March 4, 2014: Markets opened higher on Tuesday as it became clear that shooting was not about to start in Ukraine today. A lot of yesterday�� downturn was no more than a hedge against possible losses if the situation in the Crimea deteriorated quickly. The turnaround in equities was even bigger than the downturn, perhaps including a larger than usual sigh of relief. In the final minutes of trading the DJIA was up 1.51%, the S&P 500 was up 1.61%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.83%.
Today�� biggest gainer among the Dow 30 stocks was The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS). The House of Mouse agreed to a deal with Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) that allows the satellite company to stream content from Disney-owned ABC and ESPN to Internet connected devices. This is a pretty big deal and the first of its kind. Shares traded up 2.91% at $81.77 in a 52-week range of $55.76 to $82.17 (a new 52-week high) just ahead of the closing bell. Disney�� volume is on track to be about 15% below the daily average of around 7.3 million shares traded.
Hot Long Term Companies To Buy Right Now: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA)
Alibaba Group Holding Limited, incorporated on June 28, 1999, is an online and mobile commerce company. The Company operates its ecosystem as a platform for third parties. The Company operates Taobao Marketplace, China�� online shopping destination, Tmall, China�� third-party platform for brands and retailers and Juhuasuan, China�� group buying marketplace. In addition to its three China retail marketplaces, the Company operates Alibaba.com, China�� global online wholesale marketplace, 1688.com, its China wholesale marketplace, and AliExpress, its global consumer marketplace, as well as provides cloud computing services. As a platform, the Company provides the fundamental technology infrastructure and marketing reach to help businesses leverage the power of the Internet to establish an online presence and conduct commerce with consumers and businesses. Effective August 01, 2014, Alibaba Investment Ltd, a unit of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, acquired a 10.193% interest n Singapore Post Ltd.
The buyers and sellers discover, select and transact with each other on the Company�� platform. Third-party service providers add value to its platform through service offerings that make it easier for buyers and sellers to do business. The third-party participants in its ecosystem include a payment services provider, logistics providers, retail operational partners, marketing affiliates, independent software vendors and various professional service providers. The Company has developed policies and procedures that maintain the health and sustainability of its marketplaces, including consumer protection programs, marketplace rules, qualification standards for merchants and buyer and seller rating systems. As its ecosystem expands, new jobs are created.
Taobao Affiliate Network is powered by Alimama, its online marketing technology platform. Through this platform, sellers place marketing displays on its marketing affiliates��websites and mobile apps, and sellers pay a performance-b! ased marketing fee primarily based on cost-per-click (CPC), and cost-per-sale (CPS), models. Through China Smart Logistics, the Company provides real-time information to its logistics partners, including key operating metrics, such as distribution center utilization rates, route planning data and order volume forecasts. Independent software vendors (ISVs) provide software tools, as well as systems integration services to sellers.
Tmall is an online platform featuring brands and retailers with each seller having an identifiable online storefront. Users may access Tmall anytime, anywhere through the Tmall Website and the mobile apps and mobile-optimized websites provided by Taobao Marketplace and Tmall. The physical product categories on Tmall include apparel and accessories, electronics and appliances, home furnishings, home appliances, maternity and baby products. Juhuasuan is an online group buying marketplace in China. Juhuasuan offers quality products at discounted prices by aggregating demand from numerous consumers. Juhuasuan mainly does this through flash sales, which make products available at discounted prices for a limited period of time. Juhuasuan offers group buying channels featuring branded and private label products, products made to custom specifications and local services.
AliExpress is a consumer marketplace enables consumers from around the world to buy directly from wholesalers and manufacturers in China. On AliExpress, consumers have access to a variety of products. In addition to the global English-language site, AliExpress operates two local language sites in Russia and Brazil. The product categories on AliExpress.com include apparel and accessories, phones and communications products, beauty and health, computer networking, jewelry and watches. Alibaba.com is an online commerce platform. Sellers on Alibaba.com may pay for an annual Gold Supplier membership to host a premium storefront with product listings on the marketplace.
