AAPL - not use how much there is I can add about this stock. I think the sales from the 5s affirmed what I have been saying all year, that the Apple Brand itself has incredible value. I am very interested to see the reaction to the Ipad refresh coming out at the end of October. If I buy AAPL for the November tranche, it will be a carry forward as it is currently in the tranche (down 8%).
ATVI - this is Activision Blizzard, a firm that develops and sells video games. I know at one point Vivendi owned a big chunk of them, I will have to look to see if those shares have been sold. This is a cash rich firm in what has really become a mature industry. They have been growing with inflation, about 4% a year. They are getting more efficient in the product, so margins have been rising year over year. 2013 will actually be a down year, many of these companies are dependent just upon several games and sales can be a little stagnant in between releases. Wait, I do see where ATVI is looking to reduce Vivendis stake from 61% to 12%. I suppose that could be good or bad. With Vivendi as a minority owner, the company may get more focused on what they do best. But it will definitely leverage the company up, the excess cash will be gone and there will be some debt but assumably fewer shares outstanding. Debt can be ok if they have the cash flow to service and the terms are decent. Some debt can be beneficial to stockholders as debt holders require a smaller return than stockholders generally. All in all I am intrigued by Activision. The very fact that management is willing to put in their personal money feel positive to me.
CALL - this is magicJack. By basic metrics they are exceedingly cheap. They have a 250m market cap and have $45m of excess cash. They have operating income of 41 million for the past 4 quarters. They grew revenues by over 30% in 2012 and 2013 looks to be pretty flat over 2012. They do have growth opportunities, in that they can go international and they have an App for mobile usage. I am trying to understand the purpose of the. App. I have an iPhone, and I am pretty sure I get a pretty large number of minutes for calls every month. So not sure why I would use MJ? The calls using MJ are "free" if you are in a wifi area. It does seem better than Skype as you can make free phone to phone calls instead of having to call a computer or pay. Over four million people have downloaded the app, so it clearly has appeal. Perhaps if you already have a MJ at home, the app allows it to ring on mobile phone. It would definitely be great when traveling internationally. I may have to download the app myself and see if I like it (try it, you'll like it). I like the stock, I just need to get comfortable that it is not a one trick pony and will have no avenues for growth. Interestingly, I just saw where one of CALLs competitors, Vonage bought a company today and is up 19%.
COH - a stock for the higher end retail. Coach and KORS have been going toe to toe ever since KORS went public. There is the image that COH is losing its cache. They do pay a 2.5% dividend. They grew revenues by about 6% over past twelve months. Analysts think they will continue to grow mid single digits. This is not a "cheap" MFI stock. While I do not think this a poor pick, I do not see it making my top five.
Wth that, I will take a breather. It is apparent I have some work to do as AAPL, ATVI and CALL all make it to the next round.
One final end of the day note. ATVI announced today that a Delawrae court has given the green light to move forward with purchase of shares from Vivendi. That spiked the stock about three percent, so as I suspected, that is a positive. I do find ATVI, unfettered by Vivendi as an intriguing play. Often when you get full ownership or spun off, you find additional ways to make money.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment