jueves, 27 de septiembre de 2012

BlackBerry Maker Posts a Loss


With information from The New York Times


OTTAWA — Research in Motion, the beleaguered maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, reported Thursday that its net loss for the latest quarter was $235 million, compared with net income of $329 million in the same quarter a year earlier.
The company said revenue in its fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept. 1, was $2.9 billion, down 31 percent from $4.2 billion a year ago, but up from $2.8 billion in the first quarter.
The net loss narrowed from the first quarter’s $518 million.
“Make no mistake about it, we understand that we have much more work to do,” the chief executive, Thorsten Heins, said in a statement. “But we are making the organizational changes to drive improvements across the company.”
The company’s stock jumped 15 percent in after-hours trading. The earnings were released after the market closed.
“The street is largely giving RIM a pass on this quarter as it readies the important BlackBerry 10 launch,” said Bill Kreher, an analyst at Edward Jones. “The fact of the matter is that the company has really placed on its bets on BlackBerry 10.”
Many analysts had expected nothing but bad financial news for the quarter long before Thursday. And several of them said they were now focused on next year, when RIM has promised to launch its twice-delayed line of BlackBerry 10 phones. The new smartphones will be based on an entirely new, and more sophisticated, operating system.
“I don’t think anything good can come out until they release BB 10, aside from selling the company or something else in the strategic review,” said Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies & Company.
But Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee, said the dominance of Apple and Androidhas closed the window of opportunity for RIM’s BlackBerry 10 strategy and turned the company’s last great hope into its biggest problem.
“It’s about survival now, it’s not about BlackBerry 10,” said Mr. Wu, who is based in San Francisco. “That’s almost secondary. The battle now is staying alive and looking after your current customers. It’s not really clear that their core customers are looking for BlackBerry 10.”
At a developers conference earlier this week, Mr. Heins, RIM’s chief executive, announced one of the few positive results from the quarter. Some analysts had speculated that growth in RIM’s subscriber base had stalled, or even declined, for the first time in its history. But Mr. Heins told the meeting in San Jose, Calif., that the number of BlackBerry users had grown to 80 million, up from 78 million.
Unlike other smartphone makers, RIM continues to directly profit from every active BlackBerry handset long after its sale. RIM receives monthly subscription fees from carriers for every BlackBerry in exchange for routing the phone’s data through its own, closed network. Under normal conditions, the network allows RIM to provide high security for corporate and government users and it reduces the amount of wireless data consumed by all BlackBerrys.
RIM is not in immediate danger of bankruptcy. The company reported on Thursday that it still holds $2.3 billion billion in cash, an increase of $100 million from with the previous quarter. But Mr. Wu said that costs associated with layoffs at the company as well as its unprofitability are now leading some users, including large corporate customers, to question RIM’s long-term survival. Unless BlackBerry 10 is an exceptional hit, which is far from certain, Mr. Wu said that RIM may be able to continue for only one or two more years.
But there were no signs of retreat from Mr. Heins. Like his predecessors, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, he was boldly predicting that BlackBerry 10 will again allow RIM to stand alongside Apple, Google and makers of Android phones as a dominant player that defines the smartphone business.
“BlackBerry 10 introduces a shift to true mobile computing,” Mr. Heins told a RIM-sponsored gathering of software developers on Tuesday. “We are laying the groundwork for a fundamental change in how people communicate, collaborate and engage with each other.”
While physical keyboards remain a significant attraction for many BlackBerry users — a stylized variation of their keys forms the BlackBerry logo — Mr. Wu said he was surprised that RIM continues to emphasize the virtual, touch-screen keyboard on the prototype versions of its upcoming phones. Only after their absence during the prototype’s unveiling in May was widely noted did Mr. Heins confirm that BlackBerry 10s with physical keyboards will be coming. No prototype of those phones has been displayed and Mr. Heins again devoted a great deal of Tuesday’s session to promoting features on the upcoming virtual keyboard.
“It’s not clear to me that fighting the touch-screen battle is the best use of RIM’s resources,” Mr. Wu said. “There are customers that actually like the current BlackBerry the way it is. They should be focused on trying to retain that customer base as much as they can. Then, sure, you can work on your BlackBerry 10 or whatever.”

Estrategia Investimentos S.A.

What about investing in the Stock Market?

Now a day, investing in the stock market is easier than time ago because of the technology. Time ago you only just could do it by a manual way. Today some of the best market brokers are in the web, and almost all of the banking services have those services in its websites.