The Company��! marketin! g technology platform, Alimama, offers sellers on its marketplaces marketing services for both personal computer and mobile devices, which include P4P marketing service and display marketing. Alimama also offers its sellers these marketing services through third parties through the Taobao Affiliate Network. The Taobao Ad Network and Exchange (TANX) automates the buying and selling of billions of advertising impressions on a daily basis by third parties. The Company also offer a data management platform (DMP), connected to TANX. Its DMP allows participants on TANX to evaluate and select online advertising inventory using both behavioral data they provide, as well as data from browsing behavior and shopping history. Its Cloud Computing supports its commerce ecosystem by providing a distributed computing infrastructure to handle the large volume of traffic and data generated on its online marketplaces. Its cloud computing platform offers service offerings, including elastic computing, database services and storage and large scale computing services.
The company offer search functions on all of its Web pages, mobile apps and many of its marketing affiliates��websites and apps to make it easy for buyers to find products and services within its marketplaces. The Company offers Aliwangwang, a personal computer-based instant messenger that supports text, audio and video communication. The Company developed Aliwangwang to facilitate open communication between buyers and sellers on Taobao Marketplace and Tmall. Buyers and sellers use it as a tool for a range of tasks, including negotiation of prices, customer services and delivery notification, in addition to the basic messaging functions. It offer Qianniu , an integrated platform for communication and productivity tools which allows sellers on Taobao Marketplace and Tmall to manage their operations more efficiently.
Alipay, the Company�� related company, provides payment and escrow services for transactions on Taobao Marketplace, Tm! all, 1688! .com and certain of its other sites, as well as to third parties in China. The Company�� small and medium enterprise (SME) loan business provides micro loans to sellers on its wholesale and retail marketplaces through lending vehicles licensed by the local government.
The company competes with Tencent and Baidu.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
And one of the best current examples of "history being made" is the looming initial public stock offering (IPO) of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA), the Chinese Internet heavyweight whose shares are scheduled to price tomorrow and begin trading Friday.
- [By Philip Springer]
Today’s initial public offering by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) was priced at $68 per share, giving the company an initial market value of $168 billion. This put Alibaba among the 40 biggest public companies worldwide, and third in value among Internet companies after Google and Facebook.
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
And with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) - China's No. 1 e-commerce player - scheduled to go public soon, investors are suddenly seeing the potential of the country's online marketplace.
- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
More from Keith Fitz-Gerald: The Apple-istas aren't going to like this, but Apple - the once-proud brand with seemingly bulletproof profit margins - is in trouble. Here's why Alibaba stock (NYSE: BABA) is a better buy than Apple.
Top 10 Internet Stocks To Own Right Now: Symantec Corporation(SYMC)
Symantec Corporation provides security, storage, and systems management solutions internationally. The company?s Consumer segment delivers Internet security, PC tune-up, and online backup solutions and services to individual users and home offices. Its Security and Compliance segment provides solutions for endpoint security and management, compliance, messaging management, data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication services to large, medium, and small-sized businesses, as well as offers solutions through its software-as-a-service (SaaS) security offerings. This segment?s products enable customers to secure, provision, and remotely manage their laptops, PCs, mobile devices, and servers. The company?s Storage and Server Management segment provides storage and server management, backup, archiving, and data protection solutions across heterogeneous storage and server platforms, as well as solutions delivered through its SaaS offerings to large, medium, and small-s ized businesses. Symantec?s Services segment offers implementation services and solutions, including consulting, business critical services, education, and managed security services. The company also provides various enterprise support offerings, such as annual maintenance support contracts, including content, upgrades, and technical support. It sells its products through its eCommerce platform, as well as through distributors, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, system builders, ISPs, and retail locations worldwide. Symantec markets and sells its products through distributors, retailers, direct marketers, Internet-based resellers, original equipment manufacturers, system builders, and Internet service providers; and its e-commerce channels, as well as direct sales force, value-added and large account resellers, and system integrators. The company was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Wallace Witkowski]
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) �shares dropped 7% to $19.44 on heavy volume, after a brief halted at the closing bell, as the security software company fired Chief Executive Steve Bennett.
