Dropping over $1 billion on social media-driven maps provider Waze might seem a bit much considering Waze didn't even attempt to monetize its service, and its 44 million users, until late last year. Obviously, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG ) has once again gone overboard in its efforts to grow and fend off competitors via acquisitions, right? As industry watchers know, Google has a long history of buying what it feels it needs -- be it talent or technology -- and removing opportunities off the table for its competitors. And with Waze, Google gets the best of both worlds.
What's the big deal about Waze?
What's intriguing about Waze, and why Google competitors including Facebook (NASDAQ: FB ) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL ) were�once reportedly in the acquisition mix, is that Waze combines two scorching-hot mobile industry technologies: social media and mapping. Unlike Google or Apple's mapping tools, Waze relies on its social media-savvy users to update traffic conditions in real time.
10 Best Biotech Stocks To Own For 2015: Shenandoah Telecommunications Co(SHEN)
Shenandoah Telecommunications Company, a diversified telecommunications company, provides regulated and unregulated telecommunications services to end-user customers and other communications providers in the southeastern United States. It offers a suite of voice, video, and data communications services; and sells telecommunications equipment. The company?s Wireless segment provides digital wireless service to a portion of a four-state area covering the region from Harrisburg, York, and Altoona, Pennsylvania to Harrisonburg, Virginia. It owns 149 towers and leases tower space to other wireless communications providers in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. This segment also offers personal communications services through a digital wireless telephone and data network. Its Wireline segment provides regulated and unregulated telephone services and leases fiber optic facilities primarily in the northern Shenandoah Valley. This segment also offers information s ervices and Internet access to customers in the northern Shenandoah Valley and surrounding areas. In addition, it is involved in the resale of long distance service for calls placed to locations outside the regulated telephone service area by telephone customers. As of December 31, 2011, this segment had approximately 1,410 dial-up customers and 12,351 digital subscriber line customers, as well as served approximately 10,483 long distance customers. The company?s Cable Television segment provides coaxial cable-based television service in the portions of Shenandoah County, Virginia, as well as in communities in West Virginia, southern and southwestern Virginia, and western Maryland. It had approximately 137,238 cable revenue generating units. The company was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Edinburg, Virginia.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Leading and Lagging Sectors
Wednesday morning, the healthcare sector proved to be a source of strength for the market. Leading the sector was strength from Horizon Pharma (NASDAQ: HZNP) and Pernix Therapeutics Holdings (NASDAQ: PTX). In trading on Wednesday, telecommunications services shares were relative laggards, down on the day by about 0.39 percent. Top decliners in the sector included Shenandoah Telecommunications Co (NASDAQ: SHEN), off 3.3 percent, and CalAmp (NASDAQ: CAMP), down around 2.4 percent.
10 Best Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Cabot Microelectronics Corporation(CCMP)
Cabot Microelectronics Corporation engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) consumables to the semiconductor industry primarily in the United States, Asia, and Europe. CMP is a polishing process used by integrated circuit (IC) device manufacturers to planarize or flatten the multiple layers of material that are deposited upon silicon wafers in the production of advanced ICs. The company offers CMP slurries, which are liquid solutions composed of high-purity deionized water, proprietary chemical additives, and engineered abrasives that chemically and mechanically interact with the surface material of the IC device at an atomic level; and CMP polishing pads that are engineered polymeric materials designed to distribute and transport the slurry to the surface of the wafer and distribute it evenly across the wafer. Its CMP slurries are used for various polishing applications, including materials that conduct electrical signal s, such as tungsten, copper, tantalum, and aluminum; the dielectric insulating materials that separate conductive layers within logic and memory IC devices; and the disk substrates and magnetic heads used in hard disk drives. The company also designs and produces precision polishing and metrology systems to attain shape and surface finish on various optical components, such as mirrors, lenses, and prisms. It serves producers of logic IC devices and memory IC devices, as well as IC foundries. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Aurora, Illinois.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Nikolaj Gammeltoft]
Not all of Granville�� best calls were in the distant past. On March 11, 2000, the day after the Nasdaq Composite Index (CCMP) jumped to a record 5048.62, Granville wrote that investors in technology stocks ��ill soon be burned.��The index, heavy on computer-related companies, tumbled about 78 percent before bottoming on Oct. 9, 2002.
- [By Whitney Kisling]
That alert proved too optimistic and the exchange pushed back the open another 15 minutes. By 3:25 p.m., Nasdaq stocks started ticking again. With the close about 35 minutes away, both the Nasdaq Composite Index (CCMP) and the Nasdaq 100 Index began to rise.
