Software
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Yahoo and Microsoft Again
By Tony Daltorio - December 29, 2011 | Tickers: MSFT, YHOO
There is a scramble on for Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO). The company has entered talks with at least two private equity firms – Silver Lake and TPG – among others.
Let's not forget too there is also Jack Ma and his company, Alibaba, which is looking to break its ties with Yahoo, even if it involves buying out the company. It's said that he and Softbank, Yahoo's partner in Japan more »
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Apple: Amateurs Copy, Geniuses Steal
By Jane Genova - December 28, 2011 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT, MMI, XRX
There's the old saying in business: amateurs copy, geniuses steal.
The genius comes from the ability to take what's needed and getting around legal and other hurdles, such as being bad-mouthed in the marketplace for not being as innovative as the competition. Interestingly that seems to be exactly what Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) did with Xerox's (NYSE: XRX) prototype of graphic user interface, developed more »
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Ubuntu’s 18-Wheeler Wide Security Hole
By Roland Hughes - December 28, 2011 | Tickers: DELL, IBM, NOK
Quite some time ago I filed bug 731504 with the launchpad system for Ubuntu (a registered trademark of Canonical Ltd.). Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be something worthy of blogging about on the Fool, but this particular bug impacts every Fortune 1000 company that considers using their server software and it definitely impacts their many partners including IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL).
This bug stems from a viciously short more »
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Predictions for 2012
By Nikhil Shamapant - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: AFL, AAPL, ATPG, GLW, MHS, NBS, GAME
Before the New Year begins, I figure I should make a few predictions for 2012, just for fun. This blog is copied from my CAPS blog post, but modified a little bit.
Here I go:
1. ATP Oil and Gas (NASDAQ: ATPG) will FINALLY get its footing. There will be a gigantic short squeeze and the stock will fly. I'm actually in the process of synthesizing 30 articles of more »
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Skype and Microsoft: Together a Smart Strategy to Compete with Tablets and Smartphones
By Elizabeth Magill - December 27, 2011 | Tickers: AAPL, CSCO, EBAY, GOOG, MSFT
In May 2011, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced a brilliant deal with Skype. And a brilliant deal it was.
While Skype is an internet phone company at its core, it's much more than that. Skype not only offers free calls over the internet, it enables calls to landlines and mobile phones and group video chats through Skype Credit and Skype Premium, respectively.The Acquisition
Microsoft acquired Skype for $8.5 more » -
5 Technology IPOs Up Over 20 Percent from Their IPO Offer Price
By Elizabeth Magill - December 26, 2011 | Tickers: ANGI, RATE, FIO, JIVE, LNKD
In the overall scheme of things, the global tech industry experienced a heavy heart of sadness in 2011, with the passing of Apple's creative innovator and visionary Steve Jobs.
But, thanks in part to Jobs, it was also a time of excitement when mobile computing exploded and popularity of the Apple's iPad 2, Amazon's Kindle Fire, and the many Google Android-based tablet devices.
2011 was the year more » -
Yahoo’s Search for Cash Raises Questions
By Tim Brugger - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: GOOG, MSFT, BX, YHOO
Since the untimely departure of CEO Carol Bartz in September, Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) has been in search of capital. You may recall the manner in which the company chose to handle the situation. Rather than politely escort Ms. Bartz from Yahoo headquarters, they actually shot her a quick phone call. Man, when it's time to go it's time to go. And apparently it was, because the stock subsequently more »
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An Overlooked Apple Acquisition
By David Talley - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: AAPL, MSFT, SNE
It upsets me to no end when I hear people talk about what companies Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) should acquire. It is usually an extremely overvalued business with extreme growth prospects but very little in actual profit or profit potential. My counter is always the same: if Apple is going to make a fairly large acquisition, they better be buying Nintendo (NASDAQOTH: NTDOY.PK).
Nintendo has a market cap of around more »
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Meet the New Cloud
By Roland Hughes - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: AMZN, GOOG, HPQ, MSFT
Same as the old cloud
Sorry, I couldn’t resist ripping off The Who “Won’t Get Fooled Again," nor could I resist screaming that title out as I typed it. Thankfully, I work alone, although after reading the opening to this it might be a bit difficult for you to believe that is by choice.
If you haven’t already read my previous post on the old clouds, please more »
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Oh My Oracle!
By Justin Carley - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: CSCO, ORCL
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) made the headlines yesterday in a negative way. The company reported 2QF12 results that missed street expectations and the stock was pummeled 11%. That made an already cheap stock even cheaper and should get the value investor a bit excited. The stock has plenty of upside from current prices and patience can reward investors- not in buying and waiting, but in waiting to buy.