- [By Shauna O'Brien]
On Thursday, Morgan Stanley reported that it has downgraded security and storage management company Symantec Corporation (SYMC).
Morgan Stanley has cut its rating on SYMC to an “Equal Weight.” Analysts believe that the company lacks near term catalysts.
Symantec shares were down 55 cents, or 2.18%, during pre-market trading Thursday. The stock is up 34% YTD.
- [By Michael Flannelly]
Nomura Securities analysts initiated coverage on Symantec Corporation (SYMC) early on Wednesday, giving the stock a “Neutral” rating because its upside is already priced into its current valuation.
The analysts see shares of SYMC reaching $29, which suggests a 14.6% upside to the stock’s Tuesday closing price of $25.30.
Nomura Securities analyst Frederick Grieb commented, “In the early innings of a classic turnaround story, but upside largely priced In. We initiate coverage of Symantec (SYMC) with a Neutral rating and a 12-month target price of $29. Symantec is a leading vender in the security and storage markets, but has struggled to grow market share post its 2005 acquisition of VERITAS. The company has faced competitive pressures in its core markets, with ‘freemium’ antivirus software pressuring the consumer business, while the storage business has been challenged by enterprise migration to Windows and Linux from Solaris and UNIX. Despite these headwinds, we are launching coverage of Symantec with a Neutral rating, as we believe management will be able to improve the business by increasing margins (perhaps to +33%) and longer-term organic growth through a combination of simplifying management structures and a better strategy to incentivize the sales force. However, given the stock�� 33% increase YTD, due in part to multiple expansion (P/E up 18% YTD), we believe much of the upside from this turnaround is already baked in. FY14E EPS starts at $1.2; FY15E EPS starts at $2.18.”
Symantec Corp shares were inactive during pre-market trading on Wednesday. The stock is up 34.43% year-to-date.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) were down 11.70 percent to $18.46 after the company fired President and Chief Executive Steve Bennett and appointed director Michael Brown as interim president and CEO. UBS downgraded the stock from Buy to Neutral and lowered the price target from $27.00 to $21.00.
Top 10 Internet Stocks To Own Right Now: Yahoo! Inc.(YHOO)
Yahoo! Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital media company that delivers personalized digital content and experiences through various devices worldwide. It offers online properties and services to users; and a range of marketing services to businesses. The company?s communications and communities offerings include Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Connected TV, which provide a range of communication and social services to users and small businesses enabling users to organize into groups and share knowledge, common interests, and photos. Its search products comprise Yahoo! Search and Yahoo! Local, available free to users to navigate the Internet and discover content. The company?s marketplaces offerings and services include Yahoo! Shopping, Yahoo! Travel, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Autos, and Yahoo! Small Business, which allow users to research specific topics, products, services, or areas of interest by review ing and exchanging information, obtaining contact details, or considering offers from providers of goods, services, or parties with similar interests. Its media offerings comprise Yahoo! Homepage, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Sports, Yahoo! Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Toolbar, Yahoo! Entertainment & Lifestyles, Yahoo! Contributor Network, and Yahoo! Pulse, which are designed to engage users with online content and services on the Web. The company also offers marketing services, such as display and search advertising, listing-based services, and commerce-based transactions to advertisers. In addition, it provides software and platform offerings for third-party developers, advertisers, and publishers, such as Yahoo! Developer Network, Yahoo! Open Strategy, Yahoo! Application Platform, Yahoo! Updates, Yahoo! Query Language, and Yahoo! Search BOSS. The company has strategic alliances with Nokia and ABC News, Inc. Yahoo! Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Californi a.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Sue Chang and Saumya Vaishampayan]
Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) �shares were among the big S&P 500 (SPX) �gainers. The Internet company was profiled by Internet-based news service Minyanville, which noted that Yahoo is getting noticed again with Chief Executive Marissa Mayer at the helm.
