amazon.com Inc.
NASDAQ symbol AMZN, is the leading bookseller on the Internet, as well as a leading video and music seller. It also has numerous other store categories, including electronics, computer games, toys and tools. Through Amazon Services, the company also offers programs that let sellers market on its web sites.
RUGGEDCOM INC., $32.81, symbol RCM on Toronto, jumped 26% this week after it received a friendly takeover bid from Siemens Canada Ltd. Siemens is offering $33 a share in cash. The company is a subsidiary of giant German conglomerate Siemens AG. RuggedCom, which makes computer networking equipment that is used in harsh environments, was the target of a hostile takeover bid from Belden Inc., a U.S. cable and networking equipment maker. Belden recently reaffirmed its offer of $22 in cash for each RuggedCom share. RuggedCom’s board of directors has advised shareholders to accept Siemens’ offer....
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders....
PLEASE NOTE: Next week, The Successful Investor, our newsletter that focuses on high-quality Canadian stocks, will reveal its #1 pick for 2012. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to profit. MACY’S INC., $34.56, New York symbol M, rose 7% this week after it reported better-than-expected sales for December 2011. Same-store sales during the month were 6.2% higher than in December 2010. That beat the consensus estimate of a 5% rise. The company now expects same-store sales for its full 2012 fiscal year, which ends January 31, 2012, to be 5.3% higher than fiscal 2011. That’s up from its earlier prediction of a gain of 4.8% to 5.0%....
AMAZON.COM $211.99 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 461.0 million; Market cap: $97.7 billion; No dividends paid) reported sharply lower earnings in the latest quarter. In the three months ended September 30, 2011, Amazon’s earnings fell 72.7%, to $63 million, or $0.14 a share. A year earlier, it earned $231 million, or $0.51 a share. The decline came despite a 43.9% jump in sales, to $10.9 billion from $7.6 billion. During the quarter, the company spent $779 million on “technology and content,” up 74% from $442 million a year earlier. That was the main reason for the lower earnings....
MOSAID TECHNOLOGIES INC., $45.95, symbol MSD on Toronto, has agreed to a friendly, $46.00-a-share, all-cash takeover offer from U.S.-based private-equity firm Sterling Partners. Mosaid mainly licenses computer chip and telecommunications technology, including patents for technology used in smartphones and laptops. The Sterling Partners bid counters last week’s $42-a-share hostile offer from Wi-LAN. Prior to that, Wi-LAN had offered $38 a share....
AMAZON.COM $231.53 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 460.0 million; Market cap: $106.5 billion; No dividends paid) has unveiled new models of its Kindle electronic-book reader, including the Kindle Fire, the company’s first tablet computer. The Kindle Fire features a seven-inch, full colour touch-screen display. It is smaller and has less memory than the top-selling Apple iPad, but it will cost just $199 U.S., compared to $499 U.S. for an iPad. The tablet computer market is fiercely competitive. However, the Kindle Fire’s lower price should help it compete with the iPad and give it an advantage over non-Apple tablets. As well, users will be able to easily buy and download e-books, music, movies and games from Amazon’s web site. The company will also let Kindle Fire users keep their content on its cloud storage service at no extra cost....
POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $53.53 (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 Amgen Inc....
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) may have a place in your portfolio. That’s because, unlike many other financial innovations, they don’t load you up with heavy management fees, or tie you down with high redemption charges if you decide to get out of them. Instead, they give you a low-cost, flexible, convenient alternative to mutual funds. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. Prices are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You’ll have to pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell ETFs. However, ETFs’ low management fees still give them a cost advantage over most conventional mutual funds. As well, shares are only added or removed when the underlying index changes. As a result of this low turnover, you won’t incur the regular capital-gains bills generated by the yearly distributions most conventional mutual funds pay out to unitholders. Below, we update our advice on six ETFs — five buys and one we don’t recommend....
AMAZON.COM INC., $216.23, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, has unveiled new models of its Kindle electronic-book reader, including the Kindle Fire, the company’s first tablet computer.
The Kindle Fire features a seven-inch, full-colour touch-screen display. It is smaller and has less memory than the top-selling Apple iPad, but it will cost just $199 U.S., compared to $499 U.S. for an iPad.
The Kindle Fire connects to the Internet through Wi-Fi networks, and uses the popular Android operating system developed by Internet search provider Google (Nasdaq symbol GOOG). Amazon will start shipping the Kindle Fire to customers in the U.S. on November 15, 2011.
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The Kindle Fire features a seven-inch, full-colour touch-screen display. It is smaller and has less memory than the top-selling Apple iPad, but it will cost just $199 U.S., compared to $499 U.S. for an iPad.
The Kindle Fire connects to the Internet through Wi-Fi networks, and uses the popular Android operating system developed by Internet search provider Google (Nasdaq symbol GOOG). Amazon will start shipping the Kindle Fire to customers in the U.S. on November 15, 2011.
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The research we do for members of our Inner Circle service turns up many intriguing stories on growth stocks, often in the ultra-competitive high-tech world. Here’s a question about the prospects of Sirius XM Radio (symbol SIRI on Nasdaq) from our latest weekly Inner Circle Q&A, in which I answer questions from our members. Sirius has a big customer base, but it’s not that easy to outdistance the competition. In our search for growth stocks, we look for a strong market position. And if Sirius can hold its current position, it will fit our profile for growth stocks. But that’s not guaranteed. ...