10 Tech Giants to Buy Now Shares of companies such as IBM, Nokia and Microsoft have taken a hit along with the rest of the market, but they don't deserve to be this cheap. Other tech stocks to consider include Apple, Cisco, Google, HP, Intel, Oracle and Qualcomm. Ten Tech Giants to Buy Now - Kiplinger.com
New Life for Grocery Store Standbys Innovation is Pinnacle's lifeblood. The N.J.-based company -- which so far owns or licenses more than a dozen food brands -- specializes in acquiring venerable, but stagnant, brand names in need of TLC. It then works to breathe new life into them with updated formulations, new products, improved packaging, added convenience and smart marketing. Among the brands in Pinnacle's cub bard are Duncan Hines, Lender's Bagels, Log Cabin, Hungry Man, Mrs. Butterworth, Aunt Jemima, Swanson and more. Pinnacle gives new life to old standbys - USATODAY.com
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) knows that the market for basic server and PC chips will not grow as fast over the next five years as it did over the last five. The economy plus high market penetration will see to that.
So, Intel is looking to new markets to save its bacon. It has already entered the segment for relatively low-powered chips for handheld "computers." Whether that business will ultimately be large is anyone's guess.
According toThe Wall Street Journal, the world's largest chip company "is providing the first details of a chip technology that is designed to help break into new markets, starting with high-end graphics used for computer games and animation." This technology will help higher end PCs run games and video content.
With Intel's balance sheet and big share of the current PC market, the announcement could spell gigantic trouble for AMD (NYSE: AMD) and Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA). A little over two years ago AMD bought graphics chip company ATI. So far, the deal has been a bust.
Concerns that the graphics chip market could get crowded and that margins could be under pressure have already driven AMD and Nvidia to recent 52-week lows. Over the last year, Intel shares are off about 5%. Shares in the other two companies are down over 60%. With Intel coming into the market, that could actually get worse.
Back in the day when internet companies ruled the rolls of the Nasdaq, a number of online and tech companies had venture capital arms. Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) has kept its to this day. The tech collapse of 2000 and 2001 eliminated most of those funds.
Now Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has decided to revive the tradition of big tech companies spreading money around. According toThe Wall Street Journal, "The group will be lead by David Drummond, Google's senior vice president of corporate development and chief legal officer."
The move is a bad idea because it could alienate current and future Google partners. There is still an abundance of venture capital, so it is not as if the search company is filling a hole in the market.
The trouble is that Google could put money into a wireless broadband company only to find down the road it wants to form a partnership with one of that company's competitors. Should a firm risk doing business with Google when the giant internet company owns a piece of its nemesis?
Google may like the idea of supporting startups that are aligned with its goals. But it is cutting off the option of doing business with companies that don't have Google backing but do have services Google wants.
It has been widely anticipated that the EU would bring new antitrust charges against Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). The FTC and other US authorities are chasing the largest chip company in the world for similar reasons. South Korea has already fined Intel for anti-competitive behavior.
The theory behind the charges is that Intel induced PC companies and their retailers to use its chips and not those from rival AMD (NYSE: AMD). According to The Wall Street Journal, "The European Union launched new antitrust charges against Intel Corp., saying the chip giant paid rebates to a major retailer to encourage it not to carry computers using chips from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc ."
If the charges are true, it shows the extent to which a company of real size, like Intel, can be its own worst enemy. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ran into similar problems a decade ago for being too aggressive killing off competition in the browser and media player markets.
The irony of Intel's legal bind is that it almost certainly did not need to pressure or give incentives to keep AMD in a distant second place. It had the balance sheet to keep margin pressure on AMD and the engineering prowess to offer better chips.
Arrogance and carelessness often go with being in first place. This time it appears that it has caught up to Intel.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Hector Ruiz, the CEO who almost ruined AMD (NYSE: AMD), is gone, moved up to the chairman's role. and replaced by the company's COO Dirk Meyer. According toThe New York Times, "Mr. Meyer, president and chief operating officer, is widely respected and admired by other A.M.D. technical employees and also has the confidence of Wall Street analysts." AMD lost another $1.2 billion in the latest quarter making the move almost essential to the firm's survival.
