Tech

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Rally Ahead of Fed Announcement Tomorrow; MannKind Drops

Jake L'Ecuyer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:54:13 +0000

Toward the end of trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.97 percent to 15,327.18 while the NASDAQ surged 0.94 percent to 3,484.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.83 percent to 1,652.81.

Top Headline
FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS) reported an 11% rise in its fiscal third-quarter earnings.

FactSet's quarterly profit surged to $53.4 million, or $1.20 per share, versus $48 million, or $1.05 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding one-time items, its adjusted earnings came in at $1.15 per share in the recent period.

Its revenue rose 6.1% to $214.6 million. FactSet in March had expected earnings of $1.14 to $1.16 per share on revenue of $213 million to $216 million. FactSet's operating margin narrowed to 33.4% from 33.9%.

For the current quarter, FactSet expects earnings of $1.18 and $1.21 per share on revenue of $218 million to $221 million. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $1.18 per share on revenue of $220 million.

Equities Trading UP
Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) shot up 17.68 percent to $13.77 after Morgan Stanley defended the stock Monday evening, sending traders to the bullish side.

Shares of FLIR Systems ...

If Xbox One Flops, Will Microsoft Remove the DRM and Daily Connection Requirement? (MSFT)

Louis Bedigian — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:19:15 +0000

Many consumers think that if they complain enough, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will remove the anti-piracy and anti-used game measures that have infuriated so many people. Others believe that if they join together and vote with their wallets by not buying an Xbox One until Microsoft announces a change, the company will eventually cave and eliminate its new forms of DRM (digital rights management).

Michael Pachter, the Managing Director of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, is not convinced that Microsoft will make any such changes to its new console.

"I'm not sure they can since they made it possible to write the ...

Amazon Announces 'Birthday Gift' Feature, Expands FreeTime Unlimited Selection (AMZN)

Louis Bedigian — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:04:44 +0000

When Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) announced its gift giving initiative, the goal was to turn a profit in a fun and clever way. Instead of relying solely on the profits of weak, poorly targeted ads, Facebook decided to start selling physical items.

Now Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) is joining the fray with digital gift cards. The online retail giant is letting users attach $1, $5, $10 or $25 digital gift cards to their birthday messages on Facebook. While that might sound like small potatoes to an Amazon shopper, the company is making it easy for friends to jump in and contribute gift cards after the first one appears on a user's Facebook page. Thus, consumers with generous friends could end up with a massive amount of gift cards.

To get the program started, Amazon is providing gift-givers with $3 of in-store credit. There are a few conditions, however:

"You must have connected your Amazon customer account to your Facebook account to ...

Can Apple Dominate Taiwan's Growing Tablet Market? (AAPL)

Louis Bedigian — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:04:31 +0000

The Taiwanese tablet market is set to grow exponentially this year, nearly doubling the hardware sales of 2012. Executive VP and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Maxwell Cheng of Far EasTone Telecommunications (OTC: FETLF), told DigiTimes that 70 to 80 percent of those tablets will fall within the seven-inch range. Cheng's firm alone hopes to sell roughly 300,000 units this year.

While two million may not sound like much for a full-year sales goal (one American tech giant sold three million tablets in just one weekend), the Taiwanese market is just beginning to rise. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has been breaking sales records since the day the first iPad was released, has an opportunity to take control of this emerging market before it peaks.

There are roughly 23 million people living in Taiwan. With less than 10 percent its citizens expected to buy a tablet in ...

Mid-Day Market Update: Dow Surges Over 100 Points, John Wiley Shares Down

Jake L'Ecuyer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:24:02 +0000

Midway through trading Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.77 percent to 15,296.18 while the NASDAQ surged 0.79 percent to 3,479.41. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.66 percent to 1,649.81.

Top Headline
FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS) reported an 11% rise in its fiscal third-quarter earnings.

Equities Trading UP
Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) shot up 15.04 percent to $13.46 after Morgan Stanley defended the stock.

Shares of FLIR Systems (NASDAQ: FLIR) got a boost, shooting up ...

HotelTonight's CEO Sam Shank And Last-Minute Booking

Jason Cunningham — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:05:14 +0000

You're on the go. It's last-minute. You're traveling somewhere and you need a hotel fast. Enter HotelTonight. Their CEO and co-founder Sam Shank appeared on CNBC Squawk Box on Tuesday morning to talk about the company's innovation on finding a hotel.

