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Posted
Jul 11 2008, 08:59 PM
by
Andrew Horowitz
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
 This week will be full of exciting earnings announcements that may actually show some promise. As investor anxiety grows, sometimes a stock will mistakenly get caught up in the hysteria/euphoria and shares will behave erratically. In these conditions, if a company can prove that it isn't in imminent danger by showing a string of solid earnings in the face of financial adversity, investors will bid shares up with a vengeance.
There may actually be a few nuggets that will show up this week. Yes, even in a market that seems to whipsaw investors around daily, there may be a few good stocks out there. Even in the worst forest fire there is usually some form of life left that will help to bring life out of the ashes. With that in mind, here are few ideas to ponder:
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Posted
Jun 25 2008, 11:21 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
PayPal is a shining star within eBay, and a reason to buy the stock at its cheap price. The online payment service has grown fast since eBay bought it for $1.5 billion in 2002. Now you can use PayPal to buy airline tickets, rent movies at Blockbuster and pay bills. PayPal is used for about 12% of all online payments in the U.S. (Click here for a breakdown of PayPal's fees). Still, I wonder how well PayPal fits these days within eBay, a company that has been distracted by policy changes, user complaints, changing management and a strategy overhaul. EBay certainly has made PayPal what it is today, but are eBay's struggles limiting PayPal's potential? EBay shares rose less than a percent today to $28.16.
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Posted
Jun 23 2008, 12:15 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Four tech companies land on Seeking Alpha's "Six screaming stock buys with hidden gems" report: Amazon, Apple, Google and eBay. I agree that each company has its "hidden gem," but not sure that every gem makes its owner a screaming buy. YouTube is a gem within Google, but it doesn't collect much revenue and Google hasn't figured out how to monetize it. Amazon has never disclosed Kindle sales figures, so we don't know how the device is affecting the company's finances.
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Posted
Jun 09 2008, 01:02 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Why were Apple shares down Monday, with all the big iPhone news? Chalk it up to the typical storm of hype that surrounds Apple announcement. Expectations ratchet up so high that CEO Steve Jobs would have to juggle 10 iPhones on one foot to impress investors.
Apple stock was weak all day, but recovered in the final hour of trading. It closed down 2.2% on heavy volume to $181.61. Here's how Apple's news affected other stocks:
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Posted
Apr 22 2008, 04:43 AM
by
Douglas McIntyre
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Once a year, the firm Millard Brown puts out its BrandZ 100 Most Valuable Brands. The data used for the list come from consumer research and financial data on the companies. The research house gives its methodology here.
For those who think Google is the top brand, give yourself a pat on the back. It has a brand valuation of $86 billion, up 30%. For those research mavens in the crowd, the figure makes absolutely no sense. Google has a market cap of $168 billion. Most of that would go away -- no matter how good the technology is -- if it changed it name to Dawdle.
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Posted
Apr 21 2008, 12:10 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
Looks like eBay is dusting off the "for sale" sign for Skype, and it's about time. The Internet calling division said today it's offering almost-unlimited calls in the U.S. and Canada for $3 a month. (Calls to other countries will be $10 a month; click here for more info). I say almost because there's a 10,000 minute-per-month limit, which is more than five hours of calling a day.
Ebay has Skype under the microscope because it still hasn't figured out what to do with the company after buying it for $2.6 billion in 2005. Skype is a superstar on its own, with 309 million users and sales likely to hit $500 million this year. But meshing it with auctions? Hasn't worked. CEO John Donahoe said eBay will be testing Skype's "synergies" this year. But if the company hasn't found synergies in three years, why would it magically happen now?
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Posted
Feb 25 2008, 12:24 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The weeklong boycott of the eBay auction site ends today. But did it accomplish anything? Fed up with recent fee hikes and other policy changes, some eBay sellers decided to boycott the site from Feb. 18 through today. Third-party tracking sites say auction listings have dropped about 13% since the strike started to 13 million items listed. Ebay shares dipped slightly over the past week, but have returned to where they started -- at just under $28. The share price closed up 30 cents to $28.01 today on news that Shopping.com CEO Josh Silverman will now run eBay's Skype online telephony unit.
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Posted
Oct 01 2007, 11:42 AM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Money Blog: Top Stocks Blog - MSN Money
The most telling news from eBay's Skype announcement today is that it paid $530 million to settle an earn-out agreement. That doesn't sound so bad unless you consider that eBay was supposed to pay up to $1.7 billion as different revenue and profit targets were achieved. So to settle for a third of the total amount is an acknowledgement that things are not going as well as planned.
 eBay spent $2.6 billion on Internet calling company Skype in 2005, drawing skepticism from many corners. The idea was that eBay buyers and sellers would talk to each other on the computer, and the increased communication would boost the number of eBay transactions. But eBay never seemed to follow through with this initial vision, and many active eBay users probably still don't understand Skype, how it works or what it does.
eBay tries to spin today's news by saying the payment "is reasonable given the progress and anticipated rapid growth" of Skype's user base. The company is going to eat that $530 million as well as an additional $900 million as an impairment charge for its Q3.
Heads must roll with that kind of screwup, and today brings the resignation of Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom. eBay's chief strategy officer will fill in temporarily. Skype President Henry Gomez is going back to eBay corporate as a senior VP.
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