Search results for Amazon
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Posted
Sep 19 2007, 10:17 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Now I understand why NBC so publicly pulled its television programs from Apple's iTunes store. The network is taking those programs in-house, launching a Windows-only video-on-demand service in October.
This is a rather bizarre move, considering that it was just a few weeks ago that NBC and News Corp. said they would launch Hulu, a Web video site that will feature NBC shows, among others. Hulu is also supposed to begin private testing in October. What will happen to Hulu now?
Then there's the Amazon part. After dropping iTunes, NBC began offering its programs on Amazon's Unbox service. Seems like NBC is dipping toes in lots of different pools and will go with the one that works best (or brings in the most money).
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Posted
Sep 25 2007, 01:02 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Finally, a major retailer figures it out and unveils a music store specializing in MP3s. That's the song format that's blissfully free from those burdensome digital rights restrictions favored by Apple and other companies. You can play MP3s on just about any digital music player or computer. You could make as many CDs of them as you want. You can make copies of them with no problem.
In short, you can do all the things you're supposed to be able to do when you legitimately buy a song. And the music industry is 100% to blame for how screwed up things have become. Shellshocked by the unprecedented file-trading that took place when songs went digital, record labels went on a lawsuit bonanza while putting every song they could into a virtual lockdown (or, as the industry likes to say, managing the song's "rights").
Obviously, Amazon holds a lot of sway with record companies to be able to begin tearing down those walls. And give eMusic credit for doing this too (though I wonder about that company's fate now). Amazon's store only has 2 million songs by 180,000 artists. Some big names are there, such as Kanye West, Pink Floyd and Radiohead, and I imagine the labels that haven't signed on will be closely watching to see how the store fares
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Posted
Oct 23 2007, 09:46 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
I love rooting for Netflix. One reason is that in five years of being a customer, I've never had a bad experience. But the bigger reason is that Netflix has doggedly pursued its business model to become a worthy rival to BOB, also known as Big Old Blockbuster. After losing ground to BOB this year, Netflix has regained its momentum.
The company surprised analysts last night with stronger-than-expected quarterly results and a 24% increase in subscribers, to 7 million. Its shares are up more than 9% today to above $25 as investors applaud the news.
Netflix's outlook seemed bleak three months ago, when the company missed revenue targets and had its first drop in subscriber numbers. BOB, meanwhile, said its online subscribers rose by 600,000 to 3.6 million. Netflix's share price dropped below the $16 mark in July in response.
Netflix has cut some subscription plans by $1 and reduced marketing costs to save money. A bit of a risky strategy, but one that seems to be paying off. Still, Netflix's position has always been volatile, and in the future the company faces increased competition from Amazon and others.
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Posted
Oct 29 2007, 09:45 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Blue Nile's stock should be on a roll, heading into the holidays with lots of momentum. Instead, the shine is gone. Still, the online jeweler got a nice smooch from Forbes last week. According to the magazine, Blue Nile is selling more engagement rings and wedding bands than Tiffany & Co. -- $197 million in bling last year compared with Tiffany's $186 million. Says Forbes:
"The retail experience just serves to sucker and intimidate the customer, especially men who often feel as out of their depth in a jewelry store as they do inside Victoria's Secret--no wonder three quarters of Blue Nile's Internet ice-buyers are guys."
Oh come on, do men really feel that awkward in a jewelry store? Anyway, that's beside the point. I want to know what's going on with this company's stock. After crossing the $100 mark three weeks ago, the share price has dropped 20% to $80. Are investors feeling jittery before Blue Nile's Nov. 6 earnings release?
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Posted
Nov 09 2007, 12:12 PM
by
Robert Walberg
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
I'm sure you've heard the phrase the best offense is a good defense, well given the offensive nature of the market over the past month -- the DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq indices are down by 8.4%, 6.7% and 7.0%, respectively -- it might just be time to adopt a more defensive posture with your portfolio. How do we reduce risk, while maintaining exposure to the market? Simple, we lower our portfolio's beta.
