Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU), SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC), VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEAMEX:VHC), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB)
Amazon Falls on Operating Profit Forecast Miss (BusinessWeek)
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), the world’s largest online retailer, fell the most in almost three months after forecasting operating profit that missed estimates as the company invests in warehouses and digital content. The shares fell 7 percent to $255.55 at 11:07 a.m. in New York, and earlier touched $255.28 for the biggest intraday decline since Feb. 1. Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) yesterday predicted an operating loss of $340 million to a profit of $10 million, compared with analysts’ projections for a profit of $165.1 million. First- quarter net income fell 37 percent to $82 million, or 18 cents a share, from $130 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is pouring money new warehouses and digital content to lure new customers and outside sellers who in turn generate extra income. Even as spending climbed, the growth in the number of items sold on the website slowed.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) -6.65% just delivered a solid first-quarter report, with profit easily beating analysts’ expectations. The stock is up about 1% in extended trading. Amazon’s profit was $82 million, or 18 cents a share, down from $130 million, or 28 cents a share, a year earlier, but analysts had expected a profit of 8 cents a share. Amazon reported total sales of $16.1 billion, basically just under analyst expectations, according to S&P CapitalIQ. Amazon is also pricing in some aggressive expansion into its guidance: for the second quarter, the company forecast operating results to range from a profit of $10 million to a loss of $340 million and revenue of $14.5 billion to $16.2 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected revenue of $15.9 billion.
Amazon to open shipping centre in Czech Republic (ET)
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) plans to build a 100,000-sqm logistics centre in the Czech Republic, daily E15 reported, citing several unnamed sources familiar with the company’s plans. It said the U.S. online seller picked the Czech Republic over neighbouring Poland. The shipping site should create at least 1,000 new jobs in the central European country and Amazon had plans to launch its operation by the autumn, the paper also said. Amazon was not immediately available to comment.
Amazon’s success formula to profit: Move bits instead of boxes (FinancialExpress)
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) appears to have figured out the secret to being more profitable: sell less physical stuff. The company reported slowing revenue growth and offered a disappointing outlook for this quarter on Thursday, exacerbating uncertainty about the health of its business beyond the United States. But that may be masking a fundamental shift in its business on home turf. The Internet retail giant that once specialized in moving books and other physical items quickly is increasingly trying to do the same in the digital world, where profit margins are higher, partly because e-books, music and video files and are transmitted electronically at high speed.
Baidu’s Profit Growth Slows (WSJ)
Chinese Internet-search company Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) -6.87% reported slower profit growth in the first quarter as concerns persisted about rising costs and how quickly the company can earn money from increasingly popular mobile services. Baidu’s 40% revenue increase in the quarter was generated by a jump in advertising customers, but heavy investment in research and development and rising promotional spending caused profit growth to lag. Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU), which generates almost all its revenue from search advertising, has posted strong earnings in recent years after taking a comfortable lead in the Chinese search market. It has overtaken much of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) -1.11% share since 2010, when Google shifted its local search traffic to Hong Kong following a disagreement with Chinese government officials over online censorship.
Baidu.com Rating Lowered to Hold at Brean Murray (BIDU) (DailyPolitical)
Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) was downgraded by Brean Murray to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Stock Ratings Network reports. A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on BIDU. Analysts at TheStreet reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Baidu.com in a research note to investors on Thursday, April 18th. Separately, analysts at Zacks upgraded shares of Baidu.com from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday, April 17th. They now have a $91.30 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Maxim Group cut their price target on shares of Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) from $80.00 to $75.00 in a research note to investors on Tuesday, April 16th. They now have a “sell” rating on the stock.
Chinese search giant Baidu reports slower profit growth as mobile service expands (WashingtonPost)
Baidu.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU), which operates China’s most popular search engine, reported slower profit growth in its latest quarter Friday as costs rose sharply and competition for its new mobile service intensified. Earnings rose 8.5 percent from a year earlier to 2 billion yuan ($328.9 million) for the three months ended March 31, the Beijing- based company announced. That was down from the previous quarter’s 36 percent increase. Revenue rose 40 percent from a year earlier to 6 billion yuan ($961 million) but expenses rose at faster rates. Research and development costs increased 82.9 percent. Sales and administration rose 77.2 percent.
