Barron's Digest 5/29/2006 Issue FRNS, XOHO, VG, IDT,LINTB, LRSC, MU, STEI, SCI, SI, GE, PHG, FSL, STM, IFX, INTC
Barron's has an upbeat story on Philips Electronics which points out that revenue and earnings have been lackluster for 10 years and the stock price has moved very little since 2001. But the company has promising prospects. The company's staff has been cut about 25%. In the first quarter, sales rose 14% and net profit was up 37%. Philips PE is not low, about 7 for 2007.
Philips plans to sell or IPO its semiconductor business, with potential buyers including Freescale, STMicroelectronics, Infineon, and Intel. Philips has four divisions, but Barron's believes that the medical operations division has the most promise. It had sales of $7.8 billion in 2005, 21% of Philips' total. This part of the company competes with GE and Siemens.
Philips is also pushing into emerging markets such as India and China. Barron's says that Philips has done well adapting to the local marketing and sales practices in these countries.
Barron's also reports that Service Corp. International is facing a poor business environment for its major product, funeral sevices, because people are living to be older. The same problem faces its competitors Alderwoods and Stewart Enterprises.
According to Barron's, after seven years, the run in small stocks may be facing problems. Although the access to capital for small firms is good and M&A activity is strong, some small caps are facing headwinds. Lam Research is one example of the issues facing companies with market caps this size. The company's earnings have been strong, but other companies are adding capacity. Output of NAND flash-memory chips could rise 200%. Companies vying for this market include Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk, Intel and Micron Technology. Barron's says "the looming glut of NAND chips will batter shares of Lam and SanDisk".
Barron's says IDT may be about to deliver good returns for shareholders. The company sold its animated-movie division to Liberty Media. The sales could balloon IDT's cash position to over $1 billion, and some of this money may be used to buy back shares. IDT Telecom is the leader in pre-paid calling cards. IDT also owns wireless spectrum that may have future value. IDT also owns Net2Phone, which competes with Vonage. If IDT's parts are worth $1 billion and the company has $1 billion in cash after the Liberty transaction, the per share value is about $25. But, the company trades for under $13.
Barron's Tech Week looks at First Avenue Networks, which is in the "wireless backhaul" business. The stock may be expensive now. The company is small compared to rivals IDT and XO Holdings are larger and have much stronger balance sheets.
Barron's interviewed James Turk of Goldmoney.com. He says gold prices could go to $2,000 near-term and eventually $8,000. The physical demand for gold is rising. Also, gold tends to rise with the price of crude oil, and oil has gone up much more than gold recently.
Douglas A. McIntyre
Philips plans to sell or IPO its semiconductor business, with potential buyers including Freescale, STMicroelectronics, Infineon, and Intel. Philips has four divisions, but Barron's believes that the medical operations division has the most promise. It had sales of $7.8 billion in 2005, 21% of Philips' total. This part of the company competes with GE and Siemens.
Philips is also pushing into emerging markets such as India and China. Barron's says that Philips has done well adapting to the local marketing and sales practices in these countries.
Barron's also reports that Service Corp. International is facing a poor business environment for its major product, funeral sevices, because people are living to be older. The same problem faces its competitors Alderwoods and Stewart Enterprises.
According to Barron's, after seven years, the run in small stocks may be facing problems. Although the access to capital for small firms is good and M&A activity is strong, some small caps are facing headwinds. Lam Research is one example of the issues facing companies with market caps this size. The company's earnings have been strong, but other companies are adding capacity. Output of NAND flash-memory chips could rise 200%. Companies vying for this market include Samsung, Toshiba, SanDisk, Intel and Micron Technology. Barron's says "the looming glut of NAND chips will batter shares of Lam and SanDisk".
Barron's says IDT may be about to deliver good returns for shareholders. The company sold its animated-movie division to Liberty Media. The sales could balloon IDT's cash position to over $1 billion, and some of this money may be used to buy back shares. IDT Telecom is the leader in pre-paid calling cards. IDT also owns wireless spectrum that may have future value. IDT also owns Net2Phone, which competes with Vonage. If IDT's parts are worth $1 billion and the company has $1 billion in cash after the Liberty transaction, the per share value is about $25. But, the company trades for under $13.
Barron's Tech Week looks at First Avenue Networks, which is in the "wireless backhaul" business. The stock may be expensive now. The company is small compared to rivals IDT and XO Holdings are larger and have much stronger balance sheets.
Barron's interviewed James Turk of Goldmoney.com. He says gold prices could go to $2,000 near-term and eventually $8,000. The physical demand for gold is rising. Also, gold tends to rise with the price of crude oil, and oil has gone up much more than gold recently.
Douglas A. McIntyre
posted by douglas mcintyre at 3:30 PM
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