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Posted
Sep 23 2009, 03:59 PM
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admin
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Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
By Andrew Horowitz
Microsoft (MSFT) has been doing what it can to finally work on the offensive. Bing search is now making significant progress against rivals and Windows 7 is getting excellent reviews. There is even talk that the next generation Zune HD will become a serious contender, along with the recent upgrade to the Xbox gaming/entertainment console.
The retail stores I am still scratching my head about, but I will wait to comment until that plan is either launched or squashed.
Now we are seeing the first glimpse of what could be the next generation of tablet computing. If you recall, this has been on the mind of Microsoft and Bill Gates for years. The first attempts were met with luke warm reception. But that was then. Computing power is now much more significant and much more energy efficient. The photo (hat tip Gizmodo) shows a device that opens like a book or traditional day-timer and has both pen and touch-screen input. Could this be a real competitor to Apple's (AAPL) 10" tablet, expected to become available in February 2010?
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Posted
Aug 04 2009, 03:02 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Looking for an interesting opportunity, we came upon MercadoLibre, a company which provides emerging market exposure as well as a technology edge. Think of it as the eBay of Latin America which may hold opportunity as it expands further in the region.
Description
MercadoLibre (MELI) operates an online trading site for the Latin American markets. The company's Web site allows businesses and individuals to list items and conduct sales and purchases online in either a fixed-price or auction format. MercadoLibre offers classified advertisements for motor vehicles, vessels, aircraft, real estate and services, and offers online payment services.
MELI is a Latin version of eBay (EBAY). The difference is that this company has a much better outlook and it is in the initial growth phase. So, we may think of it as a young eBay before it got caught up in Skype, PayPal and other bureaucratic red tape.
Points to consider
Here are some of the fundamentals and a few comparisons to eBay and Amazon (AMZN)
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Posted
Jun 24 2009, 05:19 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 We have seen a great deal of questionable activities over the past year or so. We have already been through market manipulation and commodity fixing, tax evasion and sex scandals. Now we are learning about the possibility of one of the most respected positions in our government involved in a multi-billion dollar cover up. Would that even surprise you these days? Probably not, as nothing is a surprise anymore.
But what are the implications if it is concluded that Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke and Former Treasury Secretary Paulson had pressured Bank of America's (BAC) CEO Ken Lewis to keep material information from shareholders?
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Posted
Jun 22 2009, 03:01 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 While we are hearing horror stories about visitors suspected of having swine flu being taken and quarantined within China, we are seeing the reported cases of swine flu on the rise. Surely this is not the total number of cases, as we are told that only a fraction are actually diagnosed.
The good news is that while we are seeing a spike over the past week in cases, the Death-to-Case ratio is continuing to decline. We are also hearing a good deal of news pertaining to the precautions that are being taken and the latest technology lending a hand to airport screeners/quarantine officers. These are infrared and heat-sensitive cameras that can scan people for heat/fevers as they pass by. Which company is supplying these?
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Posted
Jun 22 2009, 05:35 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 Twitter is popular, there is no doubt about that. In fact, the top 20 people that loyal twitterers follow have at least 1 miillion followers each. Oprah twitters, Ashton Kutcher twitters and even President Obama twitters.
Now there is a rising trend to use Twitter for stocks tips. Groups have formed such as StockTwits to share ideas on stocks in real time. But does Twitter, an unregulated and unchecked platform pose a risk of becoming a giant Pump-n-Dump network?
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Posted
May 15 2009, 12:20 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 With General Motors (GM) trading at approximately $1, it is ever more apparent that a restructuring deal is necessary and imminent. There are currently two parties involved in the negotiations, with the U.S. Government/UAW Retired Workers on one side and individual/institutional investors on the other. The major discrepancy is who will have control of the company in the future and who will get paid off as a result of GM's delinquencies.
Under the current deal set out by the Obama administration, the government would control 50% of the company, 39% would be controlled by the UAW, 10% by the bondholders and the remaining 1% would go to existing shareholders. Current shareholders and bondholders are not exactly ecstatic about this current deal and are working to structure another negotiation outside of bankruptcy court.
If, however. this deal were to stand, American taxpayers would be the majority stakeholder in General Motors, which in the future may be more appropriately referred to as "Government Motors." Ford (F) will more than likely have a difficult time competing against a government-owned GM. With the government taking control, it is likely that it will do whatever it to revive GM, no matter how much money it takes
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Posted
May 14 2009, 12:01 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 The U.S. government is considering taking an active role in setting both financial and nonfinancial companies' executive pay.
Congressman Barney Frank, chairman for the House Financial Services Committee, stated, “The federal government should play a role in setting executive-pay rules for public companies to reduce incentives that lead to excessive risk-taking,” according to Bloomberg. He has said the plan is to focus on financial companies but could be implemented for all companies. That is getting way out of hand...right?
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Posted
May 12 2009, 10:15 AM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
For some time, there have been questions about the veracity and the ability for the market to sustain a prolonged rally. Questions have been asked such as: Is it real? Is it safe? Will it turn down again?
Many of the concerns were due to several meaningful components that made up the rally from the devilishly low point in March of 666, reached by the S&P 500 index. Since then, stocks have been on fire and recovered all of the 2009 losses and more. But why so many questions?
For one, volume has always been suspect. Traditionally, a market rally would start slowly and then grow as more participants believed they could put their hard earned money to work to earn a rate of return greater than money market funds or other competing assets. As the rally progresses, more investors become desirous of investing and volume begins to swell. That has not happened this time around, just as it hadn't during the past few bear-market rallies. As a matter of fact, most of the high volume days came when the markets were down. This is not a sign of a healthy market rally
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Posted
May 06 2009, 07:37 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The S&P 500 surged 1.74% Wednesday as stress test results were released throughout the day (Click here for specific leaks). Fears subsided as Bloomberg, Reuters and various other news wires showed that most banks would not need additional capital.
Even though markets moved much higher on
this news, the breakdown of sectors contributing to the rally were
rather
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Posted
May 06 2009, 08:33 AM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Many analysts believe regulators will require banks to maintain tangible common equity (TCE), one of the most conservative measures of capital, equal to 4% of their risk-weighted assets over the next two years, to withstand losses in case the recession worsens. The tests, originally scheduled for release May 4, are set to be disclosed after U.S. markets close on May 7, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity (although we are hearing that it could be as late as Friday).
The list attached shows our calculation of TCE and a Quality Rating that we put on each. This rating includes both the Tier 1 and the TCE weighted as the U.S. government (FED and Treasury) look at those two along with expected income and delinquency rates to determine how much "stress" these institutions can endure.
From our side, it looks like a whitewash as everything is being done to make it appear as though many of the insolvent banks are actually in good shape. In fact, just this morning, it was said that the $34 billion of new capital that Bank of America needs can be partially offset by future earnings projections. How ridiculous indeed...!
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