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Reported Facebook/Baidu Deal Puts Pressure on Sina
Trader Mark submits:Sina.com (SINA) is showing the first weakness in a while, on reports Facebook is entering China via a partnership with Baidu (BIDU). That said, after the initial (over)reaction which shaved about 7 points off the name, the stock has bounced back well in the afternoon. (Click to enlarge) The hit to Sina seems wrong for a few reasons - first there are already a handful of very significant social networking sites in China, 2 of which are expected to go public in the U.S. this year - and whose IPOs I expect to rocket. (in fact, the first ... Kaixin001.com has already secured the investment bankers) Second, Sina's platform is a peer of Twitter, not Facebook. That said, Baidu is a powerhouse in the country (in search) so this means more competition for everyone in the 'social communication' space. Baidu's stock is reacting favorably to the news, although off highs Complete Story »
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Music Streaming: A Skirmish in the Battle to Dominate Cloud-Based Computing
Money Morning submits:
By David Zeiler
Cloud-based computing is shaping up to be a major battleground in the U.S. high-tech sector for the rest of this year, as companies compete to deliver such services as music streaming to consumer-based mobile devices. And it figures to be a true clash of titans, with such high-tech heavyweights as Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) serving among the major combatants. And music is just the beginning. Video streaming will follow quickly, joining such already-common "cloud" applications as file storage and sharing and online photo albums. For instance, Amazon made an aggressive move right near the end of the first quarter, when it launched its Cloud Drive service. Users can store 5 gigabytes of music and files for free, with additional storage available for a fee - $20 a year Complete Story »
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AT&T Rolls Out Digby-Powered Mobile Commerce Software
ETF Prophet submits:
By Leena Rao
AT&T (T) has suddenly realized the power of mobile commerce, most recently partnering with with Placecast to deliver special offers and discounts to consumers via their mobile phones when they are near a participating store or brand. Today, the telecommunications company is announcing a new service, powered by mobile commerce software platform Digby, which helps retailers design, deploy and manage mobile commerce web sites and rich applications optimized for smartphones. Digby Mobile Commerce from AT&T helps retailers create mobile websites that display rich product images and live catalogs, expands the ways they can buy from merchants and more. Digby also allows retailer to create native applications, and tap into both its mobile barcode service and the ShopAlerts service to Complete Story »
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Baidu vs. Yahoo: Sell the Bubble, Buy the Bargain
Mark Krieger submits:BIDU is on one gargantuan roll. Its stock has soared over 11 fold in less than two years, and its earnings are expected to grow 64% in 2011 (from $1.53 to $2.51) (forward P/E of 57) and 47% in 2012 (from $2.51 to $3.69). Obviously, its growth rate has to slow (it is slated to decrease 1700 basis points in 2012) due to the law of larger numbers, but has this fact been accurately discounted in the current share price? Probably not, because if you calculate BIDU?s PEG (price earnings to growth) it computes to a lackluster 1.57, using its current trailing P/E of 92 and a very optimistic five year growth rate of 58.47%. Does this growth rate consider the possibilities of Google (GOOG) getting back into the Chinese search fight, an ?earth shaking? political event in China, or even something as basic as a misstep in execution? A Complete Story »
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Netflix: Expecting Higher Near-Term Volatility Into Earnings
Richard Bloch submits:Although I don?t have a position in Netflix (NFLX), I have been watching how the options have been trading in advance of the company?s next earnings announcement on April 25. First, here?s a look at the implied volatility (IV) for options on NFLX just before previous earnings announcements based on data from ivolatility.com. The pink lines show IV for the options closest to expiration with the other lines representing IV for longer-term options. The blue arrows correspond to the earnings announcement date. As you can see, volatility for options with around 30 days to expiration began to carry a much higher relative premium than options with a longer shelf life as the announcement date grew closer and closer. After earnings, IV generally fell ? especially for those shorter-term options. This is not an unusual pattern, but it can offer opportunities to use options to establish a position while limiting risk. Complete Story »
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Google May Be the Next Big Player in the Online Reservations Space
Fund Manager submits: "There are no limits under this agreement as to what the company can do in travel search" -- Google spokesman Adam Kovacevich. On Friday, the U.S. Dept of Injustice ?allowed? Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) to proceed with their $700 million purchase of ITA Software for its travel reservation capability. This event marks a key turning point for companies competing in the online reservations niche.
