFT) shares? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) has received the required clearance to acquire Tacoda Inc., a company that targets ads based on a web user's browsing habits. There is no issue with this deal clearing. Time Warner could acquire 100 companies like this and the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice would rubber stamp every single deal.

It is almost funny that the two recent big media and online buys -- Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has bought aQuantive and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has acquired DoubleClick -- are still being reviewed by some. Those purchases cannot be reversed.

Back to Time Warner and AOL: AOL has found itself in a predicament over backing away from prior estimates for "faster than market growth" for its search-related advertising sales. But if you look back at last month's comScore numbers, as we pointed out earlier, you will realize that AOL has a massive reach through its Advertising.com division. Any such deal that can incrementally ad both new advertising groups and that can reach more people will be an opportunity for incredible advertising leverage.

It's hard to cover a company like Time Warner one unit at a time. Many in the media still want to only cover negative aspects of the company, and considering it is a shot at bashing a competitor it is hard to blame them. Just last week, AOL launched Truveo. AOL may be its own entity next year if my thought process is accurate and the clouds drift the way they have historically. This will allow it to keep adding small strategic plays that can help grow both AOL and the other Time Warner brands. That will be a winning recipe for the company, and should be a winning recipe for shareholders.

Jon Ogg is a partner at 24/7 Wall St, LLC. He produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter and does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Time Warner's (TWX) online strength: Keep bolstering AOL's ad portfolio originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft (MSFT) has aQuantive, but will it matter? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Aug 2007 10:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In my book about Baby Boomer investing I highlight what I feel are the five major growth industries going forward. The industries are health care, alternative energy, technology, communications and lifestyle. I also mention 42 companies within those industries that could be the leaders, the game changers. Since the book has been published, five of the 42 stocks I wrote about are being acquired!

The latest one to go is Checkfree (NASDAQ: CKFR). Fiserve (NASDAQ: FISV) has announced its $4.4 billion bid. Checkfree made our banking-transactional life much easier. The other four that will be part of larger companies are Opsware (NASDAQ: OPSW), Color Kinetics (NASDAQ: CLRK), aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) and Kyphon (NASDAQ: KYPH). Other than aQuantive, the other three were also part of my Top 25 stocks for the NEXT 25 years series.

As the 42 companies are down to 37, it causes some reflection for the future. Great, emerging companies will always be on the radar screen of larger, well-financed suitors. If growth cannot be internally generated through research and development efforts, larger companies will need to acquire growth and next generation products or technology. With interest rates still historically low, the borrowing necessary to buy these young, up-and-comers is not a significant issue. Investors will reward mature companies if they acquire intelligently and strategically.

Continue reading Checkfree, another one of my picks, gets bought out

Checkfree, another one of my picks, gets bought out originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) deal to buy DoubleClick seemed certain to get a government review. Google is too dominant in text advertising and DoubeClick too big in display ad serving and targeting. Of course, competitors like Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) said it would put too much online advertising power in one set of hands.

Now the eyes of the Federal Trade Commission have turned on Microsoft and Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO). Their respective deals to buy aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) and Right Media are going to get the antitrust once over, at the very least.

Right now, the FTC's review of the Google deal is more formal [subscription required] than the other two, but that could change. More than one industry association has asked that the government to take a close look at all three transactions.

Although the odds are that none of the M&A activity that is designed to bring advertising targeting under the umbrellas of big web portals will be stopped, perhaps the FTC work will be more than a formality. When these three transactions are added to AOL's ownership of Advertising.com, the concentration of private data about individual's web habits will be in very few corporate hands.

Perhaps there should be a divide between those that have the information and those who have the advertising inventory. But, that would be in a too perfect world.

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

Microsoft and Yahoo! get FTC review of online ad purchase originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 15 Jun 2007 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jim Cramer proposing on CNBC's Mad Money that Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) and eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) should get together and merge. He is calling for this because the growth is slowing for both companies, and a merger could jump start it. Cramer contends that companies with slower growth have to do something to get their sizzle back. Cramer said that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) was reportedly in talks to buy Yahoo! and that the aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) buyout signals it is willing to do deals. If these companies had better areas to invest in they wouldn't be propping shares up with buybacks. A merger would allow Yahoo!'s massive users to use Skype and PayPal to buy goods. Cramer thinks this would bring back growth, and would finally get Semel out of Yahoo!