During the time Ruiz has been CEO, AMD has fallen behind Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) in the power and efficiency of its chips. While Intel made it to market with dual and quad-core processors, the AMD "Barcelona", meant to be their dog in the fight, was delayed.
Ruiz's colossal mistake was buying graphics chip company ATI and pushing his company's debt up to $5 billion. AMD now struggles to make its debt service.
Shareholders have been calling for Ruiz to step down for over a year. The AMD share price was above $40 just over two years ago. Now, it often trades below $7.
Ruiz will be remembered as a poor strategist who pulled his company into a precarious position. He is best gone. And, wont be missed.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Most investors probably think that PC sales in the U.S. are a bit slow these days because of the recession. Now, they can sleep better because industry figures for Q2 show they are right. According toThe Wall Street Journal, "Gartner Inc. said world-wide PC shipments grew 16% in the period, with U.S. shipments growing 4.2%."
The only real warning sign in the data is that units sales growth is slowing some in Asia. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) still have the largest market shares worldwide while Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shipments grew 38% in the U.S. during the period.
The important news is that Asia may not be able to make up for slowing U.S. sales growth. If formerly hot markets like China and India are not doing terribly well, the entire PC industry is in for a choppy time.
The data contradicts information from the recent Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) earnings. Not only is the company doing well, it said the rest of the year looked bright. Someone must be doing OK selling PCs and servers somewhere. The Gartner research appears to say otherwise.
For investors in PC and chip companies, it appears the information about how the industry is doing has become confused. Now they can join shareholders in almost every other sector of the market where no one seems to have a handle on what is happening.
Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.
Today was a clear win for the bulls, although the bears aren't forgotten by any measure. Oil fell another $4.00 today and to around $134/barrel. The CPI report also came in less timid than some PPI watchers were expecting, although it is still very high. Today's rally is probably more attributable to pricing action in banking and transportation stocks. Even the stodgy FOMC minutes didn't hurt today.
Below are the unofficial closing bell levels for index levels today:
Airline earnings came out very cautiously but not as bad as many would have guessed and didn't have the ring of any immediate death sentences for the industry. AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), the parent of American Airlines, managed to post better than expected gains before items even if its losses were near $1 billion. Its shares were up over 33% at $5.90 in today's final minutes. This may have actually been the best day ever for major airline stocks.
After hitting a one-year high of $16.19 last July, the stock hit a one-year low of $4.53 yesterday. AMD opened this morning at $4.90. So far today the stock has hit a low of $4.68 and a high of $4.95. As of 1:55, AMD is trading at $4.93, up 21 cents (4.4%). The chart for AMD looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold rating.
For a bullish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a January covered call at the $5 level. A covered call is an options position that combines the purchase of stock with the sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn't do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 30% return in just 6 months if AMD is above $5 at January expiration. AMD would have to fall by more than 21% before we would start to lose money.
AMD hasn't been below $3.90, which would be the break-even point, at all in the past year and has shown support around $4.50 recently. This trade could be risky if today's encouraging Intel results are a result of them taking even more market share from AMD, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by the 30% downside protection on this trade.
Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in AMD. He does control bullish hedged positions in INTC.
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) delivered extremely good earnings, surpassing what most analysts thought the big chip company would deliver. Global notebook sales were the key source of the company's success.
With 80% of the world's PC and server chip sales, Intel has little to compete with but itself. That may prove to be its undoing. Late word is that Intel is about to be hit by major antitrust charges in Europe. According toThe Wall Street Journal, "European regulators are preparing to file new antitrust charges against Intel."
The case against Intel -- the same as the ones being brought in the U.S. and South Korea -- is that the company took a number of actions to shut out sales of chips and computers with chips from smaller competitor AMD (NYSE: AMD).
Intel has begun to take on the role that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has a decade ago. It has become so big that authorities are questioning how it got to its place of dominance. In essence, regulators are saying Intel cheated.
While Intel may suffer fines and other sanctions, the cases against the company may be the only chance AMD has of surviving. With over $5 billion in debt, operating losses, and falling gross margins, reparations from Intel's antitrust cases are probably its only life preserver.