As defined on the Investopedia web site, beta measures a stock's volatility in relation to the market. By definition, the market (the S&P 500) has a beta of 1.0, and individual stocks are ranked according to how much they deviate from the market. A stock that swings more than the market over time has a beta above 1.0. If a stock moves less than the market, the stock's beta is less than 1.0. When the market is racing to new highs, we want stocks with high betas that will outperform, but when the opposite is true -- as is the case now -- we want stocks that either move down slower than the overall market or, better yet, move in the opposite direction.
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Posted
Nov 15 2007, 04:36 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 I enjoyed the long interview in the UK's Sunday Times with Amazon chief Jeff Bezos. However, the article spends precious little time on a subject I'm most curious about: Bezos' hush-hush Blue Origin project. Bezos reportedly spends "most of his money" on Blue Origin, which is building a "vertical take-off and landing suborbital vehicle" that could take passengers into space as early as 2010.
Blue Origin's Web site says it's going to lower the cost of space flight, and its first project -- New Shepard -- is a shuttle designed to take a small number of astronauts into space. The company's motto is gradatim ferociter, which means "step by step, courageously." Bezos admits he has a team of engineers at Blue Origin, and observers estimate he has spent $500 million so far. (Bezos won't give any figures.)
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Posted
Nov 16 2007, 02:37 PM
by
Matt Koppenheffer
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
It's been one heck of a run for Amazon.com's stock. Over the past year it's up more than 80%, and since it bottomed out after the dot-com crash…well, let's just say that the investors that believed in the stock then are doing pretty well.
Browsing the portfolio of CAPS' current top player, SpecBear, I noticed that his most recent pick was an underperform call on Amazon -- suggesting that the stock will underperform the market over the next five years. The rest of the CAPS community hasn't had a much brighter view of the stock's future. The stock has a rating of just two stars out of a possible five.
CAPS All-Star WillSurfForFood noted "The US economy is slowing. Retail companies are going to suffer and at some point a P/E does matter." Fellow CAPS player Aleksandert added, "Sure the company is great, but at such a high P/E ratio, it's bound to go through a correction sometime in the near future."
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Posted
Nov 19 2007, 03:02 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 My BS detector tingles whenever I read a Steven Levy exclusive in Newsweek. And by BS, of course, I mean "big story." As in giant puff piece, spoonfed straight from the company with few details and lots of overblown proclamations. (Anyone remember his 2003 exclusive on threedegrees, Microsoft's now-discontinued attempt to get hip?)
Today's BS is a truly overwritten piece on Amazon's new e-book reader, the $400 Kindle (pictured). It's the size of a paperback, weighs 10 ounces and offers up to 30 hours of reading on a charge. It can hold about 200 books. The Kindle's secret weapon is that it can connect to the Internet wirelessly, allowing the user to browse Amazon's store, buy and download books, and visit Wikipedia and Google.
About 88,000 books are available for the Kindle; most could cost from $2 to $10. Users can subscribe to newspapers and magazines. And Amazon is taking the unusual step of charging customers $1 to $2 a month to read certain blogs.
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Posted
Nov 21 2007, 10:59 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Tracking opinions about Amazon's $400 Kindle e-book reader is like watching a hockey game. People bashed the design and parts of Amazon's service at first. But now the pendulum of public opinion is swinging in favor of the Kindle's potential.
Enter the New York Times' Saul Hansell, who says it's "plain wrong" to write off the Kindle just because it has some initial problems. The first iPod wasn't the greatest either, he writes, adding that the Kindle "will indeed appeal to people who like the idea of carrying a lot of books on a device they can snuggle up with."
Then Computerworld calls the Kindle "ugly as sin," but says it's a "game-changing revolution" and the hottest holiday gift you can buy for anyone who loves to read.
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Posted
Nov 26 2007, 07:08 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Is any work getting done today? It's Cyber Monday, a marketing gimmick that turned into a real trend. Retailers predict that 72 million people will shop online today, up from 61 million last year.
GPS systems are going to be a hot gift, and Garmin is seeing the investor love today. It's shares are up 8.5% to $99.63
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