Subtracting Clarity Won't Make The Broadcom Case Stronger

Operationally, I can’t really find much to criticize in Broadcom’s (AVGO) fiscal fourth quarter, even if it does look like the wireless business is looking a little weaker heading into the next year. The central debate on Broadcom remains the CA acquisition and whether this foray into enterprise software can and will generate attractive returns for shareholders. The jury is still very much out on that, though management has made it clear that they look at this as a margin/FCF-rich opportunity and that they’re already willing to consider other enterprise software deals.

As I’ll discuss later, I think Broadcom’s move away from greater transparency is a mistake and disrespectful to shareholders, but it doesn’t really change the intrinsic value. Between a chillier market for semiconductor stocks and ongoing concerns about the CA deal, Broadcom continues to look undervalued below $300.

Continue here:
Subtracting Clarity Won't Make The Broadcom Case Stronger

Seeking Alpha: DigitalGlobe Ready To Reap Cash Flow, But Still Has To Build Its Commercial Efforts

Still deep in the middle of the "show me" part of its story, DigitalGlobe (NYSE:DGI) remains an interesting company but a risky stock. On one hand, no other company can offer the sort of high-quality, high-resolution satellite imagery that DigitalGlobal offers. On the other hand, it's uncertain how many customers really need top-notch image quality and projections of commercial market demand could prove significantly overheated.

I am not as fond of the stock at this level as I was back in August. I do expect the company to see strong improvements in margins and free cash flow over the next few years, but a lot of that is already worked into the share price. For the stock to really work as a long-term holding, there needs to be strong demand in sectors like agriculture, mining, and energy. None of those three are in great shape today, so projections based on current conditions aren't going to look good, but the potential is there to support high single-digit revenue growth over an extended time period.

To read more, please follow this link:
DigitalGlobe Ready To Reap Cash Flow, But Still Has To Build Its Commercial Efforts

Seeking Alpha: Applied Optoelectronics Looking To Two Primary Growth Drivers

Ideas tend to breed other ideas - doing my regular and routine due diligence on component and subsystem companies like Finisar (NASDAQ:FNSR), Avago (NASDAQ:AVGO), and JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ:JDSU) has led me to dig deeper into Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI). This company looks like an interesting play on the 10G/40G data center upgrade cycle, as well as fiber to the home, with a strong core competency in lasers. This is a highly competitive space, though, and I think readers may do well going into it with the assumption that any investment relationship is likely not to be of the long-term variety.

Follow this link to the full article:
Applied Optoelectronics Looking To Two Primary Growth Drivers

Seeking Alpha: Can DigitalGlobe Relaunch After A Reset To Expectations?

Overheated expectations for DigitalGlobe's (NYSE:DGI) commercial business came home to roost earlier this year, when weak guidance after fourth quarter earnings sent the shares down 30%. Since then, management has seen a successful satellite launch and the U.S. government agree to allow them to sell higher-resolution images to its customers, as well as announcing a share buyback. Although the commercial opportunity is still a "show me story", DigitalGlobe does have the advantage of offering the best quality images in the market. Revised expectations still offer upside, but the company would probably serve its interests more effectvely by better managing analyst expectations.

Read the full article here:
Can DigitalGlobe Relaunch After A Reset To Expectations?

Seeking Alpha: Lenovo Doing Fine On Its Own

The acquisitions of IBM's (NYSE:IBM) x86 server business and Google's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Motorola Mobility business are certainly important parts of Lenovo's (OTCPK:LNVGY) investment outlook today, but fiscal first quarter results are a good reminder that there's a strong business here all on its own. Management continues to drive shares gains in PCs and smartphones throughout the world while simultaneously keeping firm control on operating expenses. While there are still risks attached to closing and integrating the IBM and Motorola deals, there are also opportunities for Lenovo to do even better than expected. I look at those factors as pretty balanced today and would suggest waiting for a pullback before starting a sizable position here.

Follow this link to the full article:
Lenovo Doing Fine On Its Own

The Motley Fool: Why Google Could Transform How We See

Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL  ) (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) has started making a significant push into wearables, with medical/health care-related applications among the prime targets. Some readers may already have heard of the company's efforts to develop a glucose-sensing smart contact lens that could continuously monitor glucose levels and interface with mobile devices, allowing diabetics more freedom and convenience.

