toshiba posts
FeedPosted Mar 24th 2010 9:40AM by Tom Taulli (RSS feed)
Filed under: Next Big Thing
Microsoft (MSFT) founder Bill Gates loves to solve extremely tough problems. For example, he is backing a startup company, TerraPower, which is trying to develop small-scale nuclear reactors. To pull this off, Gates is prepared to shell out several billion dollars.
However, he will also need a strategic partner. And according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, there are preliminary discussions with Toshiba. While the company is best known for its computer business, it also has a strong footprint in nuclear, especially with its U.S.-based Westinghouse division.
Continue reading Bill Gates Goes Nuclear
Posted Oct 9th 2008 5:15PM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Best Buy (BBY)
Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE:
BBY ) is staging a marketing event to deploy two "store brand" laptops that will hopefully address two major complaints of laptop PC buyers - weight and battery life. Of course, this has been the argument for portable PCs for over a decade. The two new laptops are manufactured by Toshiba and
Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE:
HPQ) and will be sold under the faux brand "Blue Label." This name probably signifies Best Buy's official corporate color more than anything.
Of course, both laptops will retail for $1,199, a hefty price for anything but a high-end retail laptop PC in 2008. If Best Buy is going to price these at $1,200, it better darn sure hope that there is something revolutionary about these two models. Specifically, a battery life increase of at least 50% under normal operating conditions, as well as at least 1.5 pounds less in weight than comparative models that cost half as much. A pound is hugely significant in the laptop PC weight arena -- but Best Buy needs to go beyond that for such a premium price. Agree? Disagree?
Although Best Buy is marketing these as designed by "customer feedback," there's nothing earth shattering here. Battery life and weight have always been at the forefront of wants and needs from the laptop PC consumer. Manufacturers have seen fit to continue making their wares compete with features and aesthetics more than what customers have asked for, such as
Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:
AAPL) who clearly gets it. But the Windows PC world? Not so much. Will this be another empty promise or a half-hearted marketing move? We'll see once these two models hit store shelves and customers actually start using them.
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 11:50AM by Carol Vinzant (RSS feed)
Filed under: Television, Next Big Thing, Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Japan, Technology
Panasonic, the main American subsidiary of
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.(NYSE:
MC) is getting serious about its bet on the next generation of televisions. Panasonic is going with what's known as OEL (organic electroluminescent) or OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TVs. They're vastly thinner---less than a quarter of an inch---and are supposed to faster, sharper and use less energy. (
Some have disputed the last point.) But they could wear out quicker than other TVs, and by organic they just mean carbon based.
Sony (NYSE:
SNE)
already has the lead in the a OLED TV market. But Sony's TV is only 11 inches and it costs $2,500. They plan to release a 27-inch version "fairly soon," according to
this blog dedicated to OLED. Matsushita---which is changing its name to Panasonic come fall---is planning a 37-inch screen for around $1,400, according to
Reuters, which was picking the story up from the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun. But that's still years away.
Toshiba (
TOSBF) is also working on one, but
suffered some delays.
Samsung just announced they were investing $530 million in OLED production. There have been plenty of delays in this OLED technology--
almost as many as there have been with the rival technology SED (surface-conduction electron-emitter display). Toshiba and
Canon (NYSE:
CAJ)is the
big backers of SED TVs. After years of delays the battle for the next, thinnest TV is heating up.
Posted Mar 20th 2008 12:05PM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad News, Competitive Strategy
Toshiba Corp. (OTC:
TOSBF) will take a beating after admitting defeat in the recent next-generation DVD wars and
pulling out of HD DVD. Japan's largest chipmaker, as a result, sliced its full-year profit forecast by a staggering 31% this week to account for the HD DVD defeat as well as falling flash memory costs. It has its hands in both pots and both are going to kill a good chunk of profits this year.
In addition to writing down its HD DVD assets, the market for flash memory has already become brutal this year for Toshiba as well as for the competition like Samsung Electronics and
Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:
INTC). It's facing its first annual profit drop in over six years based on these two factors, as the company expects its flash memory prices to decline by 50% in its current fiscal year alone. Combine that will the wind-down of HD DVD (yes, there is still hardware inventory in stores), and
Toshiba's in for a ride this year.Let this be a lesson to the Japanese electronics giant: don't participate in risky format wars and minimize your exposure to a volatile market like flash memory (well, if you can). The ridiculous Blu-ray vs. HD DVD wars that existed for years finally came to an end this year, but now one of the parties will lose its shirt -- Toshiba. Sure, licensing revenue would have been great -- just ask
Sony Corp. (NYSE:
SNE) about this -- but you have to have a compelling reason to win. Toshiba apparently did not.
Posted Feb 18th 2008 10:00AM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Industry, Wal-Mart (WMT), Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Best Buy (BBY)
Now that the nation's largest retailer has dumped the HD DVD format, its creator, Toshiba, seems to finally have taken the hint and wants out of the HD DVD business. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), which can make a merchandising decision and have an effect on an entire industry, has done just that within the next-generation optical disc format that will replace the standard DVD someday.
Time Warner announced earlier this year that it would back out of the HD DVD format soon, Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) indicated that it would slowly stop selling HD DVD as well, and now the final death knell -- Wal-Mart. So, by the end of 2008 (if not before), consumers will finally have one high-definition optical format to choose from and the industry can rally behind it and finally put a worthless format war to rest. Unlike the VHS-Betamax war of the 1980s, Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) wins this one since it is the primary technical backer of the Blu-ray format..
