Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.
Any thoughts about OSUR?
Lets add this up. Earnings funny season over soon, market exstreamlly overbought, no fear, negative seasonality kicking in, falling dollar reversal nightmare coming, gas prices going higher,consumer spending slowing, Home market tank, did I say exstreamlly overbought market?
On this side. Falling dollar causing overseas investors to pure money into our markets. Markets hiotting new highs daily.
Now what?
Its all about the dollar. I personally feel we will soon see a nasty correction.
The Hedonism Index
You may have missed a fascinating article last week in the WSJ on a new breed of indice: Those based on luxury goods.
We have noted the bifurcated economy many times in the past. These new measures show exactly how much more freely spending the higher income demographics are versus the masses.
A 2005 Citigroup research note quantifies it rather precisely: The top 20% of American earners now account for between 37% and 70% of total consumption. That's quite a broad range, and like asset ownership, it is very disproportionate in numbers. You can clearly see the difference in spending patterns in the chart at right, showing the Merrill Lynch Lifestyle Index versus the Morgan Stanley Consumer Discretionary Index.
The higher end goods are selling much more briskly than the non-luxe brands.
Here's an excerpt:
"The luxury boom is spilling into the investment world, as Wall Street firms and stock exchanges launch a slew of indexes tied to the spending of the rich.
Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and the German stock exchange are among the players hoping to hitch a ride on the rising demand for designer handbags, luxury resorts, wine, art and $300,000 cars, by launching indexes assembled to reflect the highest end of the consumer economy. In many cases, these new yardsticks are linked to financial products, in the same way that many mutual funds track the S&P 500 or the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index.
For spectators, the indexes offer a useful new barometer to measure the increasingly separate economy of the rich. And that economy is booming. Most of the luxury indexes have posted an average increase of at least 13% between 2001 and 2006. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, by comparison, has increased an average of 4.7% annually during the same period . . .
Merrill's index, a group of between 15 stocks and 50 stocks, includes car makers BMW and Porsche; luxury conglomerate LVMH; fashion brands Bulgari, Coach and Burberry; jeweler Tiffany; auctioneer Sotheby's; and private-banking firm Julius Baer. The index increased 23% in 2005 and 12.5% in 2006 -- above the 14% and 7% posted for the Morgan Stanley's MSCI World Consumer Discretionary Index, a widely used measure for global consumer stocks."
There are numersous versions of what WSJ called "Hedonism" indices. In addition to the aforementioned Merrill Lynch Lifestyle Index, Citigroup has the Plutonomy Index. The Deutsche Börse has the World Luxury Index, and includes stocks that derive 50% of their revenue from the luxury sector (Bulgari, Sotheby's and Hermès International). The index annual average gains from 2001 to 2006 were 14%; over the same period of time, the Morgan Stanley Consumer Discretionary Index was essentially flat.
Luxury_indexth_20070419_2 Warning: Horrifying attempts to hip up these indices comes from God knows where (iBankers? PR flacks?), leading to a word that leaves aghast readers in its awful wake: "blingdexes"
"Still, the new crop of "blingdexes" offer further proof the wealthy are increasingly creating their own consumer economy. The number of millionaire households in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1995, according to the Federal Reserve. The total wealth held by the nation's richest 1% has increased more than 50% since 1998, to $16.7 trillion in 2004, the latest period measured by the Fed."
Interesting stuff.
Bernanke Is Wrong on Inflation, Goldman, Merrill Say (Update4)
By Daniel Kruger
April 30 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's assertion that interest rates may need to increase to curb inflation is wrong. That's what Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS AG are saying.
While Bernanke warned last month that the odds of worsening inflation have increased, chief economists at the three firms say the worst housing slump in a decade may drive the U.S. economy into a recession and stifle consumer prices. Their chief economists say the Fed will cut its target for overnight loans between banks at least three times this year.
The conflict boils down to opposing views about real estate. Central bank governors found no evidence that the housing market had affected the broader economy, according to notes of their March policy meeting, released April 11. The National Association of Realtors said last week existing home sales fell 8.4 percent in March, the steepest drop since 1989.
Bernanke is missing ``the linkage between residential housing investment and the broader economy,'' Jan Hatzius, chief U.S. economist at New York-based Goldman, the world's most profitable securities firm, said in an interview. ``The housing downturn is of the first order of importance.'' Hatzius says the Fed will cut rates three times this year, to 4.5 percent from 5.25 percent.
That should be bullish for bonds, says David Rosenberg, chief economist at New York-based Merrill, the world's biggest brokerage firm. He expects 10-year Treasuries to produce the best returns since 2002.