Count eye care giant Novartis (NYSE: NVS  ) among those who have noticed. Novartis and Google announced on Tuesday that they would work together on smart contact lenses targeting both glucose monitoring and presbyopia. It's hard to say how close to reality (or clinical trials) a functional device might be, but this partnership just may change the landscape of the glucose monitoring market presently dominated by companies like Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ  ) , Abbott Labs, Roche and Medtronic.

Read the full article here:
Why Google Could Transform How We See

The Motley Fool: Will Apple's New Health Care Push Pay Off?

In pursuit of the general idea that anything that can be Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) or Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) (NASDAQ: GOOGL  ) should be Apple or Google, both of these tech giants are getting increasingly serious about their efforts to develop products targeting the medical device space. A recent Freedom Of Information Act request from AppleToolbox revealed details of a meeting between Apple and FDA officials that suggests a pretty high level of interest on the part of Apple in determining what they can, and cannot do, in relation to the marriage of consumer electronics, technology, and health.

Read more here:
Will Apple's New Health Care Push Pay Off?

Seeking Alpha: Lenovo Making The Right Strategic Moves To Build Value

Lenovo (OTCPK:LNVGY) has come along nicely since I wrote about the company as a Top Idea in late July of 2013. Up more than 30%, Lenovo has done well on continued PC, handset, and tablet growth. The shares were rocked when Lenovo followed up the long-expected acquisition of IBM's (IBM) x86 server business with the not-nearly-so-expected acquisition of Motorola from Google (GOOG). Integrating one damaged business was doing to be hard enough, but now Lenovo is paying more than $5 billion for two sizable businesses that need a lot of TLC to turn around.

I continue to be bullish on Lenovo (and a shareholder), as I believe the company does have relevant experience in integrating large acquisitions. What's more, I think the IBM and Google deals address a lot of the remaining deficits in Lenovo's portfolio from a strategic perspective, while Lenovo's demonstrated capabilities in sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution efficiency can fix a lot of what ails these businesses. With a fair value in the high $20s on an elevated discount rate, I continue to believe Lenovo can be a good stock from here.

Follow this link to continue:
Lenovo Making The Right Strategic Moves To Build Value

The Motley Fool: Lenovo Group Ltd: Taking Short-Term Pain For Long-Term Gain

Chinese PC, smartphone, and tablet manufacturer Lenovo (NASDAQOTH: LNVGY  ) has a knack for surprising analysts and investors that goes back a while. Lenovo defied skeptics who thought its acquisition of the IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) PC business was a losing move, leveraging that deal to build the world's largest PC business and continuing to grow its PC business at a time when the market is shrinking.

Now Lenovo is doubling down in a big way. The company's acquisition of IBM's server business was well-telegraphed and well-liked, but then the company shocked the market with the nearly $3 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google (NASDAQ: GOOG  ) . The latter has proven quite controversial, with some sell-side analysts speculating that Lenovo will never turn Motorola around and the shares down around a quarter since the announcement.

I believe that the near-term skepticism ignores the substantial long-term opportunities at Lenovo and some significant undervaluation in these shares.

Read more here:
Lenovo Group Ltd: Taking Short-Term Pain For Long-Term Gain

Seeking Alpha: Without A Buyer, TomTom's Route Is Unclear

When the best exit strategy for a stock is a buyout from a company that may not actually need the products or technology involved, it's tough for me to get all that excited. Be that as it may, the potential of a buyout has been the strongest bull argument for TomTom (OTCPK:TMOAY) (TOM2.AS) for over a year, as many have argued that Apple (AAPL) needs to, or at least should, acquire TomTom to secure its position in mapping and location technology.

There's little argument that mapping/location/navigation technology is important for smartphone manufacturers, and increasingly for automobile manufacturers as well. Whether its important enough for another company to shell out the more than the $1.6 billion it would likely take to acquire TomTom is debatable. The rise of "social mapping" is creating more technology options and the sale of Nokia's (NOK) handset business to Microsoft makes Nokia a more viable licensing partner. I'm not going to rule out the possibility of a company buying TomTom for its map assets, but the stock appears about 20% overvalued on its own independent merits and that makes this more of a binary story than I prefer.