- [By Bloomberg]
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Google (GOOG) won a major victory in its fight against claims it illegally scanned private email messages to and from Gmail accounts, defeating a bid to unify lawsuits in a single group case on behalf of hundreds of millions of Internet users. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday refused to let the case proceed as a class action, which would have allowed plaintiffs to pool resources and put greater pressure on Google to settle. If individuals pursue their claims against the owner of world's largest search engine, they'll need to use their own financial resources to litigate. Email users claimed Google intercepted, read and mined the content of email messages for targeted advertising and to build user profiles. Legal experts including Stanford Law School Professor Deborah Hensler said before Wednesday's ruling that while the plaintiffs faced difficulty joining forces, the case stood to potentially become the largest group lawsuit ever. The amount at stake could have reached into the trillions of dollars if, as the plaintiffs argued, each person was eligible for damages of $100 a day for violations of federal wiretap law. Koh's ruling has implications for email privacy cases assigned to her that were filed last year against Yahoo (YHOO) and LinkedIn (LNKD), which also have hundreds of millions of users. Similarly giant cases have been brought against Facebook (FB) and Hulu as Web users challenge how companies monetize their data for the online advertising market that generated more than $40 billion in the U.S. last year. Koh found that the proposed classes of people in the Google case aren't "sufficiently cohesive," according to Wednesday's ruling. Members' Consent The judge wrote in her order that the question of whether the proposed class members consented to the alleged interceptions has been "central to this case since it was filed." Based on the evidence presented so far, to pr
Top 10 Internet Stocks To Own Right Now: IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI)
IAC/InterActiveCorp engages in the Internet business in the United States and internationally. The company�s Search segment develops, markets, and distributes various downloadable toolbars; provides search, reference, and content services through its destination search and other Websites, including Ask.com and Dictionary.com; and aggregates and integrates local advertising and content for distribution to publishers on Web and mobile platforms, as well as markets and distributes mobile applications through which it provides search and additional services. Its Match segment offers subscription-based and advertiser-supported online personals services through its Websites comprising Match.com, Chemistry.com, OurTime.com, BlackPeopleMeet.com, and OkCupid.com, as well as through mobile applications and Meetic-branded Websites. The company�s ServiceMagic segment offers Market Match service that matches consumers with service professionals; Exact Match service, which enables con sumers to review service professional profiles and select the service professional that meets their specific needs; and 1800Contractor.com, an online directory of service professionals. This segment also offers Website design and hosting services. Its Media and Other segment operates CollegeHumor.com, an online entertainment Website that targets young males; Vimeo, a Website on which users can upload, share, and view video; and Pronto.com, a comparison search engine. This segment also engages in the creation of video content for various distribution platforms; and operates as an Internet retailer of footwear and related apparel and accessories, as well as focuses on multimedia business. The company was formerly known as InterActiveCorp and changed its name to IAC/InterActiveCorp in July 2004. IAC/InterActiveCorp was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Eric Volkman]
AP/Jim Mone Is Bitcoin a slam-dunk as the currency of the future? The Sacramento Kings seem to think so. The NBA team recently became the first pro sports franchise to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. Basketball fans will be able not only to purchase tickets and merchandise online with the digital cryptocurrency, but also to use it to buy souvenirs at the arena come game time. The team is the latest in a growing number of commercial entities finding a slot in their virtual cash registers for Bitcoin. Little by little, momentum is building for a widespread acceptance of the upstart currency. Overstocking The Kings' drive towards the Bitcoin basket comes a week after the big online retailer Overstock.com (OSTK) announced it would start accepting payments in the currency. The move was an instant hit -- the first day