`Economic Malaise'
Yields on 10-year Treasury notes have barely budged this year. The yield on the benchmark 4 5/8 percent note due in February 2017 fell 7 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, today to 4.62 percent.
``The housing-led economic malaise has spread to the business sector,'' said Rosenberg, who anticipates the Fed will cut its target rate four times to 4.25 percent this year, in an interview. ``The economy is still on a slowing trend.''
The U.S. economy grew at a 1.3 percent pace in the first quarter, the slowest in four years, the government said April 27.
``House prices could decline as much as 10 percent,'' said Maury Harris, chief economist at UBS in New York, in an interview. UBS, based in Zurich, is the world's biggest money manager for the wealthy.
Fed research doesn't agree. The central bank reported ``signs of stabilization in housing demand in most regions of the country,'' according to the April 11 report. ``Home-buying attitudes improved and continuing job growth could be expected to support home sales.''
Job Growth
The economy added 180,000 jobs in March, 50,000 more than the consensus of economists in a Bloomberg survey, the Labor Department said on April 6.
The Fed's preferred measure of inflation, the Commerce Department's price index for consumer spending on items excluding food and energy rose 0.3 percent in February, exceeding the 0.2 percent median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The price gauge rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier, higher than the Fed's comfort level of 1 percent to 2 percent.
``Recent readings on inflation and productivity growth, along with higher energy prices, had increased the odds that inflation would fail to moderate as expected,'' the Fed minutes showed. That's the ``predominant concern,'' for policy makers, according to the report.
The meeting minutes gave no hint of a rate cut and said ``further policy firming might prove necessary to foster lower inflation.''
Out of Time
Even if the economists are right about the direction of interest rates, they're running out of time for the predictions to come true. Fed policy makers have six scheduled rate meetings left this year.
``There's a little bit of wishful thinking,'' said Susan M. Phillips, dean of the George Washington University School of Business in Washington and a governor of the Federal Reserve Board from 1991 through 1998. Fed officials have said ``they'll be looking at what the data indicates,'' and since the last meeting of policy makers, ``energy prices have taken a hike,'' she said in an interview.
Crude oil jumped to the highest in almost eight months last week, and gasoline rose after Saudi Arabian authorities said they arrested more than 170 people suspected of plotting to attack the nation's petroleum fields.
Options traders are reducing bets the Fed will cut rates. The odds of borrowing costs falling to 4.5 percent are about 1 percent, according to options on fed fund futures. A month ago, traders saw an 18 percent chance that rates would fall that low.
The Marketplace
``Nobody in his right mind thinks the Fed will ease three times,'' said Stan Jonas, who trades interest-rate options in New York at Axiom Management Partners LLC, in an interview. ``The marketplace is not saying that at all.''
Goldman, Merrill and UBS are among seven of the 21 so-called primary dealers, who trade directly with the Fed, forecasting that the central bank will cut its target rate from 5.25 percent to as low as 4 percent.
They failed to anticipate the Fed in the past. Goldman projected an increase in June 2002 and the central bank ended up cutting rates the next quarter. UBS expected the Fed to double its target by the end of 2003 to 2.5 percent from 1.25 percent. Instead, the Fed reduced borrowing costs to 1 percent in June 2003.
Merrill had forecast in early 2006 that the Fed would end a series of increases when its benchmark reached 4.5 percent. Instead, the Fed boosted rates to 5.25 percent in June.
Pessimistic Picture
``Forecasting an administered rate that's set around a mahogany table is no easy task,'' said Merrill's Rosenberg. ``It's not the same as forecasting a market rate.''
The Fed has ``backtracked'' on the more bullish elements of its forecasts, Rosenberg said. ``They've cut their forecast on capital expenditures and they've extended the timing of the housing recovery.''
The Fed's so-called Beige Book released April 25, which compiles observations and forecasts from 12 regional banks, offered a more pessimistic picture of the economy than previous pronouncements, he said. Rate cuts have not been forthcoming because ``the Fed is handcuffed right now by the lack of any slackening in the labor market.''
``They're not telling us they're not going to change their mind,'' Goldman's Hatzius said. ``Everybody would prefer it if every forecast was right. At the moment we're probably perceived as more right than wrong.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Kruger in New York at dkruger1@bloomberg.net .
Gas is going for $4.50 at some SF stations.
Gas prices across the country have risen 40 percent in the past three months with the national average rising from $2.15 to $3.00 per gallon, according to the US Energy Information Agency.
The moment we start to see the dollar hear back north you will see big selling by overseas buyers. They are what is driving this market north.
JDSU is a loser
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) , a maker of technology networking equipment, late Wednesday said it swung to a fiscal third-quarter net loss of $14.2 million, or 7 cents a share, compared with a net profit of $3.7 million, or 2 cents a share.
