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• The Week Ahead: Apple, Netflix and more

  Posted Jul 18 2008, 08:00 PM by Andrew Horowitz
  Filed under: Apple, Amazon, VMware, Netflix, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Andrew Horowitz, Earnings
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  We are the heart of earnings season and this week's lineup is massive. As I write this, I'm looking at over 25 pages of earnings estimates on hundreds of companies presenting results in one of the toughest quarters we've seen in decades. It appears that many of the companies that have already reported have been doing a fine job of beating lowered expectations and providing a nice balance to a market that has been under siege.

  This week will be no different in terms of volatility. But those companies which have been savvy enough to project estimates that they figure they can beat will have an easy time pleasing investors. Those that don't will pay a heavy price into the next cycle. Let's face it, it's a game. If played well it can provide wondrous rewards.

  Here are a few companies that you may want to pay attention to.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 14 comments) 46,768 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this

• VMware shares suffer huge drop

  Posted Jul 08 2008, 08:47 AM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Microsoft, EMC, VMware, Kim Peterson

  Shares of VMware plummeted 26% in morning trading after the company said its revenue for the year would be less than expected. The company also booted its president and CEO, Diane Greene, and moved former Microsoft exec Paul Maritz into the spot.

  It's been a rough ride for VMware, who was the belle of the stock market ball last year. Its shares cleared $110 last October, but since then they've been on a remarkable slide and and have dipped under $40 today. I don't think the news was bad enough to warrant that kind of drop. The company said revenue would dip "modestly" below its guidance of 50% year-over-year growth. And even if revenue comes in at, say, 40% above the prior year, that's a heck of an achievement. Sales for fiscal 2007 were $1.33 billion.   Read More...

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• Tech selloff: Did someone's iPod break or something?

  Posted Oct 11 2007, 12:44 PM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: Google, Apple, Cisco, VMware, Research in Motion, Baidu.com

  

  Tech stocks are no longer the darling of Wall Street today, taking a tumble after going up-up-up all week.

  It's about time. VMware's valuation has been ridiculously high for a while now. The stock quadrupled in two months and broke $100 this week, but today is down some 4%. Apple has been hitting a series of all-time highs, and got a nice price target increase from Goldman Sachs (to $190) before becoming the top drag today on the Nasdaq and S&P 500. Its shares closed at about $162.

  Google shares have had a crazy day, hitting an all-time high today of $641.41 after getting a few price target increases from analysts like RBC Capital Markets' Jordan Rohan, who raised his target to $690 from $650. Shares had plunged to $621 by the end of the trading day.   Read More...

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• IPO madness: Constant Contact debuts on the market

  Posted Oct 03 2007, 09:50 AM by Kim Peterson
  Filed under: EMC, VMware
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  A small Massachusetts company called Constant Contact is having a great IPO today, raising $107 million and seeing its shares jump above the initial $16 price. Last time I checked, shares were well over the $29 mark.

  All this for a e-mail marketing company whose software lets you create, send and track e-mail messages.

  Constant Contact has about 130,000 customers, and two-thirds of them have fewer than 10 employees, according to a regulatory filing. Customers pay a monthly subscription fee of between $15 and $150, and the company's 2006 sales were $27.6 million. The company is not profitable.

  Even Constant Contact must be shocked by this turnout. Executives had only expected the IPO to price between $12 and $14 a share.   Read More...

  Discuss ( 9 comments) 14,896 Views Digg this | Email this | Link to this