the company had the nifty Bitcoin button as an option in its shopping cart, its customers used it to make more than 800 transactions for total sales of around $130,000. Overstock.com was by no means the first online marketplace to accept the currency. Numerous web retailers have been doing so for some time. It's a natural fit, %VIRTUAL-article-sponsoredlinks in a way, since Bitcoin exists solely in the digital realm. Customers booking flights on discount travel operator CheapAir.com, for example, can use Bitcoin to buy their tickets, as can love seekers on dating site OkCupid, owned by IAC/InteractiveCorp (IACI). These digital players are going to have plenty of company. Earlier this month, online games purveyor Zynga (ZNGA) started to dip its toes in the water, announcing that it was testing Bitcoin payments for some of its titles in conjunction with specialist transaction facilitator BitPay. But if Overstock.com didn't get there first, it's still the largest and most prominent e-retailer to take the Bitcoin plunge thus far. This is a big win for the currency and its advocates, and Overstock.com will surely be followed by more well-known comp
- [By Jayson Derrick]
InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) announced that its CEO is stepping down from his current position to become chairman of a new operating unit. Investors cheered the management shakeup which is potentially hinting at a spinoff. Shares hit new 52 week highs of $70.44 before closing at $68.49, up 13.98 percent.
Top 10 Internet Stocks To Own Right Now: eBay Inc.(EBAY)
eBay Inc. provides online platforms, services, and tools to help individuals and merchants in online and mobile commerce and payments in the United States and internationally. Its Marketplaces segment operates ecommerce platform eBay.com; vertical shopping sites, such as StubHub, Fashion, Motors, and Half.com; and classifieds Websites, including Den Bl�Avis, BilBasen, Gumtree, Kijiji, LoQUo, Marktplaats.nl, mobile.de, Alamaula, Rent.com, eBay Anuncios, eBay Kleinanzeigen, and eBay Annunci, as well as provides advertising services. The company?s Payments segment offers payment and settlement services for consumers and merchants on and off eBay Websites and other merchant Websites. This segment operates PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to send and receive payments online and through mobile devices; Bill Me Later that enables the United States merchants to offer, the United States consumers to obtain, credit at the point of sale for ecommerce and mobile tra nsactions; Zong, which allows users with mobile phones to purchase digital goods and have the transactions charged to their phone bill; and BillSAFE that enables customers pay for purchases upon receipt of an invoice. Its GSI segment offers an ecommerce services suite for enterprise clients that operate in general merchandise categories, including apparel, sporting goods, toys and baby, health and beauty, and home; and marketing services comprising full-service digital agency, enterprise email marketing, mobile advertising, affiliate marketing, advertisement retargeting, and in-depth analytics services. The company also offers X.commerce platform that provides software developers access to the company?s applications programming interfaces to develop functionality for various merchants; and Magento Connect, which allows developers to market and sell add-on functionality and solutions to merchants that use a Magento storefront. eBay Inc. was founded in 1995 and is headquarter ed in San Jose, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By MONEYMORNING.COM]
Icahn is still around. And he's still active. Only now - in the politically correct 2000s - he's known as an "activist investor" who's gone up against the likes of Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY).
- [By Demitrios Kalogeropoulos]
Investors weren't happy with eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY ) latest business results. Shares fell 9% over the two days following its earnings report last week, wiping out almost all of the stock's gains for 2013.
- [By Doug Ehrman]
With the world of mobile payments in its infancy, the true power of iTunes and its huge database of user information remains essentially untapped. With Google�Wallet having yet to gain any major traction, eBay's (NASDAQ: EBAY ) PayPal is battling Square for the top spot in a market that is estimated to reach $1 trillion by 2016.
Top 10 Internet Stocks To Own Right Now: CYNK Technology Corp (CYNK)
Cynk Technology Corp., formerly Introbuzz, Inc., is a development stage-company. The Company intends to develop a social network business. Social networks are Web based services that allow individuals to post a profile and link their profile to other friends and organizations.
