For movie lovers, one of the things that matters almost as much as a movie story line, is the picture and sound quality. Up until recently, there was little question as to where you needed to go to get the best video possible for a movie -- your nearest Imax theater. But recently, Imax has been under pressure from advancements in 3D systems and digital projection.
What Imax really needs is to get as many big name blockbuster productions as possible into its lineup. The company, which currently has 320 theaters, got some good news today: Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) will release five new movies in Imax format.
The first of the five new Disney Imax movies will feature one of the industry's largest stars, Jim Carrey. He will play in an Imax production of "A Christmas Carol," which will be directed by Robert Zemeckis, the director of the highly successful "Polar Express" back in 2004, and be released late next year.
Interesting article on Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) beating Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) to the "touch" with regard to providing a touch screen interface on a computer. It's certainly a worthwhile read. However, I've long commented on AAPL and its particular touch technology being infused into its computer lineup in some way. Laptops will likely be the first enabled. However, I'll take some assertions in the article to task.
While AAPL is known to be a first mover and always have that advantage, that's not always the case. I think it's more the fact that when the company does something it just executes so well and improves an existing product category so dramatically that people think it's a first mover product.
It certainly was very late entering the cellular market but did it spectacularly with a game changer. Portable music devices were around for years and the iPod was the ultimate game changer. In fact, the continued iPod dominance with this mature of a product is simply shocking. I could give more examples but the point is made.
The market continues to jump around wildly. Investors are sitting on the sideline waiting for the volatility to end. And they will have a long wait.
For those looking to make money in the craziness, trading is the way to go. Daily fluctuations in the market provide fertile ground for profits. In fact, success in this environment can result in a year or more of gains made in one or two days.
That may make little sense, but there is no sense in debating the reality that we now face. At the moment that reality is based on an economy that is sinking and sinking fast. Despite the best efforts of the central bank and the federal government, a long recession is now baked into the cake.
What does that mean for stocks?
It means volatility and uncertainty will rule the day. There is very little clarity in the market, and even the best at forecasting are having difficult viewing the crystal ball.
Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) news yesterday was a fresh reminder of that uncertainty. The company offered a preview to fourth-quarter results, ended Oct. 31, that defies gravity. At a time when every other company seems to be offering lower and lower guidance, HPQ came in and boldly stated that revenue and earnings will be greater than expected.
Yesterday, in response to Chasing Value: ISRG is falling and I'm buying I received the following comment from Beltway Greg, "You're a brave dude. Why? I've watched this stock for awhile and I worry about possible entry by other folks into the market."
Brave perhaps, even foolish on occasion, but I still think this is the time to be selectively buying equities.
To those that might be concerned about competition for Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ: ISRG) you will be interested in the following:
NOTICE TEXT: Department of the Army U.S. Army Medical Command MEDCOM, North Atlantic Regional Contracting Office Subject: Contract prosthetic feet and leg coverings This is a notice of the Governments intent to solicit, negotiate and award a sole source contract (Note 22) contract to Intuitive surgical for Implants based on urgency. This is not a set-aside for small business. This notice is an urgent requirement for Walter Reed Army Medical Center, 6900 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20307, contract number W91YTZ-09-P-0147. Parties interested in future announcements shall provide detailed information of their capabilities and certifications to clearly meet the requirements stated above.
It is possible that someday ISRG will have some competition, but there does not seem to be anything on the horizon for now. Furthermore, as the user base expands the barrier to entry increases and the cost of changing systems becomes more challenging.
The most likely scenario for competition would be if another manufacturer were to create a similar system for procedures not yet addressed by ISRG's Di Vinci robotic surgical units. Some of the potential competitors, like Johnson and Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) or Medronic (NYSE: MDT), are actually corporate partners helping to distribute the units world wide. What is most likely from my point of view is that other manufacturers will find a way to partner with ISRG to develop complimentary hardware to expand the capability of the system for more procedures to get to market faster.
Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.
Before today's announcement, analysts had been expecting the company show earnings of $1.00 a share when it announces its official numbers next Monday (Nov. 24), but the company stated today it is now expecting to show adjusted earnings of $1.03.
