intel

SONY CORP. ADRs $44 (New York symbol SNE; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; WSSF Rating: Above average) will have to absorb part of the $400 million cost to recall faulty batteries it sold to computer maker Dell Inc. Sony feels the recall will have only a small effect on its profits. In its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2006, Sony earned $0.27 per ADR (total $281 million). It lost $0.08 per ADR ($66 million) a year earlier. Each American Depository Receipt represents one common share. After several delays, the company now plans to launch its new PlayStation 3 video game player on November 17. Although priced higher than competing products, PlayStation 3’s advanced features should make it a strong seller....

NVIDIA CORP. $20 should gain from Advanced Micro Devices’ merger with Nvidia’s chief rival, ATI Technologies. AMD feels that integrating ATI’s video chips with its processors will help it compete with industry leader Intel. However, most video card buyers prefer to install this equipment separately. In addition, Intel will now replace the chips it now buys from ATI with Nvidia products. We now see Nvidia as a buy. WASHINGTON MUTUAL INC. $46 plans to sell some of its mortgage servicing business, which mails statements to borrowers and collects payments. That should let it focus on more profitable businesses, like credit cards, and cut its reliance on the mortgage industry. Best Buy. MOLSON COORS BREWING CO. $71 has gained 10% in the past two months. Recent heat waves in much of the United States should spur strong demand for beer. The higher sales should more than offset rising aluminum can costs. Buy.

BARNES & NOBLE INC. $34 (New York symbol BKS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; WSSF Rating: Average) fell 5% after an investor sued it, alleging the company improperly issued stock options to its top executives. The SEC is now conducting an informal probe into Barnes & Noble’s stock options policy and procedures. We’ll have more to say as information becomes available. For now, we see the stock as a buy. INTEL CORP. $18 (Nasdaq symbol INTC; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; WSSF Rating: Above average) plans to invest $600 million in Clearwire Corp., which specializes in high-speed wireless data networks. The price is equal to 68% of the $885 million or $0.15 a share that Intel earned in the second quarter of 2006....

S&P DEPOSITORY RECEIPTS $131 (American Exchange symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers) are commonly called ‘Spiders’. The fund holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index. This index is comprised of 500 major U.S. stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation....

NASDAQ-100 TRUST SHARES $41.49 (Nasdaq Exchange symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers) or ‘Qubes’, hold the stocks that represent the Nasdaq-100 Index. This index is made up of the 100 largest and most heavily traded stocks on the Nasdaq Exchange. The index reflects firms across major industry groups including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. Expenses are about 0.20% of assets. At last report, the top 10 highest-weighted stocks were Qualcomm, Microsoft, Apple Computer, Google, Cisco, Intel, Amgen, eBay, Oracle and Starbucks. Nasdaq-100 Trust Shares are a buy for aggressive investors only.

The best exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios with very low management fees. Due to buyback and share issue arrangements, ETFs always trade close to their net asset value. Here are some of the best deals available in ETFs. We’ve also analysed one we don’t like. ISHARES CDN LARGECAP 60 INDEX FUND $68.83 (Toronto symbol XIU; buy or sell through a broker) (formerly called iUnits S&P/TSX 60 Index Participation Fund) is a good low-fee way to buy the top stocks on the TSE. The units hold a basket of stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index. The index is made up of the 60 largest and most heavily traded stocks on the TSE....

ALTAMIRA SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY FUND $8.45 (CWA Rating: Aggressive) (Altamira Investment Services, The Exchange Tower, 130 King St. West, Suite 900, Toronto, Ont. M5X 1K9. 1-800-263-2824; Web site: www.altamira.com. No load — deal directly with the company) invests in the telecommunications, biotechnology, environmental technology, health care and computer industries. The $72.9 million fund gained 1.1% over the last year, compared to the Nasdaq’s gain of 2.8%. Its MER is 2.68%. Top holdings include: Cisco, 6.2%; Microsoft, 4.4%; ASML Holding, 4.0%; Intel, 3.6%; Verisign, 3.5%; Yahoo!, 3.4%; Nokia, 3.3%; Samsung, 3.3%; Red Hat, 3.2%; and St. Jude Medical, 2.8%....

Many tech stocks have moved up lately, and the Nasdaq composite index is now at 2,360, its highest level since 2001. Spending by corporations for information technology products and services should continue to rise this year, along with the U.S. economy. New U.S. regulatory requirements for record maintenance should also increase the demand for computer equipment and software. Still, it would be a risky mistake to let these stocks dominate your portfolio. Although their outlook is bright, they remain highly volatile. You also need to avoid more junior techs that may have more conceptual than financial appeal. Many such stocks can make great scientific progress without making much if any money for investors....

APPLE COMPUTER INC. $62 (Nasdaq symbol AAPL; WSSF Rating: Extra risk) is fighting a proposed law in France aimed at spurring competition in the legal music downloading industry. Right now, customers can only listen to songs downloaded from Apple’s iTunes online music store on Apple’s iPod music player. The new law would force Apple to re-program these files to play on other digital music players. That would likely hurt iTunes’ leading share of Europe’s legal music download market, and cut iPod sales. The stock hit $86 in January on strong Christmas demand for iPods. But it has moved down lately on fears that sales of Apple’s new Intel-powered Macintosh computers will lag until more software that takes advantage of the new chip becomes available....

NVIDIA CORP. $57 (Nasdaq symbol NVDA; WSSF Rating: Average) has about 80% of the market for high-end graphic chips that make games and video signals appear more life-like and run smoother on computers and home video game consoles. This business supplies 70% of its revenue. But the company faces strong competition from chief rival ATI Technologies, as well as Intel, which makes less expensive graphics chips. Nvidia now aims to cut its reliance on this niche market by developing chips for other devices, such as cellphones and digital TV sets. However, the cellphone chip market is crowded and prices are falling. In fact, Nvidia’s cellphone chip business lost $34.9 million in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2006, on $58.7 million in sales. To put that in context, Nvidia earned $1.65 a share (total $302.6 million) in fiscal 2006, up sharply from $0.57 a share ($100.4 million) in 2005 (we have not adjusted these per-share figures for a 2-for-1 stock split planned for April 2006). Sales rose 20.0%, to $2.4 billion from $2.0 billion....