To consider investing as an option you may have to be with a very wide range of options and considering diferent points of view. As an example, you can take some of these options We give you right here:

1. Keep It Simple.

Keeping it simple in investing is not stupid. Seventeenth-century philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, "All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone." This aptly describes the investing process.

Those who trade too often, focus on irrelevant data points, or try to predict the unpredictable are likely to encounter some unpleasant surprises when investing. By keeping it simple--focusing on companies with economic moats, requiring a margin of safety when buying, and investing with a long-term horizon--you can greatly enhance your odds of success.


2. Have the Proper Expectations. 
Are you getting into stocks with the expectation that quick riches soon await? Hate to be a wet blanket, but unless you are extremely lucky, you will not double your money in the next year investing in stocks. Such returns generally cannot be achieved unless you take on a great deal of risk by, for instance, buying extensively on margin or taking a flier on a chancy security. At this point, you have crossed the line from investing into speculating.


Though stocks have historically been the highest-return asset class, this still means returns in the 10%-12% range. These returns have also come with a great deal of volatility. (See Lesson 103 for more.) If you don't have the proper expectations for the returns and volatility you will experience when investing in stocks, irrational behavior--taking on exorbitant risk in get-rich-quick strategies, trading too much, swearing off stocks forever because of a short-term loss--may ensue.


3. Be Prepared to Hold for a Long Time.
In the short term, stocks tend to be volatile, bouncing around every which way on the back of Mr. Market's knee-jerk reactions to news as it hits. Trying to predict the market's short-term movements is not only impossible, it's maddening. It is helpful to remember what Benjamin Graham said: In the short run, the market is like a voting machine--tallying up which firms are popular and unpopular. But in the long run, the market is like a weighing machine--assessing the substance of a company.


Yet all too many investors are still focused on the popularity contests that happen every day, and then grow frustrated as the stocks of their companies--which may have sound and growing businesses--do not move. Be patient, and keep your focus on a company's fundamental performance. In time, the market will recognize and properly value the cash flows that your businesses produce.


4. Tune Out the Noise.
There are many media outlets competing for investors' attention, and most of them center on presenting and justifying daily price movements of various markets. This means lots of prices--stock prices, oil prices, money prices, frozen orange juice concentrate prices--accompanied by lots of guesses about why prices changed. Unfortunately, the price changes rarely represent any real change in value. Rather, they merely represent volatility, which is inherent to any open market. Tuning out this noise will not only give you more time, it will help you focus on what's important to your investing success--the performance of the companies you own.


Likewise, just as you won't become a better baseball player by just staring at statistical sheets, your investing skills will not improve by only looking at stock prices or charts. Athletes improve by practicing and hitting the gym; investors improve by getting to know more about their companies and the world around them.


5. Behave Like an Owner.
We'll say it again--stocks are not merely things to be traded, they represent ownership interests in companies. If you are buying businesses, it makes sense to act like a business owner. This means reading and analyzing financial statements on a regular basis, weighing the competitive strengths of businesses, making predictions about future trends, as well as having conviction and not acting impulsively.

Estrategia Investimentos S.A:

miércoles, 26 de septiembre de 2012

Windows 8 Bugs Hurt Microsoft, Intel Chief Said to Say


Intel Corp. (INTC) Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini told employees in Taiwan that Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)’s Windows 8 operating system is being released before it’s fully ready, a person who attended the company event said.


Improvements still need to be made to the software, Otellini told employees at a company meeting in Taipei yesterday, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the meeting was private.