10 Best Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: DigitalGlobe Inc (DGI)
DigitalGlobe, Inc. provides commercial earth imagery products and information services worldwide. It collects imagery products and services through its QuickBird, WorldView-1, and WorldView-2 satellites, as well as aerial and satellite imagery from third party suppliers. The company offers a range of online and offline distribution options, including desktop software applications; Web services, which provide direct online access to the company�s image library; file transfer protocol; physical media, such as CD, DVD, and hard drive; and direct access program that facilitates certain customers to task and download data from its WorldView-1 and WorldView-2 satellites. Its imagery products and services support various uses, including defense, intelligence and homeland security, mapping and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, and infrastructure management. DigitalGlobe, Inc. serves defense contractors; civil government agencies; providers of location-b ased services; and various companies in energy, telecommunications, utility, forestry, mining, financial services, environmental, and agricultural industries through direct and indirect channels. The company was formerly known as EarthWatch, Incorporated and changed its name to DigitalGlobe, Inc. in August 2002. DigitalGlobe, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Longmont, Colorado. DigitalGlobe, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
DigitalGlobe (NYSE: DGI ) reported earnings on May 7. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 31 (Q1), DigitalGlobe missed estimates on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share. - [By Steve Symington]
DigitalGlobe� (NYSE: DGI ) just released mixed third-quarter results, and the market is responding by pushing shares down around 3% in Thursday's after-hours trading. But that doesn't mean the satellite image purveyor's results were bad.
10 Best Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Rentrak Corporation(RENT)
Rentrak Corporation, an information management company, provides content measurement and analytical services to companies in the entertainment industry. The company delivers content performance data for various entertainment platforms and media technologies, including television, theatrical, home entertainment, mobile, and broadband video. It operates in two divisions, Home Entertainment, and Advanced Media and Information. The Home Entertainment division delivers home entertainment content products, such as DVDs and blue-ray discs; and offers related rental and sales information for the content to home video specialty stores and other retailers in the United States and Canada. It leases products from various suppliers, including motion picture studios; and retailers sublease and rent these products to consumers. This division also includes direct revenue sharing (DRS) services, which encompasses the collection, tracking, auditing, and reporting of transaction and revenue data generated by DRS retailers to its respective DRS clients. The AMI division offers Essentials Suite of business information services. This division?s Essentials Suite software and services provide data collection, management, analysis, and reporting functions. It also collects and process data from across 26 countries. This division has operations in California, New York, Florida, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, and Russia. The company was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon with additional offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Argentina, Australia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By James Oberweis]
Rentrak (RENT) offers technology that merges television viewership, advanced demographics, and actual consumer behavior information across multiple platforms, devices, and distribution channels.
- [By Sean Williams]
On the wrong track
Small-cap Rentrak (NASDAQ: RENT ) has done quite well for itself and shareholders over the past 12 months. As a marketing and entertainment information provider to the TV, movie, and advertising industry, Rentrak has witnessed its share price rise as the outlook for the overall economy continues to improve. But beyond the surface, Rentrak looks like a brutally overpriced research and information company with few growth catalysts. - [By Maria Armental var popups = dojo.query(".socialByline .popC"); popups.forEach]
Rentrak Corp.'s(RENT) revenue rose 40% with help from its television business revenue, but the box-office tracking and TV-ratings firm posted a slightly wider loss for its fiscal fourth quarter.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Rentrak (Nasdaq: RENT ) is expected to report Q4 earnings on June 13. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:
The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Rentrak's revenues will expand 12.1% and EPS will turn positive
10 Best Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Fabrinet (FN)
Fabrinet, incorporated on August 12, 1999, provides optical packaging and precision optical, electro-mechanical and electronic manufacturing services to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of complex products, such as optical communication components, modules and sub-systems, industrial lasers and sensors. The Company offers a range of optical and electro-mechanical capabilities across the entire manufacturing processes, including process design and engineering, supply chain management, manufacturing, advanced packaging, final assembly and test.
The products that the Company manufactures for its OEM customers includes optical communications devices, such as selective switching products, such as reconfigurable optical add-drop modules (ROADMs), optical amplifiers, modulators and other optical components and modules that collectively enable network managers to route signals through fiber traffic at various wavelengths and over various distances; tunable transponders and transceivers that eliminate the need to stock individual fixed wavelength transponders and transceivers used in voice and data communications networks; and active optical cables providing high-speed interconnect capabilities for data centers and computing clusters, as well as Infiniband, Ethernet, fiber channel and optical backplane connectivity.
