According to evidence gathered by The New York Times, the rise of Internet streaming has resulted in the rise of password sharing among users. At this time, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX ) has yet to formally crack down on password sharing, despite the fact that it potentially threatens its business. Before it can lay down the hammer, it must create a thriving ecosystem that commands the mindshare of Internet streamers. In this video, Motley Fool contributor Steve Heller weighs in on the findings and what it could mean for investors.
The opportunities in streaming media have brought some new, deep-pocketed rivals looking for their piece of a growing pie. Can Netflix fend off this burgeoning competition, and will its international growth aspirations really pay off? These are must-know issues for investors, which is why The Motley Fool has released a premium report on Netflix. Inside, you'll learn about the key opportunities and risks facing the company, as well as reasons to buy or sell the stock. The report includes a full year of updates to cover critical new developments, so make sure to click here and claim a copy today.
Top Internet Companies To Own For 2015: Google Inc.(GOOG)
Google Inc. maintains an index of Web sites and other online content for users, advertisers, and Google network members and other content providers. It offers AdWords, an auction-based advertising program; AdSense program, which enables Web sites that are part of the Google Network to deliver ads from its AdWords advertisers; Google Display, a display advertising network that comprises the videos, text, images, and other interactive ads; DoubleClick Ad Exchange, a real-time auction marketplace for the trading of display ad space; and YouTube that provides video, interactive, and other ad formats for advertisers. The company also provides Google Mobile that optimizes Google?s applications for mobile devices in browser and downloadable form; and enables advertisers to run search ad campaigns on mobile devices, as well as Google Local that provides local information on the Web; and Google Boost for small businesses to participate in the ads auction. In addition, it offers And roid, an open source mobile software platform; Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system; Google Chrome, a Web browser; Google TV, a platform for the consumers to use the television and the Internet on a single screen; and Google Books platform to discover, search, and consume content from printed books online. Further, the company provides Google Apps, a cloud computing suite of message and collaboration tools, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Sites; Google Search Appliance that offers real-time search of business and intranet applications, and public Web sites; Google Site Search, a custom search engine; Google Commerce Search for online retail enterprises; Google Checkout to make online shopping and payments streamlined and secure; Google Maps Application Programming Interface; and Google Earth Enterprise, a firewall software solution for imagery and data visualization. Google Inc. was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
Advisors' Opinion:- [By Holly LaFon] had been trading shares of Google since prior to 2007 but had completely sold out in the second quarter of 2011. He then bought 1,126 shares in the third quarter of 2011 at about $550 per share. In the fourth quarter, he bought his largest stake to date ��258,900 shares at about $592, for a total investment of $154 million. Google is now his fifth largest holding, with 7.3% of his portfolio.
Google, once known for being a search engine giant, has grown to become the largest maker of smartphone software. But its Android platform lost market share in the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, 50 percent of phones sold ran on the Android operating system, compared to 30.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010, but down from 52.5% in the third quarter. Smartphone sales overall increased 47.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.
The company may have an opportunity to edge up its lead in the upcoming quarter as Gartner analysts expect iPhone sales to decline quarter-on-quarter and smaller competitors, whose devices can run on Android, become more aggressive.
Google generates 96% of its revenues from advertising, down one percent from 2009, and has benefited from the accelerated transition from offline to online advertising over the years. But the rate of its growth has slowed over time. Advertising revenue grew from $15.7 billion in 2009 to $19.4 billion in 2010, to $26.1 billion in 2011. The increase from 2010 to 2011 was primarily due to an increase in traffic, monetization improvements including new ad formats, global expansion, and added Google Network members, as well as an increase in the average cost-per-click paid by advertisers.
At year-end 2011, Google had approximately $44 billion in cash and $8.5 billion in long-term liabilities, with no debt. It also traded at particularly low valuations in 2011:
GOOG pe,ps,pb Interactive Chart
Comverse Technology Inc. (CMVT)
Israeli-base
Top Internet Companies To Own For 2015: 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 Andy Obermueller]
The magazine examined some large companies as the drivers in this new technological push, which hinges largely on the continued adoption of portable devices, like cellphones, that can be used much like a credit or debit card. Its winners are Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) because of its Google Wallet initiative, which I was among the first to cover; eBay's (Nasdaq: EBAY) PayPal; Visa (NYSE: V); MasterCard (NYSE: MA); Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Facebook (Nasdaq: FB).