HotelTonight is an app that offers cheap, quality hotel rooms at the last minute in 12 countries and over a 100 destinations. Shank said that they were built from the ground up on mobile devices, with their sole focus on on-demand hotels.

But now...

"What we really focus on is inspiring people to be more spontaneous and to create more primary demand for the industry and for hotels," said Shank.

Shank said that they're ...

Mid-Morning Market Update: Markets Open Higher, FactSet Research Q3 Profit Up 11%

Jake L'Ecuyer — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:40:46 +0000

Following the market opening Tuesday, the Dow traded up 0.32 percent to 15,228.62 while the NASDAQ surged 0.27 percent to 3,461.48. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.18 percent to 1,641.91.

Top Headline
FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS) reported an 11% rise in its fiscal third-quarter earnings.

Equities Trading UP
Walter Energy (NYSE: WLT) shot up 6.07 percent to $12.41 after Morgan Stanley defended the stock.

Shares of FLIR Systems (NASDAQ: FLIR) got a ...

Comcast Venture Arm Investing in YouTube Startup Fullscreen

Jim Probasco — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:35:23 +0000

“Hey, check this out!”

These words – as part of a text message or email – often precede a link to a YouTube video, something that is fast becoming the entertainment choice “du jour” for millennials.

Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) through its venture arm, Comcast Ventures, noted the trend and is funding a startup called Fullscreen. Fullscreen, according to Bloomberg, helps video content creators monetize their video clips through advertising and audience-building. In return, Fullscreen takes a cut of advertising revenue. Joining Comcast in this investment are Chernin Group LLC and WPP PLC (NASDAQ: WPPGY).

Fullscreen, which supports more than 15,000 aspiring video stars, plans to use the investment, in part, to open offices in Brazil, India, Mexico, Japan, and Russia over the next two years, according to Fullscreen founder, George Strompolos.

Strompolos, formerly with Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube, started Fullscreen in 2011 after noticing that more and more people were using smartphones and handheld computers to create ...

How Much Would Yahoo Pay for a Qwiki? (YHOO)

Louis Bedigian — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:00:43 +0000

Lightbank, Lerer Ventures and other investors have poured more than $10 million into Qwiki, an app that automatically merges photos, videos and music into one mobile movie. According to AllThingsD, this app has gotten the attention of Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), which is currently discussing the possibility of an acquisition. Better still, Yahoo could offer the firm as much as $50 million.

This deal would provide the firm's investors with a hefty return. The same cannot be said for another company that Yahoo is interested in acquiring.

In a separate story, AllThingsD reported that Yahoo has offered to buy Xobni for $30 million to $40 million. While many investors and entrepreneurs would be happy to sell their companies for less, Xobni (a smart contacts app that recently started supporting iCloud and Yahoo! Mail) was built with more than $40 million in venture capital.

First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures and Khosla Ventures are among the firms ...

Mid-Afternoon Market Update: Markets Cooling Off as Ruckus Rallies

Jake L'Ecuyer — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 19:27:03 +0000

Toward the end of trading Monday, the Dow traded up 0.38 percent to 15,129.28 while the NASDAQ surged 0.52 percent to 3,441.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.35 percent to 1,632.83.

Top Headline
Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Man of Steel, the relaunch of the Superman movie series, became the second-most successful movie of the year after the film made $113 million in its first weekend, behind only Iron Man 3.

Equities Trading UPbr> DreamWorks Animation SKG (NASDAQ: DWA) shot up 4.03 percent to $23.73 after Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) signed a multi-year deal with the company.

Shares of Ruckus Wireless (NYSE: RKUS) were up as well, gaining 8.80 percent to $11.62 after news that the company was involved in a patent infringement suit ...

Will Kids Watch 300 Hours of DreamWorks Programming on Netflix? (NFLX, DWA)

Louis Bedigian — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 18:01:22 +0000

More than 300 hours of original, animated programming will come to Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) via DreamWorks Animation (NASDAQ: DWA). DreamWorks is expected to use its existing franchises -- which includes Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods and Kung Fu Panda -- to develop a number of shows to fulfill the new content agreement.

Long-term, DreamWorks could provide more than 600 episodes of various 30-minute programs (300 hours x 60 minutes = 18,000 minutes / 30-minute episodes = 600 episodes) to Netflix.

