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Jay Wei

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  • A Poorly-Integrated Tumblr May Send Yahoo! onto a Tumbling Course

    By Jay Wei - May 23, 2013 | Tickers: FB, GOOG, YHOO

    Every time Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) ties itself up in a deal, investors can easily wonder whether the company will finally piece together its Web technology and Web content, two areas of business that Yahoo! seems to have operated somewhat discretely. In all likelihood, Yahoo! wants to remain in the business of its own Web-content creation, and Web-content assemblage based on third-party materials. But its content business will have a better more »

  • How Can J.C. Penney Stack Up to Its Competitors?

    By Jay Wei - May 16, 2013 | Tickers: JCP, M, TGT

    The consumer retail business is surely a crowded marketplace, but many companies seem to have found their spots that hopefully can best attract customers for them. J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) has long been a family-oriented department store, selling decent-quality merchandises at affordable prices. It's certainly not Macy's (NYSE: M), which is less price conscious and more quality focused. It's not even Target (NYSE: TGT), a company more »

  • Will Airlines Ever Take Off?

    By Jay Wei - May 2, 2013 | Tickers: DAL, UAL, LCC

    While air travel is such a vital consumer activity in the total economic mix, the business of providing air travel as it currently is doesn't seem to be lively at all. Life has not been comfortable for the airline industry with air travel no longer a luxury.

    So many carriers have been coming in and out of bankruptcies, and few ever seem capable of landing on a profit. The more »

  • A Healthy Dose of McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and the Like

    By Jay Wei - April 22, 2013 | Tickers: KO, MCD, SBUX

    Anyone doubtful about the continued relevance of the business of selling unhealthy fast foods and soft drinks must have been surprised to see that two of its most visible companies, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), are steadily trading at a premium to the general market. They are staying in it, offering the same "junk" foods and sugary drinks, however unfit as perceived by the increasingly health-conscious public more »

  • A Healthy Dose to McDonald's, Coca-Cola and the Like

    By Jay Wei - April 17, 2013 | Tickers: KO, MCD, SBUX

    Anyone doubtful about the continued relevance of the business of selling unhealthy fast foods and soft drinks must have been surprised to see that two of its most visible companies, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), are steadily trading at a premium to the general market. They are staying in it, offering the same "junk" foods and sugary drinks, however unfit as perceived by the increasingly health-conscious public more »

  • Where Lies the Future of PC?

    By Jay Wei - April 12, 2013 | Tickers: DELL, GOOG, MSFT

    Today so many have doubts about the future of PC as consumers continue to gravitate towards the convenience and ubiquitousness of mobile computing on smartphones and tablets. All the drama that has surrounded Dell (NASDAQ: DELL)'s going-private talks has made the company a poster child of the currently struggling PC industry. Dell and other PC companies haven’t found a way to reinvent themselves to show that they can more »

  • Where Lies the Future of PC?

    By Jay Wei - April 12, 2013 | Tickers: DELL, GOOG, MSFT

    Today so many have doubts about the future of PC as consumers continue to gravitate towards the convenience and ubiquitousness of mobile computing on smartphones and tablets. All the drama that has surrounded Dell (NASDAQ: DELL)'s going-private talks has made the company a poster child of the currently struggling PC industry. Dell and other PC companies haven’t found a way to reinvent themselves to show that they can more »

  • Where Lies the Future of PC?

    By Jay Wei - April 8, 2013 | Tickers: DELL, GOOG, MSFT

    Today so many have doubts about the future of PC as consumers continue to gravitate towards the convenience and ubiquitousness of mobile computing on smartphones and tablets. All the drama that has surrounded Dell (NASDAQ: DELL)'s going-private talks has made the company a poster child of the currently struggling PC industry. Dell and other PC companies haven’t found a way to reinvent themselves to show that they can more »

  • From IPO to Going Private: How Investors Can Lose in the Process

    By Jay Wei - January 21, 2013 | Tickers: DELL, HPQ, INTC

    It may be the end of all for Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) shareholders as Mr. Dell is taking his company private, which means selling out public shareholders to private equity firms. Remember, Mr. Dell is also an investor with Silver Lake Management, the lead private equity manager for the proposed Dell buyout. It didn’t matter that Dell, the company, is almost 85 percent owned by public shareholders, as the deal more »

  • How Much Would You Pay for Mighty Amazon?