I know it doesn't matter at all. Right now we are so stuck on the banking problems and on the companies bleeding from higher energy prices that nobody cares about all of this cash, which will be used to shrink equity. They won't care because the banks, brokers and homebuilders, and the hobbled companies that use oil, have to issue so much equity that you can't see the effect of the equity shrinkage. But it will eventually matter. It has to matter that Deere has taken out 10% of its stock in the last four years. It does matter that Black & Decker (NYSE: BDK) (Cramer's Take) has eliminated almost 20% of its equity. Emerson's taken out 5%, same with Boeing (NYSE: BA) (Cramer's Take). There's just a huge amount of equity being shrunk.
What to Do With Your Investments in Today's Iffy Market When the financial world is panicking, you probably will, too. The best advice, though, is this: When you're nervous, don't actually do anything with your investments - and, most especially, don't throw all your money into whatever investment is soaring at the moment. What should you do about investments? - USATODAY.com Don't Put All Your Dollars in One Bank Spread your money among several banks, and several FDIC-insured accounts, to stay protected. Spread your money among several banks to stay fully protected - MarketWatch
People familiar with the issue said that European regulators are gearing up to file new antitrust charges against Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC). The charges, the Wall Street Journal reported, would allege Intel gave major European retailers an incentive not to sell computers that use Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NYSE: AMD) chips.
OTHER PAPERS:
The New York Times reported that News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS) New York Post and The Daily News, owned by Mortimer Zuckerman, are exploring a print pact and have been in talks to find ways to combine some business functions of the papers, according to people briefed on the matter.
Three people familiar with the matter said that the SEC subpoenaed Wall Street investment banks including The Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE: DB) and Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (NYSE: MER) in its hunt and crack down on suspected manipulation of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc (NYSE: LEH) shares. Bloomberg reported that two of the people said the SEC, which yesterday curtailed short selling in financial stocks, is looking for e-mails and trading records and is also examining whether securities firms have "adequate controls" to deal properly with misconduct.
The plunge in oil prices and Intel's good earnings report from Tuesday were not enough to lift mood on Wall Street this morning. Investors, worried about a wave of data, earnings and Bernanke's second day of testimony, pushed U.S. stock futures lower. However, after yesterday's wild swings in the market, we may yet see futures change directions several times before the open.
On Tuesday, the session was marred by wild and volatile trading, induced by concerns over financials in general and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in particular. The steep drop in oil prices -- over $6 a barrel -- offset somewhat Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's bleak testimony. Sill, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 92 points, or 0.84%, lower to close under the 11,000 mark. The S&P 500 dropped 13 points, or 1.09%, while the Nasdaq Composite, in anticipation of Intel's earnings, rose 2 points, or 0.13%.
Today, more economic data and earnings will affect the Street's sentiment. At 8:30 a.m. EDT, consumer price index -- inflation at the consumer level -- for June is due out. Again, there is a big difference between expected CPI and core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices. At 9:00 a.m., May net foreign purchases will be reported and shortly after, June industrial production and capacity utilization. At 2:00 p.m., investors could go over the released minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting.
Meanwhile, Bernanke will continue his testimony that is due to start at 10 a.m. EDT.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Q2 2008 Earnings Conference Call July 15, 2008 5:30 PM ET
Management Summary
Operator
Good day, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the second quarter 2008 Intel Corporation earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the presentation over to your host for today's call, Mr. Kevin Sellers, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please proceed, sir.
Kevin Sellers, Vice President of Investor Relations
Thank you and welcome everyone to Intel's Q2 2008 earnings conference call. Joining me on today's call are Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini and Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith. This call is being webcast live and a replay will be posted to our website at approximately 5:00 PM Pacific time and will remain there for approximately two months.
.gif){kind=logo}
The plunge in oil prices and Intel's good earnings report from Tuesday were not enough to lift mood on Wall Street this morning. Investors, worried about a wave of data, earnings and Bernanke's second day of testimony, pushed U.S. stock futures lower. However, after yesterday's wild swings in the market, we may yet see futures change directions several times before the open.
Intel Corporation
Editor's Note: You can now print BloggingStocks' posts
Cuomo gets Citi to buy back $7 billion worth of Auction Rate Securities
Does Sumner Redstone care about Midway Games?
