amazon.com Inc.

AMAZON.COM $268.93 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 453.0 million; Market cap: $121.8 billion; No dividends paid) and ADOBE SYSTEMS $37.88 (Nasdaq symbol ADBE; TSINetwork Rating: Average) (408-536-6000; www.adobe.com; Shares outstanding: 495.1 million; Market cap: $18.8 billion; No dividends paid) are part of a 12-company consortium that is buying bankrupt Eastman Kodak’s 1,100 digital-imaging patents for $525 million U.S.

Other members of the consortium include Apple, Google, Samsung, Research in Motion, Microsoft, China’s Huawei, Facebook and Fujifilm.

Under the deal, each of the 12 companies in the consortium will pay a portion of the total cost and then have access to all the patents.
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PLEASE NOTE: This is our last Hotline for 2012. Our next Hotline will go out on Friday, January 4, 2013. AMAZON.COM INC., $256.92, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, and ADOBE SYSTEMS INC., $37.71, symbol ADBE on Nasdaq, are part of a 12-company consortium that is buying bankrupt Eastman Kodak’s 1,100 digital-imaging patents for $525 million U.S. Other members of the consortium include Apple, Google, Samsung, Research in Motion, Microsoft, China’s Huawei, Facebook and Fujifilm....

POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $69.11 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers; www.invescopowershares. com), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds the stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index. That index is made up of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange, based on market cap.

The Nasdaq 100 Index contains shares of companies in a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets. The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, Amazon.com, Oracle Corp., Comcast Corp. and Kraft Foods Inc.

RUBY TUESDAY, INC. $7.65 (New York symbol RT; TSINetwork Rating: Speculative) (865-379-5700; www.rubytuesday.com; Shares outstanding: 64.0 million; Market cap: $489.6 million; No dividends paid) reports that its sales rose 0.8% in the three months ended September 4, 2012, to $332.9 million from $330.3 million a year earlier. Sales rose even though the company closed 27 less profitable restaurants. Same-restaurant sales rose 1.9%. Excluding one-time items, the company earned $0.05 a share in the latest quarter, unchanged from a year earlier. That matched the consensus estimate. Ruby Tuesday has developed a number of new restaurant concepts, including Marlin & Ray’s seafood estaurants and Lime Fresh Mexican Grills. The company feels these new layouts will help it compete in certain towns and cities. It’s now building new restaurants under these banners and converting underperforming outlets....

AMAZON.COM $247.49 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 452.1 million; Market cap: $111.9 billion; No dividends paid) is now launching a new service, called Amazon Lending, which will offer loans to its online sellers.

This new service adds credit risk—the company will make loans of up to $800,000 to selected merchants—but the move should boost Amazon’s sales. That’s because the additional cash will let merchants stock more inventory to sell through the company’s websites, especially heading into the holiday season.

Amazon.com is still a hold.

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Most stock markets have risen lately. But as always, they remain subject to unexpected downturns. Even so, the long-term outlook is for higher stock prices. One way to profit from rising markets is to add exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track major stock indexes to your portfolio. ETF’s trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You must pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs, but their low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

TEMPUR-PEDIC, $29.89, symbol TPX on New York, jumped as high as $33 this week after it announced plans to buy rival Sealy Corp. (symbol ZZ on New York). Tempur-Pedic will pay $1.3 billion, consisting of $228.6 million in cash plus the assumption of all of Sealy’s debt. Sealy, which was founded in 1881, makes a wide range of spring coil beds under the Sealy, Sealy Posturepedic, Sealy Embody, Stearns & Foster and Bassett brands....

eBay has moved far beyond its original auction website business in the past 17 years. It’s now a complete e-commerce platform that helps merchants sell their goods and collect payments. Demand for the company’s services should keep rising, particularly in developing countries, where online shopping is growing and there are fewer traditional retailers to compete with. eBay now gets over half of its sales from outside the U.S. EBAY INC. $48 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $62.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.8; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) launched its online auction site in September 1995. It now has 104.8 million users worldwide. The company charges users fees to list and sell their goods through its websites. On top of used goods, the company is also selling more merchandise from retailers. That’s helping it compete with Amazon.com. Right now, sales of new items at fixed prices account for over 60% of eBay’s total transactions....

AMAZON.COM $261.68 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206- 266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 452.1 million; Market cap: $118.3 billion; No dividends paid) has unveiled two new devices: the Kindle Paperwhite e-book reader and a larger version of the Kindle Fire tablet computer, named the Kindle Fire HD. However, even though its two new products have strong potential, Amazon must continue to deal with intense competition in the e-book market from big rivals like Apple, Barnes & Noble and Google. As well, the Apple iPad is now the dominant tablet, and significant new competitors, including Google and Microsoft, have entered this market. Amazon.com is still a hold.

EBAY INC. $48 (Nasdaq symbol EBAY; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $62.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.8; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.ebay.com) launched its online auction site in September 1995. It now has 104.8 million users worldwide. The company charges users fees to list and sell their goods through its websites.

On top of used goods, the company is also selling more merchandise from retailers. That’s helping it compete with Amazon.com. Right now, sales of new items at fixed prices account for over 60% of eBay’s total transactions.

The company also operates several other highly popular websites, including StubHub (live event ticket sales), Shopping.com (comparison shopping) and Rent.com (apartment and house rentals). In addition, it has local websites that sell classified advertising in over 1,000 cities. In all, eBay’s websites provide 54% of its revenue.

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