For the three months ended March 31, sales rose to $361.7 million, up from $314.9 million a year ago, and better than Wall Street's expectations.
JDS said fiscal fourth-quarter revenue will be in the range of $325 million to $345 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial anticipated $354 million.
-Matt Andrejczak; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
MCZ...Added at .77
MCZ is trading under book value and the CFO bought at .80
A no brainer
ViroPharma Inc.'s (VPHM) first-quarter earnings more than doubled to $22.1 million, or 31 cents a share, from $8.19 million, or 12 cents a year earlier, boosted by increased sales and higher prices for its Vancocin antibiotic.
The Exton, Pa., pharmaceutical company said Wednesday net sales increased to $49 million from $29.4 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, expected earnings of 26 cents a share on revenue of $47 million.
ViroPharma said it expects 2007 net product sales of $195 million to $205 million and backed its previously issued clinical timelines for the full year.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Steve Schneider, CEO for electric car pioneer ZAP (OTC Bulletin Board: ZAAP), is scheduled to appear on CNBC's "Power Lunch" today at 9:45 AM PDT.
Already more then $3.50 in San Diego
Thanks Mike
Any thoughts about DXPE?
Mike, I recommend buying the IPod directly from Apple online. You would find it being the same price no matter where you buy it so you may as well buy direct from Apple.
I recommend the 30GB model which is $249
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=5DA1825...
You will also need to download ITunes to your computer since you will be buying and downloading music.
Download it here...
http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
I also recommend buying a Transpod which is a the best device for alowing you to play your music in your car. It works great and the reception is digital quality.
http://www.amazon.com/s/104-7381966-2412718?ie=UTF8&keywords=dlo%20transpod&search-type=ss&a...
Hope this helps.
Bulls snorting over stocks, but not yet stampeding
Commentary: But newsletter optimism grows in wake of Dow's 13k march
By Peter Brimelow, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:12 AM ET Apr 26, 2007
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Not over yet? The Dow closes above 13,000, but the investment letters still aren't stampeding.
First a proprietary word: As of Wednesday night, the Hulbert Stock Newsletter Sentiment Index (HSNSI), which reflects the average stock market exposure among a subset of short-term market timing newsletters tracked by the Hulbert Financial Digest, stood at plus 42.2%.
That's only modestly above the 34.1% level recorded in the past week, when stocks finally regained February's high. At that point, Mark Hulbert declared that the HSNSI response was so cautious as to be bullish from a contrary-opinion point of view. See April 16 column
For perspective, at the stock market's February high, the HSNSI stood at 62.4%.
As of Wednesday night, Hulbert thinks this continued caution continues to be bullish for stocks, contrarily.
He almost, but not quite, thinks the same thing about gold. As of Wednesday night, the Hulbert Gold Newsletter Sentiment Index (HGNSI), which reflects the average gold market exposure among a subset of gold timing newsletters tracked by the Hulbert Financial Digest, stood at plus 57.1%.
In contrast, the last time spot gold was pushing $690, in late winter, the HGNSI stood at 75%. That was near the high end of a historical range that extends from minus 31.3% on the low end and 89.6% on the high end. Negative HGNSI levels means that the average gold timing newsletter is recommending that its subscribers be short the gold market.
Hulbert thought that was bearish then. See Feb. 19 column
He's not bearish on gold now but not exactly bullish, yet.
As of publication time on Wednesday night, I saw six hotlines from letters followed by the Hulbert Financial Digest. The overall tone is decisively bullish on stocks.
Some of these letters do mention possible short-term pull backs. Mike Turner of TurnerTrends wrote: "The market could continue on this tear for quite a while. I hope it does ... I'm still looking for a small correction of 5% or so. It is bound to happen when investors decide to take some money off of the table. But, I am not going to wait around for that 'possible' correction. It won't be big enough, in my opinion, to matter that much ..."
Doug Fabian's Making Money Alert commented: "I do not think now is the right time for investors currently on the sidelines to enter into broad-based equities. The risk of getting caught in a sharp pullback, in my view, is just too high. So, what do you do with your money? Well, fortunately there are sectors of the market that aren't completely extended."
These sectors, according to Fabian, include the Nasdaq, which is not yet at an all-time high, and Exchange Trade Funds like iShares:Dow US Hlthcr. (IYH :
iShares:Dow US Hlthcr
These letters don't have particularly Hulbert Financial Digest rankings. TurnerTrends is down 1.73% in the past 12 months, vs. a gain of11.33% for the dividend-reinvested Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, and is also under water over the last three years. Doug Fabian's Successful Investing didn't lose money, but it gained only 1.61% over the past 12 months and significantly underperformed the market over 10 years. See April 24 column
But maybe a rising tide will lift all boats. End of Story
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/bulls-snorting-over-stocks/story.aspx?guid=%7B85C69261%2DA2EC%...