While many primetime sitcoms and dramas have 21 to 24 episodes per season, the average Netflix series takes after HBO by providing 10 to 15 episodes per season. At that rate, DreamWorks will have to develop 20 different series -- each with at least two 15-episode seasons (15 episodes x 2 seasons = 30 episodes x 20 series = 600 episodes).

That's a lot of shows -- but it is ...

What Is the Government Really Looking At?

Matthew Kanterman — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:55:59 +0000

The NSA hacking scandal has taken front page of newspapers around the world of late and has threatened to disrupt diplomatic relations between major economies, the most recent flare-up occurring between Russia and the United Kingdom.

With revelations from companies over the last several days and weeks from companies including Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) that the government has asked companies for data thousands of times, the real question is what are they asking for?

"Hopelessly Wrong"

An article posted Friday on ZDNet.com titled How did mainstream media get the NSA PRISM story so hopelessly wrong? noted that the government is not so much taking what it wants. Rather, the government is simply using legally sound methods of securing warrants and asking for data. Even an editor at the Guardian, who first broke the story, has backtracked on a majority of their initial report that sparked the scandal.

Stewart Baker, former General Counsel to the NSA, wrote on June 6 on foreignpolicy.com that the legal theory behind these orders has been "carefully examined by all three branches of the government and by both political parties." He wrote further, "No one has repealed the laws that prohibit the National Security Agency (NSA) from targeting Americans unless it has probable cause to believe that they are spies or terrorists. So under the law, the NSA remains prohibited from collecting information on Americans."

Baker gives a great hypothetical example of what the FISA laws allow the NSA to do and what is illegal under the law. "Imagine that the United States is intercepting al Qaeda communications in Yemen. Its leader there calls his weapons expert and says, 'Our agent in the U.S. needs technical assistance constructing a weapon for an imminent operation. I've told him to use a throwaway cell phone to call you tomorrow at 11 a.m. on your throwaway phone. When you answer, he'll give you nothing other than the number of a second phone. You will buy another phone in the bazaar and call him back on the second number at 2 p.m.'"

Baker continues, "It doesn't have probable cause to investigate any particular American. But ...

Mid-Day Market Update: Terex Tumbles On Weak Forecast, Netflix Spikes Higher

Jake L'Ecuyer — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:55:10 +0000

Midway through trading Monday, the Dow traded up 1.08 percent to 15,233.28 while the NASDAQ surged 1.18 percent to 3,463.90. The S&P also rose, gaining 0.99 percent to 1,642.83.

Equities Trading UP
DreamWorks Animation SKG (NASDAQ: DWA) shot up 4.38 percent to $23.81 after Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) signed a multi-year deal with the company.

Shares of Weyerhaeuser Co (NYSE: WY) got a boost, shooting up 2.19 percent to $28.91 after the company announced a public offering of 28,000,000 of its common shares. The company also announced its plans ...

Why is Google Getting into the Balloon Business?

Tim Parker — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:11:00 +0000

On Saturday, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) launched balloons. If you’re wondering why an internet company is getting into the balloon business, join the mass of people who asked the same question. Digging a little deeper into the story, it’s not as “out there” as the headline would suggest.

There are 2.2 billion people around the world that have internet access, but another 4.8 billion do not—largely because the infrastructure isn’t in place.

Google and its balloons hope to change that. The Google X lab developed a balloon that rides wind currents in the stratosphere, 12 miles above the Earth’s surface. Google hopes to launch more than a thousand of these balloons to cover the world. (See video of the launch here.)

The initiative, called Project Loon, is an experiment with only a few balloons providing service to 50 homes in ...

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is Banking on Broken Relationships

Louis Bedigian — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 14:53:34 +0000

Thousands of people share Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) with their family and friends. Reed Hastings, Netflix's CEO, isn't too worried about the problem. While this may have surprised some investors, there may be a good reason for his nonchalant attitude.

"He doesn't seem to care because it's not his content," Rich Tullo, Director of Research at Albert Fried & Company, told Benzinga. "He's leasing the content, so if he can convert one or two of those 10 people sharing, what's it to him? That's a good thing for him. Sure he wouldn't care. I wouldn't care either if I were him."

The same cannot be said content makers.

"Viacom (NASDAQ: VIA) cares, obviously, because they pulled Nickelodeon out," said Tullo. "Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) cares because they pulled old movies out. They should care. If Netflix's subscribers are up ...