- [By Jay Jenkins]
For the technology to really go mainstream, it needs consumer-side products to support it (cue�Square and PayPal�(subsidiary of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY ) ), it needs infrastructure to transmit the data (looking at you,�MasterCard (NYSE: MA ) and Visa (NYSE: V ) ), and it needs vendor-side hardware to close the loop (uh, hmm...�VeriFone (NYSE: PAY ) ).
- [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.
Hot Retail Stocks For 2015: 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 Vanina Egea] and earnings growth (which came in better than expected on the last reported quarter), profit margins and other profitability ratios.
Additionally, I will evaluate which institutional investors bought the stock in the recent quarters (institutional backup can tell a lot about a stock), and the initiatives that the company is putting in motion in order to ameliorate its sales and margins.
Earnings
The first step is analyzing Symantec Corp�� earnings growth. I am looking for companies that are able to expand both their quarterly and annual earnings by more than 15% a year. Last quarter the company generated 13% quarterly EPS growth when compared to the same quarter last year. Thus, I am not encouraged by SYMC�� numbers. Past growth winners (Apple, Baidu, etc.) generated consistent quarterly EPS growth above 15% and I am certainly looking for that level before investing.
In addition, SYMC generated three-year average annual EPS growth of 10%. This is an important metric to follow in growth stocks because it highlights how well the stock grew in the past years. I like to invest in companies that are growing consistently.
Revenue
Let's take a look at SYMC麓s revenue growth. This is a key metric that needs to be analyzed before investing in a company, as it is one of the scarce figures that cannot be modified through accounting tricks and similar dodges.
The company reported a 5% quarterly revenue drop year over year. On the contrary, I look for companies that generate more than 15% in quarterly growth.
When betting on a company, an investor wants to see sales grow or improve over time ���nd not just in the last reported quarter. Looking at the company�� financials in comparison to previous years will give participants a much better idea of how well a company is doing. Symantec Corp generated a three-year average annual sales growth rate of 4%.
A New Strategic Plan
Accepting the problems in its
- [By Paul Ausick]
Big Earnings Movers: AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is down 1.9% at $34.62 on earnings that were good but not great. Symantec Inc. (NASDAQ: SYMC) is down 12.8% at $21.48 on lagging revenues and a weak outlook. Fusion-io Inc. (NYSE: FIO) is down 24.4% at $9.81 on soft results. Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG) is up 4% at $26.62 after reporting earnings this morning. Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) is down 10.4% at $9.61 on a weak outlook tied to a failing turnaround plan.
- [By Damian Illia]
California-based Symantec Corporation (SYMC) is a company that provides Internet security technology, with a wide range of application and software products of content security solutions and information back-up solutions such as firewall, virtual private network (VPN), virus protection, vulnerability management, intrusion detection and other services, offered to individuals and enterprises. Best known for Norton products which provide antivirus protection, identity protection and online backup, Symantec operates in more than 50 countries, and has recently realigned its business into three divisions: User Productivity & Protection, Information Security and Information Management.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading DOWN
Shares of Symantec (NASDAQ: SYMC) were down 13.42 percent to $18.10 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 Internet Companies To Own For 2015: 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 Chris Hill]
In this segment, Matt discusses why he'll have his eye on Bank of America (NYSE: BAC ) , and Jason tells us why he'll be watching Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO ) this week.
Top Internet Companies To Own For 2015: 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 Rex Crum]
Additionally, Devitt initiated coverage of IAC/InterActive Corp. (IACI) �with an equal weight rating and best-case stock price scenario of $67 a share.
- [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.
- [By Jake L'Ecuyer]
Equities Trading UP
IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) shot up 15.54 percent to $69.43 after the company reported that that it is reorganizing and that Greg Blatt, its CEO, will become the Chairman of the newly created Match Group.
Top Internet Companies To Own For 2015: 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 Austin Smith]
Austin: Now, obviously there's a lot of incumbents in the streaming space. We can't talk about this without saying Netflix [ (NASDAQ: NFLX ) ] and Amazon [ (NASDAQ: AMZN ) ]�Prime. Are they your biggest competitors here, or am I misreading it? Do you think about it differently?
- [By Paul Ausick]
The top smartphone properties measured by reach belong to Google (92.6% reach), Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) with an 86.3% reach, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) with 81.7% reach, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) with 66.8%, and Apple with 50.2%. The top smartphone apps belong to Facebook with 76.1% of U.S. users and four Google apps — YouTube, Google Play, Google Search, and Google Maps — rounding out the top five.
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