That AMZN action sure has bubble all over it.
Inflation, Dow 13K and the Second Great Depression
http://bullnotbull.com/archive/dow13k-1.html
Not impressed at all. MSFT earnings look better.
Ford Motor Co. (F) reported a net loss of $282 million, or 15 cents a share, for the latest quarter, compared with a loss of $1.4 billion, or 76 cents a share, a year earlier.
FormFactor Inc.'s (FORM) first-quarter earnings grew nearly 38% to $14.8 million, or 30 cent a share, from a year-earlier profit of $10.8 million, or 25 cents a share. The Livermore, Calif., semiconductor testing equipment company's revenue increased 26% to $102.3 million from $81.3 million a year earlier.
Komag Inc.'s (KOMG) first-quarter net income fell 9% to $33 million, or 99 cents a share, from $36.2 million, or $1.09 a share, a year earlier. The San Jose maker of thin-film disks said sales climbed 27% to $264.7 million from $208.5 million, due to higher finished disk shipments.
LSI Logic Corp. (LSI) reported its first-quarter profit more than doubled to $30 million, or 7 cents a share, up from $13 million, or 3 cents a share, in last year's same period. Sales for the three months ended April 1 fell 2% to $465 million, below Wall Street's forecast, according to Thomson First Call.
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) declared a 2-for-1 stock split, to be distributed in the form of a stock dividend on June 18 to shareholders of record as of May 23. Additionally, the Houston-based company increased its quarterly dividend 20% to 48 cents from 40 cents a share, on a pre-split basis.
Maxim Integrated Products Inc.'s (MXIM) fiscal third-quarter revenue fell 0.5% to $475.8 million from $478.1 million a year earlier. The Sunnyvale, Calif., chip maker isn't providing earnings results for the quarter ended March 24 due to its previously announced need to restate its historical financial statements for the fiscal years 2000 through 2005 and the related interim periods through March 25, 2006.
Meritage Homes Corp.'s (MTH) first-quarter net income fell 81% to $15.1 million, or 57 cents a share, from $76.7 million, or a $2.86 share, a year earlier, as revenue fell 32%. The Scottsdale, Ariz., home builder's revenue dropped to $577.5 million from $847.3 million.
Montpelier Re Holdings (MRH) said that first-quarter net income came in at $73.3 million, or 76 cents per common share, up 84% from a year earlier when the Bermuda-based reinsurer made $39.8 million, or 44 cents per common share. Operating profit, which excludes net realized investment gains and losses and currency fluctuations, was $60.3 million, or 62 cents per common share. Net written premiums climbed 30% to $189.3 million.
Murphy Oil Corp. (MUR) reported first-quarter net income of $110.6 million, or 58 cents a share, down from adjusted income of $116 million, or 61 cents, in the year-ago period. The company said a 45% decline in exploration and production income offset gains on the refining and marketing side of the business. Revenue for the three months ended March 31 rose nearly 15% to $3.43 billion from $2.99 billion a year ago.
You expected a market top 3000 Dow points ago.
If you get a chance download some of those Podcast at ITunes site. I listen to many of the tech related Podcast while I'm at the gym or just going for a walk. Love my IPod.
Apr. 25--Some of his colleagues download educational lectures or videos of the latest surgical techniques.
Not Richard Andrassy. The iPod may have infiltrated business, sports and even academia, but Andrassy, chief of surgery at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, has a confession to make.
He listens to music on his.
That's OK. For everything else the iPod can do, it remains at heart a music player. Owning an iPod means never having to decide in advance what you'll listen to later.
"You have your entire music collection at hand. How can that be a bad thing?" asks Leander Kahney, managing editor of Wired Digital and author of The Cult of iPod. "The bad thing is, too much choice. What you need is a strategy."
He recommends iPod's random shuffle, which might put Mozart after Death Cab for Cutie.
Apple announced earlier this month that it has sold more than 100 million iPods since the player was introduced in 2001, and Greg Joswiak, vice president of iPod product marketing for Apple, says the company always expected it to be a hit. But even he didn't predict this level of success.
The iPod changed the way we think about music, a cultural shift that has infiltrated jogging trails, surgical suites, public transportation and even private homes. Now Apple is trying to expand its reach into all digital media, through the new Apple TV and the coming iPhone.
Apple TV isn't a television set but a device that lets you move anything downloaded from iTunes on your Mac or PC to your TV, so you can watch in wide-screen style instead of hunched over your computer.