The Company intends to develop a database of professional and other business persons, as well as other interested persons in providing and utilizing contacts. As of November 14, 2012, the Company had not generated any revenue.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]
CYNK Technology (CYNK), the mysterious over-the-counter stock that at one point broke a $6 billion market cap, dropped roughly 80 percent in its first trades after a Securities and Exchange Commission halt. The SEC halted CYNK for two weeks following a massive rise in the stock's value -- it had been worth only a few cents per share in June, but it jumped above $21 on July 10. The Belize-based CYNK Technology supposedly operates a social networking site, but filings indicate it only has one employee and virtually no assets. Experts told CNBC the week of the SEC halt that they expected CYNK to fall precipitously after reopening, and its first day of trading is proving those predictions correct. When it was halted, the stock was worth just less than $14 per share, and is now below $3 a share after briefly hovering around $5 earlier Friday morning. An OTC Markets spokeswoman told Reuters that CYNK's shares were not trading on its platform, but were occurring over the phone. Earlier this week Reuters reported that OTC's CEO did not expect CYNK to trade on its platform at all after reopening, as no brokerages would file the required paperwork for the stock to trade on their exchanges. An SEC spokesman said that the organization cannot comment on the status of a company after a suspension period ends, citing an online explanation of the process. That document notes that broker-dealers may not solicit investors to trade the previously suspended OTC stock until they satisfy several regulatory requirements. The SEC warned, however, that "unsolicited" trading may occur after a reopening -- as CYNK is now seeing -- but "even though such trading is allowed, it can be very risky for investors without current and reliable information about the company."
Top 10 Internet Stocks To Own Right Now: Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN)
Amazon.com, Inc. operates as an online retailer in North America and internationally. It operates retail Web sites, including amazon.com and amazon.ca. The company serves consumers through its retail Web sites and focuses on selection, price, and convenience. It also offers programs that enable sellers to sell their products on its Web sites, and their own branded Web sites. In addition, the company serves developer customers through Amazon Web Services, which provides access to technology infrastructure that developers can use to enable virtually various type of business. Further, it manufactures and sells the Kindle e-reader. Additionally, the company provides fulfillment; miscellaneous marketing and promotional agreements, such as online advertising; and co-branded credit cards. Amazon.com, Inc. was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Adam Levine-Weinberg]
Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX ) management has often talked about pursuing a virtuous cycle that will sustain rapid streaming membership growth for years to come. By having more members than competitors such as Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ) or Hulu, Netflix can afford to spend more on content, improving the quality of the service and attracting even more members.
- [By Eric Bleeker, CFA]
Last Wednesday, Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ) unveiled the Kindle Fire Phone. It has a 3-D-like viewing perspective, tie-ins to Amazon shopping, and unlimited cloud storage, and it comes with a year of Amazon Prime.�
- [By Rick Munarriz]
Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN ) isn't an airline, but it is picking its pilots.
The leading online retailer announced the shows that it will be bankrolling.
- [By Rick Munarriz]
Briefly in the news
Amazon.com� (NASDAQ: AMZN ) surprised investors with a quarterly loss. Analysts were calling for a small profit. But should the market really be surprised? Amazon has come up short on the bottom line in three of the past four quarters. Clearly, CEO Jeff Bezos is willing to sacrifice near-term margins for the sake of growing the e-tailer's business for the long haul. A company that did break from its recent trend of coming up short was�Baidu� (NASDAQ: BIDU ) . China's leading search engine came through with better-than-expected results. It had missed on the bottom line in its two previous quarters. Baidu's guidance calls for accelerating revenue growth, silencing doubters who have argued that it was all downhill for the former dot-com darling. 8x8� (NASDAQ: EGHT ) hit a fresh 52-week high this week after posting well-received quarterly results. The provider of telecommunications services for companies now has more than 33,000 business customers. If your name is 8x8, it's nice to know that you can multiply.
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.
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