MOST NOTEWORTHY:

• Baird believes Heelys (NYSE: HLYS) is poised to report strong results through FY07, which is not reflected in current valuation, and started shares with an Outperform rating and $47 target.

• JMP Securities believes a growing number of consumers will opt to acquire books and physical CD audio books digitally over the internet and started shares of Audible (NASDAQ: ADBL) with an Outperform rating and $12.50 target.

• Caris believes Response Genetics' (NASDAQ: RGDX) diagnostics opportunity may represent a significant long-term growth driver and initiated shares with a Buy rating and $7.50 target...

• JP Morgan initiated DeVry (NYSE: DV), Corinthian Colleges (NASDAQ: COCO) and Strayer Education (NASDAQ: STRA) with Overweight ratings, ITT Educational Service (NYSE: ESI), Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) and Career Education (NASDAQ: CECO) with Neutral ratings and Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) with an Underweight rating.

Analyst initiations 7-16-07: CECO, COCO, HLYS and UTI originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The NEXT company on my list of the top 25 for the NEXT 25 years is New Jersey-based Audible, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBL). Audible is the leading provider of spoken word content delivered to MP3 players via Audible's website. Spoken word content includes audio books, periodicals, podcasts and material from talk radio shows. Included in Audible's portfolio is nearly 400 content partnerships, 60% of them exclusive.

The beauty of the Audible's business model is the multi-tiered subscription options available to customers. The prices are $14.95 and $22.95 monthly. Each level allows downloading of a daily periodical such as the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal and one to two books depending on the plan. Audible also offers an annual plan priced at $229 and $149, giving a two-month discount. Members are offered continuous discounts on new released books and other promotional items.

Audible has nearly 400,000 members to its subscription model. Customers can also purchase a book or any other Audible product a-la-carte. Audible offers books ranging from best sellers to new releases and classics. The university market is just beginning for Audible as text books are undergoing a digital process and their availability is increasing. No more 30 pound back-packs!

Continue reading 25 stocks for NEXT 25 years: Audible - a leader in spoken word content

25 stocks for NEXT 25 years: Audible - a leader in spoken word content originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 03 May 2007 14:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Here are two facts for Apple shareholders to think about:

• 23% of Audible.com's sales were generated via the Apple iTunes Music Store.  That's $4.4 million.  Audible's current partnership as Apple's sole provider of spoken word audio to the Apple iTunes Music Store ends in 2007.
• NPR, reports that in the single month of April 6 million podcasts were grabbed from their site, 20 million since the media organization began podcasting last August.

What these two milestones for their respective companies show is just how ubiquitousness the iPod has become in digital media. It is not only a by-product of an emerging technology, but rather a vehicle aiding in driving change and technological evolution -- in this case, via spoken word audio and new media broadcasting alongside front running technologies such as satellite radio (XM, Sirius).

IPod audio books and podcasts booming originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 11 May 2006 15:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.