With Google?s vast resources, the competitive forces it unleashes in the online reservation sector should ultimately help decrease the cost of online reservations -- not increase them -- as is often the concern among those fond of wielding the antitrust laws.
Why is it that the entrenched incumbents including Expedia, Kayak, and Microsoft are the first to complain that the Google/ITA hookup will result in less competition, when, in fact, a Google entrance into the niche adds competition for them? Could it be they simply don?t want Complete Story »
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Is Yahoo a Hidden Gem?
Michael Bryant submits:Yahoo (YHOO), once a leading internet search engine, has lost a lot of luster to competitor Google (GOOG). Another competitor, Microsoft (MSFT), considered buying YHOO for $44.6 billion (approximately $31 a share) back in 2008, but founder Jerry Yang fought off a hostile takeover bid. Since then, the stock has spiraled downward, currently selling for a market cap of $21.96 billion.
(click to enlarge chart)
As shown from the chart, the stock has been hovering in a trading range of $14 to $17 for the last two years. Volume has stayed about the same over the two years. But is YHOO undervalued? Microsoft wouldn?t have proposed a buyout twice if it didn?t see potential for YHOO, which remains second to GOOG in the advertising and search space, but is near #1 in unique online visitors. The company is more than just a search site, providing everything from news, sports, finance, Complete Story »
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Fidelity Dumps Netflix Shares: What's Next?
Rocco Pendola submits:
"Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny..."
-Bruce Springsteen,
Rosalita
We're not only living through a paradigm shift vis-a-vis how we consume and share "content," we're observing strange days indeed at Netflix (NFLX). Walk through a brief overview of recent developments before we get to the latest news. - Spending spree Netflix adds cushion to yet another content provider's bottom line, as it continues to execute its seemingly unsustainable business model.
- Google (GOOG) prepares to show off its firepower via YouTube by taking Netflix on headfirst. Hopefully, Google's (GOOG) earnings report this week will shed some light on its strategy.
- Netflix refuses to comment on the departure of its longtime VP of Investor Relations, the woman who might actually be the brainchild of the company's faux earnings calls.
Given Netflix's less-than-stellar history of communicating with investors, it comes as no surprise that we have yet to Complete Story »
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Air Travel Bookings Add Little to Priceline
Trefis submits:
Though Priceline (NASDAQ:PCLN) is one of the few names people think for online travel services along with competitors Expedia (NASDAQ;EXPE), Travelocity, and Orbitz (NASDAQ:OWW), air travel bookings make up less than 2% of our $479 Trefis price estimate of Priceline?s stock. The real gem here is hotel bookings which constitutes a dominant 91% of its value.
Priceline is the second largest online travel agency in the world after Expedia in terms of booking volumes. Through its online travel portals such as Priceline.com, booking.com, agoda.com, rentalcars.com, breezenet.com and lowestfares.com, Priceline provides consumers with travel services that include bookings for hotel stays, airline tickets, vacation packages, car rentals and cruises. Priceline makes money by charging a percentage of the dollar value for bookings. Hence, the factors that drive this division are average airfares (value of bookings), Priceline?s commission (%) on air ticket bookings and the expected future air ticket bookings. Overall air Complete Story »
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House Votes Against FCC Net Neutrality Regulation
TechCrunch submits:
By Alexia Tsotsis
photo © 2007 Francisco Daum | more info (via: Wylio) Last December the FCC approved its ?Preserving the Open Internet? regulation to entirely ban blocking of websites or web services by broadband providers, while being vague about what the new restrictions held for mobile carriers like Verizon (VZ) and AT&T (T). As we wrote in December, Republicans had vowed to give the loophole-filled rules hell when the Congress turned more Republican in January, first voting to deny the Commission federal funding in February. Today we see the fruits of their efforts again, namely the voting through of House Joint Resolution 37, a regulation that would prohibit the FCC from having any authority over ISPs and broadband, thus overturning December?s regulations. One-half of the government wanting to revoke your power isn?t cool and I don?t want to necessarily down play the impact of a house vote but, as Complete Story »
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