This is just after Yahoo!'s chief technology officer bailed out of the company today. As Cramer is long Yahoo! in his charitable trust and as he's been touting ideas for something like this, this "call to merge" is hardly a surprise to me or to others. The market caps are very similar, although eBay is the larger company. You should know that if you are playing these stocks based only on Cramer's comments, then know that you are buying what is probably his third or fourth round of recommendations calling for this. This is the first time he made an entire segment on this would-be merger, but this is best defined as "re-information."

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Jim Cramer begs for Yahoo! & eBay to merge originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 May 2007 19:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Yahoo! left to fend for itself as Microsoft shuns it originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 May 2007 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) made it clear, once and for all, that it does not need Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) to be successful with its internet advertising strategy. Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi, the head of ad strategy at the world's largest software company said that [subscription] its current internet products plus customers and tech it will get from buying aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) round out the arsenal that it needs to compete for online advertising.

The announcement leaves Yahoo! in a a difficult position. With Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) purchase of DoubleClick, Yahoo! does not have a large presence in the internet ad serving business. Its share of the search market is still dropping according to Hitwise, and there is still little evidence that the company's Panama advertising search product is bringing in a large slug of new revenue. Yahoo!'s top line only grew about 10% in the last quarter.

Yahoo!'s shares jumped from $28 to over $33 when the press published reports that Microsoft was interested in buying the web portal. But, the stock has sold off to $28.60 since then. Investors are likely to do very little with the shares until Yahoo!'s next quarterly earnings report. If it is weak, and Panama has not produced a quarter of solid results, it will be a long year for Yahoo! shareholders.

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

Microsoft walks away from Yahoo! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 24 May 2007 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I have been involved in the investment industry for almost 29 years. The first 13 I spent with Dean Witter Reynolds (now Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS)) and the last 16 years as a senior partner with two investment banking-research boutique firms. I have worked with over 150 stock research analysts just on the sell-side and another 200 plus on the buy side. Categorically, the title research analyst does not make an analyst a rocket scientist. There are a few myths that need to be explored and more importantly, explained.

There are two and only two types of analysts in the stock research world. 1) those that "get it" and are ahead of their particular industry and can pretty accurately predict what is "going to happen" within the sector they follow, and 2) analysts that are strictly reporters of the news affecting their sectors and do not think outside the box.

Case in point: Stewart Barry of ThinkEquity Partners (my alma mater) has been absolutely brilliant in the internet services sector. Forward thinking, cutting edge research and the ability to separate the news from the noise. Stewart nailed the strong possibilities of Aquantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) and 24/7 Real Media (NASDAQ: TFSM) being acquired. Both are getting acquired. What Stewart nailed wasn't the rumor mill about these two -- he was dead-right on the fundamental issues affecting Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and how AQNT, TFSM, and DoubleClick could fill those needs. Stewart Barry is an all-star analyst because he is ahead of the curve and ahead of his peer group. Stewart has reiterated his buy rating on ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) not because it may be acquired, but because the basic fundamentals are superior and the company's growth rate is accelerating.

Continue reading Research Analysts: Some great and some lousy

Research Analysts: Some great and some lousy originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 18:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft's aQuantive buy a shot in the arm? Hardly. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 17:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Deutsche Bank and ABN Amro cut GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) to Hold from Buy following the New England Journal of Medicine warnings from Avandia.

• Merrill Lynch cut SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) to Neutral from Buy due to concerns that oversupply in the industry will extend through next quarter.

• Cowen downgraded shares of Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to Neutral from Outperform based on slower 2007-2008 EPS growth and less cash redeployment upside than General Dynamics Corp (GD) and Raytheon Co (RTN).

• UBS downgraded aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) to Neutral from Buy and RBC Capital cut shares to Sector Perform from Outperform after the Microsoft (MSFT) acquisition...

• Piper Jaffray downgraded Cytyc Corp (NASDAQ: CYTC) To Market Perform from Outperform.

• NetBank, Inc (NASDAQ: NTBK) was downgraded to Underperform from Market Perform at Friedman Billings.

• Merrill Lynch downgraded shares of Aeropostale, Inc (NYSE: ARO) to Neutral from Buy.