Microsoft is eager to get Windows 8, the first version of its flagship software designed for touch tablets, into computers next month to help it vie with Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s iPad during the holiday shopping season. Releasing the operating system before it’s fully baked is the right move, and Microsoft can make improvements after it ships, Otellini told staffers.
Intel, the biggest semiconductor maker, is Microsoft’s closest partner, and Otellini’s remarks echo criticism from analysts such as Michael Cherry at Directions on Microsoft. While Windows is fundamentally sound, the operating system lacks a wide range of robust applications and PC makers haven’t had enough time to work out kinks with so-called drivers, which connect software to such hardware as printers, Cherry said.
“We are concerned at the level of bugs and fine tuning that appears necessary to get the beta systems we demoed ready for prime time,” Alex Gauna, an analyst at JMP Securities LLC in San Francisco, wrote in a Sept. 13 note in response to versions of Windows 8 shown at Intel’s recent developer forum.
Vista Flops
The shares of Intel slipped less than 1 percent to $22.51 at 11:01 a.m. in New York, while Microsoft declined 1 percent to $30.1. Shares of customers Dell Inc. (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) declined as much as 2 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. The two personal computer manufacturers are among the 10 worst- performing stocks in the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Index so far this year.
Technology vendors often release software before it’s completely ready and make adjustments on the fly. Still, the practice can backfire. Vista, a version of Windows that debuted in 2007, was introduced two years late. It was met with poor adoption as the software initially didn’t work with many applications and drivers.
“With over 16 million active preview participants, Windows 8 is the most tested, reviewed and ready operating system in Microsoft’s history,” said Mark Martin, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft.
Intel’s Sales
Laura Anderson, a spokeswoman for Santa Clara, California- based Intel, declined to comment on the internal meeting. She also said that the company “believes Windows represents a tremendous opportunity for our business and we’re looking forward to working with Microsoft on enabling a host of new experiences on a variety of devices.”
During the meeting, Otellini declined to elaborate on the company’s outlook following the announcement this month that it’s cutting the third-quarter revenue forecast. Lackluster demand for PCs won’t be bad enough to cause the company to lay off workers, and the market will grow in 2013, he said.
Intel said on Sept. 7 that third-quarter sales will be $12.9 billion to $13.5 billion, from a prior projection of $13.8 billion to $14.8 billion. Analysts on average had estimated sales of $14.2 billion, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Intel said orders in emerging markets and demand for chips used in business machines are lower than expected, compounding concern that the PC market may not grow this year as consumers flock to smartphones and tablets.
Microsoft plans to release Windows 8 on Oct. 26.


By Tim Culpan and Ian King



As seen on Bloomberg.

Comments and opinions are pretty welcome.

lunes, 24 de septiembre de 2012

Facebook Drops Amid Persistent Concerns About Mobile Growth


As seen on Bloomberg.com

By Brian Womack

Facebook Inc. (FB) declined the most in almost two months amid renewed investor concerns about how quickly the world’s largest social-networking service can boost sales from the growing number of users on mobile devices.

Shares fell 9.1 percent to $20.79 at the close in New York, the biggest drop since July 27. The stock has slumped 45 percent since its May initial public offering, and hasn’t traded above its $38 IPO price since the day after the share sale.
Facebook also slipped today after Barron’s said the company is overvalued and may drop to $15 a share or lower. The stock had been gaining since Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg touted prospects for mobile growth at a conference earlier this month. Still, investors are concerned about the pace at which the company is making money from its ad services on wireless devices, where members are increasingly accessing the site.
“We do not believe success in mobile for Facebook can come without some collateral damage in the near-term to the larger, more profitable desktop platform,” Jordan Rohan, analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. in New York. “We assume that revenue upside from mobile is a bit further off than Zuckerberg was signaling.”
In a Sept. 11 interview at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Zuckerberg said the company was addressing the missteps that had made it tough for Facebook to reap the benefits of mobile advertising and was building its search capabilities. Shares rose 7.7 percent the next day.

Advertising Market

Facebook, based in Menlo Park, California, is struggling to keep pace with rivals in mobile advertising. The company may claim only 2.8 percent of the $2.61 billion U.S. mobile-ad market this year, ranking it sixth, behind No. 1 Google Inc. (GOOG), which is expected to have 55 percent of the market, according to EMarketer Inc.
Pandora Media Inc. is second, with 8.7 percent, and Twitter Inc. nabs the No. 3 spot, claiming 5 percent.
In addition, Facebook is projected to lose its lead in the larger display-advertising market in the U.S., according to EMarketer. Facebook is estimated to take in $2.16 billion in display ad revenue this year, while Google may have $2.31 billion, giving it the No. 1 position. Facebook took the top spot from Yahoo! Inc. last year.
Facebook, whose price-to-earnings ratio is higher than rivals such as Google and Yahoo, is also grappling with questions about the stock’s valuation. Barron’s said Facebook is overvalued and the shares may drop as it falls behind in capitalizing on the growing number of mobile-device users. Richard Greenfield, at analyst at BTIG Research, said Facebook’s mobile strategy makes him concerned, according to the newspaper.
The expiration of lockup periods for some employees to be able to sell 234 million shares by Oct. 29 and 777 million on Nov. 14 may keep the stock depressed, Barron’s said, without citing anyone.

Estrategia Investimentos S.A.