"The next wave in digital isn't on the desktop, it's in the living room," Kahney says.
Still, the iPod will be a tough act to follow.
For one thing, what people really like to watch on television is movies and TV shows, and that's not generally what they buy on iTunes, says Ross Rubin, an analyst with the NPD Group, which tracks consumer and industry trends. They can, but if they don't watch TV shows when they're scheduled -- and millions of people still do -- they can use TiVo or DVRs or even record the shows on old-style video recorders.
Downloading from iTunes solves the problem of forgetting about a favorite program, but so does calling friends and relatives until you find someone with a copy you can borrow.
And while iTunes claims to have about 70 percent of network and major-cable programs available, some aren't available until the season is over, according to Rubin.
Apple TV has technological advantages over previous digital-media adapters, Rubin says. But it also requires a wide-screen television, and most American homes still have full-frame TVs.
One last economic note: Rubin says paying $2 a pop probably means people won't ditch their cable or satellite TV subscriptions in order to buy everything they want to watch from iTunes.
So far, the iPod's status within the zeitgeist appears unlikely to be challenged.
Rita Porfiris, a violist with the Houston Symphony, bought her first iPod in 2004.
She had seen no reason to buy one sooner. "The weird thing about musicians is, we usually don't like listening to music, because it's our job, so I thought, 'Oh, I never listen to music, so it'd be kind of pointless.' "
But a friend loved his, and she gave it a try.
Now Porfiris tunes in to music all the time, because her iPod lets her listen to exactly what she likes, without wading through the tracks she doesn't.
She uses it for other things, too: watching movies and television programs on her video iPod. Recording students during lessons with a microphone attachment. Even traveling without her bulky metronome, thanks to a downloaded metronome program. Her pink Mini kept her company as she trained for the 2006 Chevron Houston Marathon.
The growing number of iPod accessories -- what Joswiak calls "the ecosystem" of iPod -- is another sign of market saturation. More than 4,000 accessories are available, and more than 70 percent of 2007-model cars can be ordered with iPod-compatible docking mechanisms.
More to the point, perhaps, Kahney notes that the iPod has reversed the fortunes of Apple itself, which reported losing billions of dollars in the mid-1990s as Microsoft's Windows operating system and Intel's Pentium processors combined to erode Apple's market share.
"Apple was in danger of going out of business before this came along and now, with the EMI deal, it's really calling the shots in the digital business," he said, citing the move by iTunes to offer EMI Music's digital catalog at higher-quality sound and for use on devices other than just iPods and authorized computers.
Credit Apple with good timing.
People had traded music online since the late 1990s, but early music players were cumbersome and burning CDs on a personal computer was worse.
The iPod made it easy.
"The thing about Apple," Kahney says, "you're initially a little confused, you twirl it around, you push a few buttons, and 30 seconds later you've mastered it."
Now, iPod has become a generic term for any music player, much as Coke is slang for "soda."
Even radio, once the great uniter of a community, has shifted under the power of the iPod.
People still listen to radio, but now they download programs to listen to at their convenience, says Montana Miller, an assistant professor of pop culture at Bowling Green State University.
"It's all about controlling our media environment," she says. "We TiVo everything. There's no sense of sharing media space. It's all about personalizing it and controlling it."
Beyond that:
--Businesses use iPods for training ranging from foreign-language classes to sales seminars, according to the Wall Street Journal.
--Baseball players are among the professional athletes who use video iPods to study up on opponents, as well as to review their own performance.
--A study at Temple University in Philadelphia looked at using iPods to train new doctors to better recognize the cardiac sounds that indicate problems such as aortic or mitral stenosis. That study found that correct identification doubled -- to 80 percent from 40 percent -- after listening 400 times to different heart murmurs. Duke University drew more than a few jokes when it issued iPods to new students in 2004, claiming they would become indispensable academic tools.
No word on whether students downloaded more calculus than Mary J. Blige, but today's students expect classroom lectures to be available as podcasts.
At UT Medical School at Houston, for example, all first- and second-year lecture classes are available in multiple formats, according to Stephen Fath, director of biomedical information technology.
But students probably use their iPods more for relaxation. Which brings us back to Andrassy.
As a surgeon, he long has used music to set the mood in the operating room. "I used to carry around CDs. Then I had to carry around speakers for my iPod," he says.
Now he often works in a surgical suite with built-in iPod docks, allowing him to plug in directly.
He honors his patients' preferences until they fall asleep, "then I switch to what I like. ... The Rolling Stones are great for a long case, when you want to get things stirred up."
But pleasure hasn't come without a price.