Read the full article here:
Without A Buyer, TomTom's Route Is Unclear

Seeking Alpha: Monotype Imaging May Be On Hold For 2013, But The Long-Term Outlook Is Solid

Given that Monotype Imaging (TYPE) is up about 16% since I recommended it in mid-March (against 6% for the S&P 500), I'm feeling pretty good about that call. Likewise, I still like the long-term opportunity for this company. Fonts and typefaces are one of those businesses that fits in with Peter Lynch's philosophy of targeting overlooked businesses that provide essential products/services that nobody thinks about much, if ever.

All told, I still believe that Monotype has less than 20% of its potential market, and the revenue opportunity for the company could be as high as $1 billion. On the other hand, demand for consumer and business electronics like handsets, tablets, and printers has been softer lately and the company has had to reduce guidance on the basis of higher/worse-than-expected FX headwinds and taxes. I don't believe that investors need to freak out over the lower guidance for 2013, but it does suggest that these shares may be just marking time until revenue growth reaccelerates.

Please continue here:
Monotype Imaging May Be On Hold For 2013, But The Long-Term Outlook Is Solid

Investopedia: Nokia Sells Its Handset Business To Microsoft And Remakes Its Future

From virtually the day that Nokia (NYSE:NOK) and Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) began working together on mobile handsets and smartphones investors have speculated whether Microsoft would acquire Nokia's handset business. Not only had Nokia continued to struggle with the transition to smartphones, some argued that Microsoft would want to “control its ecosystem” in the same way that Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) do through their software and hardware operations.

That all came home to roost on Tuesday, as the two companies announced a transformative deal that will see Microsoft acquire Nokia's phone business and license significant intellectual property (IP). After the deal, Nokia will be a cash-rich wireless infrastructure company, while Microsoft will be much more geared towards handsets and consumer devices.

Please continue here:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/090413/nokia-sells-its-handset-business-microsoft-and-remakes-its-future-msft-nok-aapl-goog.aspx

Investopedia: Yahoo! Reclaims Traffic Leadership, But Can It Turn It Into Cash?

A curious thing happened in internet-land in July. According to comScore, Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO) surpassed Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) to take the top spot in web traffic for July 2013, the first time in more than two years. Yahoo! edged out Google with 197 million unique visitors against Google's 192 million. As always, though, the devil is in the details. It remains to be seen whether Yahoo! can leverage its position into revenue and profits.

Please continue here:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/082313/yahoo-reclaims-traffic-leadership-can-it-turn-it-cash-yhoo-goog-fb-aol-msft.aspx

Investopedia: Microsoft Critics Get Their Way, As Ballmer Announces Impending Retirement

In all the time I've written on Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) it seems like readers/investors always came together on at least one topic – they really didn't like CEO Steve Ballmer. While I think Ballmer has often gotten a bad rap and that Microsoft is better-positioned in enterprise software and services than commonly believed, trying to make that case is tantamount to spitting into the wind.

Under Ballmer's leadership, Microsoft has lost close to half of its value. Again, I think you could argue that almost anybody taking the job was going to preside over a significant erosion in market cap, as Ballmer took the CEO position of Microsoft just three months before the tech bubble peaked. In any case, I will side with the critics who feel that, whatever the quality of Ballmer's vision for Microsoft, he did a poor job of selling the Street on it.

Now they won't have Ballmer to kick around much longer. On Friday morning, Ballmer announced his intention to retire from the job within 12 months, with the exact timing tied to the search committee finding a new CEO for the company.

Read more here:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/082313/microsoft-critics-get-their-way-ballmer-announces-impending-retirement-msft-ibm-orcl-goog.aspx

Investopedia: BlackBerry Finally Looking For A Bidder, But Will A Real Buyer Bite?

It looks like an outbreak of rationality has hit BlackBerry (Nasdaq:BBRY), as the company announced on Monday that it had formed a special committee to “explore strategic alternatives” for the struggling handset company. While the company's announcement mentioned options like joint ventures, partnerships, and alliances, shareholders, analysts, and investors are are zeroing in almost exclusively on the possibility of a sale.

