AUO, a taiwan LCD-maker, has taken a big sell-off the last two days. It declined 1.4% to $16.52 on Thurs, and is down -6.2% today to close at 15.52. What gives?
Here’s a good article released today on LCD sales:
DisplaySearch: 4Q05 large-size LCD panel revenues rise 78% on year
RIM finally caved in, and decided to settle with NTP for 612.5M to avoid a possible shutdown.
Shares of RIM shot up $13.78, or 19%, to $85.70 during after-hours trading, when the settlement was announced.
CEO Eric Schmidt came out today and said that the company is working on the infrastructure that is needed to become a “global, $100-billion company.â€
Google stock climbed $11.65 or 3.19% to $376.45
“I’ll leave it to you to judge whether that is $100-billion in market capitalization or revenue,†he said
As of Thursday afternoon, Google’s market capitalization was $111.9-billion. The company reported sales of $6.14-billion in its fiscal 2005 year.
AEOS closed up 13.5% at $28.91.
AE turned in a slightly higher fourth-quarter profit Wednesday and projected a stronger-than-expected first quarter amid robust February sales of spring gear.
However, it seems that Abercrombie and Fitch has been performing better in the last couple months.
A look at Cisco Systems, CSCO $21.06, +0.82 (4.05%). Apparently investors bought Cisco shares on expectations that a Cisco executive speaking at a conference in New York would highlight positive growth prospects for 2006.
Why I like Cisco:
S&P’s Recommedation is a BUY, 12-Month Target Price: $23.00
Google was up 0.6%, or $2.18, at $364.80 on Wednesday following Tuesday’s sell-off.
“Google’s shock yesterday has kind of worn off,” said Todd Clark, director of stock trading at Nollenberger Capital Partners in San Francisco. .
Microsoft Reveals New Technologies, Including Internet Classified Service, Local Street Function
Microsoft launched their Live Expo service yesterday, it’s a new classifieds listings service where you can buy, sell or trade stuff, post jobs, services or announcements. Their hope is to compete against free classified service like Craiglist. They also hope to provide more personalized service, for example, narrowing down their search based on people from their work, a buddy list, and geographical location.
Another service they launched was the Local Street Feature for the Virtual Earth service. The new search function, dubbed “street view,” aims to give people a driver’s view of downtown Seattle and San Francisco, using pictures detailed enough to make out cars and people. Available in test form, it’s similar to Amazon.com Inc.’s A9 search engine, which provides detailed street-level views of certain cities.
Big news yesterday was when Google’s CFO, George Reyes, told investors that growth at the online search leader was slowing. Reyes predicted it will become increasingly difficult for Google to maintain its rapid growth pace. In his own words…
“Most of what’s left is just organic growth, which means you have to find ways to grow your traffic,” Reyes said. “Clearly, our growth rates are slowing, and you see that each and every quarter.”
His comments spooked Wall Street, as Google’s shares plunged by as much as $51.87, or 13%, on the Nasdaq immediately after his comments. The shares wound up shedding $27.76, or 7.1 percent, to close at $362.62
The downturn prompted Google to release a statement assuring investors the company still sees “significant opportunities” for revenue growth.
Tuesday’s harsh backlash reminded investors of the extreme volatility of Google’s stock — an offshoot of the company’s steadfast refusal to make financial projections or share many details about its strategy.
Just to recap: Back in Jan. 31, Google missed earnings estimates for the first time since the company’s IPO. The stock price plunged by as much as 10% before rebounding slightly to close at $401.78, a decline of $30.88, or 7.1%. That was the likely the clear signal that GOOG was now on its way to decline.
Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin have vowed not to forecast the company’s earnings because they worry about becoming caught in a trap that will require them to focus on short-term profits at the expense of what’s best for the long haul.
Personally, I think will likely change their policy seeing as their tightlipped approach tends to provoke dramatic reactions to both good news and bad news.
The Big Picture: The stock price is now 15 percent below its record high of $475.11 reached just three weeks ago but the shares remain a golden investment for those who bought at $85 in an August 2004 initial public offering.
Here is the debut of Liveblaze Finance, a blog I’ll be updating on the world of finance. Stay tuned for updates