So, there you have it -- one format finally emerges the victor. Will the triumph of Blu-ray finally mean increasing fortunes of consumer electronics manufacturers now that a single format can be marketed to consumers? How about Sony, which can now trumpet the Blu-ray capability of its money-losing PlLayStation 3 game console and try to make up for lost opportunities in the gaming market? The good news is that the consumer electronics camp can now price and market Blu-ray as the successor to DVD, lower disc prices and player prices, and urge a whole new generation of purchasers to 'upgrade' to another format yet again. Expect another format sometime in 2018, perhaps called Red-beam or something like that -- and the process will repeat all over again. That is, unless downloads haven't toasted much of the physical media market by then.
Posted Dec 25th 2007 11:45AM by Steven Halpern (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Newsletters, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2008
For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.
"If you are looking for an excellent technology company with plenty of upside potential, I recommend L.G. Philips LCD Co, LTD (NYSE: LPL)," my favorite aggressive speculation for 2008," says Dennis Slothower, editor of Stealth Stocks.
"The company, located in South Korea, is the world's largest merchant supplier of large-size TFT-LCD panels, primarily used in high-definition televisions, notebook computers, desktop monitors, cell phones and other applications.
"Its display panels are included in products sold by LG Electronics, Philips Electronics, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, and Apple, among others.
"LPL is at the cutting edge of technology and is benefiting from the insatiable demand for consumer electronics. It is also currently trading at low valuations based on sales and book value. At $28 a share LPL is trading only 1.4X sales and 2.4X book value.
"The company has $1.8 billion in cash on its balance sheets and sales are growing at 43% growth rate. Over the trailing 12 months, sales reached more than $14 billion. The intrinsic value on this stock is in the $50 to $60 range, which I see hitting in the next two or three years."
Posted Nov 3rd 2007 10:10AM by Trey Thoelcke (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Microsoft (MSFT), Dell (DELL), Intel (INTC), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Exxon Mobil (XOM), IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), Avon Products (AVP), Chevron Corp (CVX), CIGNA Corp (CI), Kellogg Co (K), Clorox Co (CLX), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), MasterCard Inc'A' (MA), Procter and Gamble (PG), Trump Entertainment Resorts (TRMP), Verizon Communications (VZ), Alcatel-LucentADS (ALU), U.S. Steel (X), Under Armour'A' (UA), Newmont Mining (NEM), RadioShack Corp (RSH), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Teva Pharm Indus ADR (TEVA), Kraft Foods'A' (KFT), Crocs Inc (CROX), Jones Apparel Group (JNY)
Lots more quarterly reports rolled out this past week, and here are some highlights of earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:
Continue reading Earnings highlights: Crocs, Exxon, Kraft, P&G, Sirius, and others
Posted Nov 2nd 2007 12:25PM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Products and Services, Wal-Mart (WMT), Best Buy (BBY)
As
I just wrote on this week, HD DVD players hit a new price low when
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:
WMT),
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:
AMZN) and others dropped the price of an older HD DVD player to right under $200 in perfect timing for holiday blowout sales. In the span of just a few days, that price has been cut 50%. Want to get into HD DVD? The price of retail admission now is just $99. Mass market purchase adoption now has clearance to take off.
In Wal-Mart's secret holiday shopping site
that was unveiled yesterday, the Toshiba HD DVD unit is featured for $99, although it's not available in stores (just online). My educated guess is that this is a one-time fire sale to clear inventory of an old model, but it could usher in a new low price range for the HD DVD format in the wake of extremely lukewarm customer acceptance.
To be blunt, many just don't see the advantages in a player costing $250 to $500, even with hi-def and all that. At $99 or even $150, things change. Call it the power of the mass-market price model for consumer electronics.
Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE:
BBY) has jumped into the fray as well with the same $99 price on the same Toshiba HD DVD model, something I
hinted at yesterday. With the largest consumer electronics retailer chiming in here, this confirms it: either Toshiba reduced the sell-through price to its distributors (retailers) to make room for newer models or the retailers want to get the hardware into the hands of consumers to spur software sales.
HD DVD movies range from $25 to $30 generally, which is a much nicer cushion than standard DVD prices of $10 to $18. Sometimes loss leaders are the way to go, just like that nearly-free razor that requires $8 razor blades to function.
Posted Oct 29th 2007 12:25PM by Brian White (RSS feed)
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Industry
Toshiba Corp. (OTC:
TOSBF) saw quarterly
operating profit increase of 38% for its latest quarter, due to increases in the sale of flash memory chips and nuclear power plants, according to the Japanese electronics conglomerate. Toshiba is the world's second-largest maker of flash memory chips (the NAND design) behind South Korean competitor Samsung Electronics, and such a large quarterly increase be a telltale sign for the consumer electronics industry.
For example, the storage needs of the world continue to explode every year, but more and more of that insatiable need is being requested by consumers instead of corporate data centers. The form of storage, though, is required to be portable, energy-efficient and super-tiny (think Apple iPod Nano). The solution? NAND flash storage, where Toshiba is a huge player.
Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:
AAPL) iPod line (not the larger, hard drive-based units) and almost every cellphone sold worldwide use some kind of NAND flash storage. As cellphones continue displacing landline phones and grow in capability with portable video and audio players, my guess is that NAND manufacturers will see even brighter days than they have already seen.
Now, here's the sticky part: Toshiba expects NAND prices to fall about 20% in the October-December quarter as the annual price decline continues in that market. Add an annual 50% price decline into the picture and it could strike some as odd. It's not -- this is standard operating procedure considering the supply-demand dynamic taking place. In addition to the red-hot NAND market, Toshiba's division responsible for nuclear reactor building (that's a change, no?) expects an operating profit for the year to come in at over $2.54 billion. Toshiba's largest competitor in that commercial space is
General Electric (NYSE:
GE).
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