• AG Edwards downgraded BHP Billiton Ltd (NYSE: BHP) to Hold from Buy.

• Gabelli downgraded shares of Alltel Corp (NYSE: AT) to Hold from Buy.

Analyst downgrades 5-22-07: AQNT, GSK, LMT, MSFT and SNDK originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 May 2007 10:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Baird cut ValueClick Inc (NASDAQ: VCLK) to Neutral from Outperform, citing the FTC inquiry.

• aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) was downgraded to Sell from Buy after the company was acquired by Microsoft (MSFT) and because aQuantive no longer trades on fundamentals. Kaufman and Gabelli also cut aQuantive to Hold from Buy.

• Cigna (NYSE: CI) was downgraded at Prudential to Neutral from Overweight on valuation.

• Warner Music Group's (NYSE: WMG) downgrade to Sell from Neutral at Pali Research was based on the lower industry outlook, which Pali believes revenues are likely to fall at least 10% for the industry in 2007, along with the company's release schedule.

• Bear Stearns downgraded Clear Channel Communications (NYSE: CCU) to Peer Perform from Outperform on the acceptance of the higher bid.

• Medtronic Inc (NYSE: MDT) was downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley...

• Georgia Gulf Corp (NYSE: GGC) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Matrix USA.

• Stifel cut Core Laboratories (NYSE: CLB) to Hold from Buy.

• UBS downgraded Intuit Inc (NASDAQ: INTU) to Neutral from Buy.

• Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE: OXY) was removed from Goldman's Conviction Buy list.

• Friedman Billings downgraded downgraded CapitalSource, Inc (NYSE: CSE) and Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE: CFC) to Market Perform from Outperform.

Analyst downgrades 5-21-07: AQNT, CCU, CI, CFC and WMG originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 May 2007 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• DA Davidson upgraded Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT) to Buy from Neutral, as the firm is no longer concerned the tech giant will acquire Yahoo! (YHOO) following the recent acquisition of aQuantive, Inc (AQNT).

• HSBC upgraded shares of Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE) to Overweight from Neutral to reflect improving profitability at Sony's electronics business.

• Pacific Crest upgraded Adobe Systems (NASDAQ: ADBE) to Outperform from Sector Perform to reflect the strong CS3 outlook and growth in new areas such as mobile.

• Citigroup upgraded their cable sector view as they continue believe cap ex will remain at elevated levels at a time when the marginal cable investor is likely more willing to forego near-term FCF growth to achieve robust EBITDA growth. Along with the raised sector view, Citigroup upgraded Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) and Comcast Corp (NASDAQ: CMCSA) to Buy from Hold. The firm believes investors can benefit from owning both EchoStar Communications (DISH) and cable equities...

• Bear Stearns upgraded Tiffany & Co (NYSE: TIF) to Outperform from Peer Perform.

• RBC Capital raised American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) to Outperform from Sector Perform.

• Sepracor Inc (NASDAQ: SEPR) was raised to Neutral from Underperform at Cowen.

• ING upgraded BP plc (NYSE: BP) to Buy from Hold.

• Valero Energy Corp (NYSE: VLO) was added to Goldman's Conviction Buy list.

Analyst upgrades 5-21-07: ADBE, CMCSA, MSFT, SNE and TIF originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 May 2007 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Recent mergers between traditional and online advertising firms suggest a deep flaw in the advertising business -- a flaw exposed by Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s evidently unstoppable technology edge. How so? While traditional advertisers deliver open-loop systems, Google delivers a closed-loop solution.

The reason that online advertising is growing is because it offers a closed-loop solution -- a notion that I first described in Net Profit. By contrast, TV and newspaper advertising is an open-loop system -- one in which a company pays to reach a viewer without getting any specific feedback on whether the advertising money leads to increased sales.

By contrast, a closed-loop solution measures the specific response to the advertising dollar -- tracking whether a user clicks on an ad and whether that clicking leads to an online purchase. I call it a solution because it lets the advertiser measure the extent to which advertising expense leads to increased sales. The closed-loop solution's ability to measure return on advertising is an enormous breakthrough for advertisers.

As everybody knows, Google's algorithm for linking tiny text advertising to Internet search has boosted the online advertising business. According to the Wall Street Journal [subscription required], those search-related ads now account for 40% of the $20 billion U.S. internet ad market. And internet-ad sales overall have nearly tripled in the past five years -- to 7% of the $286 billion overall U.S. ad market -- up from 3% in 2002.