The decision to lift its forecast has resulted in some nice gains for HPQ shareholders today, as the stock has traded up 10.5% to $32.41, and earlier in the session hit an intraday high all the way up at $33.84.
According to today's announcement, the company is benefiting from "global reach, diverse customer base, broad portfolio and numerous cost initiatives."
My husband lost his phone months ago, and then left the charger for my Blackberry in an Oklahoma City hotel six weeks ago, and as we don't drive, the car charger isn't much use. Other than a few scattered charges while in my sister's or a friend's car, we've been without a cell phone entirely.
Surprisingly, we've barely missed it. With his occasional work in the Army Reserves, and my freelance writing that isn't exactly the stuff of emergency phone calls, no one is asking us for instant availability. We're wondering if we really need our cell phones any more, and I'm hoping to let our contracts expire next fall. We may not be alone.
Nokia today forecast global industry mobile phone sales to be 1.5% less than previously expected. Apple may be reducing its production of iPhones. You have to wonder, in an economy in which free and easy credit is fast disappearing (and, along with it, free and easy disposable "income" to spend on toys) -- and one in which, shortly, consumers may start paying closer attention to monthly bills before they enter blindly into two-year contracts worth thousands for a shiny new toy -- could the cell phone as we know it be over?
Both of my babysitters, my in-laws who barely make a living wage working in restaurants, and most of the unemployed people I know have fancy phones with cameras, bells and whistles. I hardly believe this pace of consumerism is sustainable. There can't possible be untrammeled growth in an industry that forecasts to put new phones in one-fifth of the world's population next year. Seriously?
I predict that Peak Cell Phone has been reached, and in the next five years we'll see a serious decline in new phone sales as consumers realize that there are things more important in life than being able to text your friends. And with a reduction in credit, those things are harder and harder to afford. The cell phone, as we know it, may just be on its way out.
This is the fourth in a four part series which I hope gives buyers, sellers, shareholders and dare I say management a platform for discussion.
This week I envisioned an eBay (NASADQ: EBAY) without Skype, eBay Motors and Paypal. Everything goes to the highest bidder, excluding handling and delivery of course.
While EBay might benefit from selling Skype and Motors, considering they might be worth more to others like Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) and AutoNation Inc. (NYSE:AN), it should not sell PayPal unless it is contemplating a merger, since the acquiring company most likely would want PayPal to be an integral part of any deal.
Ebay is going through some growing pains right now but it is still a primary center of activity on the web. Although there are many disgruntled sellers that have left the site or been forced off because of the constant changes in the rules, it really has only one main rival and that is Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).
This post was written by Minyanville contributor Sean Udall.
Aglient Technologies (NYSE: A) just reported this morning and again the company is simply one of the best tech and science shops, which few talk about.
It guided lower but it was minor compared to most tech names of late. Also, A's stock is down about 35% vs. a space down 50% with many names down 65-80% off of highs so the value and durable earnings quality of A is providing some cover.
Circling back to market dynamics, I've contended many times about my view on the markets' four key problems and the difficulty in gaining traction while these are not yet solved. I won't reiterate this whole theme; however, it is noteworthy that we are so willing to spend $350 billion of the TARP while not addressing FAS 157 as well as the uptick rule. Changing these two issues costs the world "nothing". And they are either done with a "pen stroke or a few key strokes".
Yet changing these rules -- might just save the world billions in additional spending, doesn't require Congressional approval, doesn't require the Fed to expand the balance sheet, and lastly doesn't require more rates cuts which could prove quite inflationary.
The month of October was good to the Nintendo (OTC BB: NTDOY) Wii console. Actually, every month seems to be good to the Wii console. According to the latest sales figures, the Wii sold over 800,000 units during the Halloween season. Nothing scary about that.
Of course, Sony (NYSE: SNE) probably was a little spooked. The company's PlayStation 3 system came in a distant third to the Wii. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) probably felt all right. The Xbox 360 came in second place, fueled by a recent price cut. Believe it or not, you can actually get a video game system for less money than it costs to acquire a Wii. The Xbox 360 version without a hard drive goes for $199. Still, people are willing to pay a premium for casual gaming.
