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Fwix Unveils Revenue-Sharing Plan for Hyperlocal Bloggers

Shira Ovide — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:47:27 +0000

By Shira Ovide, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

An online news start-up is going where Google (GOOG) and other giants haven’t: sharing revenue with the people who write the news.

Fwix, a one-year-old start-up backed by BlueRun Ventures, is one of a growing number of portals for “hyperlocal” news, a buzzword that refers to sites about schools, culture, gossip and other information on a neighborhood level. Other hyperlocal aggregators include Outside.In and EveryBlock. Some, like Patch, have their own staff, while others, like Fwix, mostly organize news written by bloggers and community members.

Now Fwix is launching a new advertising product, AdWire, and agreeing to split revenue with the people who write the local information, laying down the gauntlet against big news aggregators from Google on down.

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Wal-Mart Scales Back DVD Displays

Nat Worden — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:11:53 +0000

By Nat Worden, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal

A recent shift in merchandising strategy by the world’s largest retailer spells more trouble for DVD sales and the entertainment industry that depends on them for profits.

As part of a larger effort to clean up its aisles and appeal to higher-end shoppers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) is doing away with display cases to promote the latest hot movie titles.

The move comes as major film studios are reeling from declines in revenue from DVD sales as cash-strapped consumers turn to low-cost rental services and digital downloads for home movies.

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Intel: Impressive Q2; Focus Shifts to Back-to-School

Eric Savitz — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:45:35 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

As expected, the huge Q2 earnings and revenue surprise by Intel (INTC) last night has triggered a huge tech rally.

The question, though, is whether this is whether the trend will continue – and in particular, whether the U.S. consumer will be buying PCs in the upcoming back-to-school period.

The analysts who track Intel appear split on the company’s prospects. On the one hand, the company dramatically beat their Q2 numbers, and provided Q3 guidance that likewise were way ahead of the Street.

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The Wall Street Journal is Considering a "Hyperpaid" Model. Will It Work?

Meghan Keane — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:02:47 +0000

By Meghan Keane, Econsultancy Digital Marketers United

The Wall Street Journal may be getting more expensive. The business paper has been making headlines of late for growing its revenues behind a pay wall while other papers are bleeding ad revenue.

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Nokia Sees Handset Demand Stabilizing; Shares Jump

Eric Savitz — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:08:49 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

Nokia (NOK) shares are headed sharply higher this morning after the company indicated the worst may be over for the mobile phone business.

For the first quarter, the company posted revenue of 9.276 billion euros, down 26.7 percent year over year, and 26.8 percent sequentially. Revenues from the device business were down 33.4 percent year over year, and 24.2 percent from Q4. The Nokia Siemens equipment business was down 12.1 percent versus a year ago, and 31.1 percent sequentially.

Profits in the quarter on a non-IFRS basis (the equivalent of non-GAAP) were 10 euro cents per share, versus 39 cents a year ago.

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Juniper Soars; Has Telco Hit Bottom?

Eric Savitz — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:35:31 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s

Is Juniper Networks (JNPR) calling the bottom for telecom and computer networking equipment? A few people think so this morning, the day after Juniper announced that revenue for March-ending fiscal Q1 will be less than originally expected. Analysts at Brean-Murray this morning initiated coverage of Juniper with a “Buy” rating and a price target of $20, saying that risks to the telecom market are now well understood and that the long-term potential for Juniper should be the focus of investors. R.W. Baird analyst Tristan Gerra writes in a note to clients this morning that the first quarter could be a bottom for telecom capital expenditures.

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Best Buy: Big Q4 EPS Beat; Strong Guidance; Stock Jumps

Eric Savitz — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:00:39 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

Best Buy (BBY) this morning reported sharply higher-than-expected profits for its fiscal fourth quarter ended Feb. 28.

For the quarter, the last large national electronics retailer posted revenue of $14.724 billion, a bit below the Street consensus at $14.8 billion. But adjusted EPS of $1.61 a share nicely beat the Street at $1.40 a share. (In the release, Best Buy says the Street had been expecting $1.38. But whatever.) Comparable store sales were down 4.9 percent in the quarter, but gross margin improved to 24.6 percent from 23.7 percent a year ago.

For 2010, the retailer sees revenues of $46.5 billion to $48.5 billion; the Street has been forecasting $48.1 billion.

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eBay: Hope Its Forecasters Are Better Than Yahoo’s

Eric Savitz — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:00:52 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

It was almost exactly a year ago, in mid-March 2008, that Yahoo (YHOO) laid out its once-secret three-year growth plan for the Street as part of its strategy to demonstrate that Microsoft’s (MSFT) takeover offer for the company was too low.

Here’s hoping that the soothsayers at eBay (EBAY) are a little more accurate that the ones at Yahoo.

Yahoo’s plan, which was more detailed that the one eBay offered up today, provided revenue guidance for 2009 and 2010 that was far above the estimates then being used on the Street:

For 2009, the company projected revenue ex-TAC of $7.1 billion; the Street at the time was then looking for $6.4 billion.
For 2010, the Yahoo plan projected revenue of $8.8 billion; the Street had been targeting $7.1 billion.
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InterDigital Shares Pressured as Q4 Profits Disappoint

Eric Savitz — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:02:00 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

InterDigital (IDCC) shares are heading lower in early trading after the company posted weaker-than-expected Q4 profits.