Moreover, Google's success is coming out of the hide of TV and newspaper advertisers. For example, in 2006 General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) cut its TV ad spending 15% to $1.38 billion and reduced its newspaper advertising 60% to $232.1 million. Meanwhile, GM's online spending rose 16% to $130 million.

Continue reading Online ads' closed-loop solution

Online ads' closed-loop solution originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 May 2007 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Back in the 1990s, a group of online ad players -- like Mediaplex, DoubleClick and 24/7 -- sported multibillion dollar market caps. Of course, it did not take long for the bubble to burst.

Funny enough, the conventional wisdom was that we would never see these kinds of valuations again.

Well, never say never.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is going to pay $6 billion for aQuantive Inc. (NASDAQ: AQNT) and Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is buying DoubleClick for $3.1 billion.

We are going back to the future. So what does this all mean?

I had a chance to interview Dana Ghavami, who is the CEO of CheckM8:

How about some background on your company?

CheckM8 has been in the business of online ad technologies for seven years. We service many leading online publishers and are backed by leading institutional investors, including SoftBank and CCI of Dentsu. The company is US-based, with offices in New York and R&D facilities in Israel, in addition to sales and support offices in the UK, Spain, and Sweden. Customers include leading online publishers: Business Week, Nielsen, Sports Illustrated, Terra Networks, Washington Post, amongst many others. Our first product, called the Rich Media Manager, released four years ago, allows publishers to produce and manage premium ad formats for maximum-CPM opportunities online. Our flagship AdVantage product released two years ago allows publishers to manage their end-to-end ad, inventory, rich media needs in a single platform.

Does the Microsoft deal for aQuantive make sense in light of the high valuation?

We're looking at an industry that's going to drive $60B of advertising by 2010 and be the future medium of consumers and advertisers. So, if I had a major stake (like Microsoft) and the competition (Google) was one step ahead, I'd pull that kind of trigger too in hopes of having one of the seats at the small and priceless roundtable in the not-so distant future. These companies are looking at making multiples of what they're paying today in the foreseeable future.

Do you think we'll see more consolidation in the space, such as with ValueClick and private companies?

Very likely. However, the big media companies are increasingly looking for integrity and independence with their digital ad infrastructure and rapidly running out of options. At some point, there won't be enough established
and proven solutions to manage their critical needs and building their own solutions is not a practical option. Therefore, the need for reputable and trustworthy independent solutions will continue to exist.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

aQuantive goes back in time - to 1999 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 May 2007 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

I have been writing about aQuantive (NASDAQ: AQNT) for the past several months and thought that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) would buy them. It is, for a very hefty premium. Members of my website are thrilled as they got involved at $19 and MSFT is paying $66.50, or north of $6 billion in cash.

Who's next? With a garbage-like company 24/7 Real Media (NASDAQ: TFSM) being bought for $650 million -- which proves the rising-tide-lifts-all-boats theory -- ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) is the last strong public player in the space. TFSM by the way is being paid a minuscule premium for its shares as compared to AQNT. My previous firm ThinkEquity Partners worked extensively with TFSM and they have been hoping for a buyer the past couple of years.That aside, VCLK is the one to focus on now.

ValueClick is headquartered in suburban Los Angeles and is a recognized leader in the website marketing/advertising/digital marketing sector, right behind AQNT. ValueClick is experiencing growth in the 30-35% sustainable range, similar to aQuantive. The most important factor is ValueClick is among the leaders in the new-age digital media space.

New-age digital media is a space that neither Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) nor Microsoft could master with their own research and development efforts -- they had to acquire it. Old-time advertising companies can play in the space around the fringes, but they do not have the necessary proprietary technology needed to dominate or impress their customers. They were buyers of the technology from ValueClick, aQuantive and DoubleClick.

The space is red hot and will continue so as traditional corporations keep moving bigger and bigger pieces of their advertising budgets to the internet. Congratulations to Microsoft -- they got this one right!!