After I got through checking out the hardware sales, I wanted to see how software had performed last month over at Gamespot. I have to admit, I was pretty shocked to learn of the "conspicuously absent" Guitar Hero World Tour game. That bugged me because one of the prime reasons I own shares of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) is the Guitar Hero franchise. However, one thing to keep in mind is that the title still has time to chart. It was released the last week of October, so perhaps the November rankings will be kind to it. Also, the new Call of Duty war adventure hit the street this week. Anecdotally, I know there's a lot of interest in that game.
I was checking out Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) today to see how the stock was reacting after its earnings report. At the time I began writing this, the shares were up over 3% to $10.25 per stub; as I was about to send it off to be published, it was up over 5% to $10.49. The market is kidding me, right?
Melly Alazraki reported on the company's data this morning. The $0.20 per share in adjusted earnings booked for the fourth quarter beat expectations by three pennies. Yeah, I know, beating estimates is the big game on Wall Street. And yes, it is a good thing. However, not every earnings-beat is equal. You have to look at each business carefully and evaluate it relative to the macro environment. Applied Materials will be cutting 1,800 jobs. The market likes that, of course, and believes that cost savings will help profits down the line. However, cutting jobs isn't necessarily a sign that a business is about to get stronger; sometimes, it means the opposite. Also, top-line sales declined by double digits, and with bad news coming from Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), we know that the slowdown is going to get worse. Furthermore, the market drop earlier today is confirming that bad times will be with us for a while.
In that context, I can't see buying Applied Materials. I mean, up 5%? I know the argument -- you've got to start discounting better times and pick up shares when their cheap. Yeah, right. It is true that the market will do that at some point but we're not there yet. Back in August, I wrote about Applied Materials' Q3 numbers. The stock was higher at that point, and it was working off a higher 52-week low. Now, things have turned south on both counts. And I think they could go further south. At a time when even buying Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is an exercise in fear-management, I don't think Applied Materials is a tech stock that should be on anyone's list of investment ideas.
Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.
In yet another example of how technology and the Internet can, potentially, both increase efficiency and transform business models, Google said it is now testing a new Web tool that's tracking fast-spreading flu outbreaks, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Called Google Flu Trends, Google's philanthropic arm is testing the tool, which developers say may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Times reported.
"It turns out that traditional flu surveillance systems take 1-2 weeks to collect and release surveillance data, but Google search queries can be automatically counted very quickly," Google said on its official blog, the Agence France-Presse reported Wednesday. For now, the service will track only flu cases in the United States, but Google is hoping to eventually use the technique to track the flu worldwide, The Times reported.
Google, Inc.'s (NYSE: GOOG) shares fell $15.97 to $295.49 Wednesday afternoon amid a broader market sell-off.
Earlier this week I met with three CEOs of the neurotech industry -- Ron Cohen of Acorda Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACOR), Uli Hacksell of Acadia Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ACAD) and Jörn Aldag, of Evotec (NASDAQ: EVTC) -- along with Zack Lynch, the director of their trade association. Their November 10 media tour gave me a chance to gain some insight into this niche within the biotech industry of companies seeking cures for brain illnesses through drugs and devices.
At a time when revenues from blockbuster drugs are tapering off as their patents expire, these companies -- and their two-year-old Neurotechnology Industry Organization -- are hoping to unlock a new area of business growth while offering cures to ailments of longer-living populations and diseases involving the central nervous system.
Hawthorne, New York-based Acorda is already selling its first product, Zanaflex Capsules, which help control spasticity. Its Fampridine medication, aimed at bettering the walking capability of people with multiple sclerosis, is still undergoing Phase 3 testing. Update: November 14: Ron Cohen let me know Acorda has successfully completed Phase 3 testing of Fampridine and intends to apply early next year for Food and Drug Administration approval to market it.
Meanwhile, San Diego-based Acadia, led by Hacksell, is conducting Phase 3 clinical trials of pimavanserin, which addresses psychosis related to Parkinson's disease.
