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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.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase Co. have emerged two bellwethers of the US finance sector in the post-bailout Wall Street, leading the surge of optimism with their strong profits in the Y 2009 Q-2. Six major US banks have reported their second-quarter profits in the past two weeks, vastly beating analyst predictions. The business of Goldman has little to do with common consumers, its quarterly earnings of more than US$3.4B posted were buoyed by record results in its trading and underwriting business. According to the quarterly report, the Wall Street giant generated a record US$6.8B in revenue from fixed income, currency and commodities trading during the quarter. Revenue from equity underwriting jumped to US$736M form UD$ 48M in the first quarter compared with US$616M last year. JP Morgan Chase, the largest US bank by market value, posted a US$2.72B earnings, and made its profits mainly from investment-banking services including bond and equity trading, and underwriting debt to help companies issue shares and bonds, not commercial loans and consumption credit.

Popularity: 2% [?]

A unit of US Bancorp and privately-held SolarCity has teamed up to wire homes and businesses in California, Oregon and Arizona, with no upfront costs, while taking advantage of government tax credits. The agreement, for which no value was disclosed, allows US Bancorp Community Development Corp., a unit of US Bancorp, to take advantage of tax breaks including a solar tax credit. In return, the bank pays for the purchase and installation of solar power by SolarCity, which markets and maintains the systems. Homeowners and businesses purchase the electricity generated from their roofs. “We are able to offer a home owner or a business owner a solar financing solution that costs them less than if they bought the same amount of electricity from the utility,” said Lyndon Rive, chief executive of SolarCity, from company headquarters in Foster City, Calif. Homeowners also may choose to pay the cost of the installation, which can run to US$20,000 and has a payback period for eight to 10 years, Rive said. Darren Van’t Hof, vice president of the US Bancorp unit said in a telephone interview from St. Louis that the two companies have created a tax equity fund which finances the solar lease plan. The joint fund reaps the benefits of the tax breaks, sharing the revenue stream between the bank and SolarCity, he said. The company takes care of maintenance for 15 years, after which a homeowner can renew the plan, upgrade, buy the system or have it removed, Rive said. Rive said the company already has a six-month backlog and the agreement, signed a few days ago, will allow it to whittle away that backlog and sell more systems.

Popularity: 4% [?]