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research where he explores more growth stock ideas.

aQuantive sale leaves ValueClick ripe for purchase originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 May 2007 14:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This morning Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced that it's buying aQuantive Inc. (NASDAQ: AQNT) for $6 billion, an 85% premium to its market price. Why is this deal happening? To compete with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Last year my firm conducted a client-sponsored study of the email marketing industry. The top performing company in that research was AQNT. After interviewing the senior executives there, it became clear that email marketing offers a compelling benefit for a corporate advertiser -- the ability to measure return on advertising.

The reason Microsoft wants this ability is to help it compete with GOOG for online advertising dollars. That's because AQNT's technology enables companies to track what happens to their spam. Specifically, AQNT's Avenue A service targets emails depending on observed online behavior.

Continue reading Why Microsoft is spending $6 billion on aQuantive

Why Microsoft is spending $6 billion on aQuantive originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 May 2007 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is paying an 85% premium to buy online advertising firm aQuantive Inc. (NASDAQ: AQNT). Yes, that's 85%. It is the price for being late to the dance.

After missing out on both DoubleClick and 24/7 Real Media (NASDAQ: TFSM), Microsoft had few options left if it wanted a presence in the internet advertising brokerage business -- the intersection where markets buy ads and place them on websites. The companies in this business have huge amounts of data on internet use patterns.

So, Microsoft will pay about $6 billion for a company that had $143 million in revenue last quarter and an operating profit of $20 million. Doesn't Steve Ballmer keeps saying he won't over pay for anything? Before the DoubleClick deal with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), aQuantive sold below $30, so the real premium can actually be viewed as well over 100%.

Being so late, and paying so much is a huge strategic blunder, but it is the price for waiting

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

Microsoft pays too much for aQuantive originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 May 2007 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Online marketing is a hot topic, but the Internet is a specialized medium and success in that arena requires expert help. One of the industry's best known practitioners is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

aQuantive Inc. (NASDAQ: AQNT) is a digital marketing services and technology company, which aims to help clients acquire, retain and grow customers across all digital media. Its Digital Marketing Services division provides Web site development, interactive marketing, creative development and branding. The Digital Marketing Technologies unit offers advertisers online campaign management, search engine marketing and Web site optimization tools. The Digital Performance Media segment buys blocks of online media advertising to resell on a targeted basis. The aQuantive client list includes Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE), Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K), McDonald's Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Pepsico Inc. (NYSE: PEP), Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).

The firm became the object of acquisition speculation, after Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) recently strengthened their respective Web positions by purchasing aQuantive digital marketing rivals. Client Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) has been mentioned as a possible suitor.

Continue reading aQuantive: Advertising prowess on the web

aQuantive: Advertising prowess on the web originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 11 May 2007 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

During the 1990's and early 2000's, the world witnessed a technology boom as had never before been experienced. Small, innovative companies founded by creative, visionary entrepreneurs became mega-billion dollar corporations with multi-billion dollar market capitalizations. The stories came at us like glorious movie scripts: the hometown nerd rises to super stardom: Bill Gates, Paul Allen, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, John Chambers and many more newly-crowned titans were appearing in the society pages, as well as the business pages. Technologies were created that simplified our daily lives and enhanced productivity to levels never before thought of. Almost every human being was benefited by new, affordable technologies. Cars, TVs, appliances, PCs, cell phones,and several other products became fun, simple to use and affordable.

Along the way, massive fortunes were made by founders, employees, mutual funds and individual shareholders. Wall Street analysts also gained rock start status--maybe it was being in the right place at the right time.

Then came the nuclear winter for technology in late 2000-2001. Corporations and governments found themselves in the position of assessing what they bought and needing to monetize all these new technology assets. New spending came to near standstill. All of the investment geniuses who made the "easy" money were now facing losses and scrambling for the exits. Investing went back to the rules and principles that we all learned as beginners again.

No question about it: Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard Compaq, Intel and others are great American corporations. They collectively represent a few trillion dollars worth of market cap and multiple billions of annual profits. However, each titan of the 80's and 90's is facing its own issues of trying to re-grow the revenue and earnings base -- trying to recapture the magical secret sauce -- reminiscent of the older baseball pitcher who has lost 4-5 mph off his fastball and is trying to make it work with pitch location and craftiness.

But, investors are looking at the new, emerging group of companies that could dominate this decade and the next.

Continue reading The new young bulls of technology: Who will be the Microsoft of the 21st century?

The new young bulls of technology: Who will be the Microsoft of the 21st century? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.