For the quarter, the wireless technology company posted revenue of $58.7 million, ahead of the Street at $57.4 million. But profits of nine cents a share were short of the Street at 16 cents. The company said recurring revenue from existing licensing agreements was $51.4 million.

IDCC said it expects recurring revenue of $69 million to $71 million for the first quarter, including nearly $20 million from a licensing agreement with Samsung, offset by the loss of $1.1 million from a customer who exited the handset business.

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Live-Blogging Google's Earnings Call

Andrew LaVallee — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:10:58 +0000

By Andrew LaVallee, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal, Digits

Google (GOOG) today reported a year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter profit, hurt by $1.09 billion in write-downs related to AOL and Clearwire (CLWR). Operating earnings rose, however, and revenue climbed 18 percent to $5.70 billion from the year-earlier period.

Google’s revenue, excluding traffic-acquisition costs, was $4.22 billion, above the Thomson Reuters estimate of $4.12 billion. Earnings per share, excluding certain items, was $5.10, beating estimates. The company also announced plans for an options exchange program for workers whose stock options are underwater.

Updates from its conference call with analysts:

4:33 p.m.–The host introduces today’s conference call participants: Google CEO Eric Schmidt, dialing in from New York; CFO Patrick Pichette and SVP of product management Jonathan Rosenberg, in Mountain View, Calif.; and Omid Kordestani, SVP of global sales and business development, in London.

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Ariba: JMP Sees Trouble in Services Business; Cuts Estimates

Eric Savitz — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:17:37 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

Ariba (ARBA) shares are coming under pressure today following a cautionary note on the company this morning from JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens.

Walravens today repeated his Market Outperform rating on the stock, but cut his price target to $15 from $18. He also cut his EPS estimate for the September 2009 fiscal year to 61 cents from 70 cents; for FY 2010 he goes to 83 cents, from 91 cents.

“While we continue to believe that Ariba’s software solutions should fare relatively well in this macroeconomic environment, the services business may not hold up as well as we had previously believed,” he writes. Walravens notes that the company had guided to December quarter services revenue of $32 million to $34 million; roughly 40 percent of that relates to systems implementation. He notes that product upgrades are discretionary “and could easily be delayed by cautious customers.”

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DISH Networks Q3 EPS Misses; Subscriber Count Shrinks

Eric Savitz — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:59:38 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

DISH Networks (DISH) this morning posted disappointing results for the third quarter.

DISH notched revenue of $2.94 billion, in line with expectations. But profits of 20 cents a share were well below the Street consensus of 58 cents. The results include a $106 million write-down of marketable securities; Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett estimates the hit reduced profits by about 14 cents a share.

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Sirius XM Extends Losses; Stock Now Under a Buck

Eric Savitz — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:55:57 +0000

By Eric Savitz, Blogger and Columnist, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

Sirius XM (SIRI) shares are down sharply again this morning, one day after the company provided updated guidance that disappointed the Street.

The company’s new guidance, in case you missed it:

Subscribers: 19.5 million at year-end 2008, 21.5 million at year-end 2009.
Revenue: $2.4 billion in 2008, $2.7 billion in 2009.
Adjusted EBITDA: Loss of $350 million 2008, with positive $300 million in 2009.
Synergies from the merger with XM: $425 million in 2009.

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Salesforce: Deferred Revenue Debacle; Bookings in Danger?

Tiernan Ray — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:21:39 +0000

By Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

Following a beat-and-raise quarter last night for online software vendor Salesforce’s (CRM), the rewards are not what you might expect, with the shares down $11.60, or 17.8 percent, at $53.73. The company’s forecast for a profit of 34 cents to 35 cents for the current quarter, excluding its cost to acquire privately held Instranet, was unimpressive to the Street. But the main worry is that the company’s deferred revenue balance–meaning sales for which it has received payments that have not been recorded as revenue on the income statement–at the end of last quarter signals that new business signings may be slipping.

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Blockbuster: Needham Initiates at "Hold"

Tiernan Ray — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:36:54 +0000

By Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

On the heels of Netflix’s (NFLX) problems last week getting DVDs out the door to subscribers, Needham & Co. analyst Charlie Wolf initiated coverage this morning of Blockbuster (BBI) with a “Hold” rating. Wolf says that while the company is throwing lots of things at the wall to “see if it sticks,” it’s not clear the company will get the increase in same-store sales it needs to offset the drag on earnings from its 6,000 retail outlets. He did not offer a target price.

“Blockbuster’s major problem lies in its base of 6,000 stores,” writes Wolf. “The company’s challenge and opportunity is wrapped up in the relatively large fixed expenses entailed in operating its stores.” Blockbuster revenue barely covers the cost of running the stores, but even a modest tick up in same-store sales could “transform a basically break-even operation into a highly profitable one,” writes Wolf.

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