amazon

POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $43.96 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers), 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 firms from 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., Gilead Sciences and Teva Pharmaceuticals....

PLEASE NOTE: Our next Hotline will go out on Friday, July 9, 2010. AMAZON.COM INC., $121, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, has dropped the price of its Kindle electronic-book reader by 27%, to $189 from $259 (all amounts in U.S. dollars). The move came after Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its Nook e-book reader to $199 and introduced a Wi-Fi only version for $149. The Wi-Fi version can only download e-books through private Wi-Fi networks, in Barnes & Noble stores and in places where AT&T offers Wi-Fi service. In contrast, the more expensive Nook comes with an unlimited 3G cellular Internet link for downloads....

Brazil Gold Corp., $0.73, symbol BRZG on the Nasdaq over-the-counter market (Shares outstanding: 80 million; Market cap: $58.4 million), has an agreement to acquire over 861,000 hectares (2.1 million acres) of mineral-exploration properties in Brazil’s western Amazon basin. This area has produced gold in the past, but only through very basic evaluation and exploration methods. Brazil Gold’s exploration program is still at a very early stage: samples have been taken at a depth of just one metre. Early-stage exploration like this is very speculative, even in areas with past production. As of March 31, 2010, the company held no cash....

INDIGO BOOKS & MUSIC INC. $15 (Toronto symbol IDG; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 24.5 million; Market cap: $367.5 million; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.4; Dividend yield; 2.9%; SI Rating: Average) is seeing strong demand for its new Kobo electronic-book reader. That’s largely because the Kobo reader costs much less than its main competitor, Amazon.com’s Kindle. Indigo owns 57.7% of the Kobo joint venture; U.S.-based bookseller Borders Group Inc. (New York symbol BGP) and other private investors own the remaining 42.3%. The joint venture will soon start selling Kobo readers in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. The partners also plan to launch Kobo in Europe, China and India. Indigo is a buy.

BANK OF NOVA SCOTIA, $49.23, Toronto symbol BNS, rose 3% this week after the bank reported higher earnings and revenue in its latest quarter. In the three months ended April 30, 2010, Bank of Nova Scotia earned a record $1.1 billion, or $1.02 a share. That’s up 25.8% from $872 million, or $0.81 a share, a year earlier. The latest earnings also beat the consensus estimate of $0.91 a share. Revenue rose 7.7%, to $3.9 billion from $3.7 billion. Most of the earnings increase came from the Canadian retail-banking division, which supplies 45% of the bank’s total earnings. This division’s profits jumped 42.4%, mainly because low interest rates spurred demand for mortgages and personal loans....

Demand for wireless services is rising sharply in North America. That’s partly because device makers continue to release new cellphones and wireless devices, such as Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader. As well, more customers are switching from traditional phones (or land lines) to wireless services. ...

Demand for wireless services continues to rise strongly. New phones and devices, such as Apple’s iPad and Amazon’s Kindle e-book reader, should continue to spur demand for wireless service. We still have a high opinion of Apple and Amazon. But their high share prices make them vulnerable to sudden setbacks. We think network operators like AT&T and Verizon provide a conservative way to profit from the popularity of wireless devices. That’s because they have wider and steadier revenue sources than device makers. AT&T INC. $26 (New York symbol T; Income Portfolio, Utilities sector; Shares outstanding: 5.9 billion; Market cap: $153.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; Dividend yield: 6.5%; WSSF Rating: Average) gets 50% of its revenue by selling traditional telephone services to 45 million customers in 22 states. The company’s wireless division has 87 million customers nationwide, and accounts for 45% of AT&T’s revenue. The remaining 5% comes from selling ads in telephone directories....

TECK RESOURCES LTD., $43.77, Toronto symbol TCK.B, earned a record $908 million in the three months ended March 31, 2010. That’s up 276.8% from $241 million a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 206.0%, to $1.53 from $0.50, on more shares outstanding. One-time items, including the sale of two gold mines in Turkey and a one-third interest in a B.C. hydroelectric dam, boosted the company’s earnings in the latest quarter. Without one-time items, Teck’s earnings would have fallen 4.2%, to $205 million from $214 million. Teck’s cash flow per share fell 42.5%, to $0.70 from $1.22. However, its revenue rose 13.8%, to $1.9 billion from $1.7 billion, largely because of rising copper prices....

AMAZON.COM $146.43 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; SI Rating: Extra Risk) (206-266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 445.5 million; Market cap: $65.2 billion; No dividends paid) has received approval from the federal government to open a $20-million distribution centre in Canada. In 2002, the government let Amazon open a Canadian web site, www.amazon.ca, but would not let the company build a warehouse because of concerns about foreign ownership of Canadian cultural industries. Right now, Canadian orders are handled in the United States, and shipped into the country through a subsidiary of Canada Post. The new warehouse should help Amazon cut its costs. That should let it gain market share in Canada by lowering the prices of its books and merchandise....

AMAZON.COM INC., $142.17, symbol AMZN on Nasdaq, has received approval from the Canadian government to open a distribution centre in Canada. In 2002, the government let Amazon open a Canadian web site, www.amazon.ca, but would not let the company build a warehouse because of concerns about foreign ownership of Canadian cultural industries. Right now, Canadian orders are handled in the United States, and shipped into the country through a subsidiary of Canada Post. Amazon will invest $20 million in the new warehouse. It has also promised to invest $1.5 million to promote Canadian culture and authors, and make more Canadian content available to users of its Kindle electronic-book reader....