Solid state, diode-pumped, gas and fiber lasers (industrial lasers) used across a array of industries, including semiconductor processing (wafer inspection, wafer dicing, wafer scribing), biotechnology (DNA sequencing, flow cytometry, hematology, antibody detection), metrology (instrumentation, calibration, inspection), and material processing (photo processing, textile cutting, annealing, marking, engraving); and sensors, including differential pressure, micro-gyro, fuel and other sensors that are used in automobiles, and non-contact temperature measurement sensors for the medical industry. The Company also designs and fabricates application-specific crystals, pri! sms, mirrors, laser components and substrates (customized optics) and other custom and standard borosilicate, clear fused quartz, and synthetic fused silica glass products (customized glass).
The Company competes with Sanmina-SCI Corporation, Celestica Inc., Venture Corporation Limited, Benchmark Electronics, Inc, Browave Corporation, Fujian Castech Crystals, Inc., Research Electro-Optic, Inc. and Photop Technologies, Inc.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Seth Jayson]
Calling all cash flows
When you are trying to buy the market's best stocks, it's worth checking up on your companies' free cash flow once a quarter or so, to see whether it bears any relationship to the net income in the headlines. That's what we do with this series. Today, we're checking in on Fabrinet (NYSE: FN ) , whose recent revenue and earnings are plotted below. - [By Monica Gerson]
Fabrinet (NYSE: FN) is estimated to post its Q4 earnings at $0.35 per share on revenue of $172.02 million.
Sky-mobi (NASDAQ: MOBI) is projected to report its Q2 results.
- [By Seth Jayson]
Fabrinet (NYSE: FN ) reported earnings on April 29. Here are the numbers you need to know.
The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended March 29 (Q3), Fabrinet beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.
10 Best Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc.(RSTI)
Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the design, development, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing of laser-based products worldwide. The company offers laser macro products to machine tool and automotive markets for cutting and welding of metals. It also provides laser marking products to semiconductor and electronics markets for the marking of integrated circuits, wafers, solar cells, electronic components, and smart cards, as well as to automotive markets for the marking of labels and car components. In addition, the company offers laser micro products for fine welding, fine cutting, micro structuring, and drilling applications in medical devices, semiconductor and electronics, photovoltaic, dental, and jewelry markets; and for perforating and scribing of paper and foils in packaging and paper industries. Further, it provides components to laser industry. The company sells its products in approximately 65 countries to original e quipment manufacturers, systems integrators, and industrial end-users. Rofin-Sinar Technologies Inc. was founded in 1975 and is based in Plymouth, Michigan.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Brian Stoffel]
For decades, the standard technology in the laser industry has been the carbon-based laser. In reality, these lasers are still commonly used, and sold in bulk by the likes of Rofin-Sinar (NASDAQ: RSTI ) and Coherent (NASDAQ: COHR ) . They are used largely for precision cutting of large pieces of metal.
- [By Brian Stoffel]
Rofin-Sinar (NASDAQ: RSTI ) , Coherent (NASDAQ: COHR ) , Newport (NASDAQ: NEWP ) , and JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ: JDSU ) all offer fiber-optic lasers as well.
10 Best Tech Stocks To Buy For 2014: Eco Depot Inc (ECDP)
Eco Depot, Inc. (Eco Depot), incorporated on November 2, 2004, is a development-stage company. The Company is in the business of developing an Internet e-commerce Website that will sell a range of environmentally friendly goods, energy efficient building and construction materials and sustainable home products. Eco Depot will not manufacture any equipment or goods, but will resell green products from various manufacturers. In July 2010, Eco Depot Inc acquired CS Tech (America).
Eco Depot, Inc. plans to develop and market an e-commerce enabled Website, which would attract prospective industrial clientele, businesses, municipalities and individual customers seeking cleaner technologies and products. The Company plans to market and sell through its Website goods and products that are defined as green. These green products include recycled paper counter tops, environmentally friendly paints, and recycled glass tiles. Eco Depot began the initial development of its Website (www.ecodepotinc.com.) where these products are listed.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Peter Graham]
Small cap green stocks Eco Depot Inc (OTCMKTS: ECDP), Eco Building Products Inc (OTCMKTS: ECOB) and Profire Energy, Inc (OTCBB: PFIE) has been getting some extra attention lately in various investment newsletters thanks to paid promotions or investor relation campaigns. Of course, there is nothing wrong with properly disclosed promotions and investor relations campaigns, but small cap green stocks tend to be extra volatile when compared with other stocks. So how in greenbacks will these three small cap green stocks produce for investors? Here is a quick reality check:
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