If BlackBerry is serious about a sale, it'll happen. I have no doubt that, at the right price, the company can find a buyer willing to take on the not-inconsiderable task of turning around this struggling high-end handset company. The trick is going to be that “at the right price” part. BlackBerry's enterprise value (that is, market capitalization net of cash and debt on the balance sheet) isn't very large, but any buyer is looking at a likely multi-year restructuring/turnaround program that will require capital, compress margins, and offer only uncertain payoffs.

Please click the link to read more:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/081413/blackberry-finally-looking-bidder-will-real-buyer-bite-bbry-amzn-msft-goog.aspx

Investopedia: Groupon Takes Another Step Forward

The once beaten-up Internet 2.0 stocks are coming back with a vengeance. Groupon (Nasdaq:GRPN) still has a long way to go to match Facebook (NYSE: FB) and Yelp (Nasdaq:YELP) in terms of reclaiming prior highs, but the stock has quadrupled from its lows and analysts seem considerably more positive about the company's strategy now. With that big recovery in the stock, valuation is getting more demanding but if Groupon can get to double-digit revenue growth, I would expect the stock to remain strong.

Read more here:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/080813/groupon-takes-another-step-forward-grpn-fb-goog-amzn.aspx

Investopedia: At A Minimum, Amazon Is Consistent

Although Amazon (Nasdaq:AMZN) is not close to being my favorite internet stock, it's hard for me not to admire the company on multiple levels. Not unlike, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Amazon isn't afraid to walk and chew bubblegum at the same time, and the company seems unafraid of flouting Wall Street's obsession over short-term growth by investing in multiple projects that likely won't produce meaningful margins for many years. While there's still a worry that investors will lose faith in the company's ability to generate strong margins and cash flows at some later date (and revise their opinion on “fair” multiples accordingly), Amazon seems focused on remaining a disruptive force in multiple markets.

Please follow this link for more:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/072613/minimum-amazon-consistent-amzn-goog-nflx-ibm.aspx

Investopedia: Has Facebook Crossed The Mobile Threshold?

There never seems to be a middle ground on Facebook (NYSE:FB), as opinions run very hot or cold based on the latest data point (real or imagined) concerning the company. There's no question that Facebook surprised the Street with its mobile ad revenue growth this quarter, and user data seems to run counter to the worries that users are disengaging from Facebook. While I remain basically bullish on the company (and the stock), that comes with the warning that sell-side analysts are significantly jacking up their estimates in the wake of this quarter and any shortfall in the third quarter will be swiftly and brutally punished.

Please follow this link for more:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/072513/has-facebook-crossed-mobile-threshold-fb-goog-yhoo-znga.aspx

Investopedia: Netflix Results Are Always About Tomorrow

Subscription video service Netflix (Nasdaq:NFLX) posted good results relative to Wall Street expectations, but once again it's the company's view of the future that matters more than the trailing results. To that end, there's likely to be at least some negative fussing tied to a view of third quarter subscription growth that was a few percentage points below the average expectation. While I like the business that Netflix has, and I believe management has wisely carved out some points of distinction from the competition, it's tough to see how these shares are cheap.

Please follow this link to read more:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/072313/netflix-results-are-always-about-tomorrow-nflx-amzn-aapl-goog.aspx

Investopedia: Google Building For A Bigger Future

My first boss on Wall Street (and a long-time friend ever since), Archie Smith, used to say “What do you want, egg in your beer?” when faced with situations where people just didn't seem to be appreciating what they were getting. The expression made no sense to me then, nor does it now, but I do understand the frustration that fueled it. Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) is an enormous company ($14 billion in quarterly gross revenue) still growing at a 20% clip, but investors and analysts hen-peck the company for its ongoing investments into future sources of growth and the prospects for declining margins in the future. While the shares don't seem terribly cheap today, this is not a company that I'd underestimate today.

Read more here:
http://www.investopedia.com/stock-analysis/071913/google-building-bigger-future-goog-msft-aapl-ebay.aspx