Evotec, a Hamburg, Germany, company, whose acquisition of San Francisco-based Renovis in May could better position it to attract U.S. venture capital, is working on remedies for insomnia, Alzheimer's disease and smoking cessation.
Top slot remains firmly in the hands of Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE: NOK), but the current data may start to give the perennial champion some reason for concern. While its current lead in market share domination remains well above its next closest competitor, but the figures are much closer than what they were this time last year, another indication of just how popular the iPhone has become over the past year.
Last year at this time, Nokia had a very tight grip on the market, with a reported 51.4% control of the market. It's next closest competitor was Research in Motion, which had 10.6% market share.
It's not that the bottom-line numbers were wholly bad. Net profit rose 16% to roughly $1.1 billion. Earnings per diluted share on an adjusted basis increased 17% to $0.63. According this news source, that figure beat estimates by three pennies. That's all well and good, but that news source also states that Qualcomm is guiding below consensus. Not surprising, certainly, given what the markets are going through. But it still puts a damper on the stock's near-term potential, in my opinion. Plus, free cash flow was down 13% during the quarter, and it was flat for the twelve-month period.
Except for certain companies like Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), I'm not really interested in playing the tech sector. If you had purchased Qualcomm near its 52-week low of $30.87, I'd be a seller into today's strength. No, I certainly can't predict the movement of stock prices, but I can tell you that I think Qualcomm could easily pull back from today's rally. The recession is going to worsen, and I don't think we've reached the point where the market will begin to discount better days. In fact, we're probably far off from that point. The rally that is going on in the markets as I write this (and by the time this gets published, it could be gone for all I know) feels like a dead-cat bounce. That wouldn't be good for Qualcomm's stock, I'd imagine. So, kudos to management for beating Q4 expectations. But I won't be rewarding you by buying your stock. Sorry!
Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.
This post was written by Minyanville contributor Sean Udall.
Through my career I've generally stayed apolitical with regard to investment and trading decisions, but there have been times when some higher percentage trades have presented themselves due to political circumstances. Examples include: the tech push in Clinton's second term, the defense sector after Bush's 2000 victory, as well as the oil patch. Based on that, here are some overriding thoughts, in no particular order.
The market has moved to the phase where many if not most participants want and expect a pullback. Since the market confounds the greatest number of players most of the time, is a big pullback a lower probability event now? Moreover, does the selling panic of much of October turn into a buying panic in the coming weeks and months? I'm letting the charts lead me here but aware that this bullish case could possibly trump terrible economic conditions.
I still think the alt energy patch (solar, wind, battery tech, clean coal) will produce some of the best winners, but a lot of easy money has been made in just days. Quality and fundamentals will likely count much more now than over the past few months. Also, extended runs may become vulnerable quickly if policy decisions do not show quick tangible follow-through. Companies with the best balance sheets and funding sources will benefit the most and have the least downside on sharp technical pullbacks.
For movie lovers, one of the things that matters almost as much as a movie story line, is the picture and sound quality. Up until recently, there was little question as to where you needed to go to get the best video possible for a movie -- your nearest Imax theater. But recently, Imax has been under pressure from advancements in 3D systems and digital projection.
Sean Udall is a 
Yesterday, in response to 
Shares of tech giant 
My husband lost his phone months ago, and then left the charger for my Blackberry in an Oklahoma City hotel six weeks ago, and as we don't drive, the car charger isn't much use. Other than a few scattered charges while in my sister's or a friend's car, we've been without a cell phone entirely.
This week I envisioned an 
Earlier this week I met with three CEOs of the neurotech industry -- Ron Cohen of 
Some great news for 
Through my career I've generally stayed apolitical with regard to investment and trading decisions, but there have been times when some higher percentage trades have presented themselves due to political circumstances. Examples include: the tech push in Clinton's second term, the defense sector after Bush's 2000 victory, as well as the oil patch. Based on that, here are some overriding thoughts, in no particular order.
Can a Saudi prince save Citi?
Bulls vs. Bears battle for Dow 8,000 continues
Cramer on BloggingStocks: Lower oil will be a boon -- next year 