    By Jay Wei - January 17, 2013 | Tickers: AMZN, AAPL, GOOG

    One of the investment tenets observed by many value investors teaches that good companies may not all be good investments. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), at its current imposing price level, increasingly looks like what such an investment rule intends to illustrate. While few will disagree that Amazon is a great company, many may have doubts when betting their own money on the stock, now that it's price is in the more »

  • Not All Solar-Panel Makers Can Shine Brightly

    By Jay Wei - January 14, 2013 | Tickers: FSLR, SPWR, STP

    Solar-panel makers probably saw the worst of their industry in 2012. While increased solar-panel supply resulting from more companies entering the market caused unprecedented price declines, demand for solar-panel installation in residential homes and commercial buildings did not pick up accordingly. Even with lowered costs, upfront investments for solar energy are still considered high, if not totally unaffordable, by average consumer standards. Such market dynamics can really work against solar-panel more »

  • Are Video Game Makers Up to Their Own Game?

    By Jay Wei - January 3, 2013 | Tickers: ATVI, EA, TTWO

    There may be a whole new game awaiting video-game makers, as public scrutiny intensifies following recent shooting incidents in Newtown, Connecticut. No businesses like to be dictated by social or political events, but few can operate in a vacuum and all have to adjust to changing environments for both their business bottom line and social image. There are likely more debates about potential links, if ever anything, between playing violent more »

  • Are Pipelines a Dependable Route to Energy Independence?

    By Jay Wei - December 21, 2012 | Tickers: KMF, PSX, WMB

    Ever since the discovery of oil and gas deposits in shale formations across the continental U.S., both energy supply and energy-related investment opportunities here in the U.S. have grown to become more promising. With many energy companies pushing on to build and bring new, domestic energy productions on line, energy investors may have also felt the urgency to hold a stake in the future of a potential American more »

  • What Deals Can Groupon Get if it Sells Itself?

    By Jay Wei - December 12, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, GOOG, GRPN

    It may be harsh-sounding but is certainly worth noting that Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) might have been dead on arrival at its IPO, despite that its faithful investors would likely insist otherwise. Unless companies of Groupon’s clients are all in a position to operate consistently as discounters, handing out coupons to customers can only be periodic promotional propositions. Thus for Groupon coupon sales are at best an unstable revenue source more »

  • Has Yahoo! Gotten Its Identity Right?

    By Jay Wei - December 7, 2012 | Tickers: AOL, GOOG, YHOO

    It seems nowadays that Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) really likes to see itself as an online media company, that is, a digital content provider. Granted, Yahoo! started as a Web information portal, but the company was also an early player in Web technologies with its once popular Yahoo! search service before Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) came to prominence. It’s fair to say that by facilitating others’ content distributions on the Web more »

  • How Is Hewlett-Packard Reinventing Itself?

    By Jay Wei - December 4, 2012 | Tickers: DELL, HPQ, IBM

    From its humble beginning and throughout the proud history, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has always tried to project the inventor image onto the consumer’s mind. After all, “hp invent” is the company’s motto and its corporate logo. But now it seems that the once distinctive slogan is gradually losing its old persuasiveness, as the long-held personal-computer invention is giving away to the mass mobile-computing revolution. To reinvent itself, HP more »

  • Is Intel’s Semiconductor Business a Semi-complete Strategy?

    By Jay Wei - November 27, 2012 | Tickers: AMD, INTC, QCOM

    Semiconductor technology has served Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) well for a long time, but probably won’t carry it all the way through a future where traditional PCs are only one part of the computing mix. The more Intel can reduce its reliance on its traditional semiconductor business, the more likely it is that the company may avoid having a semi-complete business strategy for the future, and the better it can more »

  • Can Microsoft Rise above the Surface?

    By Jay Wei - November 20, 2012 | Tickers: DELL, GOOG, MSFT

    It was another disappointing quarter full of declining revenues for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). The stock has been stagnant for the last three years, whipsawing mostly between $25 and $30. It seems that investors just haven’t shown a strong faith in Microsoft, no matter what the company has done. The latest launch of Windows 8 also has had minimal effects on the stock, even though the effort is meant to more »

  • The Inherent Vulnerability Inside the Pandora Music Box

    By Jay Wei - November 18, 2012 | Tickers: AAPL, P, SIRI

    While investors are seemingly concerned about if and how Pandora (NYSE: P) can measure up to Apple’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) planned online radio service next year, they must also know that Pandora is already in an ongoing competition with privately-held Spotify, another leading provider of music streaming service. Unlike Pandora, a pioneer of Internet music radio, Spotify offers more comprehensive music streaming services that go beyond the basic radio form more »

  • What Could Really Play Down Netflix?

    By Jay Wei - November 14, 2012 | Tickers: AMZN, AAPL, NFLX

    As online video streaming becomes increasingly popular, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will no doubt see intensified competition from more companies offering video-streaming services. Because of its dominant market position as an established early mover, most expect that Netflix will be able to fend off potential challenges. However, one possible threat seems to have been overlooked by both the company and investors at large, and it has something to do with potentially more »

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