The vision of an iPod-addicted generation has prompted fears of a new isolationism. Miller suggests that the look -- wires snaking from iPods into the ears -- "gives the impression of being very anti-social," although she declines to label it either good or bad.
Most students who walk into her classes in their own iPod-centric worlds "aren't trying to be rude," she says. "They seem kind of surprised when I ask them to take (the earbuds) off."
The true pressure, it turns out, is internal.
The first iPod had a storage capacity of five gigabytes. Today's go up to 80 gigabytes and can hold up to 20,000 songs.
So for all the cool tunes you load up, you're bound to end up with something by Taylor Hicks.
Which is fine until someone asks the new status check, What's on your iPod? Oh my God, you've got the Macarena.
"When you show someone your record collection, your book collection, it's a very intimate portrait of your cultural tastes, and this is a modern version of that," Kahney says. "It's much easier to expose yourself as a cultural misfit. The stray show tune can really damage your reputation for cool."
To see more of the Houston Chronicle, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.HoustonChronicle.com
Copyright (c) 2007, Houston Chronicle
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
News Provided by Acquire Media Corporation
Mike, the stock is doing exactly what I was hoping it would do. The stock pulled back to the 50day MA as short term traders took profits and now the stock is preparing a new run thru the 52wk high. MCZ is trading near book value, the CFO bought 40,000 shares at .80 and MCZ continues to put out new products.
This is cool http://masseffect.madcatz.com/
Here is another new products which hits the street next week.
http://www.games-digest.com/2007/04/keyboard_adapte.html
Overall, MCZ is flashing a buy alert right here. Check www.stockconsultant.com
Also, MCZ will report earnings soon so I expect more buying going into earnings. Mike, MCZ will move from this .80 spot to $3-4 before you know it.
Every co should lose big money so their stock can surge big....
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Zoran Corp. (ZRAN) swung to a first-quarter loss of $5.88 million, or 12 cents a share, from net income of $20.7 million, or 43 cents a share, a year earlier, as revenue fell 29%.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., digital entertainment and imaging components company's revenue dropped to $101.7 million from $142.2 million in the year-ago period.
On average, analysts expected revenue of $98.2 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.
For the second quarter, the company expects a per-share loss of 11 cents to 14 cents on revenue of $118 million to $123 million. Wall Street expects revenue of $111.2 million.
ALAN up big
Add MCZ to your microcap value stocks. Trading at book value. The CFO bought 40,000 sharea at .80
See last earnings report.
Blockbuster Summer Movies to Fuel Game Biz
Spider-Man 3, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and a number of other highly anticipated films should help boost the video game sector as their game counterparts (BMO analyst Ed Williams calls them the "big guns") reach increasing install bases for the Xbox 360, Wii and PS3.
After delays and uncertainty, the video game industry is ready to rock, and investors could see outsized profits from shares of Electronic Arts Inc., GameStop Corp. and THQ Inc.
That's according to a 61-page report from BMO Capital Markets positing that new profit streams and strong upcoming game titles bode well for the industry, especially now that next-generation consoles are in millions of North American homes.
PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that, with Nintendo Wii, Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 all available now in the U.S., console sales will rise to 17.5 million units this year from just 10 million in 2005.
As for new software, "The big guns are on their way," BMO analyst Edward Williams said. "The release schedule for summer 2007 is replete with potentially strong movie-based games."
Among them are Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Transformers, Ratatouille, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Simpsons Movie and Surf's Up.
Aside from movie-licensed games, Williams sees strong sales for the next versions of the Halo and Grand Theft Auto franchises and the launch of Assassin's Creed.
Williams, citing data from research company NPD Group, said dollar sales of game hardware, software and peripherals in the U.S. were up 66% through the first two months of the year compared with the same frame a year ago.
Hardware alone was up 106%, driven mostly by sales of Wii, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo DS hand-held unit. Software alone was up 41%.
March software sales represent a "more challenging comparison," Williams predicts, but he expects "a more robust growth rate later in the spring." Full first-quarter data is expected Friday from NPD.
In any event, he added, "Investors should focus their attention on hardware sales as the most important data point."
The analyst said new consoles are more expensive than they historically have been, which "should lead to a lower adoption rate and longer cycle -- as the console will take longer to get down the pricing curve."
That said, he called sales of the Wii console during the first two months of the year "exceptional," and credits "innovative design and compelling software," in particular Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
The "new revenue opportunities" that Williams focuses on are mobile phone games, in-game advertising and micro transactions, the latter two of which are not without controversy.
Micro transactions are when publishers charge small fees for access to additional content in games consumers already have purchased.
"We expect to gain substantial visibility regarding the potential of the micro transaction component with the pending launches of Halo 3 and GTA IV this year," Williams said.
