Stock Preacher

3D technology looks set to hit the home consumer market next year, with Sony today announcing plans to sell 3D televisions globally by the end of 2010. Sony’s decision to throw its weight behind the technology will be an important boost for the 3D industry, which has so far focused mainly on cinemas. British Sky Broadcasting has said it would introduce a 3D satellite channel in the UK next year, but it had been unclear whether there would be equipment available to view it on. Speaking at the IFA technology trade show in Berlin, Sir Howard Stringer Sony chief executive, will announce plans not only to sell 3D Bravia television sets, but to make Sony’s Vaio laptop computers, PlayStation3 games consoles and Blu-ray disc players compatible with the technology. Read more

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Dell Inc.’s Q-2 Y 2009 results reinforce what other tech giants have shown recently about the health of the personal computer industry: it was wounded by the recession, but is getting back on its feet, thanks to consumers, bargain prices and little “netbook” laptops for surfing the Internet. Dell’s message was similar to those offered by rival Hewlett-Packard Co., the world’s No. 1 PC seller, and supplier Intel Corp., the world’s biggest computer chip maker, in their latest quarterly reports: consumers are coming back to the stores to buy PCs, but corporations are still being stingy. Read more

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New home sales in the USA rose last month at the fastest rate since 2005, the US Commerce Department said yesterday in a report, highlighting the case that the hammered US residential real estate market is staging a recovery. Separately, official figures showed that new orders for durable goods tallied up their biggest jump in 2 years in July, as aircraft purchases soared and the US Cash-for-Clunkers program fueled a big rise in demand for automobiles. Sales of new homes jumped by 9.6% to an adjusted annual rate of 433,000 in July. The 4th consecutive monthly rise beat even the most bullish forecasts of Wall Street analysts and exceeded the revised June jump of 9.1%. New home sales are still off by 13.4% compared with the same month a year ago. Buyers are responding to low prices and the popular 1st time home buyer tax credit which has succeeded in luring people back to the market. The median price of a new home slipped a bit to US$210,100 in July and is off by 11.5% year-on-year.

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Vonage Holdings Corp shares surged 35% on Wednesday on growing views that the company would survive despite earlier skepticism over its business model. The stock has now climbed more than 300% in the past week, a rally that has surprised analysts who say the company still faces stiff competition and weak revenue. Last week, the stock was trading at less than 50 cents a share, and yesterday it closed above US$2.00/shr. on news of Google Inc’s new voice application may be renewing interest in VoIP, a technology that Vonage pioneered. Vonage was among the first to offer Internet-based calling services to people looking for cheaper alternatives to regular phone lines. Since its inception, the company has struggled with high costs and competition from traditional phone and cable operators that now offer bundled video, Internet and phone services. It is also challenged by SKYPE, a unit of eBay Inc, and other Internet-based services. While it posted its 1st quarterly net profit earlier this month, a weaker economy resulted in fewer subscribers. Vonage, perhaps, is in the sights of a larger company.

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As regular readers would know DRYS is has been one of my favorites for some time, both myself and Paul have published a number of research articles on this one including a report on how DRYS was trading well behind the Baltic Index. DRYS and GE marked our financial services divisions first “house trades” over the last few months and Buzz Inc has good sized positions in both.

DryShips Inc reported better than expected quarterly earnings, helped by the recent rise in spot charter rates that the Baltic Index indicated 2 months ago. Drys also seen an increased contribution from its offshore drilling segment. Read more

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Bank of America joined the crowd of financial institutions reporting good earnings last week. The Charlotte, N.C., bank beat the expectations of analysts by saying today that it had a US$2.42B Q-2 profit after the payment of preferred dividends. Bank of America has struggled through the acquisitions of lender Countrywide Financial Corp. and investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co., and looks like it is getting its financial house in order. After rising in early trading, Bank of America shares fell 35 cents to $12.82 in mid-day trading. The second-quarter profit amounted to 33c per share and compared with a profit US$3.22B, or 72c, a year earlier. Although the numbers were below last year’s, the earnings still beat the forecasts of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters, who predicted the bank would come in at 28c per share.

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