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Don't Sleep on Microsoft
By David Talley - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: GOOG, MSFT, RIMM
Remember Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), that great growth company that created enormous wealth for its shareholders in the 90's? Remember the innovations that came from that company? Fortunately for you (because it creates an investing opportunity), most people have forgotten that Microsoft, instead focusing on a company that has struggled to innovate and whose stock price has reflected that fact. However, there is much to get excited about for Microsoft more »
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Oracle's Earnings Scare Gives Investors Great Price on Symantec
By Chad Brand - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: CTXS, INTC, ORCL, SYMC
A big earnings disappointment crushed shares of business software provider Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) on Wednesday and most software stocks lost significant ground in sympathy. The logic being that if Oracle is seeing demand soften in the enterprise sector, the same will be true for other corporate IT providers. High multiple stocks such as Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS) were hit especially hard due to exteme valuation levels for the cloud computing sector more »
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DJIA Analysis - Microsoft
By Nikhil Shamapant - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT
Finding the Intrinsic Value of the Market
In this investing series, I seek to find the intrinsic value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average through a brief fundamental analysis of each of the 30 companies included in the average, with the goal of deriving an intrinsic value for the market as a whole through a ‘sum of the parts’ analysis. I will also attempt to make recommendations on how to more »
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Reflections of a Wannabe Investor
By Kyle Campbell - December 22, 2011 | Tickers: BRK-B, BRK-A, BWLD, CMG, JNJ, MKL, MKC, MSFT, PNRA, SBUX, KO, PG, WMT
What follows is a brief history of my beginnings as an investor. The story continues today, albeit easier than the days of old. I will be updating the story each year and hope it will serve as a roadmap for those coming after me. It includes both successes and failures (many more failures in the early years). Use the mistakes I made to avoid those of your own and always more »
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Enough Starts at Home
By Roland Hughes - December 21, 2011 | Tickers: BP, MRO, MSFT
For those of you with really short memory spans, on the eve of Earth Day 2010, BP (NYSE: BP) had a disaster manufactured by greed that claimed 11 lives and occupied the nightly news for weeks, if not months.
There appeared to be no limit to public outrage at the time. When then-CEO Tony Hayward said, “I’d like my life back,” the more »
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It’s Intel Time Again
By Tim Brugger - December 21, 2011 | Tickers: CIDM, AMD, CSCO, HPQ, INTC, IBM, MU, ORCL
This is exactly the kind of situation investors should be salivating over. Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) comes out with some less-then-ideal earnings news, then compounds their poor results with relatively negative comments regarding corporate spending as we head into 2012. Naturally, the stock takes a substantial hit; it’s down over 13% within an hour of the open. Perfect.
Why get excited over the misfortune of others? Because of that all-inclusive more »
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From Contracting to Overseas and Back Again
By Bobbie Johnson - December 20, 2011 | Tickers: BAC, C, ORCL, WFC
There has always been an overabundant availability of contract workers known as freelancers for a countless variety of jobs. In earlier years freelancers hand-addressed envelopes for large companies to provide the “personal touch” for their customers. Newspapers and periodicals have always maintained a large number of freelancers to provide reporting and photography and so the progression of contracting workers grew. Companies found that it was more economical to contract workers more »
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Chrome: Getting More Love than Internet Explorer 8
By Elizabeth Magill - December 20, 2011 | Tickers: AAPL, GOOG, MSFT
I've been pretty loyal to Mozilla's Firefox web browser. But on the rare occasion that Firefox starts giving me grief, I launch Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) Chrome, and it performs like a charm. It's the standby that I know I can always count on.
Well, it seems others may be doing the same, because Chrome has just recently surpassed Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) as more » -
After the bell earnings: Will Oracle surprise analysts again?
By Eric Lumsden - December 19, 2011 | Tickers: ORCL
Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) has announced earnings surprises for their last four quarters. On December 20th, 2011 they are expected to announce earnings again. Someone is going to be surprised. Management and analysts are each forecasting their own sets of numbers for the quarter.
Management issued guidance of $0.56 to $0.58 earnings per share for this quarter when they last reported earnings. The Zacks Consensus Estimate has analysts pinning more » -
Why is Facebook finally going public?
By Erin McBride - December 19, 2011 | Tickers: GS, MSFT
The center of the social media universe, Facebook, is expected to go public in early 2012. Rumors suggest it will be anywhere from a $50 to $100 billion IPO. Secretaries are going to be millionaires overnight. Early investors are going to be early retirees. Golf courses are going to become popular check-ins on Facebook apps. But why now? Why is the seven-year-old company finally going public?
Staying a privately held more »
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