Gamers have been tolerant of the micro-transaction schemes as long they were just icons and other innocuous graphics being sold -- such as old NFL uniforms in football games or classic cars in racing games -- but many cry foul at publishers who charge extra for access to advanced levels of games.
"Many thought their purchase would include all available levels," Dmitri Salcedo at GamersMark.com wrote about one particular game. "They weren't too happy to find out that they were only getting some of them with the rest costing extra."
As for in-game advertising, gamers also have accepted it, to a point. Objections are raised when games go too far in technologically collecting personal data on consumers in order to better target them with particular ads.
Nevertheless, eMarketer said the in-game advertising industry will explode to $2 billion annually by 2011, almost half of that coming from the U.S.
Williams also noted in his report that last year was a better one for the industry than many expected, and he credits the PS2. But because Sony still issues new games for the older console, consumers "could delay the purchase of a next-generation game console," he cautions.
Ultimately, though, concerning all the new consoles and hand-held devices, the analyst said: "As the software becomes more compelling we expect hardware unit sales to expand, driving a virtuous circle that in turn drives greater demand for software."
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=15826
U.S. sales of video games, hardware and accessories rose 33 percent year over year to $1.1 billion in March, propelled by sales of new consoles, according to market researcher NPD Group.
The Wii was again the No. 1 current-generation video game console, selling 259,000 units in March, NPD said Thursday. That $250 console uses a motion-sensitive controller that has been popular with mainstream gamers as well as new audiences like females, senior citizens and very young children.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 U.S. unit sales were 199,000 in March and outpaced Sony's PlayStation 3 unit sales of 130,000. The high-end versions of those machines sell for $400 and $600, respectively.
Sony's last-generation PlayStation 2 continued to see strong sales with consumers picking up 280,000 units. The PS2, which now sells for $130, was the leading console in the last generation with lifetime unit sales of 38 million in the United States.
Console dollar sales nearly doubled year over year to hit $257 million in March.
In the handheld category, sales of the Nintendo DS reached 508,000 in March, ahead of Sony's PlayStation Portable, or PSP, with 180,000. Portable game hardware sales rose by about one-third year over year to $114 million.
Overall game sales were up 15 percent to $574 million.
Sony's God of War II for the PS2 topped the game charts with 833,000 units sold, followed by UbiSoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter for Xbox 360 and Activision's Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360.
Overall video game related sales rose 54 percent to $3.3 billion year over year for the first three months of 2007, NPD said.
http://news.com.com/Wii+still+No.+1+as+game+industry+sales+soar/2100-1043_3-6177853.html?tag=nefd.to...
Not what I was referring to.
People with little have dreams.
Wishing it won't make it happen.
Mohawk Industries Inc. (MHK, $89, -$0.05, -0.06%) first-quarter net income rose 14% to $90.4 million, or $1.32 a share, from $79.1 million, or $1.16 a share, a year earlier. The Calhoun, Ga., manufacturing company said net sales fell 3.2% to $1.86 billion from $1.93 billion a year ago.
Molex Inc. (MOLX, $29.30, $0.06, 0.21%) said profit for the first three months of the year increased 7% to $65.3 million, or 35 cents a share, from $61 million, or 33 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The electrical components maker said revenue for its fiscal third quarter increased 12% to $807 million.
Oakley Inc. (OO, $22.39, -$0.30, -1.32%) reported first-quarter net earnings of $5.7 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with last year's profit of $1.9 million, or 3 cents a share. The Foothill Ranch, Calif.-based company said sales climbed to $199.2 million from $151.7 million a year ago.
Packeteer Inc. (PKTR, $8.78, -$0.23, -2.55%) swung first-quarter loss to $6.09 million, or 17 cents a share, from a year-ago profit of $4.51 million, or 13 cents a share. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, the company posted a loss of $3.13 million, or 9 cents a share, from earnings of $7.23 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier. Quarterly revenue rose 7.4% to $34.7 million from $32.3 million a year ago.
Robert Half International Inc.'s (RHI, $37.32, $0.16, 0.43%) first-quarter net income rose to $70.7 million, or 42 cents a share, from $65.5 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier, boosted in part by strength in its Robert Half Finance & Accounting business.
Saks Inc. (SKS, $20.17, -$0.10, -0.49%) said Chairman R. Brad Martin will retire from the board as of May 4. The New York retailer's board named Chief Executive Stephen L. Sadove as chairman.
Siemens AG (SI, $118.50, $0.25, 0.21%) said Heinrich von Pierer, chairman of the German technology and industrial conglomerate's supervisory board, will step down April 25 in the wake of a multinational probe into possible bribery.