Semiconductor Stocks on the Move (TechSonian)
Value Stock Pick is a leading Investment Newsletter. Our Research Team conducts research on different stocks, doing their due diligence to provide a detailed report, including both technical and fundamental analysis, on NYSE, NASDAQ, AMEX, OTCBB and Pink Sheet Stocks. …SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), the price of the stock moved up +10.45% and finished the day at $12.26 on above average volume. The day started out with a higher opening price of $11.22 versus its prior close of $11.10. The total number of shares traded on the latest trading day was 7,369,202 shares, and changed hands at average prices of $11.22 to $12.35 apiece. The shares gain about +118.15% since the start of 2013 and had a +53.25% gain in last three months.
SunPower Rating Increased to Outperform at Robert W. Baird (SPWR) (Zolmax)
SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Robert W. Baird from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, AnalystRatingsNetwork reports. The firm currently has a $16.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $10.00. A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on SPWR. Analysts at S&P Equity Research upgraded shares of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note to investors on Wednesday, April 10th. They now have a $14.00 price target on the stock, up previously from $12.00. Separately, analysts at Zacks reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) in a research note to investors on Thursday, March 21st. They now have a $13.00 price target on the stock.
Stock Losers: SunPower Corporation, VirnetX Holding Corporation, Skechers USA Inc, Celgene Corporation (SBWire)
Marketbuzzreport.com, an investment community with a special focus on updating investors with recent news on the U.S. stock market, issues news alert on the following stocks …VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEAMEX:VHC) shares climbed 3.93% to $19.55. The company on April 22 announced that on April 22, 2013, it filed a complaint against Microsoft Corporation in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division. The complaint includes allegations of willful patent infringement regarding six patents owned by VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEAMEX:VHC), U.S. Patent Nos. 6,502,135, 7,188,180, 7,418,504, 7,490,151, 7,921,211, and 7,987,274.
Who Loves VirnetX Holding Corporation (VHC)? (InsiderMonkey)
VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSEAMEX:VHC) investors should pay attention to a decrease in enthusiasm from smart money lately. At the moment, there are plenty of gauges investors can use to monitor stocks. A couple of the most useful are hedge fund and insider trading movement. At Insider Monkey, our studies have shown that, historically, those who follow the best picks of the best hedge fund managers can outclass the market by a healthy margin.
Western Digital: Hard Drive Shipments Not Affected by Growing SSD Popularity. (XBitlabs)
Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) claims that despite of rapidly growing popularity of solid-state drives, total available market (TAM) of hard disk drives (HDDs) has not been affected by SSDs. In fact, the decrease of HDD TAM is mostly conditioned by slow PC sales as well as reduced production of hard drives due to lower production capacities after Thailand flooding in 2011. “[Hard drive TAM] is obviously down, it is down from 170 million pre-flood to 135 million this past quarter. Clearly, we have been impacted in that regard by lower PC sales. But it is not because of SSD replacements within PCs. In fact, we have actually seen that pure SSD as an alternative for hard drives has not changed significantly from what we expected or from what we have seen historically.
Western Digital Corp. Given New $62.00 Price Target at Deutsche Bank (WDC) (ZolMax)
Investment analysts at Deutsche Bank AG (NYSE:DB) upped their price target on shares of Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) from $60.00 to $62.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, AnalystRatingsNetwork reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. A number of other firms have also recently commented on WDC. Analysts at BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) from $45.00 to $53.00 in a research note to investors on Thursday. Separately, analysts at Barclays Capital raised their price target on shares of Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC).
Western Digital forecasts strong revenue on internet storage demand (Reuters)
Hard disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) forecast current-quarter revenue largely above analysts’ expectations as higher demand for internet storage more than offsets the effects of a fall in personal computer sales. The company forecast fourth-quarter earnings of $1.65 to $1.80 per share on revenue of $3.55 billion to $3.65 billion. Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $1.74 per share on revenue of $3.58 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Hard drive sales have been hit as consumers buy fewer personal computers and increasingly shift to smartphones.