Sirf Technology Holdings Ltd. (SIRF, $28.63, $0.18, 0.63%) reported a fiscal first-quarter profit of $2.8 million, or 5 cents a share, on revenue of $67.3 million, compared with a loss of $11 million, or 22 cents a share, on $52.7 million in revenue a year ago. Excluding charges and one-time items, Sirf would have earned $12 million, or 21 cents a share.
So where did you short it?
Great trade buddy.
Rating reiterations for Thursday from Briefing.com:
Company Symbol Brokerage Firm Reiterations
Amphenol APH Lehman Brothers Overweight
Amphenol APH RBC Capital Markets Outperform
Amphenol APH Stifel Nicolaus Buy
AMR Corp AMR Calyon Securities Buy
Bank of NY BK Lehman Brothers Overweight
Bank of NY BK Punk, Ziegel & Co Buy
City National CYN BMO Capital Markets Market Perform
Clear Channel CCU Lehman Brothers Equal-Weight
Coach COH Thomas Weisel Overweight
Cubist Pharma CBST Lazard Capital Sell
Darling International DAR Avondale Partners Mkt Outperform
DryShips DRYS Cantor Fitzgerald Buy
Ebay EBAY Banc of America Sec Buy
Ebay EBAY Bear Stearns Outperform
Ebay EBAY Cantor Fitzgerald Sell
Ebay EBAY UBS Neutral
First Cash FCFS Roth Capital Buy
First Comm Banc FCBP Rochdale Securities Buy
First Horizon FHN Punk, Ziegel & Co Sell
Forest City FCEA RBC Capital Markets Outperform
Fulton Fincl FULT RBC Capital Markets Underperform
Genlyte GLYT Friedman Billings Outperform
Gilead Sciences GILD CIBC World Markets Sector Outprfm
Gilead Sciences GILD Friedman Billings Mkt Perform
Gilead Sciences GILD JMP Securities Mkt Outperform
Gilead Sciences GILD Lehman Brothers Overweight
Gilead Sciences GILD Punk, Ziegel & Co Buy
Gilead Sciences GILD RBC Capital Markets Outperform
Illinois Tool ITW Friedman Billings Outperform
Intersil ISIL Am Tech/JSA Research Buy
Intersil ISIL Friedman Billings Outperform
Intersil ISIL HSBC Securities Neutral
Intersil ISIL Lehman Brothers Underweight
JC Penney JCP Lehman Brothers Equal-Weight
JP Morgan Chase JPM Lehman Brothers Overweight
JP Morgan Chase JPM Rochdale Securities Buy
Knight Trading NITE Lehman Brothers Overweight
Kraft Foods KFT BMO Capital Markets Market Perform
Labor Ready LRW BMO Capital Markets Market Perform
Leap Wireless LEAP Jefferies & Co Buy
Leap Wireless LEAP Lehman Brothers Overweight
Linear Tech LLTC Am Tech/JSA Research Buy
Linear Tech LLTC Friedman Billings Mkt Perform
Linear Tech LLTC HSBC Securities Underweight
Linear Tech LLTC Lehman Brothers Equal-Weight
Linear Tech LLTC Prudential Neutral
Logitech Intl SA LOGI Prudential Overweight
MEMC Elec WFR CIBC World Markets Sector Outperform
MetLife MET Lehman Brothers Overweight
MGI Pharma MOGN Brean Murray Buy
Netflix NFLX Jackson Securities Hold
OMI Corp OMM Cantor Fitzgerald Hold
Packaging Corp PKG BMO Capital Markets Outperform
PNC Bank PNC Friedman Billings Outperform
PNC Bank PNC Lehman Brothers Equal-Weight
PNC Bank PNC Punk, Ziegel & Co Buy
PNC Bank PNC RBC Capital Markets Sector Perform
PPD Inc. PPDI Banc of America Sec Buy
SLM Corp SLM Prudential Neutral
Stryker SYK Banc of America Sec Buy
TeleTech TTEC Friedman Billings Outperform
Thermo Fisher TMO Am Tech/JSA Research Buy
Tiffany & Co TIF Lehman Brothers Overweight
Tsakos Energy TNP Cantor Fitzgerald Buy
United Tech UTX Prudential Overweight
US Bancorp USB Punk, Ziegel & Co Mkt Perform
V.F. Corp VFC UBS Buy
Varian VARI Am Tech/JSA Research Neutral
Wolverine WWW Wedbush Morgan Hold
WW Grainger GWW Lehman Brothers Equal-Weight
JADE day high
Saw that Mike. Been watching it. Can't buy yet because I think it needs a rest. Did add to MCZ at .78
Added to my MCZ long at .78